CAPITOL HILL, Monrovia – Plenary, the highest decision make body of the House of Representatives, has cited the Ministers of State for Presidential Affairs and Finance and Development Planning to give full account of the recent travels of President Joseph Boakai to Ghana and Vice President Jeremiah Koung to Nigeria and Morocco.
By Gerald C. Koinyeneh – [email protected]
The decision was reached following a communication from Rep. Yekeh Kolubah (District 10, Montserrado County), seeking plenary’s indulgence to invite Presidential Affairs Minister Sylvester Grisby and Finance Minister Boimah Karmara.
“Mr. Speaker and Distinguished Colleagues, we have cried on the issues of corruption (Accountability and Transparency) which are amongst issues that led to the failure of the Weah-led Government, especially for the failure of its re-election,” he said.
“When samples of those things start to come out, it is our responsibility to set check-points so that they cannot go out of hand before trying to arrest the situation.
About a fortnight ago, President Boakai and his Vice President were embroiled in travel controversies following their separate trips abroad. Prior to his departure for Ghana, the President Notified the Legislature that he was embarking on a two-day working visit to meet with his “brother” President Nana Akufo-Addo.
However, it turned out that while the President was arriving in Ghana, President Addo was leading a delegation abroad and was not in the country to meet with his Liberian counterpart. The Executive Mansion later announced in a brief statement following Boakia’s visit that the President met with Ghanaian Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia. FrontPage also gathered that President Boakai did not carry along any of his top aides, only relatives. These ‘controversial’ accounts sparked speculations that the president’s trip was not official but a private one for health reasons.
In the space of one week, VP Koung used the private Jet – first to Ghana, and later, Rabat, Morocco – owned by the billionaire Mahama who is already doing business in Liberia and is looking to expand his Liberia interests through the recent deal in which U.S. firm High Power Exploration Inc (HPX), founded by mining billionaire Robert Friedland, signed a letter of intent with Liberia’s government and Guma Africa Group to develop rail and road projects linking it with Guinea. The infrastructure projects, known as the Liberty Corridor, are expected to support the West African region’s connection to world markets and are estimated to cost between $3 billion to $5 billion.
VP Koung acknowledged that he had run into Ghanaian businessman Mahama at a local hotel and mentioned that he was on his way to Nigeria and the Ghanaian millionaire offered him a flight to Accra, from where he departed for Nigeria.
VP Koung’s action sparked huge debate, with critics raising questions about the timing, especially amid a new report that VP Koung also flew the same plane to the Parliamentary Conference on South- South Cooperation in Rabat, Morocco.
And Rep. Kolubah has expressed similar sentiments. Rep. Kolubah noted that such trips require the government’s sponsorship and if it is not the government sponsored trips, they need to know as the people’s deputies.
“Considering that we don’t want to do business as usual, we crave the indulgence of this August Body to invite the Minister of Finance and Minister of State for Presidential Affairs to appear before the plenary of the House to provide … travel cost of the various travels by the President and Vice President as stated above; the owner of the private plane used by Vice President Jeremiah K. Koung since it has been speculated that the owner of the plane is the Vice President’s friend and details about the expenditures of the respective trips.”
His communication ignited an acrimonious debate on the floor with several lawmakers in favor while some against.
Rep. Dorwohn Twain Gleekia (District #6, Nimba County) and Rep. Emmanuel Dahn (District #7, Montserrado County) said the President and the Vice President, constitutionally have not done any wrong, and so there was no need to indirectly placed them under investigation by inviting their officials for questioning about their travels.
However, majority lawmakers in session including Rep. Prescillia Abram Cooper (District #5, Montserrado County), of the ruling Unity Party were in support.
“We came on a rescue mission, and this calls for doing things differently. So, if there is the need to invite these people to come and give us the needed information concerning the President and vice President’s travels, then they should come here,” she said.
Following a heated debate, a motion was passed calling on the officials to appear next week Tuesday.
