Grandstanding, Defying Public Outcries? -Majority Bloc Keeps Holding Parallel Sessions

MONROVIA – A group of lawmakers –dissenting representatives – of the 55^th National Legislature took the nation by storm when they announced the rejection of the leadership of their Speaker and Chief Administrator, Jonathan Fonati Koffa, flaunting a resolution containing grievances and signatures of some 43 of them. And they have since been staying away from official deliberations, refusing to come under the gavel of the Koffa, holding separate sessions. The embattled Speaker and an untold number of citizens, even including some who think the grievances expressed by the lawmakers against their leader should be processed, have asked the rebellious forces to eschew jungle justice and give the accused Speaker his day in court. But as THE ANALYST reports, it seems all the pleas are going unheeded and the dissenting lawmakers are continuing to hold parallel sessions.

The political upheaval at the Liberia House of Representatives is far from over as the majority bloc continues to hold separate sessions out of the mean chamber of the House of Representatives.

On Tuesday, November 5, 2024 members of the Majority Bloc, presided over by Deputy Speaker Thomas Fallah continue their session in the joint chamber of the national legislature up Capitol Hill.

The action of the majority bloc seems to be in defiance to the alternative writ of prohibition issued by the Supreme Court Justice in Chambers, Justice Yamie Quiqui Gbeisay.

It can be recalled on Thursday, October 24, 2024, Speaker Kofa questioned his colleagues’ decision against him, through a petition for a Writ of Prohibition to the Court, with the objectives of preventing the Majority Bloc from holding separate sessions.

But the Justice in Chambers of the Supreme Court of Liberia Justice Gbeisay placed a halt on the removal of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Cllr. Fonati Kofa, by his colleagues following the Speaker’s petition for a Writ of Prohibition.

Associate Justice Yamie Quiqui Gbeisay on Friday, October 25,2024, mandated both parties to appear before him for a legal conference on November 4, 2024 before making any decision on the matter.

Justice Gbeisay’s decision comes contrary to reports that Speaker Kofa earlier withdrew his petition from the Supreme Court.

Cllr. Fonati Kofa’s application maintained that his colleagues’ separate session is illegal, and wanted the Supreme Court’s intervention through his petition for a Writ of Prohibition as provided for by law.