Monrovia – The fight by some members of the House of Representatives to have Speaker Alex Tyler recused himself as presiding officer of that body, using his indictment by the state based on a report released by Global Witness as a basis, has unearthed many hidden issues between the Executive and the Legislature.
President Ellen Johnson has been accused by recused Speaker Alex Tyler for allegedly insisting that she can no longer work with him, which was followed by an Executive Mansion statement welcoming the recusal of the Speaker after already recognizing the Deputy Speaker Hans Barchue led bloc during the House of Representatives.
A clear sign of bad blood between the Executive and the Legislature. Amid these developments, a FrontPageAfrica investigation has gathered that the likely disagreement is down to many stalled legislations submitted by the Executive to the Legislature, some dating far back as 2013
Until the fight ensued, it was not known if the two branches of government had some growing tension behind the scene but Speaker Tyler threw some hint on the lip-service cordial relationship between the two branches of government when he accused President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of masterminding his removal even though the Executive Mansion rubbished the accusation.
As the legislative impasse intensified with both the pro-Tyler and anti-Tyler blocs looking for support from the other branches of government and stakeholders, the Executive firmly stood by the anti-Tyler bloc with President Sirleaf communicating to Deputy Speaker Hans Barchue, expressing willingness to work with his leadership, a communication that dealt the pro-Tyler bloc a big blow in the entire tussle.
President Sirleaf was also accused of ordering cabinet officials not to appear before the pro-Tyler bloc, a mandate all cabinet minister upheld without reprimand from the President for their failure to appear before a duly elected Speaker.
Finally yielding to pressure from his colleagues to recuse himself, Speaker Tyler expressed that the fight against him took another dimension when President Sirleaf told the Bomi County Legislative Caucus, lawmakers and prominent Liberians that she can no longer work with him as Speaker.
“The situation has now taken on a new dimension in which we were informed by the Bomi Legislative Caucus following their visit to the President, and later on some colleagues of mine who met with her as well as some prominent members of the society who also interacted with her that the Chief Executive has accused me of undermining the country’s development agenda by refusing to pass certain legislations such as financing agreements”, Speaker disclosed in a statement delivered.
Non cooperative posture
The Executive Mansion later in a statement welcomed the decision by the Speaker to recuse himself, specifically mentioning that the cordial relationship that existed between the Executive and the Legislature changed after Speaker Tyler announced his bid to become President of Liberia.
Stated the Executive Mansion: “The release points out further that this collaborative process changed after Honorable Tyler announced his bid for the Liberian presidency and adopted a non-cooperative posture. As a result, critical legislations were stalled which had the effect of undermining the country’s development plan.
The Executive Mansion also questioned the legal capacity of Speaker Tyler to continue to preside over resources allocation for the country when has been indicted.
“The Executive Mansion notes that it is clear that an indictment is not the presumption of guilt but the start of a legal process, but it also brings into question whether it is right for one so charged to continue to preside over a body which has responsibility for the allocation of resources for the country.
The Executive Mansion expects that Honorable Tyler will continue to make contributions to the governance and development of the country and help maintain the peace and stability of Liberia”, the statement noted.
26 Bills Stalled
A FrontPage Africa’s investigation indicates that the likely source of what has been a hidden bad blood between the Executive and the Legislature is as a result of more than twenty-six stalled bills currently before the Legislature, some dating far back as July 2013.
According to documents available to FPA since February 2012, the start of the second term of President Sirleaf, about 97 bills have been proposed to the Legislature from the Executive but twenty-six of these bills are still languishing at the Legislature, yet to be ratified by the body.
Regarding the ratification of laws, the Speaker said: “For over ten years, when we ratified several agreements and passed key legislations, we did so in the best interest of the country. Equally so, when we deem certain legislations not suitable for the country, the necessary interventions were made and in some cases, we painstakingly rejected.
It is unfortunate and at best regrettable that the President would now see our latter action as being uncooperative and undermining her agenda”.
Out of the twenty-six bills stalled at the Legislature, some are bills for which thousands of dollars were spent to enable the Legislature conducts consultations such as an Act Establishing the New Petroleum Law of Liberia 2013.
The act was submitted to the Legislature on August 29, 2013, but the body is yet to ratify in spite of more than US$ 1million used to conduct nationwide consultations.
The National Oil Company of Liberia provided nearly US$ 1 million which was used by the lawmakers to conduct the nationwide consultation on the NOCAL act and the petroleum law.
The consultation was widely criticized based on the amount of money used for the process and till date the lawmakers are yet to provide full expenditure report on the usage of the money and are yet to ratify the proposed law for which the money was spent.
Anti-graft laws stuck
Amongst some of the proposed laws, several laws intended to fight corruption are still lingering at the Legislature.
