MONROVIA – The plenary of the Liberian Senate has rescinded its previous position to postpone the confirmation of seven nominees nominated by President George Weah to serve as commissioners at the Liberian Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC).
By Henry Karmo [email protected]
However, the motion to confirm the nominees had a condition that the decision of the Senate will not be communicated to the President in the absence of payment of benefits to former commissioners who served before the termination of their services by the amended LACC law.
Reasons behind the senators’ change of minds have not been established, but the majority members of that August body had earlier refused to confirm the nominees based on reasons that include timeliness of the President’s decision to nominate, failure to submit proof of assets declaration by the nominees and violation of the law establishing the LACC that speaks against two nominees coming from the same county.
Senators including Abraham Darius Dillon, and Johnathan Boy-charles Sogbie maintained their position of the nomination not being timely and a violation of the act establishing the LACC and voted against the confirmation of the nominees.
The Senate voted on the records and this time voted in a majority to confirm the nominee. It is not clear whether or not the nominees met the requirement set by the LACC Act and as was early requested by the Senate to be made public.
Some senators have expressed reservations about the timing of confirming these nominees, especially with national elections just a few months away. They argued that confirming the nominees before the election could pose a risk and advocated for a delay until after the election results are determined.
Furthermore, some senators, including Darius Dillon of Montserrado County and Johnathan Boye Charles-Sogboie of River-Gee County have accused the President of violating Section 6.8 of the LACC Act.
This section explicitly prohibits having two commissioners from the same county. Additionally, the nominees have been accused of violating LACC regulations, which require their asset declarations to be made public before their confirmation.
Senator Dillon, the leading advocate against the confirmation, stated, “Today, as we are supposed to adjourn the 54th legislature, we have unresolved issues surrounding the LACC confirmation. We firmly believe that the laws we passed as an institution should be respected. The new LACC Act designates the commission as the new repository for asset declarations and empowers them to penalize individuals for under-declaring. However, we haven’t witnessed the nominees fulfilling their obligation to declare their assets,” he said.
Furthermore,” Dillon added, “Section 6.12 of the new LACC Act explicitly states that no two commissioners should hail from the same county. Our observation reveals that some of the nominees share the same county of origin. It is fundamentally incorrect to knowingly confirm these nominees to an institution entrusted with ensuring integrity within our country.”
The confirmation of LACC nominees remains in limbo with no immediate resolution in sight as the Senate grapples with these contentious issues.
Commissioners named include Cllr. Alexandra Kormah Zoe, Chairperson; Ernest R. Hughes, Vice Chairperson; Randolph E. Tebbs, Commissioner – Monitoring and Investigation; Dr. Miatta Jeh, Commissioner – Monitoring and Investigation, and Atty. Samuel F. Dakana Commissioner, Monitoring and Investigation.
The new LACC chairperson, Cllr. Alexandra Kormah Zoe, served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Liberia Telecommunications Corporation (LTC), a telecommunications company providing services in Liberia.
With headquarters in Monrovia, the company provides telephone, Internet, fax and radio services to the Greater Monrovia area.
Others are Cllr. Oretha Snyder Davis, Commissioner – Prosecution, and Cllr. David A. B. Wilson, Commissioner, Prosecution.