“Dangerous, Disruptive for Liberia’s Democracy” -Rep. Musa Bility Describes Majority New Speakership as “Coup”

MONROVIA –  As the battle to dethrone House Speaker J. Fonati Koffa rages on, Nimba County District #7 lawmaker Musa Hassan Bility has described as disruptive, dangerous and illegal the Majority Bloc’s decision taken on Thursday, November 21, 2024, to elect Representative Richard Koon as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

“When people attempt to disrupt democracy, it is dangerous for our country. The attitude and behavior of our colleagues today is a disruption of our democratic process. No matter what happens in the history of this country, what happened today has never, ever happened before,” Representative Bility informed the nation yesterday in a somber podcast following news of the election of Rep. Koon as the new House Speaker.

“At no time has a speaker sitting in office, having been duly elected, been threatened with removal by a group of people who believe that the law belongs to them. In violation of our laws that are clearly stated as to what needs to be done to remove a speaker; what must happen in order to remove a speaker.

“Our colleagues have, in deceiving themselves, sat and put themselves into a situation where they are now claiming that they have elected a new Speaker. It is unfortunate, and I am very disappointed in some of my colleagues, especially the Deputy Speaker, who has called himself a presiding officer, even though the Speaker is here, but afraid to face him, and then ask him to recuse himself which the law calls, so as to proceed with the process of removal,” Bility stated soberly.

Continuing, the Nimba County lawmaker, who remains one of the staunchest pillars of the pro-Koffa bloc, intoned that the so-called Majority Bloc has flouted the laws, regulations and procedures on the books for removing a sitting speaker.

“For the sake of clarity, let the Liberian people know that if you want to remove the Speaker, you prepare a resolution of over 49 people, you come to session where the Speaker resides, and present it to session to say, “Mr. Speaker, we have these charges against, and therefore we want you removed”.

“The law requires that a committee, or a specialized committee is set up, the Speaker recuses himself from that process, and the committee reports back to plenary on the outcome, and the Speaker is given the chance to respond to that, and plenary votes with a two-third majority to remove the Speaker.

“Today, our colleagues have flouted all these procedures, all of these regulations, all of these laws on our books, and have elected a speaker. What is even more disturbing is the fact that is being masterminded by people who have been here for long, know the law, who know what the law says, and who know how to manage the law,” Mr. Bility lamented.

Speaker Not Budging to Coup

Continuing in his podcast, Representative Bility said the House Speakership standoff has threatened democracy and placed Liberia in a perilous situation that needs resolution from all quarters. He furthered that Representative Koffa still remains speaker of the 55^th Legislature until he is accorded due process leading to his removal.

“I guess the battle at the Capitol Building has entered round two. We are prepared for it. We will and must remain civil. Fonati is not going anywhere. Nobody has the power to remove him. We urge the security forces to stay out of this, and let the law and the lawmakers deal with what is today a legal standoff.

“Our country is facing a critical time. This is a democracy. For people to try to carry out a coup in a democracy in the branch of government that is charged with the responsibility to oversee the functions of the rest of the government is telling. Obviously, we will not accept it. Fonati Koffa is the Speaker. He has not been removed in accordance with the law. They are sitting over there, and the entire process does not fall under the due process as prescribed by our laws, and it violates all of the tenets of law.

“As the saying goes, what is not done legally is not done at all. So today, I am told that our colleagues have voted to remove Fonati Koffa. Well, they are not telling the truth. It is not possible. If they have the number, they can do it, but the law calls for a process and they must follow that process.

“Don’t hurt our country. Don’t leave law outside, don’t flout our laws. I just want to make it very clear that what happened today is outside of the law. It is not done. But I want to admonish the Supreme Court to take cognizance of the due process of law, to allow legality to flow, to allow the right thing to happen. Don’t be afraid of anybody. We are not going to sit here and allow people to take the law into their own hands.

“I respect my honorable colleague Richard Koon, but I will never call him Speaker because he’s not a speaker until he is speaker. If he becomes Speaker through the due process of law, I will support him, I will respect him, and I will honor him,” Representative Bility stated emphatically.

