Monrovia – Former Montserrado County District #3 Representative Dr. Kettehkumeh Murray has called on the new Speaker of the 54th House of Representative, Dr. Bhofal Chambers, to create an amicable working relationship between the three branches of government.
Report by Edwin G. Genoway, Jr – [email protected]
Dr. Murray said there has not been a cordial working relationship between the Executive and the legislature for many years.
He asserted that the George Weah leadership would face the “normal challenges between the House and the Executive” because of the strength of the Executive.
“We expect a leadership different from the former House’s leadership – Dr. Chambers and his team, Liberia needs to be strong and deliver the good for the Liberian people,” Murray said.
The former Montserrado County lawmaker hoped that the House under the speakership of Dr. Chambers would do things differently.
In an interview with FrontPageAfrica via mobile phone Monday, January 15, 2018, Dr. Murray said the new Speaker would be a good leader of the House if he (Dr. Chambers) sticks to addressing core issues of national concern.
Dr. Chambers is noted for his strong advocacy for his constituents of Pleebo Sodekan District in Maryland County.
Following his election in 2005 on a Unity Party ticket, Chambers was a close ally of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, but the pair fell apart, forcing him to quit the UP and move to the Congress for Democratic Change headed by Weah.
Dr. Chambers has over the years protested the operations of the controversial Maryland Oil Palm Plantation (MOPP) concession agreement in the county.
He termed the MOPP agreement as not in the interest of Pleebo Sodenkan District and the Liberian people at large.
His advocacy brought a serious rift between him (Dr. Chambers) and President Sirleaf, which observers say is still ongoing although Sirleaf is preparing to leave the political scene.
As Chambers prepares to head the lawmaking house as an influential political figure in the Liberia’s body politics, his former colleague at the Capitol says the new House Speaker is no longer restricted to the people of Pleebo Sodenkan, saying, “The Speaker’s advocacy should now benefit the entire country and its people”.
“In the past he spoke for the underprivileged in Pleebo, Sodeken District now he’s the Speaker of the Republic of Liberia I don’t expect him to change, this is no longer a Pleebo’s fight it is now national,” Dr. Murray said.