Monrovia — House Speaker, Cllr. Fonati Koffa is resisting and whisking off pressure from every side of the political divide about his perceived wrongful handling of his office evident by his thrashing of claims made against him by Representative Taa Wongbe of Nimba County as baseless and reckless.
Wongbe recently took to facebook to express concerns about the Speaker's handling of issues, but Speaker did not take the allegation lightly and laying down, wondering why he Wongbe, as a ranking member of the House of Representatives with unhindered access to him, chose to use facebook to get redress for his concerns.
In a point by point response, the Speaker denied Wongbe's allegation of reckless remarks at working dinner, saying that the Nimba County lawmaker "greatly misunderstood or intentionally misrepresented and misquoted my remarks at the working dinner with the President."
He clarified that he boldly told President Boakai to stop trying to push bills in the House through a partisan outfit dubbed "Rescue bloc," and reminded him also that the 1986 Constitution requires the three branches of government to coordinate and that the right thing to do is to send Executive Bills to the Leadership of the House which controls agenda.
Speaker Koffa said at no time did he commit to pass everything that was sent to the House without scrutiny or regards to the interest of the people and the rule of law, reminding him also that his exchanges with the executive on the matter emanated from a complaint filed by the House Committee on Executive.
"How can we be conniving with the Executive and be on the frontline of the "yellow machine" issue which I first raised at the dinner you referred to and which pressure subsequently led to presidential response," Speaker wonder, adding that the only official response to the issue has been from the house under his gavel in the relentless pursuit of transparency and accountability.
on the issues of audits and transparency Rep. Wongbe raised, he reminded his colleague that he would be hard "pressed to show me another Speaker in our history that signed up for audits of the House."
He further stated: "If you were following developments around this issue carefully, you would know that the Auditor General advised that a system be put in place before the actual audits are conducted. I have no control over the pace of the GAC work, and I am assured that steps are being taken to ensure audits are done."
The Speaker urged his colleague to familiarize himself to the issues, and desist from trying to run government by Facebook, which he said will automatically be chaotic, stressing that "Our people are counting on us to do right by them, work together across all branches of government, and turn all that we do into tangible progress for them."
With reference to membership benefits also raised by Rep. Wongbe, the Speaker reminded him how members' benefits have always been an issue at the legislature.
He recalled: "As a matter of fact, I have entertained countless members from the 53rd and 54th on benefits outstanding. I have even threatened to shut down the house on this benefits issue. As the House Committee on Ways, Means and Finance has developed a schedule and briefed the plenary in executive on last Thursday, I am sure all the remaining benefits will be paid soon. Unfortunately, you did not attend session and so you are not informed."
As it relates to allegation of conniving with the Executive, the Speaker called on Rep. Wongbe to show the bill or instrument passed on the floor, which he does not think is in the interest of Liberia and represents connivance with the executive, noting that his management of the plenary is usually void of bloc or partisanship.
"And it is quite unfortunate that you present no support for this unfounded claim," he emphasized.
He assured the lawmaker that, as per the constitution provision of coordination of the three branches of government, he will continue to coordinate with the executive and judiciary.
Speaker Koffa stated: "As long as a measure or legislation is in the interest of Liberia, I will work to see it comes to fruition no matter who the proponent is. As I often remind all, I am the speaker of the national legislature, not a speaker for a bloc or party. I am a CDCian and a proud one too, but I am also patriot who tries to reach across the aisle to ensure that the work of the Liberian people is carried out and that our people's suffering are not made worse by our partisan rivalry."
He wondered if Rep. Wongbe was conniving or collaborating when you he recently traveled with the President to South Korea and genuflected before him in Abuja, or whether he was performing a statutory role, or as the 4th ranking member of the House, if he raised the benefits issue with him.
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The Speaker also denied claims of budget alterations, saying that he was the first to have raised it with the Ministry of Finance "when the final budget was published and presented."
He said did so because "there were discrepancies in the House's budget, for which they instructed the Legislative Budget Office (LBO) to conduct an analysis of the entire document to find additional discrepancies because my concern should not just be the house's budget but the entire document and process.
"We then notified the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) of the initial findings, which led to them removing the document from the website. As soon as LBO finishes its analysis, plenary will be informed. Sorry Hon. Wongbe, but my training as a lawyer and my experience as a Legislator will not allow me to proceed with half-baked information," he reminded his colleague .
Speaker Kofa urged Rep. Wongbe to participate more to avoid juvenile tantrums and public outbursts, as he is not perturbed by what he called "the baseless and reckless claims that you made because I understand this is what Facebook politics require, and it's the nature of this business."
