J.FonatiKoffa: The Parliamentarianʼs Parliamentarian

Cllr. Jonathan Fonati Koffa, the deputy speaker of Liberia's Parliament, is an eccentric political leader adept in the science and art of constituent representation. A Lawyer and political leader whose short but meteoric rise to prominence in Liberian politics show a healthy understanding of politics and the ability to cut across political and ethnic divides to accomplish national goals and objectives. He has been instrumental in passing crucial gender-responsive bills, including the Domestic Violence Bill and the Female Genital Mutilation Bill.

Cllr. Koffa, or JFK, as popularly known in Liberian circles, was born in then Sasstown Territory (now Grand Kru) County in 1963 into the union of Major Stephen Jaitoh and Margaret Mona Koffa. The son of a military officer, his family relocated to Monrovia, Liberia, in 1966, where he grew up and began his educational journey

JFK was recently lauded by the Regional UN Women Ambassador for Africa, Madam Jaha Dukureh, over his efforts to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Liberia.

She praised him for being a significant player in the Legislature for championing bills in the interest of women, including the bill to outlaw the practices of FGM.

In her words, "we have seen this as an opportunity for us to interact with you, and we would like to say this as a fact that you are a champion in the fight against female genital mutilation in Liberia."

"Honorable, I must confess that your stance against fgm is realistic and honest, and since I have been here, I have not found someone who is so passionate and firm on this issue as you: your dedication, your commitment, your passion and your willingness to champion is excellent, "Amb. Jaha said.

Prior, the Deputy Speaker was very instrumental in the passage of the Domestic Violence Bill.

Legal Role:

He is the founder and Managing Partner of the International Law Group (ILG), and he has been practising law since 1997, both in Liberia and the United States of America.

Hon.Cllr. Koffa was also admitted into the Supreme Court Bar of the Republic of Liberia with distinct honour as valedictorian of the graduating class.

Political Role:

In 2016, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf appointed Koffa as Minister of State without Portfolio and Special Prosecutor of the Sable Mining Bribery scandal case.

A few months later, he was appointed legal counsel to the President of Liberia.

Cllr. Koffa resigned in late July 2017 to participate in the General and Presidential elections as a candidate for the Representative seat in Grand Kru County District 2.

On October 19, he was declared the winner of that electoral process, and in 2021, he was subsequently elected as Deputy Speaker of the 54th Legislature of the Republic of Liberia.

Leadership Role:

Hon. Cllr. J. Fonati Koffa is the immediate past Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the 54th National Legislature. He was a member of the Committee on Elections and Inauguration and the Committee on Human & Civil Rights.

He is the current acting Chairperson of the Grand Kru Legislative Caucus at the 54th National Legislature and the Deputy Speaker of the 54th Legislature of the Republic of Liberia.

As discussions around decarbonization and Africa's quests for industrialization continues to gather momentum, Ivanilson Machado the Chief Executive Officer of Pumangol, Angola's leading downstream company talks shares his thoughts on managing the process for seamless energy transition in the continent, Excerpts:

You have remained an inspiration in Africa's oil and gas sector and a leading light in the industry. How were you able to build and sustain your towering pedigree in the continent's oil and gas industry?

First of all, in any organization or business people are the pivotal element that drives growth and sustainability. That said, I have adopted a people´s centered approach that has been providing useful insights that lead me to having the right people at the right job for better results. This has been making a great difference in my success as a manager and as a person.

Secondly, I love my job, I love what I do so I devote my mental and physical energy at achieving the best and excel every day. I work closely with those who make things happen and our clients. It makes also a big difference to wear the company´s hat at all times and have the passion about the brand we represent. By working closely with my staff, I instill on them the same principles.

The energy and strength I put in at my work give me a clear vision of the way forward and how I contribute to the improvement of the downstream sector, by overcoming the challenges of the local economic, cultural and social context as well as the impacts of the global markets.

One other key thing I would like to add is that knowledge sharing with the young generation makes new leaders and bring positive results. So in my opinion, it may be easy to climb the ladder to the top but remaining there is a different and far harder thing. It is required to stand out from the crowd positively With the growing pressure towards decarbonization and the Africa's need for industrialization, what in your view should be the priority for countries in the continent?

This is a big dilemma for Africa to conciliate and evolve around the two requirements. In one side we have the decarbonization issues affecting all countries either because they are dependent on fossil fuels or for the misusage of their natural resources for access to energy and wealth. On the other hand, there is the fact that Africa is lagging development as there are basic needs that are still to be catered for, like access to food, clean water, employment, energy, paved roads, telecoms, and overall ensuing economic development.

