Amid huge condemnations Mary Broh offers Unreserved Apology to Fula Community

Amid huge condemnations, the Co-Chair of a newly-formed anti-power theft taskforce – which was established by the Liberian Electricity Corporation, Madam Mary T. Broh, has offered her unreserved apology to the Fula Community in Monrovia.

In statement issued in Monrovia, Madam Broh, who is also the Director General of the General Service Agency (GSA), said ‘‘I have been made aware of the public reaction that has ensued in the aftermath of an interaction I had earlier this week with a member of the Fula community in Monrovia. As co-chiar of a newly-formed anti-power theft taskforce – which was established by the Liberian Electricity Corporation – I have visited dozens of neighborhoods as my team and I implement a mandate of disconnecting illegal connections. We also ensure offenders are penalized.’’

‘‘While undertaking this exercise on Thursday, we came across a third party connection involving a young lady. In the heat of the verbal exchange that followed , I made comments that in hindsight should not have been said. For this, I offer my unreserved apology. It was not intended to cast aspersions on our Fula Community or to question their patriotism. We all love Liberia and are striving to develop our country for the common good,’’ Madam Broh stated in the statement.

Meanwhile, she made it emphatically clear, however, that she habours no prejudice against anybody or group of people. My ties cut across various sectors of the Liberian society, adding that, ‘‘So anybody attempting to create that impression would be misjudging me.’’

There have been widespread condemnations against Madam Broh’s ‘‘discriminatory comments’’  against the Fula Community in Monrovia.

Madam Broh’s apology came on the heel of a strong statement issued by the Fula Community of Liberia, through the office of the National Fula Governor Alhaji Mohammed Bailo Sow, calling on her to apologize for allegedly referring to them as not making contribution to the growth and development of  Liberia.

Reading the statement on behalf of the Governor Saturday, November 12, 2022,   Fatumata J. Barry  lamented that the GSA boss  in her recent statement claimed that the Fula People are allegedly not contributing anything to  Liberia, but instead  taking the Liberian  money to Guinea, Mauritania and Mali to invest,  this they termed as ‘‘unacceptable, discriminatory and far from the reality’’.

“We see these statement as not only false and counter-productive to the Unification of the Citizenry, but also an affront to our entire Fula Community for which we demand an immediate retraction and apology from her,” they emphasized.

Contrary to Madam Broh’s assertions, the Fula Community disclosed that there is an open secret that they are  contributing immensely to the infrastructure development of Liberia,  arguably more than any other single tribe in the country.

Madam Fatumata stressed that it is unfortunate that a stateswoman, like Madam Broh will choose to question the allegiance of Fula People in Liberia.

“A country that our forefathers migrated to even before 1847, per the statistics of the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) Fulanis are the highest contributors in the Small tax division, which is performing,” she asserted.

The group strongly lamented that Broh is no citizen than any fulanis ” We were born here, and contributing our quota to the motherland to the best of our ability”, they noted.

“In as much as we recognize her effort in the fight against power theft, it should in no way be a conduit to launch a discriminatory attack on our tribe, as such,   we demand that Mary T. Broh unconditionally retract her statement and register her unreserved apology or risk necessary actions,”  the Fula Community concluded.