IN THE WEEKS AND MONTHS leading to the 2023 Presidential elections, President Joseph Boakai and his Unity Party said all the right things enroute to winning state power, trumpeting the rescue mission as the antidote to President George Weah’s cancer of bad governance and corruption that was eating up Liberia’s soul.
ON HIS INAUGURATION Day, President Boakai was clear about his intent, assuring Liberia and Liberians as well as the rest of the world, that he was different, he preached unity and peace and how he intended to fix a rotten system that had taken Liberia years back. “Partisanship must give way to nationalism,” Boakai said on January 22nd as he seized the mantle of authority of the state. The newly minted President listed improving adherence to the rule of law, fighting corruption and renewing “the lost hope” of citizens as his priorities.
SAID PRESIDENT BOAKAI: “Our resilience and resolve to shed the image of violence for which we were known for most of three decades, to uphold a democratic culture despite years of strife, autocracy, dictatorship, and war, and a deeply rooted communal spirit in a society that celebrates close and proximate relationships are a marvel to the world.”
THE PRESIDENT EVEN SPOKE HIGHLY about abiding by the constitution when he said: “I congratulate the 55th Legislature which has just been sworn in. Our Constitution provides for three independent and coordinate branches of government. I like to emphasize the “coordinate” element. It implies working together cooperatively toward a common objective of service to the Liberian people. We want to release the energies of our people to take their destiny into their own hands. We must rectify the flaws in our present Constitution to address the devolution of power and other pressing issues. I look forward to collaborating with members of the Legislature individually and collectively, to advance the people’s agenda.”
FOR THE PAST FEW MONTHS however, President Boakai has sat idly by while officials in his government run Liberia to the ground. Multiple cases of corruption and bad governance lingering in the corridors of the state without a word from the President.
OVER THE PAST FEW WEEKS, while the lower house of the National legislature was in turmoil over a leadership impasse, murmurs and speculations floated that Mr. Boakai’s office was paying hotel expenses for one faction led by Deputy Speaker Thomas Fallah, who hails from the President’s hometown in Lofa County. The “Majority” bloc has been in the hotel for nearly a month, eating, lodging and drinking on taxpayers’ money.
ON MONDAY, the President showed his hand, that rumors and speculations perhaps had some truth to them. Just hours after a mediation team from the Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS) completed its futile mission to help ease the crisis, the President’s team submitted the country’s national budget to one half of the feuding lower house, lodging at the RLJ Hotel off the Robertsfield Highway.
AN EXECUTIVE MANSION STATEMENT Monday noted that the divided lower house must give timely consideration and approval to the draft budget representing a 15.3% increase over the total appropriation of US$738.9 million in the 2024 Recast Budget.
IN A STRONGLY WORDED statement, House Speaker J. Fonati Koffa and his leadership emphasized that the move by the President undermines the authority of his office and the constitutional framework governing the House of Representatives. “We note with disappointment that the president has chosen to deliver the budget to the presiding officer outside of the usual protocol of directly addressing the speaker,” the leadership said. “Nevertheless, we take note that the budget is addressed to the speaker and in keeping with article 49 of the constitution of Liberia, the “The House of Representative shall elect once every six years a Speaker who shall be the presiding officer of that body…”
THE LEADERSHIP REVEALED that the budget was delivered to the Deputy Chief Clerk at the RLJ Resort, which is currently serving as the meeting site for a majority bloc of lawmakers who have distanced themselves from Speaker Koffa’s leadership. “We must warn all parties not to further jeopardize our constitutional scheme by attempting to illegally act on the budget,” he cautioned, describing the Deputy Chief Clerk as a “renegade” for his role in receiving the draft budget.
THE SPEAKER’S COMMENTS mirror similar one emphasized recently by opposition leader Alexander Cummings who emphasized that the stalemate in the House of Representatives is a threat to what he called the nascent democracy, while also posing a significant challenge to constitutional order. Mr. Cummings urged lawmakers to respect the rule of law and the Constitution while they pursue their legitimate concerns, stating that these are cornerstones of democracy and economic development. “Without respect for the Constitution and rule of law, the nation cannot claim to have stability,” he said.
THE LIBERIAN CONSTITUTION IS CLEAR: Article 49 states: “The House of Representative 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 function of the House. The Speaker , the Deputy Speaker and officers so elected may be removed for cause by a resolution of two-thirds majority of the members of the House. Ironically, neither side has the number, which is 49, to break the impasse. Yet, the President chose to take sides in another branch of government squabbles by openly submitting the national budget to the majority bloc.
SADLY, PRESIDENT BOAKAI, in presenting his budget Monday shoved the constitution down the barrel of a ruthless and dangerous hole that could hurt Liberia’s bourgeoning and thriving democracy in the not-so-distant future.
LIBERIA’S HISTORY is ripe with dictators like Samuel Doe and Charles Taylor using their powers to ignore constitutional authority. When Doe seized power after the 1980 coup, he suspended the Constitution until 1984, when a new constitution was approved by referendum, and he assumed the rank of general and established the PRC as a provisional government with himself as de facto head of state.
Doe’s rule, to the dismay of his critics and opposition, was characterized by authoritarianism, corruption, favoritism toward his Krahn ethnic group, which led to growing opposition to his regime from the Liberian public and the United States. What followed was a Liberian civil war in December 1989 when the anti-Doe National Patriotic Front of Liberia led by Charles Taylor invaded Liberia from Côte d’Ivoire to overthrow Doe. Doe was captured and executed by Prince Johnson on September 9, 1990.
TAYLOR WAS NO DIFFERENT. Like Doe, Mr. Taylor violated the constitution and human rights, and free speech was nonexistent during his reign.
ONCE AGAIN, the civil raged and opposition did not rest until Taylor was forced out by the United States of America.
THE SAD REALITY IS that Liberians are becoming accustomed to breaking the laws and the constitution when it suits them, when it is in their favor – to the detriment of the country’s thriving democracy.
WHAT PRESIDENT BOAKAI DID MONDAY was wrong. There’s no way around it. The Constitution calls for a two-thirds majority to remove the speaker, and the Thomas Fallah group may have the majority but like the speaker, they too have fallen short of the constitutional requirement to remove the speaker.
AS USUAL, sycophantic followers of the government of the day will see no wrong in what is unfolding. And as it has always been, breaking the law and the constitution is fine, as long as it benefits a few while the majority, lingering at the bottom of the economic ladder, feel the pinch. And when reality begins to set in, most often, it is always late – and Liberians once more turn to the international community for saving grace. A HINT TO THE WISE!!!
