By E. J. Nathaniel Daygbor in Monrovia
No doubt two former Finance Ministers of the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf regime – Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan and Amara Mohamed Konneh are might be contesting the Montserrado County senatorial seat vacated by Senator George M. Weah, President of Liberia. This comes at the heel of the National Elections Commission’s announcement timetable for the conduct of the by-senatorial election.
Ngafuan was former Foreign and Finance Minister, respectively, and his colleague Konneh was also Finance Minister of Liberia. Both men appear to be biggest two contenders for the seat.
Mr. Konneh has already indicated he is considering the move but carrying out consultations throughout the county as well as talking with family members, friends and well-wishers. Ngafuan is yet to confirm or deny his desire to contest the seat, and when our Correspondent called his phone, it rang endlessly on several occasions with no answer.
But Ngafuan is now faced with the debate among his supporters, some of who are urging the executive of the former ruling Unity Party to stay off the political race for now, while others are pushing that he can put up big challenge for the senatorial election.
It’s being speculated in corners of Monrovia that Konneh and Ngafuan have built strong ties with the intellectual class of the country and the two are very popular among the young generation. But also the two have not tasted national electoral contestation.
The Senate President Pro Tempore of the Liberia, Albert Chie, has since written the National Elections Commission for a by senatorial by-election. The vacuum was created as a result of the presidential election that brought the Montserrado County senator George Weah to power as President of Liberia.
Ngafuan will be contesting on the ticket of the Unity Party of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, while Konneh is in serious discussion with the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change to fly on its ticket. But Montserrado County Representative Electoral District #8 of the CDC, Acarous Gray, has also expressed interest in contesting the seat.
The Liberty Party Vice Chairman for Political Affairs Darious Dillon is also considering contesting for the second time county senate seat. Dillon lost the first time he contested.
Ngafuan served from 2012 to 2015 as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Liberia, in the administration of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
Ngafuan was Minister of Finance for Liberia during Johnson-Sirleaf’s first term, and was then appointed to his post at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on January 17, 2012. He took office on February 10, 2012, succeeding Toga McIntosh.
Konneh is the Manager of the World Bank Group’s Global Fragility, Conflict and Violence (FCV) Hub in Nairobi, Kenya. He joined the Bank after nearly a decade of service with the Government of Liberia, most recently as Minister of Finance and Development Planning and National Coordinator of the Liberia Development Alliance from February 2012 to April 2016.
Prior to this, he was Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs and Head of the Presidential Office of the Liberia Reconstruction and Development Committee. Earlier in his career, he worked for the Vanguard Group of Investment Companies as well as the International Rescue Committee in Guinea as Education Coordinator.
