Liberia News: One Country, Two Speakers

But Koffa Says, “Nothing Had Happened”




By Washington Tumay Watson

Liberia-The political impasse at the House of Representatives has taken a dramatic turn with embattled Speaker Fonati Koffa’s adversary, Richard Nagbe Koon, being elected
by the self-styled Majority Bloc as the new Speaker of the House of
Representatives.

But responding to the bloc’s decision, Speaker Koffa who remains framed says,
“Nothing had happened,” on his facebook page.

On his social media page, the embattled Speaker said despite the bogus election held in the
joint chamber by the self-styled Majority bloc of the House of Representatives
in electing a Speaker to replace him, “Nothing had happened.” 

Representative Richard Koon of Montserrado County District #11 who is also member of the ruling Unity Party was defeated by Speaker Fonati Koffa of Grand Kru County
District #1 of the Congress for Democratic Change during the House Speakerelection early this year.

 The then-defected candidate for the speaker’s election, Representative Koon, along with some of his supporters, did not
relent in their quest for a strategy to unseat Speaker Koffa. They formulated a
resolution and engaged other lawmakers to sign it, which resulted in a majority
bloc, thus declaring a vote of no confidence in the leadership of embattled
Speaker Koffa with Deputy Speaker Thomas Fallah of the Congress for Democratic
Change, Lofa County District #1Representative joining the majority bloc and was then the presiding officer according to their rules.

During yesterday,November 21, 2024 Session, the Majority Bloc endorsed the report of a Specialized Committee recommending that Speaker Fonati Koffa’s position be declared vacant.

According to the information, the decision was a result of a resolution read by the Acting
Chief Clerk, Comic Chea, and a motion introduced by Bong County District #2
Representative James Kolleh.

According to them, 50 members of the House of Representatives signed the resolution to
declare the Speaker’s seat vacant. The specialized committee’s report, supported by the resolution, stated that Speaker Fonati Koffa was invited on three separate occasions to respond to allegations raised by six lawmakers of the Majority Bloc, emphasizing that the embattled speaker Koffa declined to appear for investigation.

During the session, 41 lawmakers were present with some members from Speaker Koffa’s bloc being read as signatories to the resolution, including Representatives Thomas
Goshua, Matthew Joe, Priscilla Cooper, Rufie Barry, Alex Sonnyboy Noah, Bintu Massally, which resulted to 50 lawmakers.

In the interim, Deputy Speaker Thomas Fallah has been agreed upon by the Majority
Bloc, in line with their rules, to serve as Acting Speaker of the House of Representatives where Representative Koon was nominated and was elected on a white ballot and was inaugurated as the Speaker of the 55th
Legislature replacing embattled Speaker Koffa.

Meanwhile, the pro-Koffa bloc has described the action to elect a new speaker in the
absence of due process as bogus and illegal. The pro-speaker group noted that
Speaker Koffa has not being trialed in accordance with the Constitution of
Liberia and the House’s rule and therefore, cannot be removed by the so-called
majority bloc though a bogus election.