PRESS STATEMENT
January 26, 2024
By
Madame Edith T. Poah,
(National President, GGAA)
The Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas, herewith, joins Liberians, home and abroad, to mourn the passing of a distinguished citizen of Grand Gedeh. He was a veteran of the Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas who answered the unpleasant call of death on Tuesday, January 23, 2024, in Liberia. He was 86 years old.
The Association, in a press statement issued on Friday, January 26, 2024, expressed deep sadness and grief over the passing of the statesman, reflecting on his indelible legacies left behind in Liberian body politics, especially his county of birth, Grand Gedeh County.
The association would like to convey its deepest condolences to his family and friends.
We are confident that God will sustain them during their period of bereavement.
The 86-year-old was one of Liberia’s leading esteemed state actors, political figures, and pounding democratic voices in Liberia. He was one of Liberia’s most acclaimed politicians with a huge command in leadership, intellectualism, and peace advocacy since the 1970s onwards to his old age.
The late Hon. Bai Mason Gbala was a key player in democratic activism in Liberia and rendered services to the people of Liberia during the regimes of Samuel Kanyon Doe, Charles Gangkay Taylor, and the Interim Government of National Unity.
Veteran Bai Mason Gbala was the ardent proponent of the government’s decentralization program in Liberia and the lead architect of the document presented at the Unity Conference Center in Banjor outside of Monrovia in 1997.
The fallen Progressive was a founding member and president of the Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas, ULAA. The passing of Gedeh’s veteran leaves a deep void in the hearts of the nation, his country, and the diaspora community.
Indeed, Liberia at large, Grand Gedeh County in particular, and the family have lost a great leader, a hero, and a mentor. He was a caring father who was always available to be of service to others. In mourning, the association pays special tribute to the memory of the fallen veteran. May the Lord Almighty grant and rest the gentle soul of Hon. Bai Mason Gbala, in eternal bliss!
