Monrovia – A member of the House of Representatives, James Biney (National Patriotic Party, Maryland County) says no matter the outcome of the ongoing tussle between lawmakers at the House of Representatives, Speaker Alex Tyler will preside over the State of Nation address in January 2017.
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Per constitutional provision, the Presidents Ellen Johnson Sirleaf will deliver her final State of Nation address on the fourth working Monday in January 2017 and there has been news that the Presidents might not favor delivering her address under the leadership of an indicted Speaker but Representative Biney has vowed that Speaker Tyler will preside over the State of the Nation in January, 2017.
Says He added: “even if they get it and they do not remove the Speaker constitutionally, comes January, the fourth working Monday the Speaker will preside as Speaker and the Presidents will be under constitutional obligation to sit under his gavel and it is not whether she likes it or not that what the constitution require to present her state of the union address”.
Representative Biney has reacted to his fellow lawmakers who held a separate session on last Thursday for the removal of Speaker Tyler saying they cannot temper with the rule of law despite claiming to be in the majority.
A statement from anti Tyler lawmaker stated that Legitimacy depends on the number; something they boost of having and said the Senate will do business with them. At a separate section they (anti Tyler) threatened that if the Chief Clerk does not turn out and there is no genuine excuse, he will be dealt with.
But the according to Representative Biney, the official individual charge to determine whether it is a quorum is the enrolling clerk and not the lawmakers themselves adding that the Chief Clerk was elected by lawmakers from all over the country.
“What they had in the joint chambers cannot amount to session irrespective of the number they have because it is the enrolling clerk that officially determines the result of the roll call”, he said.
According to Representative Biney the Chief Clerk under the rule of the House is the only official in the House who is responsible for clerical notices and resolution and not individual lawmakers..
He added: “even the Speaker does not write for the House, it is the chief clerk that does so. The chief clerk is elected by Lawmakers from all over the country. So the chief clerk is not an ordinary person. For my colleagues to have assembled in the joint chambers and to just take one of their staff and say you are Chief Clerk is not only embarrassing it is a disgrace”.
Representative Biney says the anti-Tyler lawmakers do not constitute simple majority and as such cannot alter the rule of Law, change the committee if the majority members of the committee are not present and cannot deliberate.
He added that after staying in the legislature for the period of eleven years he would expect that some of his colleagues on the other side to have experience enough to know what is a violation of the rules of the House of Representatives and the constitution of the country.
“I am surprise that experience lawmaker like Honorable Snowe, Nuquay, Honorable Forh, Honorable Mulbah will sit there and assume that you can get majority and just do anything with our rule you cannot do it”, he said.
Addressing reporters at his party National Headquarter in Congo Town Monday, Representative Biney said out of fifteen committee members, there are only five members on the side to remove Speaker Tyler but added that the standing rule of the House mandates that until majority sign on the document it cannot be called for deliberation.
“So, even if you have the majority on that side you cannot tamper with the rule, you cannot get committee work on the desk, how do you deliberate. So people can’t just think because the legislature is about majority so even if you have majority you can proceed, you cannot proceed”, he said.
Representative Biney continued by saying: “the rules are crafted such that it has to be dealt with holistically. We in our democracy must respect the constitution that governs us; we don’t have to love one another”.
According to Representative Biney, his own party, the NPP National Executive committee had the same problem with Honorable Theophilus C. Gould for almost two years, adding that the majority members in his party felt that there were other people who were operating outside of the rule but said they in the majority compelled the National Election Commission to move to the election under the gavel of Honorable Gould.
“Today we have peace in our party because of the rule of law. So, Honorable Tyler will have to preside. If in their opinions; they may be able to get majority it has to be confirmed by the enrolling clerk and the clerical staff”, Representative Biney noted.