Liberia: As Talk of a Truce with President Boakai Swirls, Ex-Lawmaker Kolubah Says He Regrets His Relationship with the Liberian Leader

MONROVIA – Liberian politics has no shortage of dramatic turnarounds, but few would have raised eyebrows like this one. Yekeh Kolubah, the outspoken former Montserrado County District 10 representative, was said to be preparing to sit down with President Joseph Boakai, the leader he backed in 2023 and later turned on.

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***By Selma Lomax, selma.lomax@frontpageafricaonline.com ***

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The rumor ran for days. Then Kolubah went on air and, intentionally or not, poured cold water on it.

A Rumor with Official Fingerprints

The talk did not come from nowhere. It began with a Facebook post by Kolubah’s own media consultant, which said the former lawmaker was ready to reconcile with the President. The post blamed his frustration on what the office called the “disintegration and unseriousness” of the opposition.

His PRO, Samson Moseray, reportedly backed it up. A meeting with the President was being arranged, he said, and Kolubah had chosen to “mend fences and put Liberia first.”

Kolubah himself added fuel. He has repeatedly said he will return to Liberia on October 10 to address the media on the matter. For a politician known for theatrical announcements, that was enough to convince many that something big was coming.

Sunday Night on Spoon TV

On Sunday, the Spoon Show gave him the chance to settle the question. The host asked bluntly whether he was coming home to “beg the president for forgiveness.” Kolubah’s opening line was that he regrets his relationship with President Boakai. Peacemakers rarely start that way. Expressing regret over a past association is the language of someone closing a chapter, not reopening it. And as the conversation went on, there was little sign of the softening one would expect from a man about to extend a hand.

The Statement That Started It All

To understand why reconciliation looks so hard, one has to go back to April 17, 2026, when 49 lawmakers voted to expel Kolubah from the House of Representatives. The move followed uproar over remarks attributed to him about the Liberia–Guinea border dispute. It remains one of the most debated decisions of the 55th Legislature.

On Spoon TV, the host pressed him on the subject. Kolubah held his ground and maintained that the land Liberia occupies belongs to Guinea.

In other words, the position that cost him his seat is one he has just repeated in public. It is hard to picture a reconciliation that leaves that issue untouched. If Kolubah has not changed his view, and his words suggest he has not, then the cause of the breakup has not gone away. It has simply been restated.

An Oath That Raises the Stakes

The most dramatic piece of the puzzle is a pledge Kolubah is reported to have made. According to those accounts, he has said that the day he reconciles with President Boakai, it will be him who killed his mother.

Whatever one makes of the rhetoric, the vow changes the calculation. Most political disputes can be patched up with a communiqué, a handshake, or a quiet word from respected elders. A promise that invokes a mother’s memory is different. Breaking it would hand his opponents a weapon they could use for years. For a figure who has built his brand on defiance, it could cost more than any seat in the Legislature.

Weariness With Allies, not a Change of Heart

Since his expulsion, Kolubah has toured the country alongside the opposition and spoken harshly of the government. His camp’s recent message about the opposition’s disintegration points to growing disillusionment with that coalition.

That could explain why the reconciliation story gained traction. A politician who feels let down by his allies might start looking for a way out. But there is a difference between being fed up with friends and warming to a former benefactor turned adversary. So far, nothing Kolubah has said publicly suggests he has made that leap.

The Empty Chair in District 10

The saga also unfolds against a constitutional backdrop that critics say is being ignored. Article 37 of the 1986 Constitution says that when a legislative seat falls vacant through death, resignation, expulsion or otherwise, the presiding officer must notify the National Elections Commission within 30 days. The Commission must then hold a by-election within 90 days, unless general elections fall within that window.

Nearly 170 days have passed since the expulsion. Commentators say no replacement has been chosen and that the presiding officer, Speaker Richard Nagbe Koon, has apparently not notified the Commission. For residents of District 10, that means months without a voice in the House. Some observers suspect the vacancy may be part of the political bargaining, a seat left open while the larger drama plays out.

There are reasons to take the reconciliation talk seriously. It came from Kolubah’s own office. It was framed around national interest. Kolubah has a history with the Unity Party, and the October 10 media address suggests an announcement of some kind is on the way.

But the case against is stronger. He opened his Spoon TV interview with regret over his relationship with the President. He has refused to retreat on the border claim. He has reportedly bound himself with a deeply personal vow. And every grievance that produced the split remains in place.

The most likely outcome, if anything happens at all, is something smaller than a true reconciliation: a conversation framed around peace and national unity, with neither side conceding much. A full return to the President’s camp would require Kolubah to unsay nearly everything he said on Sunday night.

On October 10, the country will find out which Kolubah steps off the plane: the peacemaker his office has described or the combatant who spoke on Spoon TV. For now, his own words are the best evidence available, and they point firmly toward no.