Monrovia, Liberia — -Senator Moyee denies stake in Speaker's removal
Senator Prince K. Moyee of Bong County distances himself from recent plot by some 43 members of the House of Representatives to remove Speaker Koffa for fear of an audit.
-Bong County Senator Prince K. Moyee categorically denounces claims in the corridor of the 55th Legislature linking him to sponsoring Speaker Jonathan Fonati Koffa's removal to prevent that august body from being audited.
Addressing a news press conference Monday, October 21, 2024, at the Capitol Building, Senator Moyee said he is not afraid of audit because his service in the House of Representatives as Deputy Speaker and Chairman of the Committee on Ways, Means and Finance was transparently implemented.
According to him, some lawmakers from the House are accusing him of sponsoring Speaker Koffa's removal because he (Senator Moyee) does not want to be audited for the period he served as deputy speaker.
"I want to category denied the claims repeatedly being made by some folks from the House of Representatives that we are afraid of audit of the House because we served there before in leadership position and that is why we want to see the Speaker being removed. I do not want to give credence to it, but something that is repeatedly being said in society has to be addressed. I don't have anything to do with the removal of Speaker Koffa because my service at the House was transparent", Senator Moyee clarifies.
According to him, he became the Ways and Means Chair in the House of Representatives in September 2016 and resigned in December 2017, when his tenure ended.
He notes that it was not possible under his chairmanship that former Finance Minister Boimah Kamara, a man of high integrity, would have sent money that was not budgeted to the legislature.
Senator Moyee continues that they straightly executed what the legislature budgeted and signed into law. However, he revealed that after he left the committee and got elected as Deputy Speaker in 2018, he ran his office with nothing more than one million United States Dollars.
I ran that office on a budget under One Million United States Dollars. The Deputy Speaker's budget did not exceed one million dollars under my watch as deputy for my three years of service. The last year, 2020 budget, it was four hundred thousand. I am saying it. Go on the Ministry of Finance's Website and check it. I challenge anybody in this country that, as a Deputy Speaker in the opposition, my budget did not exceed a million. So, I am not afraid of any audit", Moyee adds.
He points out that when he left the Deputy Speaker position, he won the Bong County senatorial seat, so he has nothing to be afraid of about the audit.
However, Senator Moyee says the time is ripe for the House of Representatives to be audited because he wants all public institutions to be audited. He notes that while he was in opposition, his budget didn't pass seven hundred thousand, but now, under the new leadership of the House headed by Speaker Koffa, it has moved up so greatly.
It's now that I can see a budget outturn of four million. Under Deputy Speaker, five million dollars. And now, I will not be afraid of audit when I executed what was given to me. The allowable transfer of any budget line is 20%. But, some are saying we don't want the audit, and that is why we don't want him; now, let them know that it's not my budget that four and five million passed through. They have the burden to audit themselves, which is what we want".
"I want to say to the world that, as a senator here, I was elected to the Ways, Means, Finance, and Budget Committee of the Liberian Senate. The One-twelve budget came in February in the amount of US$43 million dollars to have the President's Hundred Days' Deliverable compensation in that budget, and it was passed", he explains.
Moyee says the law provides that every financing agreement should originate from the House of Representatives, and many financial instruments have originated from the House of Representatives that they passed.
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"There has never been an instance where the House had worked on a financial instrument and passed it to us for concurrence, but we refused. We have not had any history of financial instruments gotten stock here as a result of the House not waiting to pass it, and I'm afraid that two or three budgets our government can't get a budget, then I'm fighting to remove Speaker Koffa. I am saying this to establish what is the real motive of wanting to remove the Speaker." he went on without saying in clear terms the motive behind the plot to remove Speaker Koffa, who comes from the former ruling Coalition for Democratic Change of Ex-President George Weah.
Meanwhile, lawmakers loyal to Speaker Koffa have presented pieces of evidence of financial inducement to the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission on the Speaker's removal, calling for an investigation into the incident.
