By Nyenplu Wiñyan Ju
What pundits referred to as a serious political dilemma and uncertainty believe to befell Mr. Richard Nagbe Koon, Representative of District #11, Montserrado county and a so-called Speaker of the House of Representatives.
It all started when his wife Cecelia Koon raise a red flag about, he (Koon) taking another wife in the absence of divorce. Koon’s wife described him as a crook and don’t worth to serve the position of a speaker because he is “morally bankrupt”.
After the issue was raised by his wife, Mr. Koon’s colleagues joined his wife to call for his resignation or face suspension or expulsion. Hon. Josiah Melvin Cole, a Representative of Bong County during one of his social media interviews disclosed the need for Mr. Koon to be investigated and as such be made to recuse himself as Speaker to safe the face of the Legislature.
Koons family members haven heard about what was trending in the media about their son, Koon, they immediately issued a press statement, denying every issue raised by Cecelia Koon. They in fact went further by disclosure that Cecelia Koon is a biological sister of Richard Koon, an allegation which Cecelia Koon had denied. Cecelia had disclosed that Koon is her husband. They had an affair several time as husband and wife.
She even hosted Koon and his father in the United States of America, State of Delaware where the marriage was held. As we speak, she displayed marriage documents to substantiate or prove her claim. What remains a guest about Koon’s social life stands from the fact centered around his inability to divorce before marriage.
why he did not divorce Cecelia Kpoh Koon before getting married to another woman, the Senior political advisor to the President of the Republic of Liberia, Macdalla Cooper. Koon supporters from the majority bloc are not happy and convinced that he is fate for the job as a speaker.
They have allegedly raised 25 signatures, pleading with the Cllr. Fonati Koffa’s majority bloc to join them remove Koon because he is embarrassing them as well as the government as a whole. Besides his most recent controversy about his marriage life, his colleagues in the majority bloc are grieving because they claimed to be marginalized by Koon’s leadership. Few lawmakers are enjoying while others are forgotten.
“There was no need to remove Cllr. Fonati Koffa, because few of our colleagues are enjoying while we are the better days” they lamented. “We will remove him” they concluded. Mr. Koon, haven heard this latest development about his fate, ran to the president allegedly for his intervention to prevail on his lawmakers’ colleagues in order to meticulously mitigate, but President Boakai allegedly told Koon ” I think you need to resign.
That could be the best thing to do”. Since Mr. Koon accents to the helms of power almost a year now as Speaker, he had never call for staff meeting. This first staff meeting came following a noise about his removal as the speaker of the 55th Legislature, House of Representatives and it was this gone Friday, January 9, 2026. Mr. Koon meeting with the staff of the House of Representatives was an unfortunate scene.
Absolutely, nothing tangible he could say. Mr. Koon could not address issues affecting staff welfare such as salary increment, job security, season bonuses and letters of promotion. His inability to address staff concerns had made majority of the staff attending meeting to walk away. It is not clear whether the House of Representatives will conduct another speaker’s election when Koon is removed as Speaker of the 55th Legislature.
Some political analysts are asking the Legislature to use the ascendancy clause as mentioned in their rules that the deputy speaker assumes the role of the speaker in his absent, because Article 49 of the 1986 constitution of the Republic of Liberia calls for an election of a speaker once every six years and can be removed from office for a cause.
So granted that 2/3 of absolute majority is 48/49. But if cannot be raise by members of the House’s plenary for a removal, a simple majority votes can be raised to suspend Mr. Koon for time indefinite. The rules of the House of Representatives authorize the House’s plenary to ensure that there is a need for due process of law to be followed in an attempt to remove, suspend or expelled any member of the House of Representatives.
This due process must ensure that the accused person be represented by a legal counsel during the trial or investigation by a committee setup to probe. It is also Important to note that the plenary under their rules can set up an independent ad hoc committee or turn the investigation over to any of the appropriate functional Legislative committees such as Rules, Order, and Administration, Claims and Petition, or the Judiciary.
The plenary can equally securitize or adjust itself into a working ad hoc committee to immediately probe an accused. From records of fact, the court cannot determine the fate of a speaker to maintain his position or be removed because the power to remove the Speaker rest squarely with the approval of the majority members of the plenary. TO BE CONTINUE..
