As the impasse at the House of Representatives continues to drag on, the National Civil Society Council of Liberia (NCSCL) has threatened an unspecified mass citizens action if members of that august body fail to settle their dispute, and also if President Joseph Boakai does not play a leadership role to intervene into the situation.
For almost a month now, there has been an impasse at the House of Representatives with the House divided on the basis of “Majority Bloc” and “Minority Bloc”. The Majority Bloc” has been seeking the removal of Speaker Jonathan Fonati Koffa on several counts of “leadership shortfalls”.
While appearing on ECOWAS Radio recently, Loretta Alethea Pope-Kai, Chairperson of NCSCL, along with other officials and members of the Council, said the issues at the House are very concerning for the nation and need to be resolved urgently in the best interest of the people.
The NCSCL boss, who expressed disappointment in both camps, pointed out that their actions are counterproductive to the country’s development process and at the same time undermine the peace and security of the state.
Predicated upon this, she is calling on members of the House of Representatives to come together and bring an immediate end to the current impasse, which has since created instability and insecurity to the state and the delay in the budget submission by the Executive.
Failure to adhere to this call within two weeks’ time Pope-Kai vowed that the Council will embark on an unspecified mass citizens action.
“As umbrella group of all civil society organizations in the country, the council is very disappointed in the actions of lawmakers of the House of Representatives, who are representation of the people. As representation of the people, the people ought to be respected; but on the contrary, the interest of ordinary Liberians has been neglected by the people who they elected to represent them. And so the council is giving them two weeks to take action, or else we will mobilize citizens to take mass action,” said Pope-Kai.
She indicated that having separate sessions are not in the interest of the people of Liberia, emphasizing that this is not the working of the Legislature.
The CSO Council head asserted that the action of these lawmakers is dividing the country rather than uniting the people.
While calling on members of the House to settle their dispute, the Council also implored President Joseph Nyuma Boakai Sr. to intervene into the matter as head of state and government.
“The Council wants His Excellency, President Joseph Nyuma Boakai Sr., to within two weeks, take leadership action as the President and as head of government. The President needs to speak to this issue to ensure that all is resolved. The President of Liberia, despite the separation of power, has the overarching responsibility to show leadership and in times like these, he must take responsibility and leadership in coordinating the affairs of the government. The people haven’t heard anything from the President, and he must speak.”
As in the case of members of the House, the Council has equally given a two-week ultimatum to the Liberian leader for his intervention.
“If the two weeks given to the President and the Legislature are exhausted without any tangible solution, we are set and ready for our citizens mass action. Remember that we are well-coordinated across all the counties and we are determined to implement our action that we have planned.”
The call by the CSO Council to President Boakai is guaranteed under Article 3 of the Liberian Constitution, which calls for separation of power but coordination of all three branches.
Also, Article 50 states that the President is the Head of State and Head of Government, and that means he is clothed with the responsibility to coordinate the affairs of the country’s governance process.