Liberia: 'Naked Display of Tyranny'

11 December 2024
Liberian Observer (Monrovia)

The Press Union of Liberia (PUL) believes the ongoing leadership quagmire at the House of Representatives is a naked display of majority tyranny and the tyranny of the minority.

The PUL says the fact that both sides in the House dispute have failed to reason even after the Supreme Court's ruling shows ill-will and that lawmakers do not feel constrained by the rule of law.

The PUL is appalled and worried by the conduct of both members of the self-styled "majority bloc" under the guidance of Representative Richard Koon on one hand, and the "minority bloc" controlled by Representative Fonati Koffa as Speaker, on the other hand.

Despite the constitutional thresholds of two-thirds majority to remove the duly-elected Speaker as presiding officer in keeping with a hearing judgment consistent with due process of law, the majority bloc acting under an essentially irregular channel made Koon Speaker, an action the Supreme Court has since declared as "ultra vires."

PUL President Julius Kanubah says it cannot and must not be the case that the House of Representatives would have two Speakers and two sittings, each representing the majority and minority blocs as this is forbidden by the Constitution of Liberia.

Having obtained and digested the Supreme Court's full opinion and judgment of December 6, 2024, the PUL agrees with the High Court that the actions of the so-called "majority bloc" do not conform with the Standing Rules of the House and the Constitution of Liberia.

The Supreme Court's ruling, contained in a 34-page opinion, specifically interpreted Articles 33 and 49 of the Constitution, simultaneously using the weight of the former to make judgment on the latter regarding the petition of Speaker Koffa and other Representatives, titled "In Re: The Unconstitutionality of Several Actions taken by Certain Members of the House of Representatives."

Importantly, the High Court ruled that the actions of the self-styled "majority bloc" to hold extra-plenary sittings in the Joint-Chambers of the Legislature are unconstitutional, though there is no enabling mechanism by which dissenting and absentee members with a presiding Deputy Speaker can be compelled by the legally seated minority to attend session under an assumed presiding Speaker.

Further, the Supreme Court found that the removal of the Speaker fell short of the constitutional requirements of a hearing judgment consistent with due process of law, similar to the case of the unconstitutional removal of Edwin Snowe as Speaker in 2007.

On this basis, the PUL emphasizes, while it considers that Speaker Koffa has seemingly lost the instrumental legitimacy because of his failure to engender the belief in his presiding role over majority members, it is also true that the actions of the "majority bloc" fell short of juridical legitimacy to have the Speaker removed.

With both sides suffering legitimacy deficits, the PUL is concerned that despite the ruling of the Supreme Court, members of the majority bloc proceeded with hearings into the 2025 Draft Fiscal Budget with members of the Executive branch appearing under the guard of armed police officers.

"After two decades of hard work to remove Liberia from the politics of tyranny through the show and use of force, it is extremely disturbing that members of the majority bloc and agents of the Executive branch would conspire to hold a budget hearing under armed police officers," PUL President Kanubah deplores.

The PUL calls for political solution to the ongoing internal leadership wrangling at the House, drawing on the six-count recommendation of the ECOWAS Parliamentary Delegation, which suggested, among others, that Speaker Koffa recuses himself pending investigation into a properly lodged complaint of corruption and conflict of interest against him by his colleagues.

"We fear that until a political settlement is found to the House political leadership predicament, a perpetuation of the tyranny of majority-minority risks undermining the public interest while furthering the narrow interest of both factions aiming to control the levers of decision-making in the House and the fiscal purse. There is one truth we must dread: democracy backslides and dies in tyranny - whether it is majority tyranny or the tyranny of the minority," asserts Kanubah

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