Lawmakers have threatened to suspend the scrutiny of over 200 audited reports from the General Auditing Commission (GAC) amid allegations of interference by President Joseph Boakai.
The decision to halt the ongoing scrutiny was made by the Joint Public Accounts and Expenditure Committee on Wednesday, 7 August 2024 following a recommendation by Bomi County Senator Edwin M. Snowe, Jr. Senator Snowe expressed concern over the President's actions in responding to the audit reports without awaiting input from the Legislative body, claiming it undermines the balance of power.
"The President is deliberately interfering with the work of the legislature by acting on audit reports without waiting for the Joint PAC Committee to conduct hearings and submit reports to their respective plenaries for onward transmission to the President for action," Snowe said. "This is the procedure and that's how it should be done."
The Joint PAC is tasked with evaluating GAC reports to ensure accountability in public spending and service delivery before submitting recommendations to the President for implementation.
Senator Snowe said the President's action of acting on audit reports without Legislative input is undermining and abusing the balanced distribution of power which the Executive wants to obviously dominate.
President Boakai has taken stringent measures against some of his officials in reference to the GAC's report, despite the ongoing scrutiny of the report by the lawmakers--a process that began July 17, 2024.
One of the officials who felt the wrath of the President is the Executive Governor of the Central Bank of Liberia, J. Aloysius Tarlue who has been suspended for time indefinite and without pay for alleged shady financial dealings. Tarlue has since filed a writ of prohibition at the Supreme Court of Liberia objecting to what he termed as unlawful action by the President.
However, President Boakai's action has not gone down well with members of the legislature who believe that the President is acting out of order.
One of those who frowned on the President, in addition to Senator Snowe, for his "premature actions" is the Chairman of the Joint PAC Committee, Representative Clarence Gahr.
Gahr, who is also the Representative will Margibi County District #5 Representative, also cautioned the President against taking action on the AG's reports without the Legislature's scrutiny and recommendations. The Committee emphasized the importance of following the rule of law and the constitutional provisions regarding the GACs role in oversight.
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"The action of the President without waiting for the PAC to thoroughly scrutinize and make recommendations for the President to act on is against the rule of law, especially the law that created the GAC and the constitution which compellingly established the GAC in Article 89," Rep. Gahr said.
Rep. Gahr indicated that if President Boakai intends to take action against any government official, it should not be based on an audit report that is still under review by the Joint Public Accounts Committee.
Senator Amara Konneh, the Senate's PAC Chairman and his co-chair of the Joint Committee announced the decision to suspend the scrutiny, pending further discussions with Speaker J. Fonati Koffa and Senate Pro Tempore Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence.
The Senate's PAC Chairman, Senator Amara Konneh, who is also the co-chairman of the Joint PAC Committee, said the Committee will halt its scrutiny after Wednesday's public hearing and imploreec Speaker J. Fonati Koffa of the House of Representatives and the Senate Pro Tempore Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence to meet the President regarding refraining from taking actions of GAC reports without findings from Legislature.
Meanwhile, the Legislature's Joint PAC Committee has the statutory responsibility to scrutinize all GAC or the AG's reports -- the value for money--the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness--of public spending and generally holds the government and its civil servants to account for the delivery of public services.
After scrutiny, the Joint PAC will submit reports to the Plenaries of the House of Representatives and the Senate for action and subsequently submit to the President for implementation.
