IT DOES NOT BODE WELL when the third in line of succession to the Liberian presidency, on trial for alleged bribery allegations, based on charges by a reputable international watchdog group, Global Witness, is insisting on presiding when majority of his peers feel otherwise.
Time Is Ripe for Embattled Speaker Alex Tyler To Walk Away
IT DOES NOT BODE well for a post-war nation on the mends and preparing for a crucial election when the lower house of the national legislature is divided over a matter of recusal and removal of the speaker.
IT ALSO DOES not bode well when the Cabinet of a sitting government have been advised by the Executive to refrain from matters relating to the works of the House of Representatives until the current issues unfolding in the Lower House are resolved.
A MESSAGE sent to members of the Cabinet obtained by FrontPageAfrica late Thursday instructs members of the Cabinet: “You will be notified when your participation is authorized. This is a directive. Please act accordingly.”
WHAT HAS BEEN unfolding in the Lower House in the past few weeks is nothing short of buffoonery.
EMBATTLED SPEAKER Alex Tyler from all indications and the majority of his peers have no doubt lost his legitimacy to lead.
TYLER has been in this position, putting him a couple of heartbeats away from the Presidency for eight years.
HIS REIGN HAS been eclipsed by allegations of corruption, strangulation of his peers and a sad transformation of the lower house from a law-making body to what some are now describing as Gangsters’ Paradise.
THOSE HARBORING a sympathetic touch to Mr. Tyler’s current predicament should take a seat back and hear it from Mr. Darius Dillon, who worked as Chief of Staff in the office of the former Speaker, Edwin Melvin Snowe:
SAYS MR. DILLON: I was Chief of Staff to the Speaker of the House of Representatives – the 3rd Highest Office, from 2006 to 2007. Edwin Melvin Snowe Jr. was Speaker. I witnessed events leading to his resignation as Speaker. I know what it can be like. We fought all possible mains – politically; we even won the legal case at the Supreme Court, yet he was constrained to tender his resignation.”
DILLON CONTINUES: “At that time, Alex Tyler was known as the ‘Disbursing Officer’ accused of distributing huge sums of money to convince his colleagues to sign the Resolution to remove Snowe as Speaker. Snowe had accused Pres. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of being the mastermind, but Tyler was front, back and center rejecting and denying Snowe’s allegation. Tyler demanded proofs. We provided audio recordings of Samuel Bono of Bong County, Kettehkumeh Murray of Montserrado County and few others on which they were clearly heard confessing to receiving money delivered to them by Tyler to remove Snowe. Tyler rejected the audio confessions of his colleagues, insisting that the audio recordings were “illegally acquired” terming the recordings as “invasion of privacy”. We also provided documents signed by Saah Gbollie and few others in which they confessed to receiving money from Tyler to remove Snowe. Tyler rejected that as well.”
AS MR. DILLON APTLY PUTS IT: “Today, it has turned. Tyler is being pressured to “recuse himself”. The number demanding his recusal is increasing by the day. Like Snowe then, Tyler is now accusing Pres. Sirleaf of being the mastermind. Tyler is abstracting audio recordings from some of his colleagues to present as evidence of a ‘plot’ to “remove” him as Speaker. Tyler is accusing Snowe of being the “Disbursing Officer”. KARMA must really be a BITCH!!
FOR ALL THE DRAMA unfolding in the past few days, it is important to appreciate the rare wisdom of former Speaker Snowe, who in spite of all his flaws and limitations, chose to step aside because the odds were stacked against him – even though he was winning the legal battle.
SPEAKER TYLER must understand that no one person is above the law and no one individual’s personal survival is greater than Liberia.
IT HAS BECOME INCREASINGLY clear that the odds have been stacked against the embattled speaker, majority of his peers have resolved to break away from him and he has totally lost legitimacy of the gavel as speaker.
THIS IS WHY we are once again urging the Speaker to do the right thing for Liberia, not for himself by relinquishing the gavel and turning his attention to the courts to address the serious allegations hanging over his head.
WE DO SO because it may not be the right thing for Mr. Tyler at this present moment, but it is the best thing for the Lower House and the Republic of Liberia.