Monrovia — The Senate Committee on Autonomous and Commission made the decision to suspend a confirmation hearing for nominees of the Liberian Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) after the nominees failed to comply with the requirements set forth in the LACC Act. The committee deemed this a breach of the law.
During the hearing in the Chambers, the three nominees admitted that they had not declared their assets prior to appearing before the Committee for the confirmation process. This action violated section 6.12 of the new LACC Act, which mandates that all nominees declare their assets before confirmation.
The nominees who appeared before the committee were Randolph Tebbs, nominated for the position of Monitoring and Investigation, Dr. Miata Jeh, nominated for the position of Commissioner, and Samuel Dakana, nominated for the position of Investigation.
This recent decision by the Senate committee follows a debate held among majority members of the Liberian Senate regarding the confirmation proceedings for all presidential nominees, particularly those nominated for tenure positions.
There is a division among Senators, particularly those from the opposition bloc including Abraham Darius Dillon, James Biney, Conmany Wesseh, Jonathan Karpay, and Jonathan Boy-Charles Sogbie, on whether to outright reject or proceed with confirmation hearings for nominees to the Liberian Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC).
The Senators arguing against confirmation maintain that while the President has the constitutional authority to appoint individuals and the Senate has the power to confirm or deny nominees, it is not politically prudent to confirm nominees for tenure positions with the upcoming Presidential and Legislative elections just four months away.
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In their argument, these Senators acknowledge the President's constitutional authority to appoint individuals to executive branch positions, even in the final hours of their administration. However, they believe that it is politically inappropriate to appoint individuals to tenure positions so close to elections, especially considering the situation involving current commissioners whose contracts were terminated by the amended LACC law passed by the legislature.
In a separate development, authorities from the Ministry of Public Works are set to appear before the full Plenary on the following day to address allegations of providing false information during a public hearing. The authorities, including Public Works Minister Ruth Coker Collins, Deputy Minister for Administration Joseph Todd, Deputy Minister for Technical Services Amos Barclay, and Assistant Minister for Operation Kaustella Kialain Sarsih, have been summoned to present their case and may be accompanied by their legal representatives.
These officials were cited for providing faulty information during a public hearing regarding the reconstruction and maintenance of road corridors from Buchana to ITI Bridge and from ITI Bridge to Greenville, as identified by the Liberian Senate.
