MONROVIA – As the expulsion of Representative Yekeh Kolubah collides with President Boakai’s chilling warning, a fierce political question emerges: is this leadership—or the steady unraveling of the rule of law? In a searing and uncompromising critique of the current political climate, Cllr. Syrenious Sayma Cephas, former Solicitor General of Liberia in the last dispensation breaks his self-imposed silence to confront what he describes as a dangerous drift away from democratic norms under the leadership of Joseph Nyuma Boakai. Anchored on the controversial expulsion of Representative Yekeh Kolubah, Cephas’ reflection is not merely a reaction to a single event, but a broader indictment of what he perceives as a pattern of executive overreach, institutional disregard, and creeping authoritarian tendencies. His tone is resolute, his language deliberate, and his message unmistakably political: Liberia stands at a defining crossroads between the preservation of its democratic gains and a relapse into the excesses of the past.
Cephas frames his intervention as both a constitutional duty and a moral obligation, invoking the sanctity of free expression and due process as enshrined in Liberia’s 1986 Constitution. With the precision of a legal mind and the urgency of a former journalist, he situates Kolubah’s expulsion within a troubling narrative of governance—one that allegedly undermines judicial authority, erodes legislative independence, and normalizes actions that defy established legal standards. The President’s now widely debated remark—“things will happen that never happened before”—is presented not as a casual statement, but as a chilling signal of an administration willing to test, if not transcend, the limits of democratic accountability.
Beyond the immediate controversy, the piece expands into a sweeping political commentary on the state of the nation. Cephas draws sharp contrasts between past administrations, including those of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and George Manneh Weah, which he credits with strengthening democratic space, and the current regime, which he accuses of fostering division, marginalization, and institutional decay. From allegations of selective governance and tribal imbalance to concerns over territorial integrity and the politicization of justice, the narrative paints a portrait of a nation grappling with deepening fractures. See BELOW for the full text of Cllr. Cephas’s article:
My Reaction to President Boakai’s Tantrums: “Things Will Happen That Never Happened Before” and the Expulsion of Representative Yekeh Kolubah
By Cllr. sayma syrenius cephus
I have always wanted to stay on the fence and watch the daily political drama of this government without any comment. The reason is simple: judging from our past inactions when opportunity unfolded, and a political demagogue blew it, landing us where we are, I mostly credit our difficult trek to sanity to our own misdeeds. And this is, we should cry our own cry! This is why I put myself in a position unworthy to criticize this government for all of its alleged excesses.
But the truth is I am a political being. And as a citizen who holds sacred the right to hold an opinion separate and distinct from others, as provided under Article 15(b) of the 1986 Constitution, I feel compelled by common sense to get off the fence and tell my government to respect the rule of law. The expulsion of Representative Yekeh Kolubah, absent due process, has again brought into the spotlight and into question the democratic credentials of this government.
As a former journalist and now a lawyer, I have learned that democracy is not a friendly form of government. It is combative, and its expression of free speech is often raw and unsavory. It is an adversarial contest over ideas, over voters, and over the truth. Speaking truth to power is not meant to decorate the system but to expose the rot masked under fantasy and the futility of irresponsible government — one drenched in the macabre of looting public resources for private ends.
Liberia is the freest democracy of the 21st century, incomparable by any stretch of imagination. Thanks to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for laying the foundation, and to former President George Manneh Weah for dismantling the vestiges of tyranny and the bastardized belief in presidential supremacy. In their place, Weah erected the right of citizens to openly criticize and challenge their government without fear or favor and still keep their heads on their shoulders. It was inevitable that such a system would produce a democrat to the core — to the disliking of old-fashioned, 20th-century politicians who still want to be relevant in the 21st.
Incredibly, Representative Yekeh Kolubah, a Lorma, from Lofa County is that prototype. He has gate-crashed onto the stage like the creature in Frankenstein, openly confronting the relics of bad governance, rampant corruption, nepotism, tribalism at every stratum of the current government, and, of course, the ineptitude of his creator — the Unity Party government. But unlike Frankenstein’s monster, who only chased his creator, Yekeh is going after the rot of the system itself and the abuses shrouded in pale rhetoric. In fairness, Yekeh Kolubah is a national hero who has risen from the rot of intolerance, poor judgment, and bad governance unleashed onto the public space by this government.
The real drama is not what Yekeh has said or done, but what President Joseph Boakai said in a recent interview: “Things will happen that never happened before.” The President was responding to a reporter’s question about the controversial expulsion of Representative Kolubah by the House of Representatives.
We do not need to strain our eyes or ears to see what is happening. This is the same President who said God is no longer redistributing land, so the Armed Forces of Liberia should take land even if it belongs to private citizens. And amid the wailing and despair, the AFL went on a rampage and seized private property as part of their “constitutional duties.” Yet behold, the AFL remains weak as a cooked potato in the face of Guinea’s territorial conquest inside Liberia.
Before that, the President dismantled all tenure positions and appointed his cronies and apologists. Then came the biggest blow — he stabbed Speaker Jonathan Fonati Koffa in the back with a legislative coup that ultimately forced Koffa’s resignation after months of standoff.
Crowning these missteps is the attempt to weaponize the Justice Ministry by targeting former officials without evidence, shamelessly extending the witch-hunt to the former First Lady.
Divisions now form rivers across Liberia. From Lofa, where President Boakai favors only two smaller border tribes — Kissi and Gbandi, with a combined population of 273,230 about 7.8% of Liberia’s population — for lucrative posts in the financial sector, to the exclusion of the entire Southeast, marginalized and deprived of jobs, the country is fractured along social, political, and tribal lines. All of it is credited to the regime’s lack of vision.
Then came the crisis with Guinea. The government has yet to explain why Guinea has suddenly encroached upon and is currently occupying Liberian territory. Instead, it is going after Yekeh Kolubah for saying what Guinea itself has said. So assuming Yekeh expressed an opinion different from everyone else, does that change Guinea’s occupation of Liberian territory? The answer is no.
What is sickening is this: whenever a Liberian citizen runs to the courts to defend his right to due process, this government flouts its own judiciary and renders the rule of law a “paper tiger.” The tenure rancor at the Supreme Court and rulings adverse to the government’s position were simply shelved and openly mocked as pathetic jokes. So it was with Speaker Koffa, and now it comes as no big surprise that Yekeh’s flight to the Liberian Supreme Court seems a complete fantasy.
So Yekeh is thrown out by a jungle-style legislative process now dubbed “expulsion,” and the President justifies it by saying, _“Things will happen that never happened before.” What else is there to prove that this government is not serious about democracy and the rule of law, and can do whatever it wants? That is a question that awaits Liberians in 2029.