Grand Kru County District # 2Representative has stated categorically that President George Weah has violated no law by submitting for passage a bill to scrap all tenure positions within in public offices.
Cllr. Fonati Koffa is a lawyer and the House of Representatives Committee Chair on Judiciary.
During the Legislature Special and Extraordinary session, both houses passed on that all tenure positions are canceled with the exception of the National Elections Commission (NEC), General Auditing Commission (GAC) and Central Bank of Liberia (CBL).
Opposition Politicians and critics recently condemned the president’s action in the wake of the bill’s passage by the legislature, owing to dictatorship and undermining of transparency in the public sector especially with anti-graph institutions.
Critics argued that the removal of tenure positions from anti-graph institutions including the Public Procurement and Concession Commission, Liberia Anti- Corruption Commission exposes the country to huge corruption and unaccountability of public funds, which according to them depicts an ugly picture to the international community and a means to flower the presidency with more powers.
Rep. Koffa told a news conference over the weekend that President Weah is proceeding constitutionally according to the laws of the republic and not outside the law as it is bring professed in corners. “If the president had not consulted the Legislature and went ahead to undo all the tenure positions then it would have been unconstitutional and unlawful and I think he is doing everything in the interest of the Liberian People”.
Representative Fonati Koffa is also a staunch member of the ruling establishment Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC).
The Grand Kru District #2 lawmaker stated that in every democratic society, a president ought to follow the laws in order to govern the state and its people owing to the respect of the rule of law in governance. “If the president has sat and decides within himself to remove all of those who have tenured positions from their posts, then we have a case, but for now there is nothing to hold him for.
“Not because you disagree with someone then it means everything done by that person is illegal or unconstitutional or proceeding wrongly, people need to understand that”, Rep Koffa said.
The tenured positions were enacted into law during the administration of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; some just before she departed the presidency in 2017.
But President Weah recently requested that all tenured positions be canceled; hence the withdrawal of tenured positions affected some government entities and integrity institutions including the Public Procurement and Concession Commission (PPCC), Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA). Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), and the Governance Commission (GC).
Formally of an opposition Liberty Party (LP) and a member of the CDC, Grand Kru County Representative has strongly urged Liberians to remain patient amid serious economic hardship in the country as the CDC-led government handles the current economic woes of the country to enable a better livelihood of every citizen.
The Liberian economy is seriously experiencing a downtrend movement as its major exports price has dropped on the international market and business trends in the country slightly downwards.
Many Liberians have complained about the current economic difficulty in the country and have asked the government’s intervention to promote good market and build a stronger economy for the citizenry to benefit. President Weah inaugural address indicated means of prioritization Liberian owned businesses and policies to boost the economy.
Accordingly, Cllr Fonati Koffa noted that every country economy experiences shift fundamentally when there is a transition or power turn, which he averred that it changes with policies and measures over time. “In the next one or two year’s things will get better but Liberians need to exercise patience in order to allow the economy to change entirely”.
“To change from one policy to another it takes time. Former president Sirleaf had a policy that ‘focused on people like us who already have money’ and for president Weah to change that policy to target the poor people; it has to take some time”, he pointed out.
Former President Sirleaf appointed Cllr. Fonati Koffa as Chairman of the Special Presidential Prosecution task force to investigate the Sable Mining massive bribery case, linking former House Speaker Alex Tyler and Grand Cape Mount County Senator Varney Sherman.
