MONROVIA – Liberia’s contemporary party politics pays honor to a few leaders, however the fact some might not have had the opportunity to serve at the acme of state leadership as yet. One of such persons is Alexander Benedict Cummings, who many citizens follow because they believe he is a sworn patriot and passionate progressive. In the House of Representative leadership crisis, which has reached concentrated stalemate following the final ruling of the Supreme Court, the political leader of the Alternative National Congress (ANC) is putting the onus on the President of the Republic who seemingly has run away from protecting the constitution and rule of law. In a position statement issued in Monrovia this week, Mr. Cummings warned the president not to ignore the rule of law, reminding him, “Rule of Law is NOT an Option”. The Analyst reports.
Former presidential candidate and leader of the Alternative National Congress (ANC), Alexander Benedict Cummings, has formally reacted to President Joseph Boakai’s position to Supreme Court judgment in the House of Representatives power crisis – a position in which the president annulled Supreme Court ruling that already has affirmed Speaker Koffa’s leadership.
President Boakai in a statement last weekend told the nation that despite supreme conclusion that the removal of Koffa was wrong and illegal, and that the “majority bloc’s” meetings and activities being a quorum were ultra vires without the presence of the duly elected speaker of the country, he would nonetheless work with the bloc, “the quorum” to avoid shutting down government operations.
But the ANC leader said “The law is clear: 37 to elect, 49 to remove. No room for misinterpretation. The ‘majority bloc’ have not had the numbers, so their actions (and the Executive’s support of them) are legally flawed.”
Cummings opined that “if they get the numbers, they should follow due process and remove the Speaker properly”.
“If they are determined to remove the speaker they elected, then they should have pursued this approach instead of trying to subvert the rules. It’s not too late for that if that is what they want to do.”
He acknowledged however that the Speaker clearly lacks majority political support in the HOR.
“That is a political issue, and it is where the President has failed—to broker a solution,” Cummings reasoned, and added: “But again, it’s not too late for that. The Speaker appears open to a dialogue, but ‘the bloc’, emboldened by the President’s actions, refuses to engage.”
The ANC leader also asserted that the legal and political issues are being confused, perhaps intentionally, and that the two issues need to be treated separately to move forward.
“In the meantime, we look disorganized on the world stage, and the president appears indecisive or weak,” he stressed, indicating that the president should have brokered an outcome where he could have clearly stated without equivocation that he would comply with the Supreme Court Ruling. He did Not.”
According to Cummings, there is still an opportunity to resolve this politically and/or legally, expressing the hope that discussions are happening behind the scenes to do so in the best interest of the country.
“Not following the Rule of Law is NOT an Option,” he emphasized.
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