MONROVIA – Legislative Information Service Director McCarthy Weh has welcomed a bill seeking to establish the Legislative Institute of Liberia. Bong County District Seven Representative Hon. Foday E. Fahnbulleh submitted the bill on Tuesday, June 23. The proposed institute would handle legislative research, policy analysis, and lawmaker training. Weh said the LIS first proposed a similar institute in a 2015 reform package. He noted the Senate’s 2025-2029 strategic plan also flagged weak research capacity. Weh praised Fahnbulleh for advancing what the LIS envisioned a decade ago. He pledged the LIS will support the bill through committee review. Weh also recalled his earlier role proposing the Kofi Annan Institute at the University of Liberia. THE ANALYST reports.
The Director of the Legislative Information Service (LIS), B. McCarthy Weh, II, has welcomed and highly commended the submission of a bill seeking the enactment of the Legislative Institute of Liberia (LIL), describing the move as a transformative step toward strengthening the Liberian Legislature.
In a communication addressed to Bong County Electoral District #7 Representative Hon. Foday E. Fahnbulleh, Director Weh praised the lawmaker for introducing the proposed legislation, which was submitted on Tuesday, June 23, 2026.
The proposed bill seeks to establish a specialized institution dedicated to legislative research, policy analysis, professional development, and public education on governance and lawmaking.
According to Director Weh, the submission of the bill brought excitement for two major reasons: first, because a lawmaker has now taken the initiative to champion such an important undertaking, and second, because the LIS had long envisioned and advocated for the establishment of such an institution.
Reform Push Dates Back To 2015
Director Weh disclosed that in 2015, the LIS submitted a comprehensive twelve-count reform proposal to the leadership of both chambers of the Legislature through the offices of the then Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate.
He noted that Count Nine of that proposal specifically called for the establishment of an Institute for Legislative Studies (ILS).
Since that period, the LIS has repeatedly resubmitted its reform proposals to successive legislative leaders while engaging lawmakers and stakeholders to embrace and advance the concept.
The department also continued promoting the initiative through both electronic and print circulars prior to the 55th Legislature.
Further strengthening the relevance of the initiative, Director Weh referenced the Liberian Senate’s Draft Strategic Plan for 2025–2029, which highlighted the need for a Center for Legislative Studies aimed at strengthening legislative work, enhancing research capacity, and developing educational programs and orientation materials for lawmakers.
The strategic document also acknowledged weak legislative research capacity as one of the challenges facing the Legislature, an issue the proposed Legislative Institute of Liberia seeks to address.
Weh Commends Fahnbulleh’s Action
Director Weh emphasized that the efforts undertaken over the years appear to have now materialized through Representative Fahnbulleh’s legislative action.
“You deserve a titanic commendation for being farsighted enough to envision what was conceived more than a decade ago for the good of the first branch of government and Liberia as a whole,” Weh stated.
He described the move as “transformational representation and leadership at its best.” The LIS Director reaffirmed his institution’s readiness to collaborate with Representative Fahnbulleh, the relevant joint committees, and the 55th Legislature in ensuring the passage of the proposed legislation.
He concluded by congratulating the lawmaker and reiterating the importance of establishing an institution that would contribute significantly to informed lawmaking and governance in Liberia.
A Decade-Old Institutional Legacy
It can be recalled that in 2006, Weh, while serving as Director of Research for the Liberian Senate, recommended to the Legislature the establishment of a graduate program in peace studies to be named in honor of Kofi Annan, then Secretary General of the United Nations.
After the Legislature did not act on his proposal, Weh redirected it to then-President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who endorsed his plan and forwarded it to the President of the University of Liberia for action.
In response to Director Weh, the Executive Mansion wrote, “… I would like to inform you that, on instruction of the President, I have forwarded your letter and its attachments to the President of the University of Liberia with the President’s request that the Administration of the University of Liberia considers it in its five-year development plan.”
Following receipt of Weh’s proposal from the Office of the President, the University of Liberia (UL) Faculty Senate met and evolved a resolution establishing the Kofi A. Annan Institute for Conflict Transformation (KAICT) at the university.
Dr. Al-Hassan Conteh, then President of the University of Liberia, wrote to President Sirleaf on July 1, 2006, noting that “… the resolution takes due cognizance of your suggestion that the University of Liberia considers the proposal of Mr. B. McCarthy Weh, II.”
The resolution itself stated in part that the UL Board of Trustees resolved at its meeting on June 8, 2006, to honor Annan’s long track record in peacebuilding, acting upon Sirleaf’s endorsement of the Senate’s Research and Development Bureau’s recommendation that a school of peace and development studies be named after him.
Weh said the exchanges show how legislative staffers can assist agencies of government once their recommendations and proposals are taken seriously.
Just as President Sirleaf received and endorsed his proposal, leading to his recognition today as the proponent of KAICT, Weh argued that had the leadership committees of the Senate and House critically reviewed his reform program for consideration where appropriate, the Legislature’s modernization and reform agenda could have advanced much further, building on the program approved and adopted by the Joint Legislative Modernization Committee of the 52nd Legislature.