These are troubling times on Capitol Hill.
Troubling times indeed as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Jonathan Fonati Koffa, faces the possibility of being removed from his position by his elected colleagues because he dared to open that public body to scrutiny by insisting on an audit and as well as exposing the alteration of the budget through dubious and corrupt means to satisfy selfish and greedy aggrandizements.
This singular act of nobility by the Speaker has earned him the scorn of his colleagues–some of whom are very severely corrupt–as they seek to decapitate him, so to speak. Like the Merchants of Venice, they are out calling for the spillage of blood in their quest to exact a pound of flesh.
And so they have plotted and hatched a plan to oust him. His “Ides of March” has come. Using state resources that could have been used to build schools and fund medical supplies in hospitals, a staggering sum of US$25,000 has been promised to each of the coup members with US$15,000 being paid upfront and the remaining upon completion of the job.
Pictures of open displays of bundles of cash went viral across social media. One lawmaker admitted to receiving US$14,800 from one of his colleagues whom he accused of deducting US$200 for nefarious reasons.
That lawmaker, fearing the Sword of Damocles that appears annually on December 7, has reportedly returned his share of the thirty pieces of dirty silver.
Sources say the Speaker’s coup was financed reportedly by the Ministry of Transport and the Liberia Water & Sewer Corporation, a claim that both entities have since denied. But we know better than that because the ousting of the Speaker, as recent history has shown, usually comes at the behest of the Executive.
Speakers Snowe and Tyler are classic examples of what the Executive wants, the Executive gets!
Like Caesar, some say the dagger of Speaker Koffa’s stabbing came from Brutus who, in this case, is his deputy, Rep. Thomas Fallah of Lofa County. Rep. Fallah, according to Capitol Hill sources, is jittery that an audit would expose his unexplainable wealth during the period which he served as chairman on the powerful Ways, Means and Finance Committee in the lower house. The duo have since kissed up and make up since the Speaker returned from seeing Pope Francis.
But Speaker Koffa is not faultless. His critics have accused him of conflict of interest due to his law firm, The International Law Group, representing every major concession in the country. His past as a convicted and disbarred lawyer from the town of Zebulon, North Carolina were/are some of the reasons his colleagues are pushing for his removal.
But notwithstanding, Speaker Koffa, like all others before him, have sought redemption at the cross. Reinventing himself as the lawyer he once was in the United States, he has gone on to establish what is now the biggest law practice in the country with prominent names in tow.
No matter what his critics may contend, we remain supportive of the Speaker to remain in his current position.
From heralding the resolution in the House of Representatives to create the establishment of the War & Economic Crimes Court, Speaker Koffa has shown himself to be in the interest of human rights in the country.
Indeed these are troubling times. And the Ides of March is not only here for the Speaker, it is also here for our community if the Speaker is removed.
It behooves all our partners, internal and external, to shore up support for Speaker Koffa. As an avowed Catholic, the Speaker believes in justice, especially so when five American Catholic nuns were killed in 1992.
Speaker Koffa is the first from the legislature to have shown a considerable interest in human rights in the country. He has not just talked the talk, he has also walked the walk. WE need him more than he needs us!
We know not what his removal portends, but we do know it would be disastrous for us as human rights defenders if he is overthrown. For whom the bell tolls…