Monrovia – Multiple legislative sources have confided in FrontPageAfrica (FPA) that members of the 54th Legislature are cutting short their recess to return to work.
Report by Henry Karmo [email protected]
According to our sources, the lawmakers are returning in order to act on several ‘unfinished businesses.’
For their return, they are expected to receive US$10,000 each plus other benefits, including gasoline and recharged cards.
The decision to return to cut off their break and return to work, this newspaper understands, was done on their own volition and was not requested by the President even though he would have to approve their resolution.
According to a high placed legislative source, who asked not to be named, their return will give the Senate the opportunity to conduct hearing in the impeachment proceedings against Associate Justice Kabineh M. Ja’neh. Another source claimed their return will also allow them to act on the Liberia-China resource swap deal.
However, a Montserrado County lawmaker, who preferred anonymity, disagreed that the swap deal is going to form part of their discussion.
“It is not possible that we will return to session for the swap deal because before acting on that deal, the Government of Liberia will need to conduct its own appraisal analysis of the country’s natural resource reserved. I can confirm that we are returning because of Kabineh M. Ja’neh and we will receive US$10,000 each plus other benefits, including gasoline.
In keeping with legislative practices, if the President of Liberia makes a request for the Legislature to return to session, the government underwrites the cost, but this is not the case with this return from recess.
Contrary to the practice, the Legislature is making its own request to return. By Thursday, October 4, they had raised the required one-fourth signatures of their members and they had submitted a resolution to the President for his approbation for their return.
“What I don’t understand is why are they giving us US$10k when we ourselves are the ones making the request to return? Is it a form of inducement?” One of our sources, who is a lawmaker asked, rhetorically and doesn’t want to be named for fear of reprisal from colleagues.
Article 32 (B) states: “That the President shall, on his own initiative or upon receipt of a certificate signed by at least one-fourth of the total membership of each house, and by proclamation, extend a regular session of the Legislature beyond the date for adjournment or call a special or extraordinary session of that body to discuss or act upon matters of national emergency and concern.
When the extension or call is at the request of the Legislature, the proclamation shall be issued not later than forty-eight hours after receipt of the certificate by the President.”
Before the lawmakers had gone on their break, they literally gave President George Weah a blank check authorizing him to find resources from anywhere to support his agenda.
An example of such decision was when the House of Representatives and the Senate swiftly ratified a billion dollar deal that from all indications they didn’t do due diligence.
Despite repeated criticism, the Legislature passed on the Eton and EBOMAF deal because according to them it was important for the President to get to work on his road priority. But that agreement has now hit rock bottom; inasmuch as government still remains optimistic.
The Swap Deal
This latest agreement involving the proposed swap deal, was announced by the President’s lieutenants following their recent trip from China, where President Weah led a Liberian Delegation to attend the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
This FOCAC was the Weah Administration’s first major multilateral engagement with Beijing – a gathering that was expected to have set the stage for deepening ties and cooperation with the world’s second largest economy.
During that Summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged a US$60 billion package to African countries’ sustainable development. But beneficiary countries would have to pitch proposals to lure a chunk of the fund to their respective economies.
The agreement, according to Finance and Development Minister Samuel D. Tweah, who announced it, is a sort of monetization that would leverage the country’s natural resources for hard currency. Chinese company will extract resources after conducting a feasibility study to determine the exact value of the US$2.5 billion.
Minister Tweah: “Let me be very clear on it, this is not a loan. It is an investment facility, a framework entered into between the China Road and Bridge Corporation and the Government of Liberia under the FOCAC arrangement to unveil US$2.5 billion for financing the country’s development over the next five years.”
Ja’neh’s Impeachment
On Tuesday, July 17, during the 46th Day Sitting, upon receipt of the Impeachment Petition and in accordance with a motion proffered by Grand Kru County District #1 Representative Nathaniel Barway, which was voted in favor of, House Speaker Bhofal Chambers accordingly set up an 8-man Ad-Hoc Committee to review and investigate the Impeachment Petition as well as write-out proceedings for the process.
The Committee was given three weeks, as of Tuesday, July 17, to begin work and report to Plenary. Those on the committee were Rep. Karnie Wesso, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Chairman and Rep. Edward Karfiah, Co-chairman. Others included Reps. Dickson Seboe, Jeremiah Koung, Dr. Isaac Roland, Clarence Gahr and Rustonlyn S. Dennis.
Rep. Yekeh Kolubah of Montserrado County District #10 was the only person who openly voiced his disagreement against the impeachment. A week before, Bomi County District #1 Representative Edwin M. Snowe and Nimba County District #5 Representative Samuel Kogar also voiced out their disagreements. Their disapprovals resulted in trading of invectives between them and Representative Acarous Gray, one of two main proponents of the Impeachment Bill.
In the communication to House Speaker Chambers, the Gray and Rep. Thomas Fallah, the other sponsor of the bill, argued that Justice Ja’neh should be impeached, ousted and removed from the Supreme Court of Liberia.
Why They Want Ja’neh Out
The petition to impeach Justice Ja’neh was filed before the House by Representatives Acarous Gray (Mont. County, District 8) and Thomas Fallah (Mont. County District 5). Both alleged that Justice Ja’neh “committed a serious official misconduct by engaging in a wanton and unsavory exercise of his judicial discretion far exceeding the bounds of elementary judicial interpretation of issues simply to satisfy his personal ego.”
The lawmakers also want Ja’neh impeached for what they termed as “proved misconduct, gross breach of duty, inability to perform the functions of his office by allegedly allowing justice to be served where it belongs no matter the status of the party affected.”
The House of Representatives on Monday, August 27, voted to impeach Associate Justice Kabineh Ja’neh, but the Senate would have to concur with the decision before it takes effect.
Out of 49 lawmakers, one voted against, while the nine members of Nimba Legislative Caucus walked out of the Chamber. The Associate Justice hails from that county.
Early Tuesday morning some citizens from Nimba gathered at the Capitol in peaceful protest against the impeachment proceeding against their kinsmen.