MONROVIA: About 8:pm on Sunday, April 14, 2024, the Rehab Community in Paynesville City was overwhelmed with horror and fear when the home of House Speaker, Cllr. J. Fonati Koffa was gutted by mysterious fire.
Social media commentators quickly alerted Liberians and World at large that House Speaker Koffa’s home was in flames and there was dire need for fire fighters to help rescue he and his family from the blazing fire.
Some eyewitnesses claimed the fire began from the backside of the Speaker’s residence when the Liberia Electricity Corporation switched on power (electricity) in the community for the third time during the Sunday night.
The eyewitnesses also alleged that the fire became uncontrollable when it took nearly an hour plus before the arrival of crew from the Liberia National Fire Service to the scene.
As the Speaker looks at the fire destroying his home, he immediately contacted former President George Manneh Weah to temporally host he and his family.
Former President Weah’s residence is also located in the Rehab Community opposite Speaker’s home in Paynesville.
Up to press time, there is no casualty reported from fire outbreak.
Formal investigation aimed at establishing the actual cause of the fire outbreak has been launched by the Liberia National Fire Service (LNFS), this paper has gathered.
The mysterious fire incidents occurred at House Speaker, Jonathan Fonati Koffa’s Rehab residence few days after his leadership in the Lower House of the 55th Legislature endorsed the setting up of a War and Economic Crimes Court for Liberia.
Under his leadership as Speaker, the House of Representatives (Lower House) recently concurred with the Senate (Upper House) of Liberia’s 55th Legislature, for the establishment of War and Economic Crimes Court for Liberia.
The court seeks to bring to justice all those bearing the greatest responsibility for Liberia’s past armed conflict during which an estimated 250,000 persons, predominately women, children and the elderly were killed.
More than a million others were internally and externally displaced, while the Nation’s economy is yet to recover to its pre-war status as a result of the conflict that spanned more than a decade.
Interestingly, there have been protests by former warlords and their supporters over the latest move by the Liberian Government, headed by Joseph Nyuma Boakai, as President, to establish the court, as also being requested by Liberia’s international partners including the United States and as well as consortiums of local and global human rights groups.
The former Truth and Reconliation Commission (TRC) listed 116 alleged war crimes and hundreds of ex-Commandos who were in trained in various deadly guerrilla tactics in Libya, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and other parts of the world.
