As no side in the current leadership crisis at the House of Representatives seems unwilling to give in, renowned Liberia Prelate Bishop Kortu Brown wonders which group will eventually submit.
By Naneka Hoffman & Stephen G. Fellajuah
Monrovia, Liberia, October 28, 2024 – As the leadership crisis in the House of Representatives lingers, the former President of the Liberia Council of Churches, Bishop Kortu K. Brown, wonders here who will survive the fight.
Speaking to 12th Graders of the Mother Tegeste Stewart Apostolic Pentecostal School in Brewerville over the weekend, during an interactive session, Bishop Brown and the students exchanged notes on the current saga and expressed deep concern over unfolding events amid growing economic and social challenges facing ordinary Liberians.
He said Liberians are questioning the timeliness of the action that is paralyzing normal legislative functions in the Capitol Building.
The former LCC president told the students that about 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ commissioned a team to assist him in laying the foundation for ushering in the “New Covenant” relationship between God and man, as promised.
According to him, in forming the 12-man team, Jesus also brought in Judas, who history shows was preoccupied with making money and other disruptive missions.
“As a consequence, Judas was willing to do anything to get his aims accomplished, including selling Jesus and putting the lives of his friends at risk,” he details.
When he asked the students who had survived the conflict between Judas and Jesus about 2,000 years ago, they all shouted, “Jesus.” The students appeared confused about what was happening on Capitol Hill and why it was happening at a time of great national need.
Their concerns were whether the current conflict is a consequence of Speaker Koffa’s decision to audit the Legislature, a mere power struggle, or the speaker’s poor performance, as enumerated by rebel lawmakers opposing his leadership.
Like many other political conflicts in the country, it is difficult to know the real actors behind the events most of the time, the Bishop told the students, questioning who the real Judas is in the House’s conflict.
“Apparently, this signature exercise has been going on for several months. I wonder who has been behind it. Where’s the Judas? In the Senate, Executive branch, Pro-Speaker or Anti-Speaker groups? Judas is somewhere, already done his work and waiting for the results”, he told the students.
He figuratively wonders who the high priest was who gave money to those lawmakers he describes as Judas to execute the plan to remove the Speaker.
Bishop Brown, head and Founder of the Apostolic Pentecostal Church International fears that if proper care is not taken, the House will be troubled for many years to come.
“There will be revenge and retribution, continuously,” he cautions, suggesting that one of the ways to address this problem is to “expose the Judas in this saga,” the people behind the scenes who are fueling the conflict and hijacking the work of the country all the time. He wonders why the House of Representatives is always engulfed in leadership conflicts.
“This is why we welcome the efforts of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) to investigate the reported allegations of corruption in this story. We hope the investigation is comprehensive, considering all allegations of corruption from both sides of the conflict. Corruption is a menace. It is robbing our country of needed resources to advance education, health, food security, etc. We must meet it head-on no matter where it comes from”, the senior Pastor of the New Water in the Desert Assembly in Brewerville said.
He welcomes efforts to mediate the conflict at the House of Representatives and appeals to lawmakers to give peace a chance, saying, “We know you all have your points of contentions, but right now, we have to continue to put our country first.”
He appeals to lawmakers to submit themselves to the conciliation process so that the work of the people of Liberia will continue unhindered while cautioning against running a divided house or government over the next several months and years.
The Liberian Senate constituted a committee in a consultative meeting on Thursday, October 24, 2024. The Liberian Senate has set up a mediation committee to mediate between the two rival groups at the House of Representatives.
Over 40 lawmakers in the House of Representatives have been conducting separate sessions in their quest to oust Speaker Koffa. Representatives who are loyal to him attend sessions under his gable, but both lack a quorum.
As of Thursday, 24 October, 30 Representatives supported Koffa, but he constitutionally needs 37 representatives to conduct legislative business.
For the past three sittings in roll, Speaker Koffa has adjourned sessions due to a lack of quorum despite extending an olive branch to his colleagues on the other side to join him in doing the work of the Liberian people.
However, representatives of the majority bloc plotting to remove Speaker Jonathan Fonati Koffa have pledged to hold a formal session tomorrow, Tuesday, October 29, in defiance of a Supreme Court prohibition here.
They argue that Justice-In-Chamber, His Honor Yamie Quiqui Gbeisay Sr., is not acting by law regarding the petition for a writ of prohibition.
Representative Foday Fahnbulleh, who spoke on Spoon FM Live on Friday, announced that the majority bloc would conduct a formal session on Tuesday in defiance of the apex Court’s order to halt all activities in the ongoing political impasse at the House of Representatives.
“We will have a formal session on Tuesday. We are going ahead with our work, the official business of the Liberian people,” Rep. Fahnbulleh maintains.
On October 25, 2024, the Supreme Court of Liberia cited parties in the impasse to a conference on Monday, November 4, 2024, and ordered them to stay all further proceedings, pending the conference’s outcomes.
The Supreme Court order states, “By directive of His Honor, Yamie Quiqui Gbeisay Sr., Associate Justice Presiding in Chambers, you are hereby cited to a conference with His Honor on Monday, November 4, 2024, at the hour of 10:00 a.m. in connection with the above-captioned case.”
Despite acknowledging the directive of the Justice-In-Chambers, Rep. Fahnbulleh notes that their bloc will meet in plenary and discuss it.
“We do not run a bloc. We will go to the plenary for an official session on Tuesday because we are more than 37, as law requires. The Justice-In-Chamber is not acting in keeping with the law. We are going to session. The Legislature functions on majority precedent. The Presiding Officer is Hon. Clarence Garh and not Hon. Kogar”, he said on Spoon FM Live.
For nearly three weeks, a group of lawmakers acting under the name majority bloc has been opting to oust Speaker Koffa, accusing him of involvement in conflicts of interest, among other charges.
But the Speaker dismissed their action as illegal, calling on them to report for session. Editing by Jonathan Browne
