It is the early 2000s; Monday through Friday, 3:00 P.M. through 7:00 P.M., my childhood friends and I played soccer in a slum community of 12 Street, Sinkor, Monrovia, a few yards away from the Du River, as we call it. Every day, at 4:00 P.M., a stranger who had just moved into our neighbourhood would sit and watch us play daily.
He sat quietly and observed and hardly said a word. I vividly remember this was his routine. I was curious to know who he was at that time. Well, I am sure he was in his late twenties, and for me, I was entering my early teens. As my childhood friends and I played soccer, I was intrigued by who was this guy.
Why does he sit and never speak or engage with us? Travelling back in time, I wondered if he saw us as troublemakers or "gronna boys" (a Liberian parlance used for self-raised boys and considered problematic for the community). There is no way I could have taken such a route; my dad did not spare the rod one minute, and there was no second for a mistake or to behave as a gronna-boy.
As events and the years went by, he gradually unveiled his potential and the direction he was heading with his life. His wife, whom I affectionately called Aunty (name withheld), and I bonded during those years. I fetched her water for her household regularly, and she periodically gave me daily meals.
It was not a barter system. In fact, her son was one of my best childhood buddies. She even paid my school fees in 10th Grade at the First Assembly of God High School, or Buchanan Street A.G. Overall, my community nor I knew we were hosting or unknowingly welcomed a new neighbour that would go on to become one of Liberia's most respectable and highly-integrity post-war minister, who could lead Liberia through its' recovery and debt forgiveness program, Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC), and help former President Ellen Johnson rebuild Liberia's international image.
This stranger would later become a noble statesman: Former Director of Budget, Minister of Finance, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Development Bank Country Manager (Uganda), re-appointed and highly celebrated as the present - Minister of Finance, Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, Republic of Liberia. It is Augustine Kphehe Ngafuan.
The first time my attention was drawn to Ngafuan regarding his intellectual competencies was a poem he authored: "The African Teacher," when he won the second prize in the BBC Network Africa 2001 Poetry Competition in which African poets on the continents and in the diaspora competed throughout 2001.
I remember that morning, everyone in the community spoke about the poem. I immediately put him on my radar and started watching him with high interest. As a teenager, I always watched people of higher standards, not wealth or positions, as role models to follow, something which was done quietly and never voiced out. However, it was not just me; the community began to realize he was an asset. I did not try to engage him in person or reach out by any means possible. However, I continue to provide regular assistance to his wife.
Surprisingly, he called me one day and said, "Bobby, you should go to school. School is very important, and it pays off." Though I have always been passionate about school, that was an encouragement from a person I have begun to observe based on his outstanding examples.
Ngafuan might have started to reap his return on investment from education. Therefore, he encouraged me to pack my bag and sail on a voyage for a better education. Our conversation lasted less than five minutes, but I took seriously every word he told me over twenty (20) years ago.
In my life, I have been privileged to be given pieces of advice by great men of their own free will, like the former managing director of Ecobank Liberia, 2010-2015, Kola Adeleke and Roland Djang, former regional human resource head, my first boss at Ecobank Liberia, in 2011. They both told me that they saw potential in me and I should not "chase great wins," a piece of advice that I still strap to my waist today.
When the former Liberian Leader, the 24th President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, appointed Ngafuan as a Director of the Budget, then Minister of Finance, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, I watched his step and monitored his public record, reading the print dailies and listening keenly to the news, hoping that he would keep his integrity and live up to values.
Something rare among Liberian politicians. An example was when he and John Morlu, the former Auditor General, General Auditing Commission (GAC) of the Republic of Liberia, were engaged in a war of words. I bought the FrontPage Africa Newspapers daily while driving my cab and reading those gazettes. From arm's length, I have always seen Ngafuan as an example, but never have I tried to get in his circle or reach out to him. My last encounter with Ngafuan was in 2006/07 when he gave me a ride to my Sunday service.
