Three Liberian senators are demanding that Local Government Minister Francis Nyumalin appear before the Senate to explain the legal basis for reported plans to dissolve multiple municipalities across the country, warning that any such move without prior legislative action would violate the separation of powers, nullify laws passed by the Legislature and trigger serious constitutional consequences.
Former Senate Pro-Tempore Albert T. Chie, Grand Kru County Senator Numene T.H. Bartekwa and Sinoe County Senator Augustine S. Chea jointly petitioned Senate Plenary Tuesday, urging colleagues to summon Nyumalin before the Senate Committee of the Whole to account for the Ministry's intentions. The communication was read on the Senate floor by Senate Secretary Nanborlor Singbeh.
The petition follows reports that the Ministry of Local Government intends to dissolve municipalities that allegedly fail to meet population and infrastructure benchmarks outlined under Sections 2.16D and 2.16E of the Local Government Act of 2018. The senators did not dispute that the law empowers the Ministry to act against municipalities that fall short of those benchmarks -- but they argued forcefully that the same law requires the Minister to first submit a formal report to the National Legislature for a re-accreditation review before any dissolution can lawfully proceed.
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"In the absence of compliance with this statutory report prerequisite, any attempt by the Minister to proceed with the dissolution of any municipality would be premature, with slurred intent, and inconsistent with expressed localism under the Local Government Act," the three senators stated in their petition.
There is, they said, no indication that any such report has been submitted to the Legislature as the law requires.
The senators pressed a second and broader legal argument: that the municipalities in question were not created by administrative decree but by specific acts of the Legislature, and that what the Legislature creates, only the Legislature can undo. Allowing an executive ministry to dissolve statutory entities without corresponding legislative repeal or amendment, they argued, would set a dangerous precedent that effectively empowers the executive branch to erase laws passed by the Legislature without returning to that body for authorization.
"A statute to hold otherwise would effectively permit an executive ministry or agency to nullify legislative enactments without further legislative action, thereby raising serious constitutional concerns regarding separation of powers and legislative supremacy in the lawmaking process," the senators wrote.
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Beyond the constitutional questions, the lawmakers warned that dissolving municipalities through administrative fiat would create immediate and practical governance chaos. Questions would arise over the legal status of local officials still serving within the affected municipalities, the disposition of public assets, the validity of existing municipal ordinances and contracts, and the future of local representation for the communities involved.
The three senators laid out a specific set of demands for the Ministry to answer: whether the mandatory report under Section 2.16E has been prepared and submitted to the Legislature; what legal authority the Ministry believes it possesses to proceed without legislative affirmation; and what administrative processes are being contemplated for the municipalities targeted for dissolution.
"It is our respectful submission that until the Legislature receives and acts upon the reports contemplated under Section 2.16c and determines the appropriate legislative measures concerning the enabling status of the municipalities that may be affected, no dissolution should lawfully proceed," they asserted.
Senate Plenary forwarded the matter to the Senate Internal Affairs Committee following the reading of the communication. The committee is expected to report its findings and recommendations to Plenary in subsequent sittings, though no timeline for that report has been publicly established. Whether Nyumalin will be summoned and compelled to appear will likely depend on how aggressively the committee and the broader Senate choose to pursue the matter.