Supreme Court, Last Bus Stop

In furtherance of his views on the latest Capitol Hill debacle, Bility said it is high time for the Supreme Court, which is the final arbiter of justice, to make the right decision, and end the House stalemate so as to avoid a looming deepening crisis.

“We lost over 100,000 souls to get to where we are. A few greedy misguided people cannot take us back. We will not accept that. We will not do it. We will not take it. It’s not going to happen. We look up to the Supreme Court to come. This is why they were created. The court was created specifically for what is happening now. If it fails in this, it has failed the Liberian people. If the court wants to say Fonati is wrong and the people are right, let the court say it. If the court feels that what they are doing is wrong, let the court say it. Let the court not refuse to hear us; that will be a bad example, and that will be dangerous to our democracy.

“I am calling on every Liberian, whether it is President Boakai, former President Weah, the international community, to see the manner in which our democracy is eroding and help us to preserve it.

“We will not allow this to happen. Fonati is Speaker, come Tuesday will preside here. And that’s it. To call yourself a speaker when you are not a speaker is wrong. We will not allow it. And what bothers me in this whole case is why the rush? Why don’t you want to follow the law? Why don’t you just want to come to Fonati and stand before him and say, Fonati we don’t want you; and then let Fonati say why you don’t want me, and then he answers it, and let us vote to say yes, we agree with you, or no we don’t agree with you. Why do you want to take our country? Why do you want to do this?

“My fellow Liberians, our country has once again come to face another challenge, something very strange, something very peculiar. This has never happened before. When you want the Speaker out, you reach a point where the Speaker feels that he has lost the battle, and he resigns. The last speaker battle lasted for over three months. Why are you so desperate to have power, to the extent that you don’t want to give chance to the rule of law. This is sick. This is egregious, unacceptable, and will be resisted.

“Finally, I want to call on the President. You have a role to play here Mr. President, please play that role. You are the head of state of the Republic of Liberia. Whatever happens here, whether you know about it or you don’t know about it, is not going to escape you. Whoever is telling you to stay out of it is ill-advising you. Please, Mr. President, in the one month that we’ve been in this thing, I have not seen a trail that indicates that you are part of this. Please take advantage of that and participate in it. These people will not be allowed to violate our laws. We will fight it. We hope they will understand our position, and we hope there will be serenity. But we are going anywhere. We will stay right here, and those guys will soon realize once again, that whether you take it up, you read it down, that the law is the law,” stated the Nimba County lawmaker vociferously.

Representative Bility’s position statement comes against the backdrop of the election by the Majority Bloc of Montserrado County District # 11 lawmaker Richard Koon as the new Speaker.

Following Koon’s election as the new House Speaker on Thursday, this paper has been authoritatively informed that the process has been set into motion to strip Representative Koffa of all legislature privileges pertaining to his speaker position.

Meanwhile, Speaker Fonati Koffa and members of the pro-Koffa bloc yesterday beseeched the Honorable Supreme Court to counter several unconstitutional actions of the Majority Bloc led by Deputy Speaker Thomas Fallah and Representative Samuel G. Kogar.

Some of the actions which the Koffa bloc prayed the Supreme Court to reverse include what they termed as the convening of an illegal plenary without the Speaker who is constitutionally acknowledged as “presiding officer” of the House of Representatives; using the illegal plenary to illegally suspend three members of the legislature without according them due process; illegally restructuring and reconstituting Statutory Committees of the House of Representatives; and unconstitutionally seizing and taking possession of the 2025 Draft National Budget by the Deputy Speaker.

In another development, Speaker Fonati Koffa and his colleagues from the minority bloc yesterday filed a writ of mandamus over the Speaker’s illegal removal. A writ of mandamus is a judicial remedy consisting of a court order that commands a government official or entity to perform an act it is legally required to perform as part of its official duties, or to refrain from performing an act the law forbids it from doing. Writs of mandamus are usually used in situations where a government official has failed to act as legally required or has taken a legally prohibited action.