Distinguished Colleagues,
Senate Secretary and Chamber Staff,
Employees and Staff of the Senate,
Members of the Press,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen:
The Senate adjourns today sine die for the 5th Session of the 54th Legislature. It has been a long year of hard work by the Senate. I thank you for the many bills and other legislative instruments you worked on, for discharging your oversight responsibilities, advocating for our people and implementing various projects within your various constituencies and sometimes beyond.
The Senate, like all legislative chambers around the world, receive criticisms sometimes in the discharge of its cardinal responsibilities. Those criticisms strengthen us to learn, improve our work habits and institute many reforms. We embarked on many transparent processes to alleviate negative perceptions of our sessions. For example, we held no Closed-door Sessions, concessionaires and private entities were never invited to Plenary, and our incomes were disclosed the 2022 Senate budget was in the public sphere and we voted on the record for crucial matters for accountability.
Distinguished Colleagues, we had planned to devote a significant portion of this final segment of the 5th Session to the discussion of the 2023 National Budget. Unfortunately, due to the budget being submitted one month later than the statutorily stipulated time, work on it could not have been completed before our final recess, which begins today. Therefore, we request the Committees on Ways,
Means, Finance & Budget and Public Accounts & Audits to continue to work on the instrument in coordination with the Senate Leadership while on break.
Fellow Liberians, the availability and price of our most strategic commodity, RICE, have been a serious issue over the last three months. This situation is principally due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, which has disrupted production, and the supply chain, including freight, which has increased significantly. There is a forecast that next year, the price of rice on the international market will increase by 20%. For our country, it was time for the Government to take away the partial subsidy that was being provided to rice importers as it was far too small to make an impact. This incomplete subsidy saw the price of rice been sold at uncoordinated outrages prices. With the recent removal of the subsidy and a fixed price been set, we hope stability will return to the market.
The Russia-Ukraine war continues to disrupt economies all over the world. The longer the fight goes on, the more people will suffer, especially in fragile economies like Developing Countries.
There is, therefore, a definite need for the war to come to an end.
On the November 3rd, I listened to and watched an interview on TRT World, with His Excellency Peter Szijjarto, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, an EU and NATO Country, on the Russia-Ukraine War. He said, inter alia, that he has attended countless Foreign Ministers of EU and NATO meetings and that at no time was peace ever discussed. War plans, strategies and imposition of sanctions on Russia were the key agenda items, over and over.
He said few countries like Turkey have tried to broker peace between the Presidents of Russia and Ukraine to end the war. According to the Foreign Minister, for the war to end, meetings should be convened between the Presidents of Russia and the United States, not between Russia and Ukraine.
We therefore welcome the statement from President Biden during the recent visit of the French President Macron, that he is willing to talk to the President of Russia.
We also call on the United Nations, through its appropriate organs, to work on a concrete and realistic peace plan to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. The world is suffering too much.
Distinguished Colleagues, we are highly grateful to the other two branches of Government for the cooperation the Senate continues to receive within the framework of the constitution. We welcome the new Chief Justice on board as she superintends the dispensation and delivery of justice.
While on the Judiciary, I deem it necessary and appropriate to re-iterate the main theme of my statement at the induction program of Senator Joseph Jallah in July of this year: that is, The Right to Due Process, on which subject the Constitution of Liberia, laws of the land and Supreme Court Opinions are clear.
If I may borrow the words of outgoing US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, this Senate is under obligation to “defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic”; We have to protect the democratic space from interference. The right of the people to choose their leaders and for their leaders to serve in line with our constitution, our domestic laws and only international laws we have signed and ratified is undebatable and should always be guaranteed.
The Liberian Constitution clearly states that no one should be punished without first being convicted beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law or by a comparable tribunal (Article 20(a)). The elements of Due Process, as indicated in the Supreme Court Opinion in Wolo Vs Wolo, Re: (5LLR423)(1937), holds that Due Process is a law which hears before it condemns, and renders judgment only after trial, gives an opportunity to appear and produce evidence and to be heard in person or by counsel or both; that it is unconstitutional to deprive any person of his/her property or other rights, without notice, an opportunity to appear and cross-examine witnesses adduced against him/her, to produce witnesses in his/her behalf, and to be heard in person, or by counsel or both; that it is also unconstitutional to deprive any official of office, or a person of their income, livelihood, security of employment, property or other rights, without due process of law.
