IPNEWS: Distinguished ladies and gentlemen of the press, thank you for the continuous support to CENTAL and our quest to promote good governance, the culture of transparency and accountability, and rule of law in Liberia. We deeply value your support and contributions to the work of civil society, especially CENTAL.
Ladies and gentlemen of the press, for more than six months, Liberians have witnessed their lawmakers invest valuable time, energy and resources to remove a Speaker rather than crafting critical legislations to help ameliorate the hardship faced by their constituents. In all this, ordinary Liberians have been the most victimized; lawmakers have accused each other of bribery, budget corruption, and other forms of corruption. Also, we have seen a segment of the Capitol Building gutted by fire, and the 2025 national budget passed by the House of Representatives within an unprecedented ten-days period and concurred with by the Senate on the same day it was received. In all this, Liberians and Liberia have borne the brunt.
On Wednesday, April 23, 2025, the Supreme Court of Liberia, whose decisions are final and binding on all other courts and government agencies, delivered a ruling declaring as unconstitutional all legislative actions taken by members of the House of Representatives under the umbrella (majority bloc) in which the elected Speaker, J. Fonati Koffa is not presiding, despite not being absent or incapacitated. The ruling, amongst others, rendered null and void, decisions and actions taken by members of the majority bloc led by Representative Richard Koon including his election as speaker and suspension of several colleagues.
Furthermore, the Court’s ruling sought to address legal issues related to the prolonged political and leadership rancor at the House of Representatives and address a Bill of Information filed by Speaker Koffa seeking clarity on the court’s December 6, 2024 ruling on that matter, in which it ambiguously declared the majority block’s actions as illegal.
However, reactions to the court’s ruling have been diverse. Whilst many would think the ruling has brought a closure to the prolonged dispute, public comments from key members of the regime and opposition have proven otherwise. On one hand, government officials took to social media in outright rejection of the court’s ruling, although the Minister of Information, Hon. Jerolinmek Piah had indicated acceptance and respect for the Court’s ruling. Also, in his reaction, Representative Richard Koon, leader of the majority bloc of lawmakers vowed that his group of lawmakers would not recognize or adhere to the ruling. Meanwhile, Speaker Koffa welcomed the ruling and promised to make reconciliation and collaboration a key priority. Other key opposition figures, including former Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor hinted at chaos if the government refuses to abide by the court’s ruling.
In his address to the nation, President Joseph N. Boakai promised to continuously work with the body constituting a quorum to ensure full functioning of government and appeared reluctant to recognize the legitimacy of Speaker Koffa’s leadership, or to restore his rights and privileges as affirmed by the Supreme Court. This is despite the fact that the Supreme Court’s declaration as null and void all sittings of the House without speaker Koffa, especially when he is present and capacitated.
Ladies and gentlemen of the press, CENTAL believes that a pronouncement by the President of Liberia to sever ties with the Koon bloc after the unambiguous court’s unconstitutional declaration would have demonstrated full compliance with the court’s mandate. Instead, continuous engagement with the said faction only amounts to disregard of the Court’s opinion and represents a grave setback to the country’s improving democratic and constitutional credentials. CENTAL recognizes the contention that it seems unlikely that members of the Koon bloc would return to sessions presided over by Speaker Koffa. Proponents of this contention argue that there is a need for the government to function and that the President has no alternative but to work with the Koon bloc since they meet legislative quorum. We find this argument troubling since the Supreme Court has said that a quorum that is not presided over by the legitimately elected Speaker is in effect no quorum at all. CENTAL also considers the challenge that no rule has been promulgated by the House to enable Speaker Koffa to compel members of the Koon bloc to attend session.
In response, CENTAL notes that over 39 years ago, our Constitution mandated the Legislature to prescribe said rule to compel attendance of absent members, but have failed to do so. The Legislature bears the burden of this failure to act and it is our hope that this is addressed as soon as stability returns to the house. In the absence of the law compelling attendance, however, CENTAL believes that it is incumbent on members of the Koon bloc to respect the ruling of the Supreme Court and attend the session presided over by Speaker Koffa. Once in such proper forum, they can initiate any proceeding to remove Speaker Koffa, if they so wish, consistent with law. In the absence of such action, Speaker Koffa cannot be constructively removed by absenting themselves from their legislative duty.
We note also that a Petition for re-argument has been filed by the Koon bloc. In our opinion, the filing of said Petition is a recognition of the weight of the Court’s decision in the matter. In the absence of any communication from the court nullifying its prior decision, we believe that the opinion of the Court remains valid until such time that it is overturned or invalidated by them. Hence, we call on the Executive to proceed in respecting the Supreme Court’s decision until the Court says otherwise. Meanwhile, like election-related disputes, which are speedily handled by the Supreme Court, we strongly urge the Court to attach similar urgency to matters like these that have serious implications for proper governance of the country. We believe that the court’s undue delay in ruling on the Bill of Information filed by Speaker Koffa contributed to prolongation of the conflict, which continues to hurt the country.
In conclusion, we call on the legislature to lead by example as the direct representatives of the people. This example should first be set by adherence to the rule of law, including through respect for laid down procedures on removal of a sitting Speaker. There can be no short-cut about this, as any will surely harm the country, just as we have seen over the last few months, whereby there has been a near dysfunctional Legislature and slow pace of key decision-making on key national issues and documents. Therefore, we call on President Joseph N. Boakai to ensure the full enforcement of the April 23, 2025 ruling of the Supreme Court by restoring the rights and privileges of Speaker Koffa, and sever any ties with the Koon bloc of lawmakers until the Supreme Court can rule otherwise.
