Monrovia – As the House of Representatives continues wrangling over the removal of Speaker J. Alex Tyler, Lawmakers pushing to oust the Speaker who have resolved to not sit under the gavel of the embattled Speaker prompting them to boycott regular session, now find themselves in hot water as the plenary of the House of Representatives has given ultimatum to these Lawmakers to return to work or risk action.
Report by Henry Karmo – [email protected]
On Tuesday August 3, 2016, 33 members of the House of Representatives were absent from session.
Again on Thursday, 33 members were absent but the Speaker was able to manage a quorum of 31 members with 7 in distance on excuse.
According to the secretariat of the House of Representatives, Lawmakers including Dr. Bhofal Chambers, Alex Grant and Ricks Toweh of (Maryland, Grand Gedeh, and Nimba Counties) have all traveled to their respective counties with excuses while some are out of the country on official duties.
In keeping with rule 21.1 of the House of Representative which speaks about absence from session, members of the House of Representatives present in session on Thursday agreed to give Tuesday August 9, 2016 as an ultimatum for Lawmakers staying away from legislative work to return.
“No member shall stay away from session without the expressed approval of the House for a period of more than two weeks; for a period less than two weeks, permission may be sought from the Speaker. Violators shall be penalized in a manner deemed appropriate by the leadership of the House of Representatives in consultation with plenary”, the rules further states.
The ultimatum stems from a letter written by Representative Larry Younquoi (NUDP-District #8 Nimba County) who chairs the House committee on good governance. In his communication, the Nimba County Lawmaker said his attention is being drawn to the continuous absence of some of his colleagues in recent time from plenary as well as from committees’ work.
This situation, he said, threatens to stall the work of the Legislature had it not been for the fortitude of some committee members of the House of Representatives who have always ensured that quorum is obtained for the conduct of normal legislative business.
“What is even interesting and unjust about this is that while the aforementioned group of Lawmakers is staying away, they continue to receive the same salary and benefits as the rest of us who are making the ultimate sacrifice to maintain the sanity of the legislature in these trying times of our nation,” Rep. Younquoi’s communication stated.
“Mr. Speaker and distinguish colleagues, such action on the part of our colleagues, as mentioned above is in sharp contravention of rule 21.1 of this honorable House.
Against this background Mr. Speaker and colleagues, I wish to plead with you members of this August body to take appropriate action under our rules to ensure that a reversal of such trend so as to enable us to do the Liberian people’s work as expected.
Multiple sources confirmed that by the weekend, the Lawmakers pushing for the ousting of Speaker Tyler have garnered sufficient signatures to push their plan into action this week but on Monday the variable looks to be changing with at least six Lawmakers who earlier signed the removal resolution rescinding their signatures.
On July 24 and 25 two Lawmakers wrote withdrawing their signatures from the resolution they earlier signed.
On July 24, Representative Richmond Anderson, District 12, Montserrado County wrote the committee calling for the recusal of Speaker Tyler withdrawing his signature.
On late Monday, FPA spotted several Lawmakers at a secret meeting held at the home of deputy Speaker Hans Barchue, the man tipped to succeed Speaker Tyler if majority of the Lawmakers agree to sign the resolution to remove the Speaker.
Before the meeting a text message to Representative Josephine Francis, (UP-District#1 Montserrado County), inviting Lawmakers to the meeting stated: “you are kindly invited to a meeting at the home of deputy Speaker by 4pm please be present and on time.”
Representative Francis recently said the failure of Speaker Tyler to recuse himself is stalling normal legislative activities at the Capitol.
About twenty nine Lawmakers were spotted at the late evening meeting at Deputy Speaker Barchue’s residence.
The Lawmakers included Corpu Barclay (bong County), Nimene Batekwa (Grand Kru), Gethrue Lamin (Gbarpolu County), Mary Kaiwor (Grand Bassa County), Jeremiah McCauley (Sinoe County), Henry Fahnbulleh (Montserrado), Robertson Siaway (Grand Bassa), George Mulbah (Bong), Ballah Zazy (Margibi), Gabrile Smith (Grand Bassa), Munah P. Youngblood (Montserrado), Edwin M. Snowe (Montserrado), Richmond Anderson (Montserrado), Edward Kaifai, Tokpah Mulbah and Eugene Fallah Kaprkar.
Others include Samuel Kogar, Prince Moye, Emmanuel Nuquay, Adolph Lawrence, Ricks Toweh, Stephen Kafi, Bill Twehway and Julius Berrian.