A Bill to amend the 2008 Act of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission Granting Direct Prosecutorial Power which was submitted on May 22, 2013 is still on the desk of the lawmakers amid the talk of corruption and the lack of political will on the part of the government to fight the menace.
Also, an Act to Amend Title 17 of the Penal Code Laws of Liberia known as the Judicial Law of 1972 to provide for the establishment of the Corruption Court of Liberia submitted March 1, 2016 is yet to be ratified by the body when other newer proposed legislations have been acted on by the body.
Employment friendly bills untouched
The Legislature has also not been able to act in some proposed legislations that will possibly create jobs for the population.
Financing Agreement for the Youth Opportunity Project is currently before the Legislature and an Act to Ratify the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Liberia and the Government of the state of Qatar for the reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investment, submitted March 14, 2015 is also lying before the lawmakers.
Other investment bills such as the Bill to Establish the Rubber Development Fund submitted June 20, 2014; bill to Ratify the Concession Agreement Between the Republic of Liberia and the Liberia Cocoa Corporation, submitted July 8, 2014; Mineral Development Agreement with Hummingbird Resources (Liberia), Inc. submitted November 23, 2015 are all before the lawmakers.
Another bill, Amendment to Mineral Development Agreement among the Government of the Republic of Liberia, Western Cluster Limited, Sesa Goa Limited and Bloom Fountain Limited is yet to make it on the floor of the Legislature
The Land Rights Bill submitted November 26, 2014 and the Liberia Land Authority Bill submitted September 22, 2015 is also all on the desk of the lawmakers.
Below is a list of twenty-six stalled bills, date of submission in parenthesis
Bill to amend the 2008 Act of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission Granting Direct Prosecutorial Power (May 22, 2013); Contonou Partnership Agreement (July 16, 2013);
An Act Establishing the New Petroleum Law of Liberia 2013 (August 29, 2013);
An Act to Amend Title 21 of the Liberian Revenue Code of Law of 1956 to update the Provision of the Maritime Law and the Maritime regulation (September 3, 2013); An Act to Amend the Telecommunications Act of 2007 (September 3, 2013);
An Act to Amend certain provisions of An Act to Establish the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (September 6, 2013); Engineering Society Act of 2013 (September 10, 2013); The National Wildfire Conservation and Protection Areas Management Law (March 26, 2014);
The National Wildfire Conservation and Protection Areas Management Law (March 6, 2014); Public Health Law (mental Health) (April 1, 2014); Bill to Establish the Rubber Development Fund (June 20, 2014);
Bill to Ratify the Concession Agreement between the Republic of Liberia and the Liberia Cocoa Corporation (July 8, 2014); Land Rights Bill (November 26, 2014); Gola National Park (February 19, 2015);
An Act to Ratify the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Liberia and the Government of the state of Qatar for the reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investment (March 14, 2015);
Liberia Agricultural Commodity Regulatory Authority Bill (May 8, 2015); Amendment to Executive Law to Establish the Ministry of Health (September 12, 2015); Mineral Development Agreement with Hummingbird Resources (Liberia), Inc. (November 23, 2015);
Ant Act to Amend Title 17 of the Penal Code Laws of Liberia known as the Judicial Law of 1972 to provide for the establishment of the Corruption Court of Liberia (March 1, 2016);
National Road Fund Act (March 17, 2016); An Act to ratify the Air Service Agreement between the Government of Republic of Liberia and the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco (May 5, 2016); Financing Agreement for the Youth Opportunity Project (May 30, 2016);
An Act to Ratify the Multinational Loan Agreement between the republic of Liberia and the African Development Fund Mano River Union Road development and Transport Facility Program-MRU (RDTFP), (July 18, 2016);
An Act to repeal the Local Government Law Constituting Title 20 of the Liberian Code of Laws Revised and to Establish in its stead a New Title 20 to be known as the Local Government Law of Liberia 2016, and to Amend Chapter 25, Ministry of Internal Affairs, of the Executive Law, and Chapter 4, Administration in the Country Area, of the Aborigines Law of 1956, to sustain the National Policy on Decentralization and Local Governance of Liberia (July 12, 2016);
Liberia Land Authority Bill (September 22, 2015) and Amendment to Mineral Development Agreement among the Government of the Republic of Liberia, Western Cluster Limited, Sesa Goa Limited and Bloom Fountain Limited-not yet introduced on the floor of the Legislature (unknown)
And An Act to reorganize parts of the Executive Branch of Government Republic of Liberia, (March 6, 2012)
It is not clear whether Speaker Tyler was the only obstacle to the Legislature not ratifying some of these essential bills but now that the Speaker has recused himself it remains to be seen how fast the lawmakers will act in ratifying these bills.