Joseph Boakai, the president of Liberia, says that his administration has no involvement in the House of Representatives’ current effort to oust Speaker Jonathan Fornati Koffa.
Speaking to reporters in Monrovia on Friday, presidential spokesperson Kula Fofana stated that President Boakai is not interested in the House of Representatives drama over the speaker’s removal, pointing out that the president enjoys working with Speaker Koffa.
Last Thursday was a dramatic moment when roughly 47 lawmakers vowed to oust their speaker for actions they believed violated the speaker’s office.
The decision to remove Speaker Koffa coincides with mounting hostilities in the House of Representatives due to allegations of wrongdoing and discontent with his leadership style.
The Executive added it is committed to fulfilling its job and will not meddle in legislative debates.
Speaker Koffa, who has been in office since January 2024, has not yet publicly commented, however, a Liberia Public Radio source close to his office believes he is attempting to dialogue with lawmakers who are trying to remove him. Political observers have hypothesized that the former ruling coalition’s deeper divisions are reflected in this attempt to remove speaker Koffa.
Bribery allegation at Liberian legislature
In the wake of the speaker’s removal, Gbarpolu County Representative Luther Collins was spotted carrying a substantial sum of money—$14,800.00—that he claimed he had received from one of his colleagues in order to do so.
Samuel Kogar, the spokesperson for the aggrieved Lawmakers, refutes Rep. Collins’ assertion, pointing out that the plan to oust Speaker Koffa is not motivated by money.
The legislature has previously been accused of bribery; in 2006, Edwin Melvin Snow, the former speaker, was ousted after Representatives were offered $5,000 USD in inducements from an unidentified source. Similar to this, another former speaker, Alex Tyler, was ousted in 2016 after lawmakers were bribed $10,000 to do so.
These funds’ sources have not been revealed.
