By Max Zaimoh
This research is about the 80 percent presidential appointees (Lofan) atop level positions of public trust of Joseph Nyuma Boakai’s Liberia. This was spoken about or against by the General Service Agency (GSA’s) Director General, Galakpai Kortimai.
It neither targets Lofans nor does it suggest that they are not qualified to serve in positions of public trust, the answer is NO. But what we are saying is that for a single county to dominate a regime speaks volume and calls for national concern because this has not happened in the body politics of this country.
However, there are reasons why Lofa is dominating the present regime which should not be strange to the older generation rather than the young ones.
Unity Party’s founder, Edward Beyan Kesselly (1937-1993) hailed from Nyama-Kamadu Town, Quardu Gboni Chiefdom and was a member of the Mandingo speaking ethnic group in Lofa County.
He was one of those remnants of the Grand Old True Whig Party (TWP) who founded a political party called the Unity Party in 1984 when the ban on politicking was lifted following the coup of the People’s Redemption Council (PRC) and contested or participated in the Tuesday, 15 October, 1985, Presidential and Legislative Elections.
Buried in Monrovia after his 1993 death. He was re-buried eighteen (18) years later at his hometown in Nyama-Kamadu Town, Quardu Gboni Chiefdom, Lofa County. Before his demise, Kesselly was a Minister in the cabinet of the later President William Richard Tolbert administration. During the late 1970s, he was Minister of Post and Telecommunications.
President Tolbert appointed him in February 1978. He succeeded J. Jenkins Peal, who had resigned that office to become the Minister of Information, where Kesselly previously served as an Administrator for five years.
Kesselly was one of those few members of Tolbert’s cabinet who survived the Saturday, 12 April, military coup d’etate that overthrew Tolbert’s regime in 1980. During the Interim ship of the late Amos Claudius Sawyer’s Interim Government of National Unity (IGNU-1990-94), he served as Minister of National Defense. He was a father of eight (8) children.
One county dominance of a regime has never happened in this country (Liberia) body politics during the regimes of President William V. S. Tubman who hailed from Maryland County and ruled from 1944-1971; William Richard Tolbert who hailed from Montserrado County and ruled from 1971-1980; Samuel Kanyan Doe who hailed from Grand Gedeh County and ruled from 1980-1990; Charles Ghankay Taylor who hailed from Montserrado County and ruled 1997-2003; Ellen Johnson who from Bomi County and ruled from 2006-2017; and George Maneh Weah who hailed Grand Kru County and ruled from 2018-2023.
However, what is surprising is the continue silence of so-called state’s actors and their civil society organizations, namely the Liberia Council of Churches (LCC), Inter-Religious Council of Liberia (IRCL), National Muslims Council of Liberia (NMCL), Elections Coordinating Committee (ECC), Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA), and the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL).
Others are Female Journalists Association of Liberia (FeJAL), National Civil Society Council of Liberia (NCSCL), Press Union of Liberia (PUL) among others.
These bodies and their leaderships were torn in the throat or flesh of President George Manneh Weah and his regime, speaking to perceived ills or wrongdoing in the society and claiming to be the heroes or heroines have all gone silent likewise the opposition bloc besides the Coalition or Congress for Democratic Change.
Unlike the former standard-bearer of the Liberian People’s Party (LPP), Taiwan Saye Gongloe who many times have spoken against Boakai missteps or violations of the laws, corruption, human rights abuses, appointment mainly of people from his native Lofa there has been nobody else.
This is an indication that Boakai is a tribalist, treachery and vindictive. Until the 2005 Presidential and Legislative Elections, at which time Boakai was brought to the lifeline of contemporary Liberian politics by Ellen Johnson-Johnson, a founding member of the Liberia Action Party (LAP), Boakai was a member or partisan of the United People’s Party (UPP) then led by the late Gabriel Baccus Matthews.
In the UPP, an offspring of the Progressives Alliance of Liberia (PAL), Boakai was never a prominent figurehead besides Baccus.
When Ellen switched allegiance to the Unity Party having fallen out with LAP and its Executives before the 19 July, 1997, Proportional Representation Elections in which 13 Political Parties took part, she selected the late Peter Bemah of Bong County as running mate.
In 2005, she chose Boakai for two reasons. Her relationship with UP’s founder (Kesselly) and her later husband, Sirleaf’s relationship with Boakai.
She earlier banked on one of the stalwarts of the Liberian People’s Party (LPP) and MOJA (Movement for Justice in Africa), Togba-Nah Tipoteh but he turned it down on ground that unless he heads the ticket following years of negotiations or meetings held in Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana and the United States to formed an alliance against Charles Taylor and his NPP before next scheduled elections in October of 2003 then. This research continues.
