Kakata, Margibi – As controversial his election to the position of the country’s third powerful office may seem and the President’s lack of public acknowledgement of his Speakership, the people of Margibi County Friday had an elaborate program in honor of Rep. Emmanuel Nuquay.
Report by Henry Karmo – [email protected]
Not concerned about the politics and controversy surrounding Emmanuel Nuquay’s ascendancy to the Speaker position, citizens of the county gathered in Kakata, the county’s capital to welcome and celebrate Nuquay, son of the soil, for emerging as holder of the third most respected office in the republic.
Citizens of the county including the youth and aged, gathered in their numbers uniformed in T-shirts, and carried placards with welcoming and congratulatory messages such as “Speaker Nuquay thank you for making us proud”, “Welcome home Speaker Nuquay”, “We love you Speaker Nuqay”, among others.
Students abandoned school for the welcoming ceremony, they waited under the burning sun for the new Speaker’s as the sound of drums and excitement filled the air.
Motorcyclists and cultural troupes displayed their talents as they escorted Speaker Nuquay to the city hall.
Nuquay began expressing gratitude to his celebrants by referencing several biblical scriptures and dedicated his new portfolio to God. He dispelled rumors of being corrupt as alleged by his colleague Deputy Speaker Hans Barchue.
“If you say Nuquay is engaged in criminal act and [you] don’t point to my bank account or something luxurious but point to something I did for my people, that is a plus for me,”Nuquay said.
Barchue who led the ousting of Tyler fell off with the ranks of Reps. Snowe and Nuquay when it came to the selection of the new Speaker to replace Tyler at which time he accused them of being the legislature’s problem and running a criminal cartel at the legislature.
Nuquay acknowledge taking over a divided House of Representatives and promised to work to unify members of the House of Representatives to promote national growth and development.
“Our vision is to work with the Executive branch of government to finish the unfinished businesses to enhance development in the country.
As legislature, we want to build our legislative bloc to please you our electorates. And we are also aware that you expect nothing from us outside development,” he added.
Speaker Nuquay (UP-District #5Margibi County) was elected Speaker of the 53rd Legislature on white ballot, replacing removed Speaker Alex Tyler.
The election should have been held Tuesday, October 4, 2016, but a stay order from the Supreme Court stalled the process due to a petition for a writ of prohibition filed by Representative Adolph Lawrence (CDC-District # 15 Montserrado County).
A day before the Speaker’s election, Deputy Speaker Barchue using his gavel as presiding officer, adjourned session for the Legislative constituency break.
However, that decision was rejected by 33 members of the House, including the chairman on Executive, Representative Josephine Francis who was recently appointed to the position by the Deputy Speaker. She replaced Representative Wesseh Blamo shortly after Tyler was forced to recuse himself.
Nuquay has served for more than 10 years as Chairman on the Ways, Means and Finance Committee, a very important committee in the House of Representatives, conducting budget hearings and sanctioning allotments.
He has great deal of experience in legislative politics.
Nuquay has accumulated some level of wealth for himself that could play a major role in his campaign.
He has been able to build himself a bloc amongst lawmakers from Bong, Margibi, Nimba and Montserrado Counties.