In addition to that most of Africa is very vulnerable to climate change impacts that hamper the continent´s efforts to survive, least to develop. It is kind of a Cath 22 situation where there is no lee way as far as decarbonization is concerned but we do need to develop industrialization in Africa, a big challenge under the current context of the continent, either in terms of leadership, humans resources, infrastructure, industrial develop, employment, climate change,etc. However, like in any other difficulty, conflicting or critical situation there are always opportunities to grab. Africa does not need to start things from scratch in its effort to repositioning the continent to foster industrializationand economic development whilst pursuing the decarbonization agenda. African leaders need to have a clear vision that enables the delivery of the basic needs in tandem with requirements to underpin industrial development in a sustainable way

Each country has got its priorities, specificities, and its dire needs. Therefore, what is a priority for Angola might not be the same for Mauritius or DRC, for example. However, in my view, it is important that countries have a coordinated effort and continents shared vision towards economic development and industrialization whilst accounting for the continents carbon footprint reduction and sustainability

With about 125.3 billion barrels of crude oil reserves and 17.55 trillion standard cubic meters of natural gas, Africa is no doubt blessed with abundant hydrocarbon resources. However, poor governance issues, lack of infrastructure, amongst other continue to hinder countries from fully benefitting from these natural resources. What in your view can be done to address some of the prevailing issues in the country?

There is a common perception that the misusage of African natural resources is an endogenous disease that affects leaderships in mineral rich African countries. It is fair to say that the external influence and manipulation is far more damaging to those African countries than the lack of shared values, vision, responsibility, true nationalism and Africanism African rich countries need to have country centric policies, i.e. invest more on education, have policies that clearly focus on bringing development, economic prosperity, equal opportunities and access to wealth; we need to have strong institutions, only achievable through education and capacity building. It is important to create in place attractive investment opportunities and above all have a sustainable approach embedded in everything we all do to change the status quo in the continent.

According to a report by McKinsey, Africa needs to build oil and gas pipelines, liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, distribution hubs and gas-fired power plants over the next 20 years to unlock its energy market with more than 600 million people, as Energy demand is expected to grow rapidly over the next two decades.

What is your take on this position?

This indicates that the world will be dependent on fossil fuels for a long time to come, and it means a lot of challenges and opportunities. There is a need to make the right choices and decisions in accordance with the specificities and needs of each and every country in the continent. Africa does not necessarily need to rush or embark on fossil fuels solutions to enable access to energy. This is perhaps the time to have the right balance between the use of fossil fuels and the energy transition and there is a lot of potential for solar, wind and hydro power energy production solutions. In any case, at the end of the day, it should all be driven by the countries and continent shared vision for development, industrialization, economic recovery and development, the economics behind the best sustainable win-win solutions to respond to the energy growth demands in the continent. This sounds a bit idealistic but that is the direction that we, Africans, should aim at when confronted with the investment needs particularly in the energy sector

How do we boost local participation in the oil and gas industry in the continent?

One thing that should underpin any investment decision in the energy sector is a sound policy framework that would take into consideration of how much of that investment will be spent locally, either directly in the sector and related activities but also outside of the energy sector and also consider the number of jobs that will be created and what new local businesses will be created as a result of such an investment. In terms of human capital, we know that Africa is short of qualified personnel in skilled areas of the oil industry. This is not the case for admin and unskilled job positions, and we should have legislation in place that would ensure that countries are not importing unskilled manpower that will take up job positions that should be filled by locals. For each investments there should also be a human capital development programme target associated with the project so that within a certain number of years locals would be prepared to take up the skilled jobs of the project gradually. I am glad to share that we see this happening in a way in the upstream Angola oil sector but not in other sub sectors of the industry

Nevertheless, in the company I lead, there is no expatriate, we procure most of our services and products locally and yet we operate and deliver under any global standards in our downstream sector

What will be your parting word for young leaders who are also looking to make their mark in the industry?

Prepare, prepare, and prepare yourself well. Work hard every day to excel yourself and keep focused at all times. Life as got challenges but with them opportunities. If we have a vision, set up a creative tension that will fuel us to get to wherever you envisage to get to, keep the focus, nothing will let you down and success will come as a result. Note that nowadays it is no longer average talents that company are looking for but rather highly talented people who have the right attitude of giving the extra mile, excel themselves beyond expectations. This is where the young leaders are expected to rise and make the difference as well as being a step ahead of everyone else.

As a distinguished honouree and recipient of both Special African Leadership Commendation Awardand induction into the ALM African Leadership Council (ALC), how do you feel and how does this add to your personality?

I feel humbled and further motivated with the responsibility this brings in making good things for Africa and inspiring other African leaders to strive and shine both in the continent and the world to regain respect and trust in African leadership capabilities. This is a step forward to breaking stereotypes about African leadership capabilities and bring hope that the African generation of young leaders will bring change and true development in the continent.

With just 11 employees in 2012, Credentia has become a behemoth today, solving essential problems and helping clients actualize their fintech services and other related challenges. In this exclusive Interview with African Leadership Magazine UK, the Chief Executive Officer, Sharma K. (Sanjeev) Gopaul, shares the company’s growth phases and how the group has grown to become a crucial part of the Mauritius fintech story.