“Boakai is Ill-Advised” -Cllr. Gongloe Says Executive Behind Capitol Hill Battle

MONROVIA – As one of the leading opposition political figures who threw his weight behind the Rescue Mission to ensure victory for the Unity Party in 2023, Counsellor Tiawan Gongloe is now providing his legal acumen on the ongoing Capitol Hill crisis by blaming President Joseph Nyuma Boakai. In a lengthy interview held over the weekend, Gongloe did not mince his words in apportioning the yoke of the blame for the Legislative battle squarely on President Joseph Nyuma Boakai who Gongloe says has allowed himself to be ill-advised into fueling a constitution crisis that could not only undermine his development agenda but stall the democratic gains of the country.

Addressing the issue of the Executive Branch’s submission of the draft national budget to the Majority Bloc instead of Speaker Fonati Koffa, Cllr. Gongloe, citing references from the Constitution, said, whenever it comes to dealing with the National Legislature, it is the Speaker that the President should deal with.

“It’s not any other person below the Speaker. Unless the Speaker is removed, the President must deal with the Speaker. As long as the Speaker has not been removed, he is the head of the Legislature; when the President is interacting with the Legislature, he must as a matter of law deal with the Speaker.

“When the President submits the Budget to the Legislature through the Speaker, the Legislature then examines the budget and makes a decision on the budget, either to pass it or send it for amendment. The Executive drafts the budget, but it is the Legislature that makes the appropriation because they are people’s representatives, and they should know what is good for the Liberian people. And so, as long as the Speaker is still sitting there, the President has to deal with the speaker,” Cllr Gongloe stated emphatically.

“The president was ill-advised to give the budget to the Majority Bloc. Whoever advised him did not follow the law. And for me, politics that doesn’t respect the rule of law leads to chaos. It is better for the President to stick to the law, because the same majority today could impeach the president illegally.

“So, it is in the President’s interest to follow the law, as he was il-advised by the law breakers who now call themselves the majority, and they are dissidents because they disagreed with our Constitution. They are not acting legally,” Cllr. Gongloe noted, adding that the outcome of an illegal process is not legal.

“The Senate can say they cannot deal with the budget because it did not come from the Speaker. Those in the House of Representatives, if they act on it, they then will have to present it to the Senate. This has a potential Constitutional crisis. And it may be something invited by the President, because it is possible for the Senate to say oh well, the Speaker has not been removed, we cannot receive anything unless it comes through the Speaker. This is a serious constitutional crisis that is evolving. It is unprecedented. It is different from the Snowe, Tyler issue,” Gongloe intoned passionately.

“If the budget is not approved in time, it will be a hindrance to the development of Liberia, because all the money that the President should be spending to develop Liberia should be appropriated by the Legislature, signed by him and published before it becomes law.

“It is not might that makes right. I see that the dissident lawmakers are talking about they are in the majority. They do not have the number that the law requires for them to legally remove the Speaker. And they are saying to their friends, if you don’t come to join us to remove the speaker, the business of the legislature will go nowhere. So, what is not legally done is not done at all. The House still has a presiding officer in the Speaker. He’s ready to work, he’s not incapacitated by illness or anything. He’s in the country.  There is no other way that the Constitution provides for the House to function without the legally recognized Speaker.

Undermining the Constitution

Expounding further on how the Executive through the Presidency is undermining the Constitution in the ongoing legislative leadership crisis, Cllr. Gongloe cited the instance where officials of the Boakai administration allowed themselves to appear before the Majority Bloc that did not have the legal mandate to summon them.

“They don’t know what they are doing. If I were a minister, I would not appear. Maybe they are afraid for their job, but they are also conspiring against the constitution. Their act is treasonable. They cannot undermine the Constitution. Article 76 (e) says, any other means of undermining the constitution by force or any other means is treason. Why, in peacetime, we are not at war, are ministers and heads of agencies of government undermining our constitution? They are wrong. It is the president who should tell them not to appear. The president himself is undermining the constitution of Liberia, which the dissident group could use tomorrow to impeach him.

“I think it is reasonable to think that the Executive branch is the mastermind behind the whole crisis because the Executive Branch is cooperating with the illegal group. Boakai is a man of sound mind, but he’s ill-advised. He is talking to the wrong people.  The president can get the best legal advice in the country. As president, you can call the best legal minds in the country. He hasn’t done it. There are legal luminaries in this town, but to proceed the way he is proceeding is regretful given his level of experience.

The Law is the Law

Expounding further on what he sees as a deliberate flouting of the constitution in the ongoing House Speakership saga, Cllr. Gongloe there is no ambiguity when it comes to how the actors in the conflict are supposed to act within the confines of the constitution.

“This conflict is not necessary because the law is clear; the law did not create a vacuum. Article 33 of the Constitution says that “the business of the Legislature shall be conducted by a simple majority of each of the Houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives.

“But Article 33 says a lower number may meet and adjourn to compel the absent members to appear. There is nowhere called the majority in the constitution anywhere. But you can there is something about minority, because the Constitution gives power to the minority that meets in the Hall in that it says a lower number may meet and adjourn, not to transact business because it does not have the simple majority and compel the absent members to appear.

“Given what is happening today, it is the absent members that call themselves the majority, and the constitution says that they (the absent members) should be compelled by the lower numbers to appear.

“That compulsion could come one or two ways. One is what I understand the Speaker tried to do these few days to file a Mandamus for the Court to compel the lawmakers to appear. Well, the Justice-in-Chamber, I don’t know whether he has acted on it, so I don’t want to say a word. He may decide to act on it or not. He has that legal discretion.

“But the sergeant of arms is not there for nothing. The sergeant of arms has the rank of Brigadier General of the Armed Forces of Liberia. So, the Speaker can instruct the Sergeant of Arms to compel the absent people to appear in the regular session for business. These are already in the law. If the Sergeant of Arms needs sufficient force, he can command a brigade of the AFL to appear to bring everyone in. The law did not leave any vacuum, it’s there. The law calls for that. The Sergeant of Arms is not a messenger; he is there for law and order to make sure that the Legislature performs its functions properly. He can seek the aid of the highest number of law enforcement officers, especially the army to appear and give effect to a decision of the Speaker.