By Cllr. Garrison Doldeh Yealue Jr. (former Representative, Nimba County)
The expulsion of Representative Yekeh Kolubah is not an act of principled governance; it is a chilling performance of political matricide. It is the height of historical amnesia for the Unity Party (UP) to now drape itself in the robes of decorum when, for six long years, they fueled, funded, and cheered the very firebrand they now seek to extinguish.
As the African proverb wisely notes, “The child you do not teach to eat with a spoon will eventually break the bowl.”
For years, Yekeh was the UP’s preferred battering ram, his uncouth rhetoric celebrated as courageous dissent when it paved their road to the Mansion. To now claim he is a threat to institutional integrity is a laughable pivot; Yekeh is the biological child of the UP’s own political strategy.
They are simply trying to disown him because he has turned his mirror toward their own mounting failures. It is pathetic to watch a parent eat its own child simply because the child started telling the truth about the kitchen’s hygiene.
In a display of staggering hypocrisy, the UP has forgotten how the previous administration handled dissent. Under the past leadership, criticism was not a death sentence; it was part of the democratic fabric.
They accepted the most vitriolic vituperations, allowed protesters to occupy the streets, and in a move of genuine political maturity even provided those same protesters with food and drinks. The UP, however, has swapped that tolerance for a guillotine.
Hon. Kolubah’s crime was merely quoting a public concern regarding border management. In any sane jurisdiction, this is a recitation of hearsay or a warning. To label this treasonous is a desperate reach by a government drowning in its own incompetence.
We are witnessing a dangerous rewind of the ugliest chapters of our past reminiscent of the expulsions of Chea Chepoo and Bedell Fahn. History tells us how those regimes ended; one cannot plant thorns and expect to walk on flower petals.
From a legal standpoint, this expulsion mocks the 1986 Constitution of Liberia. Article 15 guarantees that no limitation shall be placed on the public right to be informed. By purging a sitting lawmaker for abrasive language, the Legislature has weaponized the rules of procedure to bypass the sovereign will of the voters of District 10. This is not just a breach of ethics; it is an illegal assassination of a representative mandate.
The legislative due process required for removal under Article 38 is a shield, not a suggestion. A core element of due process is the right to be represented by counsel not as silent ornaments or spectators, but as active participants.
To relegate lawyers to the role of ornaments transforms a constitutional hearing into a Star Chamber. If the law is a gladsome light, the UP is blowing out the candles to operate in the dark.
This action violates the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, specifically Article 9. The landmark jurisprudence in Konaté v. Burkina Faso made it clear: freedom of expression in a democratic society entails the right to criticize officials, even in harsh terms. The UP is attempting to resurrect sedition under the guise of legislative ethics, a legal regression that reeks of the very autocracy they once campaigned against.
The irony is rich: the Rescue Mission is failing to rescue anything but its own fragile ego. While they focus on silencing a loud-mouthed representative, they stumble over the questionable Yellow Machine deal, a move that lacked oversight and screams of partisan entitlement.
They are searching for a black goat in the dark while the house is on fire. Yekeh’s crime isn’t his mouth; it is his refusal to follow the script of blind loyalty to the Oldman.
Why was this process rushed with more velocity than an Artemis II splashdown? What was pushing the House to sprint past the law? Our Constitution, in Article 3, establishes three separate, coordinate branches of government.
Yet, the House of Representatives chose to treat the Judiciary like a suggestion box. This is a sad trajectory for a nation that claims to be rescued.
On April 16, 2026, Yekeh’s legal team filed a Writ of Prohibition at the Supreme Court. The writ was served and received by Tababo A-Toe-Teh at 13:53 PM while members were still in session.
Despite this, the House intentionally and willfully disrespected the Constitutional and Highest Court. They ignored Article 66, which dictates that the Supreme Court is the final arbiter of constitutional issues. They didn’t just break the rules; they spat on the gavel.
To suggest Yekeh’s remarks constitute treason is a legal hallucination. Treason requires an overt act to overthrow the government or aid an enemy during a state of war. There is no war, only the UP’s war against criticism.
To elevate uncouth language to a national security threat is not legal scrutiny; it is propagandistic reaching. You cannot punish a man twice for the same disrespect, that reeks of double jeopardy.
The UP is flinching at shadows. As the proverb says, “A person who has been bitten by a snake flinch at a rope.” The UP is terrified of the very monster they created from 2018 to 2023. Back then, Yekeh’s fire was holy water for their campaign; today, it is treason. Their Rescue has become a purge, signaling the death of free speech in the Boakai era.
They are more interested in policing speech than in managing the rising cost of living. History will remember that the Unity Party’s first major rescue was not the economy, but the rescue of their own thin skins from the sting of public criticism. The Oldman is not being protected from a threat; he is being shielded from the truth by a choir of sycophants who fear a mirror.
As the sun sets over Mt. Youhn, it casts a long, mournful shadow over a nation promised bread but given a stone. It is a sorrowful day when the halls of the Legislature smell more of vengeance than of law. The Unity Party may celebrate today, but the tears of the betrayed are the seeds of a coming storm.
They have sacrificed their political child on the altar of ego. They have signaled to every Liberian that the Oldman’s comfort is more important than the people’s Constitution. This is not leadership; it is a funeral for freedom, and the Unity Party is the somber undertaker. You can occupy an office, but you are losing the heart of the people.
