Gbarpolu County Senator Amara M. Konneh has asked the Senate to summon authorities from the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), the Liberia National Fire Service (LNFS), and Liberia National Police (LNP) to explain their delay in submitting the final report on the December 2024 Capitol Building fire incident.
He was referring to the fire incident on December 18, 2024, that destroyed the joint Chambers of the Capitol Building, during a tense leadership standoff in the House of Representatives.
Konneh submitted his request in a letter dated May 29, 2025, and addressed to the Senate plenary through Pro-Tempore Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence. In it, he recalled that the LNP had conducted an investigation with support from foreign fire experts, the preliminary findings of which indicated that arson was the likely cause for the blaze.
The Senator noted that several individuals had been identified early in the investigation as persons of interest. “But, nearly six months later, no final report has been made public, raising public concern and intensifying demands for transparency and accountability.”
Konneh, who chairs the Senate Committee on Public Accounts and Audit, recalled another major incident that similarly shook Capitol Hill — the July 26, 2006, Executive Mansion fire, a case as yet unresolved.
As Minister of Finance during then-President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s first term, Konneh said, more than US$80 million had been appropriated, over several years, for rehabilitation of the Executive Mansion. As a Minister of Finance, at the time, Konneh remembered disbursing the first US$35 million dollars for that project.
Unfortunately, the renovation work was neither completed. Furthermore, the cause of the Executive Mansion fire was never publicly disclosed, with no one held accountable for the incident.
The Senator cautioned his colleagues not to allow the same fate to befall the Capitol Building.
“Almost 20 years later, the people’s building (Capitol Building) across the street from the Executive Mansion has been gutted by a fire, on the most important part of the building where we collaborate [and gather] for the President to address the nation and deliver his agenda to the National Legislature.”
The Gbarpolu lawmaker warned that, if pressure is not put on the Executive Branch to take action through a final report, “a few years from now, our Temple of Justice may be gutted by fire because somebody is angry.”
“As national leaders, [we] should not be leading on the basis of the many rumors that have circulated about the incident,” Senator Konneh said. He instead urged his colleagues to summon the aforementioned institutions to appear before plenary and provide findings, so that the Legislature and Executive can work together to avoid similar incidents in the future.
Bong County Senator Prince Moye filed a motion
to formally invite the Ministry of Justice, Liberia National Police and Liberia National Fire Service, to appear before plenary before the end of the month. The Secretary of the Senate is set to extend the invitation on the plenary behalf.