Recently, when President Joseph Nyuma Boakai appointed him as Minister of Finance, I saw tons of social media posts flooding my Meta (formerly Facebook) field of people celebrating Ngafuan. As I strolled through my phone, with a beam on my face, I wondered, do some of these eye-servants or public glory-seekers just celebrate, or are they willing to copy a statesman they publicly praise?
To celebrate Ngafuan, you must be willing and ready to copy him. When you are confronted with a hard decision to choose between corruption, kickback or personal interest, and the rule of law, make a decision and copy Ngafuan. When faced with making hardcore choices of standing your ground professionally and respectfully disagreeing with your boss, think like Ngafuan, who upheld the code of conduct and resigned, regardless of losing the perks or lucrative benefits of his position as Minister of Foreign Affairs, 2015.
When Del-Francis Wreh took a job, the payroll harmonization and stole millions of dollars from the Liberian's Government accounts, I stood my ground. I wrote a memo informing the Ministry of Finance C-Suite leadership team that the process was wrong.
Later, I raised the alarm about Del's fraudulent activities regarding payroll harmonization and that he was incompetent to handle such a national task. Despite knowing Del was the darling boy of former Minister of Finance, Samuel Tweah.
In similarities, I copied Ngafuan, like the time he resigned, not knowing where the next big job would come from, but he had to respect the code of conduct. I left Liberia with a hundred United States dollars in my pocket, but my integrity and respect were never for sale or compromised. I reached my destination with One United States Dollar (US$100.00) in my pocket.
Augustine's legacy is a compelling message that speaks to the kind of person we should not just celebrate but emulate in our society. As Minister of Finance and Foreign Affairs, he has made significant contributions to Liberia's political and economic landscape.
Ngafuan's accomplishments, such as his stewardship of Liberia's economic reform post-civil war and his work ethic, serve as a compass for emerging leaders in our public and private sectors. It is not just his accomplishment that should inspire us; it is his approach, strategic thinking, and commitment to national development that we all should copy and paste or apply into our lives.
His lifestyle, combined with his legacy, should challenge every well-meaning Liberian given the privilege to serve in public service to move beyond the mere applause for his achievements and instead embrace and fasten to our wrists the principles and qualities that defined his career.
Ngafuan's journey is a blueprint that reflects resilience, competencies, and integrity. These are outstanding qualities desperately needed in governance and across the length and breadth of Liberia. Often, we hail political figures for their charisma or political rhetoric, but we rarely copy and paste their truth service and transformative leadership style that embody genuine public service.
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The "call to copy him" invites us to reflect on how we can leave behind models or examples of good governance or leadership for future generations to follow. When I worked in the public and private sectors back home, I had profound respect for Ngafuan as an example to follow.
This message is clear for young leaders and professionals and should resonate with you: It is not enough to post, tag, and celebrate figures like Ngafuan. The broader implication of this piece is that societies do not progress by idolizing leaders or public figures but by nurturing generations of individuals who aspire to the same height of public service and dedication.
Instead of simply celebrating Ngafuan, we must genuinely honor his legacy. We must ask ourselves, am I indeed copying Ngafuan or just seeking likes, comments, and views, being an eye-servant on social media or trying to scuffle myself in his inner circle when I celebrate him?
In conclusion, "Do not just celebrate Ngafuan but copy him" is a call to action. It reminds us that admiration should lead to imitation and that the most potent form of tribute is to embody the ideologies and ethics of people we respect. Therefore, Ngafuan's legacy should not just be celebrated on social media or discuss at the local shops or our cubicle but should be copied and pasted for future generations to learn. Each of us who claim to honor or know him personally or not should follow a model that he has set for the next generation of leaders for the betterment of Liberia and its people.
About the author: James Bobby Kiawu is an ordinary Liberian passionate about speaking his mind based on the truth, whether you subscribe to his views or not. He believes in working for a better Liberia that respects everyone regardless of who they are based on sexual preferences, religion, and economic, political and social status.