No. | Name | Position | Tribe | County |
01. | Augustine K. Ngafuan | Minister, Finance and Development Planning | Gbandi | Lofa |
02. | Richard Ngafuan | Director, Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Service (LISGIS) | Gbandi | Lofa |
03. | James M. Fromayan | Director, Liberia National Commission on Small Arms (LNCSA) | Lorma | Lofa |
04. | James Dorbor Jallah | Director, Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) | Lorma | Lofa |
05. | Galakpai Kortimai | Director, General Service Agency (GSA) | Lorma | Lofa |
06. | Stephen “Steve” Zargo | Commissioner, Liberia Immigration Service (LIS) | Lorma | Lofa |
07. | Augustine Fayiah | Solicitor General, Justice Ministry | Kissi | Lofa |
08. | Jackson Wolobah | Deputy Minister for Statistics, Labor Ministry | Lorma | Lofa |
09. | Elijah Rufus | Deputy Commissioner, Liberia Immigration Service (LIS) | Lorma | Lofa |
10. | Nyuma Dixon Tamba | Deputy Commissioner, Liberia Immigration Service (LIS) | Kissi | Lofa |
11. | Jeror Cole Bangalu | Minister, Youth and Sports | Gbandi | Lofa |
12. | Ciapha Saah Gbollie | Director, National Lottery Authority (NLA) | Kissi | Lofa |
13. | Juluis K. Sele | Director, Liberia Agency for Community Empowerment (LACE) | Lorma | Lofa |
14. | Arthur Massaquoi | Director, Bureau of State Enterprises | Lorma | Lofa |
15. | Francis Siakala Nyumalin | Minister, Internal Affairs | Kissi | Lofa |
16. | Gabriel Selee | Deputy Minister for Administration, Foreign Ministry | Lorma | Lofa |
17. | Jeddi Armah | Deputy Minister for Legal Affairs, Foreign Ministry | Gbandi | Lofa |
18. | Davidson Fayiah Forleh | Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) | Kissi | Lofa |
19. | John-Charuk Siafi | Lord Mayor, Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) | Kissi | Lofa |
20. | Patrick Honnah | Commissioner, Liberia Telecommunication Authority (LTA) | Gbandi | Lofa |
21. | Emmanuel Azango | Commissioner, National Oil Corporation of Liberia (NOCAL) | Lorma | Lofa |
22 | Henry Saamoi | Acting Governor, Central Bank of Liberia | Lorma | Lofa |
23. | Robert Wilmot Kpadeh | Liberia Representative, International Maritime Organization (IMO) | Lorma | Lofa |
24 | Edward Liberty | National Identification Registry (NIR) | Lorma | Lofa |
25. | Jarso Jallah Saygbe | Minister, Education Ministry | Lorma | Lofa |
26. | Sekou Kromah | Minister, Post Affairs Ministry | Mandingo | Lofa |
27. | Amin Modad | Minister, Commerce and Industry Ministry | Lofa | |
28. | Tarnue Z. Morlu | Comptroller, Youth and Sports Ministry | Lorma | Lofa |
29. | Prince D. Tambah | Assistant Minister for Technical Services, Public Works Ministry | Kissi | Lofa |
30. | Malayan Tamba-Cheiyo | Deputy Minister of Health, Planning and Policy | Kissi | Lofa |
31. | Pewee Baysah | Public Relations Officer, Freeport of Monrovia | Lorma | Lofa |
32. | Patrick Worzie | Director, Liberia Refugee Repatriation and Resettlement Commission (LRRRC) | Lorma | Lofa |
33. | Patrick Sandiki | Deputy Managing Director for Technical Services, Liberia Water & Sewer Corporation (LWSC) | Kissi | Lofa |
34. | Jacob “Jake” Kabakollie | National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) | Lorma | Lofa |
35. | Anthony V. Kesselly | Deputy Minister for Public Affairs, State for Presidential Affairs Ministry | Mandingo | Lofa |
36. | Steve Saah Kolubah | Deputy Managing Director for Administration, National Housing Authority | Lorma | Lofa |
37. | Richardson N’Dorbor | Chief Executive Office, Liberia Telecommunications Corporation | Lorma | Lofa |
38. | Garmai Koboi | Director, Liberia Intellectual Property Office | Lorma | Lofa |
39. | William Jallah | Assistant Minister for Cultural Affairs, Internal Affairs | Lorma | Lofa |
40. | David Akoi | Deputy Minister for Planning and Development, Agriculture Ministry | Lorma | Lofa |
41. | Zogbo Luther | Assistant Minister for Technical Services, Agriculture Ministry | Lorma | Lofa |
42. | Daniel Koikoi | Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Ministry | Lorma | Lofa |
43. | Clarence Kortu Massaquoi | Commissioner, Liberia Telecommunication Authority | Lorma | Lofa |
44. | Armah Kanneh | Deputy/Acting Director, LRRRC | Gbandi | Lofa |
45. | Lorpu Kandakai | Registrar General, Cooperative Development Agency (CDA) | Lorma | Lofa |
46. | Charles Saah N’tow | Chief of Office Staff, Office of the First Lady | Kissi | Lofa |
47. | Steve Kolubah | Deputy Minister of Planning and Manpower, Labor Ministry | Lorma | Lofa |
48. | Josiah Joekai | Director General, Civil Service Agency/Commission | Lorma | Lofa |
49. | Jeff Gongoer Dowana | Liberia Ambassador, United States of America | Lorma | Lofa |
50. | Samuel Zaza | Chairman, Civil Service Agency/Commission Board of Directors | Lorma | Lofa |