Bility Wants Legislature Insulated from Imperial Presidency -Senses Legislature Being Reduced to Executive’s Auxiliary

The Liberia democracy, as framed by the 1986 Constitution, espouses a system of governance anchored on “three separate and coordinate branches” doctrine – the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary – each with a set of distinctive functions, with a slight overlaps to faciliate coordination and oversight as to curb counterparts from exercising absolute powers. Despite the acute clarities, the Executive, or simply the presidency, still carries the gem of Liberia’s old governance tendencies replete with despotism, or so-say-one, so-say-all—and it seems the Unity Party administration’s second term under President Joseph Boakai is perpetuating those traits; courtesy of Nimba County Representative Hassan Musa Bility who wrote an opinion piece, titled, “A Dangerous Precedent, The Legislature Must Not Be Reduced to an Auxiliary of the Executive”.

See BELOW for full text of Bility’s article.

Rep. Musa Hassan Bility Writes:

A Dangerous Precedent, The Legislature Must Not Be Reduced to an Auxiliary of the Executive

I am deeply troubled by the manner in which the National Legislature has handled the recent amendment to the Act creating the National Port Authority, an amendment that authorizes the creation of several autonomous ports across the country.

This is a matter of national significance. It affects commerce, sovereignty, fiscal oversight, and the future structure of our economy. And yet, it was passed without public hearings, without expert opinions, and without the involvement of key stakeholders.

Even more alarming is the speed and secrecy with which the House of Representatives concurred with the Senate’s version of the bill, effectively rubber stamping a law that many of us had no opportunity to even read, let alone debate or refine. This is not how laws should be made in a democracy. This is not why the people sent us to Capitol Hill.

What happened is shameful. It is a betrayal, not only of our constitutional responsibility as legislators, but of the very principles for which countless Liberians have fought and died. We have surrendered our oversight role. We have abdicated our mandate to ensure checks and balances. We have dangerously reduced the Legislature to an auxiliary of the Executive.

This is a perilous precedent. If we allow critical national decisions to be made in silence and secrecy, without scrutiny or participation, then we are no longer a functioning democracy, we are a façade.

I call on my colleagues to reflect deeply. The 55th Legislature will be remembered. And if we do not change course, history will judge us not as guardians of the people’s trust, but as its violators.

Let us not continue down this path. Liberia deserves better.

Hon. Musa Hassan Bility

Member, House of Representatives

District #7, Nimba County