By D. Wa Hne, Jr.
It is said that when the battle is intense and the army is running out of resources or becoming extinct, the good General saves the rest by retreating to either restrategize, submit to a truce, or quit the battle.
The battle over leadership of the House of Representatives has reached a point that from all indications, the nation is at a disadvantage and the people of Liberia may soon rise against the Legislature if solution is not found soon.
Will the Majority surrender to the law or will the Minority submit to the numbers. Whatever it is, will the good general appear to save the state?
As political actions are attempting to subdue the Constitution and Rule of Law in the crisis at the House of Representatives, the Honorable Supreme Court has thrown in its weight to ensure constitutionalism and the sanctity of the rule of law. Whether the ruling of the nation’s highest court will be respected is anybody’s guess.
However the determination of the majority block is so strong that the SC ruling may be resisted and challenged on grounds that the Judicial Branch has no constitutional powers to decide on the administrative and operational authority of the House.
The majority block may take note of the SC interpretation of the constitution, but compelling them to return to status quo ante is another issue.
Postwar Legislature has broken the tradition of the stability of the Legislature and the Unity of the State through representation.
Also unfortunately, the Supreme Court’s powers are being weakened in postwar dispensation as its opinions or rulings have been disregarded in recent times to the extent that its powers and influence are becoming ordinary and inconsequential.
This has become the reality of the politics of today’s Liberia – a reality that stirs the minority block in the face and may weakened Speaker J. Fonati Koffa’s fight for constitutional governance and the rule of law against the majority block politics of numbers.
As Liberians watch the power play at the House of Representatives and monies exchanging hands within the settings of the House, thus enriching a few lawmakers and their attachments while the rest of us swim in difficulties and poverty, it is no doubt a very sad story to tell as Liberians helplessly become spectators in the gallery watching their country gradually slip into the dungeons of politics in an evolutionary political world and equipping next generational leaders on how to sink the ship of state deeper into dark and obscured political waters.
The complexity of the House’s conflict defied all reconciliation efforts, including that of the ECOWAS Parliament and has allegedly forced the Executive Branch to do business with the majority block instead of the constitutional leadership.
One wonders why the President of Liberia, in this difficult period of his administration has not personally intervened with such momentum as expected to reconcile the House.
Instead, the Executive Branch has been publicly accused by the opposition of aligning with the majority block by submitting to it the national budget which they believe was done through unconstitutional and procedural protocols. As it stands, legal or constitutional efforts are failing and integrity institutions are also silent.
There seems to be no interest in investigating the sources of the monies thrown here and there nor is there any interest in how the outcome may deeply affect constitutional democracy and the rule of law in the future or the stability of the State. Conspicuously also, the Ombudsman seems to be very cool though some actions have challenged the Code of Conduct of public servants.
The People of Liberia have been in the state of confusion for some time now. All of President Boakai’s ARREST Agenda are on hold waiting for budget approval. The nation itself is on hold. Consequently, it is believed that President Boakai has joined forces with the Majority block to bring a quick end to the divide.
With no proof attached to the allegation of his involvement in the crisis, one of the biggest moves of submitting the budget to the Majority Block seems to be the barometer the public is using which tells several stories.
The Majority Block reconstitution of the Ways, Means, and Finance Committee and the election of Richard Koon as Speaker seems to suggest that Koffa has lost to the Majority Block. But then, there are the rescinded signatures that leaped the majority block to 50 against 23.
If this is true as members who withdrew from the majority block claimed that their names were in the count, then the counts may be revisited and that will still put the Speaker in the game again.
At the Senate level, division is creeping in as to who the Senate should deal with in the battle.
One group believes that the Speaker remains the legitimate head and should be dealt with and the other group believe to be headed by Senator James Biney, a renowned and towering politician who is perhaps the most influential legislator with many years of legislative experience and lobby skills and powers, is alleged to have said that the Legislature deals with numbers.
If this is true, the Senate may also be heading for a collusion course if the crisis in the House is prolonged.
Whatever these recent actions may appear to be, it is clear that the battle has not yet been won by the Majority Block and the crisis may have an extension.
In order to have a clear cut win and to close the chapter without cancerous effects, those opposing the Speaker must acquire the constitutional numbers, allow the rule of law to take its course, and give the Speaker due process in the House’s Official Chamber and not through divided sessions.
Though the Speaker’s battle to allow the rule of law to determine the end of the crisis is legitimate and supported by most Liberians, yet the nation’s current conditions may compel Speaker Koffa or Richard Koon to act in the best interest of the people by retreating as a good general to save the nation.
However there are other views that the retreating of Speaker Koffa without due process could be the continuity of a dangerous precedent which began with Speaker Edwin Snowe and Speaker J. Alex Tyler. Both retreated by resigning.
Speaker Koffa has a clear understanding of how these things work. He might be trying to correct the bad precedent which followed the Snowe and Tyler experiences.
In 2016 he was empowered by the UP Government to ensure that Speaker Alex Tyler who was facing similar battle lost to the renegades on trumped up charges of receiving bribes in the case of, Republic of Liberia versus Alex Tyler, Varney Sherman et al in the Global Witness alleged bribery case. Speaker Tyler, a man versed in legislative governance and control, reached a point where he had to retreat to save the state.
But Speaker Koffa has vowed not to travel that path of resignation without exhausting the legal processes. Would Speaker Koffa finally give thoughts that the state should now become his prime concern as did Tyler? This seems unlikely.
Our nation’s history as regarding the Legislature has always been a unique history of stability for many decades until modern times, specifically post war governance, where the Executive Branch has become most involved with regime change or destabilization tactics at the Legislature to advance its legislative agendas successfully.
The danger of this destabilization strategy is that it involves the first branch of government which is the direct power base of the country. If this trend continues, the Legislature shall become rubber stamped and leaderships of both Houses shall dance to the whim and caprice of the Executive Branch for fear of being destabilized.
From 2005 to 2017 the citizens of Liberia lost confidence in the Legislature due to the imposition of the will of the Executive Branch on the Legislature through covert threats, alleged briberies and destabilization methods.
When Speaker Tyler decided to erect check points as one who understood constitutional demarcations and separation of powers, the Executive Branch falsely entangled him in the conspired Global Witness presumptions and the Executive Branch trumped up charges that ended his reign as Speaker.
With the ascension of the CDC and Dr. Bhofal Chambers as head of the Legislature, confidence was restored and for six years, the Legislature was stabilized.
Dr. Chambers ensured selflessness, commitment and held together both Houses in such a way that Government achievements were immeasurable and the state was secured.
He however accused his deputy at the time, now the embattled Speaker of undermining his reelection to the House so that he (Koffa) would become Speaker. As if it is a nemesis, Speaker Koffa now blames his deputy Thomas Fallah as leading the charge against him.
Perhaps after this crisis, each House of the Legislature should try to lead the Chambers’ way by ensuring commitment, selflessness, and loyalty to the state to keep the Legislature stabled. Analysts think that Chambers had the clout, wisdom and expertise to handle the Legislature. That expertise, they believe, should be tapped.
I think Speaker Koffa has fought a good legal fight. We shall now watch whether the rule of law will succeed or the numbers will succeed. However I think the Generals should now appear to save the state. LIBERIA FIRST.
