Monrovia – Mr. Isaac Redd, Director of Press at the House of Representatives, has broken silence over what he called lip-service shown staffers of the House by the leadership of Speaker Bhofal Chambers.
Report By Henry Karmo [email protected]
According to Director Redd, support staffs are only given big portfolios and no support under this present Speaker. Making comparison between Speaker Chambers’ leadership and that of his predecessors, including the immediate past Speaker, Redd categorically stated that previous legislatures that they as staffers worked under were better than the present crème of leadership in the House.
“We were better than now; that is why it is often said you never missed a well until it runs dried. Under the leadership of Speaker Emmanuel Nuquay, we made proposal for the improvement of our work and those proposals were supported.
“As it is now, we are given offices and told to fund the setting up of those offices. We need to buckle up. We don’t want this cliché of the ‘pro-poor’ to catch-up with us in a manner that we cannot dignify ourselves.
“After the Ja’neh impeachment, the issue of impeachment became a great joke perhaps we will impeach the leadership in power.” This statement from the Director of Press may very well prove the many criticisms Speaker Chambers continues to receive for what many of his critics in and out of the Legislature have described as “bad leadership.”
Redd spoke Wednesday, April 10, at program marking the official launch of the NAYMOTE Legislative Advocacy Handbook done in collaboration with the Legislative Information Service (LIS), headed by Mr. McCarthy Weh.
NAYMOTE in partnership with LIS launched a comprehensive handbook. The primary objective of the handbook is to promote the culture of legislative openness and responsiveness in Liberia.
The development of the handbook, according to Mr. Eddie Jarwolo, was inspired by NAYMOTE partners for Democratic Development a decade ago. It is aimed at promoting democratic accountability and transparency in Liberia’s governance processes as well as increasing legislators’ responsiveness to the needs and aspiration of the people who elected them.
Jarwolo believes the handbook is keened on practical experiences, best practices and strategies that have proven to be successful and effective during legislative advocacy and civic engagement, globally.
“This handbook is a conscripted tool that can be used to engage the Liberian legislature as fulcrum of Liberia’s democracy because of its constitutional responsibilities to enact laws, represent citizens’ interests, oversee executive policy implementation and perform.
“It is also intended to improve young people’s skills to engage in constructive legislative advocacies and monitoring from an informed perspective, being knowledgeable of its structures and functions as well as strategies to get the legislature working in the interest of the people.”
Serving as chief launcher, Deputy Speaker Prince Moye thanked NAYMOTE and the LIS for the collaboration and pleaded with international partners for support to the undertaking. He also called on the Legislature to provide financial and technical support to the efforts.
LIS and NAYMOTE are planning on conducting training sessions on the usage of the handbook, highlighting the steps for legislative advocacy and educating citizens on the workings of the legislature across the country.
This they believe will improve Liberia’s governance processes, ensure legislators’ responsiveness to their electorates and reduce the huge turnover in the Legislature due to lack of information about the workings of the Legislature and as well mitigate what many constituents term as their neglect by lawmakers following elections.
At the other end of the partnership, the LIS envisages distribution of the handbook project as a medium through which it will effectuate its endorsed Parliamentary Democracy Outreach program geared towards taking the Legislature to the people in collaboration with the Senate and House Press and Public Affairs Departments.