Liberia’s New Speaker, Richard Koon in his office at the Capitol Building in Monrovia last Monday

Abubakar Hashim

He was wearing a determined look, working, when I was ushered into his office, at the Capitol Building, by his aide, Charles, on Monday, June 24, 2025.

Being in a tight working schedule, Liberia’s new Speaker, Richard Nagbe Koon, will chronicle his mission and vision of the House in an interview with TheNEWS Magazine soon.

He became the new Speaker of Liberia’s 55th  Legislature on May 13, 2025, after former Speaker Fonati Koffa resigned on May 12, 2025.

Koon is an intellectual legislator. With double Master’s degrees in Accounting, he was once a Professor at the University of Liberia Graduate School.

Speaker Koon, addressing the diplomatic corps last Friday

Born in Lagos in 1970, to a Liberian father and a Nigerian mother, he moved to Liberia in 1992. He now represents Liberia’s capital county, Montserrado District 11, in the House.

He defeated Musa Bility from Nimba County District 7 by a margin of 17 votes, 43-26 votes.

Today, he has succeeded in unifying a once divided house, through his skillful human interaction and as a marvelous team player.

Outside the House operations, he has also succeeded in promoting a working relationship with the international community. He held a bilateral meeting with the Diplomatic Corps in Liberia on Friday, June 20, 2025. The meeting, though held behind closed doors, was hugely significant and symbolic, as Speaker Koon successfully put to rest past apprehensions on the legislature.

Speaker Koon is an inner core member of the ruling Unity Party. He aligns with President Boakai’s ARREST program to rapidly develop Liberia from an inherited decrepit economy, through private investments and inward-looking development strategies, focusing mainly on youth and local entrepreneurial empowerment.

*Abubakar Hashim is TheNEWS’ West Africa Bureau Chief. He wrote this piece from Monrovia