Anyone made to resign their position, thereby losing their livelihood and self-esteem because of an allegation that has not been proven through Due Process, is being mistreated, which is prohibited under our organic law.
Furthermore, the freedom to associate with whomever a Liberian decides is a right protected under Article 17 of the 1986 Constitution, except where there is a threat to National Security and public safety.
And neither our former colleagues nor us have made laws that bar any Liberian from participating in a political or another civil process without first being tried and found guilty by utilizing the constitutional principle of Due Process.
Distinguished Colleagues, it was announced several weeks ago that Liberia had made a pass in the Millennium Challenge Corporation Score Card. We congratulate the Executive Branch for leading the national efforts. The Senate will cooperate and play its part in any reform required to sustain the areas in which the country has made passing grades and work to improve in areas that we did not do well.
Still, on national matters, the Senate has devoted a significant amount of time to meetings and public hearings, both at Committee and Plenary levels on electricity issues, to ensure that our people have access to reliable and affordable electrical power. The Senate did approve millions of United States Dollars in the 2022 Restated Budget and will approve additional sums in the 2023 National Budget for debts owed La Cote d’Ivoire in the Cross Border Electricity Project and for the new TRANSCO CLSG Project.
The Senate is therefore pleased that the Governments of Liberia and La Cote d’Ivoire, through their respective enterprises and agents, have signed the power purchase agreement for our country to receive a minimum of 27 Megawatts (MW) of power from the latter; and the power from that source was officially switched on last week. This will assist fill the gap in power generation experienced during the dry season.
Liberia has a significant hydropower potential on the St. Paul River, the Via River confluence and other water bodies in some parts of the country that can be developed and power harnessed for domestic consumption and export through the CLSG Line. It is prudent to take ownership through yearly budgetary appropriations, rather than depending solely on donor funding to develop these potentials. We commit the Senate for such an endeavor.
And while on energy matters, let me congratulate the President, other members of our Government and the Civil Society Organizations who participated in the recent 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (COP 27) held in Egypt. We followed the conference proceedings and negotiations. While I was in the Executive Branch, I had the opportunity to participate in the negotiations of the framework convention on climate change and for the conventions on desertification and biodiversity. I also represented our country at the first Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Convention (COP 1) held in Berlin, Germany.
I can confirm that nothing much has changed in the negotiations: the polluting countries must continue to pollute without a firm commitment to reduce emissions; the small countries with forests must conserve their forests to act as reservoirs to absorb the emissions from the atmosphere, and monies promised by the polluting countries to vulnerable ones like the island nations and poor developing countries under “joint implementation programs” which have changed name several times, remain largely elusive. Climate Change is a serious matter. As you can see, we are in December and it is still raining in Liberia. The rain is having heavy tool on our laterite roads throughout the country and disrupting the farming season, leading to untold suffering on our people. Therefore, Negotiators for affected countries have to be resilient and demand equity.
In terms of infrastructure, road rehabilitation, connectivity and pavement continue to pose significant challenges despite the efforts of the Government. The Lofa Road and the two principal road corridors to the Southeast remain impassable during the rainy season. We thank the President for his meeting with the Government of Qatar recently, which resulted in the commitment of the latter to provide additional funding for the Lofa Road.
We also note the Government’s efforts to fund the paving of the road segment between Ganta and Sacleapea and the commitment of donor partners to provide funding for the pavement of the roads from Saclepea through Grand Gedeh to Rivergee and from Barclayville in Grand Kru to Sinoe County.
We urge the Ministry of Public Works to speed up the procurement processes so that actual construction work on these road segments can begin in earnest.
Finally, I commit the Senate to the support of a variety of gender-sensitive issues as embedded in the implementation of portions of the amendment to the New Elections Law, the Domestic Violence Act, Rape Law, the Drugs Law and a final approved legislation on FGM.
Thank you, and I now declare the 5th Session adjourned until January 16, 2023, to begin the 6th Session of the 54th Legislature.