6 March 2008
Monrovia — The Liberian Senate Tuesday voted that Senate Pro-Tempore Isaac Nyenabo be investigated by the committee he setup to probe Margibi County Senator and Chairperson of the Senate Rules, Order and Administration Committee, Clarice Jah.
Sen. Nyenabo is being probed in connection with an illegal car deal he is said to have unilaterally carried out on behalf of the Senate while that body was on Agriculture break between November 2007 and January 2008.
The probe centers on the purchase of two 12-seated buses that Sen. Nyenabo reportedly purchased instead of a 32-seated bus that was mandated by the Plenary, the highest decision making body of the Liberian Senate.
Plenary action was predicated upon a complaint by Nimba County Junior Senator Aldolphus Dolo who wrote the plenary requesting the body to investigate the Pro-Temp for his alleged unilateral action in the car deal.
On February 16, 2008, the chairperson and the entire membership of the Rules, Orders and Administration Committee were suspended for the second time on grounds that there were some discrepancies and flaws in their 2006/2007 report submitted to plenary; which was rejected by plenary.
But Senator Dolo argued that Clarice Jah and her committee should not be the only ones to be punished. He maintained that Pro-Temp Isaac Nyenabo should be made to account for his role in the transactions as well if justice is to be done.
Sen. Dolo said in his communication to the plenary that one of the reasons for which the Plenary suspended the Jah Committee has to do with the purchase of two 12-Seated Mitsubishi buses and one Neon Sedan for the use of the senate, when that was not what plenary approved.
Secondly, Dolo argued that Nyenabo be probed because he denied having knowledge of the purchase of the vehicles when in fact he did.
He complained that the Pro-Temp lied, adding, "I also would like to say that the Pro-Temp was not honest with me when he said he did not know about the transaction surrounding the procurement of those vehicles."
He displayed the purported letter written by the Pro-Temp to the Deputy Minister for Expenditure and Debt Management on November 12, 2007 informing the Minister that Prestige Motors, a vendor negotiated with for the purchase of the vehicles of the Liberian Senate had informed him that it would not be in the position to make available the required vehicles.
For him, Sen. Nyenabo should step aside and submit to the probe team he (Nyenabo) set up to probe the Jah Committee. He wants the George Moore Probe Committee to make Nyenabo to answer to his involvement in the illegal car deal.
Following Sen. Dolo and others' arguments the Plenary voted that Nyenabo submits himself to and cooperate with the probe team to his vindicate himself.
Like Snowe, Like Nyenabo
Grand Gedeh County Senior Senator and Senator Pro-Temp Isaac Nyenabo may by now be reading from the pages of the episode of the House of Representatives to discover the politics that forced Rep. Edwin Snowe to quit the Speaker position of the lower house of the National Legislature.
Media reports had speculated that there was plan afoot to boot him out of his position as President Pro-Tempore of the Liberian Senate. Apparently not reading the writing on the wall, Sen. Nyenabo has finally fallen into the snare of his real or imaginary foes in the Senate, and observers say his trouble has begun.
Two senators had recently been vocal against the President Pro-Temp of the Liberian Senate, Isaac W. Nyenabo charging him with multiple
Nimba County Junior Senator Adolphus Dolo and Bomi County Junior Senator Richard Devine have been mounting all the pressure they can to get Senator Nyenabo to feel the full weight of the Plenary for allegedly un-authorizing transactions on behalf of the Senate.
They are also accusing the Senate Pro-temp of carrying out some illegal transactions which the lawmakers described as "corrupt practices". Sen. Nyenabo is yet to explain his role to the public although he did so during plenary session.
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