Liberia: ‘Moving Speaker Fonati Koffa Does Not Benefit the CDC,’ Says Former President Weah - FrontPageAfrica
by Rodney Sieh · FrontPageAfricaShare
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Monrovia – Former President George Weah, the leader of the opposition Coalition for Democratic Change says the removal of the Speaker of the House of Representatives does not in any way benefit the former ruling party.
By Rodney D. Sieh, rodney.sieh@frontpageafricaonline.com
Speaking to FrontPageAfrica via phone Thursday, the former president urged the opposition bloc to settle their lingering differences in the interest of the party and forge unity instead of trying to fight amongst themselves.
The call from the former President comes in the wake of mounting dissent within the former ruling party lawmakers, mostly divided over the leadership of the House of Representatives.
At the height of the controversy, FrontPageAfrica has learned, is the fight for the control of the powerful Ways, Means & Finance Committee.
The committee is currently headed by Rep. Dixon Seeboe, an ally of Speaker Koffa. Multiple sources confirmed to FrontPageAfrica that the speaker and his deputy, Thomas Fallah are at loggerheads. Fallah is reportedly demanding some influence over who heads the committee and is leading a revolt for the removal of Seboe from the committee.
Speaker Koffa, according to sources, has reportedly agreed to let Seboe go to save his position and ease tension within the party’s bloc in the lower house.
The controversy also stems from the Speaker’s interest in auditing the lower house.
Following his election, Speaker Koffa rattled cages amongst his peers when he called on the General Auditing Commission to examine conduct an audit of the lower house for the past years, which would mark the first post-war audit of the House.
In February, Speaker Koffa told FrontPageAfrica that the invitation to the Auditor General was a fulfillment of his promise to run a more transparent and accountable House.
Said the Speaker: “During the speaker elections, we promised the members and the general public that we will run a more transparent and accountable house. The invitation to the GAC and the subsequent agreement to refer this to relevant committees is a fulfillment of that pledge. It’s sad that the house has not been audited for about 30 years. We are resolved to no longer do business as usual.”
Auditor General, P. Garswa Jackson, Sr., has also proposed a System Review Audit of the Legislature within a period of two years as part of efforts to ensure a future Comprehensive audit of that Branch of Government.
Looking to break away from the past, Speaker Koffa lamented: “It is sad that the house has not been audited for about 30 years. We are resolved to no longer do business as usual.”
For former President Weah, the end simply does not justify the means in the ongoing quest to remove the speaker and could handicap the former ruling party politically.
This is not the first time the lower house has sought the removal of its leader.
In January 2007, then Speaker Edwin Melvin Snowe was removed from his position as Speaker by a renegade faction of the lower house, following a bribery case against him. However, a few days later the Supreme Court ordered him to be reinstated, pending Snowe’s appeal.
At the time, a Supreme Court ruling said the speaker’s removal was illegal and unconstitutional.
Speaker Snowe said at the time that he resigned to uphold the rule of law, declaring: “As you are aware, on the 29th of January, the Supreme Court ruled that the members of the House of Representatives meeting in Virginia [Liberia] were meeting there illegally and that it was unconstitutional. And I feel that as head of the first branch of government that should be making laws should not be disrespecting the Supreme Court like the president and other members are doing. So we did what was prudent to us to have stepped down and allow them to do what they want to do.”
Snowe rejected claims that he was forced to resign because a majority of the members of the House of Representatives no longer had confidence in him, including the few that had supported him from the onset.
Similarly, in September 2016, Representative Alex J. Tyler was forced to recuse himself as Presiding Officer of the House of Representatives due to pressure from some of his colleagues and was ousted as Speaker through a resolution signed by 49 members of the House of Representatives.
The 49 lawmakers’ action was in keeping with Article 49 of the Constitution of Liberia which provides the process through which the speaker of that body can be removed.
Article 49 of the Liberian Constitution states: “The House of Representatives shall elect once every six years a Speaker who shall be the presiding officer of that body, a Deputy Speaker and such other officers as shall ensure the proper functioning of the House.
The Speaker, the Deputy Speaker and other officers so elected may be removed from office for cause by resolution of two-thirds majority of the members of the House.”
The current House of Representatives has a total of 73 lawmakers and a two-third of that number is 49.
The decision by the 49 lawmakers to remove Tyler, was a result of a report from the committee on Rules, Orders and Administration which recommended that, in keeping with the House of Representatives rules 48.1, and 48.3 in the committee report it was unanimously recommended that Representative Tyler be removed from his position as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
In the case of Speaker Koffa, some 40 lawmakers are quietly boasting that they have the numbers to removing him as head of the lower house.
As the saga unfolds, the future of the former ruling party looking to regain state power in 2029 appears to be in limbo. The party which previously held control of the three branches of government now finds itself at risk of losing its only hold on one of those three branches of government.