MONROVIA – The decisive moment to determine the Speaker of the 55th Legislature has arrived. The current Deputy Speaker’s aspiration to assume the role of Speaker faces formidable opposition from the incoming Unity Party government. The political landscape is marked by strategic maneuvers as the Unity Party advocates for Richard Koon, their favored candidate, to secure the coveted position.
By Lennart Dodoo, [email protected]
Liberia’s legislature has frequently faced public criticism for being perceived as a rubber stamp body, seen as a significant factor contributing to the country’s developmental stagnation.
The 2022 Legislative performance monitoring report by the Institute for Research and Democratic Development (IREDD), released in March 2023, revealed an excessive influence of the Executive Branch on the leadership of the First Branch of government. This influence has resulted in an imbalance in the overall governance process.
The report highlighted, among various points, that the decision-making process in the Legislature is largely influenced by the 74% majority, often to the detriment of the broader population represented by minority lawmakers.
Charged with the duty of legislating, representing, and overseeing, IREDD’s report revealed that numerous legislators, enjoying substantial support from taxpayers, declined to participate in plenary sessions scheduled for Tuesdays and Thursdays each week.
The UP’s Fight
In December, approximately 42 lawmakers committed, through their signatures, to support Cllr. Koffa’s bid for the Speaker of the House. However, what seemed like an easy path for the incumbent Deputy Speaker has now encountered significant opposition from the Unity Party, which is striving to gain control of the powerful seat in the Legislature, despite having only 10 lawmakers in the House.
Last week, there were reports of President-elect Joseph Boakai offering each lawmaker US$25,000 for developmental projects in their respective districts during a meeting at his Rehab residence last Tuesday. This gesture has raised suspicions that the President-elect is subtly influencing the Speaker election and encouraging House members to cast their votes in favor of the Unity Party’s Richard Nagbe Koon.
When contacted for comments concerning the promised US$25,000, the Director of Political Affairs in the Office of the President-elect, Mo Ali, told FrontPageAfrica that the President-elect only offered to give lawmakers US$5,000 each for the celebration of the inauguration in all 73 districts in the country.
“In the meeting, JNB said that the inaugural celebration would take place in all districts and that during those celebrations, he’s raising money to give US$5,000 to each district and he would like for the lawmakers from those districts to be involved with it,” Ali said.
In addition to the bribery claims, the Unity Party also threatened to challenge the citizenship of Cllr. Koffa, claiming that he’s an American citizen. The Unity Party Secretary General, Amos Tweh, told FrontPageAfrica that stopping Koffa from contesting is one of the strategies being employed by the Unity Party.
“We’re in an election, and we’re strategizing. It’s either we go to the election and win him or we find a way to stop him. So, we are reviewing all our options,” Tweh said.
Koon’s Citizenship Comes Under Spotlight
As the Unity Party gears up to challenge the citizenship of Deputy Speaker Cllr. J. Fonati Koffa, FrontPageAfrica has learned that some high-ranking members of the exiting Coalition for Democratic Change are preparing to challenge the citizenship of the Unity Party’s Richard Koon, alleging him to be an American citizen with a strong tie to Nigeria.
FrontPageAfrica has seen United States passports circulating on social media, particularly on Facebook, bearing the names and images of the two candidates. However, the authenticity of these passports has not been independently verified by FrontPageAfrica.
The latest controversy arises from Koon’s alleged admission of his citizenship at the age of 36, which some believe is a violation of the constitutional requirement that mandates declaration at the age of 23. Legal experts argue that this discrepancy could lead to a delay in the inauguration process if the Speaker’s position remains vacant.
Richard Nagbe Koon, born in Lagos, Nigeria, to a Nigerian mother and Liberian father, has lived a life straddling both nations. Despite permanently moving to Monrovia in 1992, Koon retained allegiance to Nigeria until 2008, according to sources. The revelation that he held both Nigerian and Liberian passports raises questions about the legality of him carrying a Liberian passport after the age of 23, a time when he had not perfected his Liberian citizenship.
Koon is now alleged to be a US citizen. Documents obtained by this paper confirm his move to the US in 2008, where he lived in South Dakota. He obtained US citizenship and has maintained residency there, posing a significant challenge to the legal debate surrounding his Liberian citizenship.
However, Koon in a Facebook post clarified:
I am not an American Citizen.
I had Green card that expired since 2018 during my Professor Exchange program at the University of Michigan. Since than I have been traveling with InfoPass Stamp in my Liberia Passport. My last Info Pass expired September 27, 2023. See attached
The Need for Opposition Speaker
In the view of incoming lawmaker, Taa Wongbe, District 9, Nimba County, there is the need for the next Speaker to be from the opposition party rather than the ruling establishment. This, he believes, would help create a balance in the country’s democracy and governance system.
Wongbe: “From my perspective, in the CONTEXT OF OUR POLITICS, the ONLY way to achieve an INDEPENDENT legislature and for SEPARATION OF POWER to be effective is to have an OPPOSITION as the Speaker. Period! End of story! This is MY view and MY stance! We have to be honest here! The American version of “SEPARATION OF POWER” doesn’t work for us!
We just saw this horror movie! The last 6 years were some of the worst in our country’s history in terms of governance! We were all opposition and we saw the EXECUTIVE branch of government ABUSE OF POWER and having a blank check to do whatever they wanted with NO CHECK AND BALANCES! I am saying, let’s try something different! Let’s FORCE “SEPARATION OF POWER” by intentionally having an OPPOSITION as the Speaker! I am sorry but I CANNOT trust “US” to do the right thing, and I believe if the framers of the Constitution saw what happened over the last 6 years, they might think about FORCING “SEPARATION OF POWER” too!
This is an ideological discussion. We need new thinking around our political system, and I will argue that we need to contextualize these ideas like “SEPARATION OF POWER” and ask ourselves if they really work for us, knowing who Liberians are!
Sorry folks, but our people have suffered enough! We the Liberian version of “SEPARATION OF POWER”
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