MONROVIA – The ‘schoolboy’ error by the protocol officers that left the Vice President, Jewel Howard Taylor, without a seat at the signing ceremony of the Books of Condolence of Reps. Munah Pelham Youngblood and J. Nagbe Sloh became so embarrassing that the Senate Pro-Tempore, Albert Chie, offered his seat after she stood for several minutes.
Report by Henry Karmo, [email protected]
VP Taylor had entered the rotunda of the Capitol minutes after President George Weah had signed and walked out with House Speaker Bhofal Chambers to his office. The VP had entered, greeted family members of the deceased and other officials of government who were present.
She had retired to the high table to sit only to discover that the position of the seats were being occupied by the President, the Speaker and the Pro-tempore.
Per protocol, any program or event attended by the President and Vice President, both of them are positioned close to each other. In the case at the legislature on Tuesday, the protocol positioned the President closed to the House Speaker and the Pro-Tempore of the Senate with no seat for the Vice President.
The Vice President’s office declined to comment on the situation.
According to one of the protocol officers who choose not to go on the records, the Vice President arrived earlier than expected.
Since the inception of the CDC-led government, there have been reports of feud between the President and his deputy. At some point there was news about her plans to resign.
Despite lingering perceptions of strains between she and President Weah coupled with some level of disrespect from some members of the President’s inner circle, Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor declined her intentions of resigning and remain focused on fulfilling the mandate given the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change government as a result of the 2017 presidential elections.
Despite the assurances, the Vice President said conditions have made it difficult. “You know as humans, some things would occur and you will say, Oh, God! Did I make the right choice? Yes, I have…. but like I said earlier, I am not a quitter; especially now. For I have the rare privilege to have been elected by the people of Liberia in 2017 and not just the CDC. I now belong to the STATE, whose trust I must bear till the end of this mandate. It is often said – “that tough times don’t last, only tough people do.” and there is certainly a silver lining beyond the clouds.”
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