Government Risks Facing Paralysis If Koffa Removed -Representative Bility Puts Boakai, Others On Notice

MONROVIA – Apparently furious about the evasive attitude of the so-called ‘majority bloc’ of the House of Representatives and their Unity Party backers to oust House Speaker Jonathan Fonati Koffa, Nimba County District 7 Representative Musa Hassan Bility says the Government of Joseph Boakai risks legal and democratic truncation and paralysis if the mutiny succeeds.

In a social media podcast, Bility said as a senior representative, he thought to bring the grave matter clearly and succinctly to the attention of the people of Liberia.

“The first thing is that I thought to talk about today is to talk to the president of Liberia,” he said in the post making rounds on the social media.

“Mr. President since the crisis, I have seen no evidence of your involvement to remove the speaker.  I have seen no evidence that you support the removal of the speaker,” he said and cautioned.  “If the majority bloc refuses to adhere to the Supreme Court order, I want you to know that your government is about to face paralysis.”

He continued: “I just want to tell you that where we sit, as of Thursday, this capitol building is no longer doing business. We have literally adjourned. We are not in session because we have not been getting quorum and therefore there’s nothing you can tell me that the Senate alone can function and function properly.”

Though it is said that elements from the opposition Coalition for Democratic Change CDC were forming cohort with Unity Party forces to dethrone Speaker Koffa, contending that they are angry with the speaker, Rep. Bility noted that “half of the reason for their anger is because he (Koffa) cooperated with you, the President, and your Unity Party.”

“Therefore, as an elder, please intervene,” Bility implored Boakia, adding, “Call them;  tell them to come to work.”

The Nimba County lawmaker however assured the president and the public that “We are going to be applying to the court to declare the Senate not capable of continuing in this manner, because our government never envisioned to be run like this.”

He added: “I told my friends that the clock of control that used to be around the speaker, we have broken and this place needs to be run to reflect the vision and aspirations of our people.”

Bility said further said, in reference to the national budget that should be under serious discussion before it comes into force by January 2025, that there is a need to treat the national budget better than “we did to the previous budget. We know that the budget coming has to reflect the will of our people, and we will ensure that happens.”

He told Boakai: “I want to talk to you regarding the impact of what is happening in your government. The constitution is very clear that you are the head of the government. We have three branches of government and your role is to execute everything else that the other two branches do. Today, we have a situation at the capitol building where people from the Senate wing, some former lawmakers, maneuvering. At this time, I don’t think it is a Unity Party thing.

“We can do our politics but I have not seen any evidence of a conserted Unity Party effort to distabilize their own administration. But yet as president of the country I thought it should catch your attention. We are heading for crisis, Mr. President.”

He re-emphasized his  point: “Today we are in Liberia simply because something happened in the past, whether it was right or wrong then it should happen; no. I did not become representative to do that. I did not become representative of the people of District seven, Nimba to condone actions that run contrary to the law.”

Bility told the president: “Our constitution, Mr. president, is very clear. If you elect a speaker, you have the right to remove him but there are requirements. That requirement says you must have 49 representatives on your side to do that. Saying that they don’t want the speaker given all the hearings he needs to hear and in the final analysis they will vote with their number to remove him, that is the law. But for any number of lawmakers below the required number of the constitution to jump up to say we don’t want the speaker and we are not going to session but we will paralyze the government functions and for us to allow that to happen, Mr. president, that is not a good sign.”

Bility also called on Presdient Boakai to ask his Unity Party lawmakers to come to work; to instruct the Unity Party architecture to instruct their representatives to go to work on the Capitol Hill.

He however vowed Fonati Kofa is not going to resign. “Fonati Kofa will not be removed by any other means order than what is prescribed by the law. Fonati Kofa will be pressured into resignation,” Bility averred. “If those who decided to hold the plenary at ransom, those who decided to hold the country at ransom don’t think about the country; they don’t expect us to validate their actions. It is unacceptable Mr. president.”

Bility told the President in the podcast: “Mr. President, 850,000 people or there about made you president, if one million people get in the streets today to march to say that you should resign, is it fair to say that you have lost your authority and that you should leave the office? We are five million people in Liberia, if all those people come to stand on the street that we don’t want the president, does that mean you must resign, is that what the law says?”

“The law says when 10,000 citizens gathered and went to the capitol to petition the house that they don’t want a particular elected government official, the House of Representatives and Senate will vote to remove he/she by two-third majority.”

Citing international examples, Bility asserted: “Mr. President, do you know why former US president Donald Trump was not removed when the house of representatives voted for his impeachment, because one or two senators in the country of about three hundred million people just two senators said no and he was not removed? It was the same two-third majority that was required and the Democrats didn’t get it so he was not removed.”