The second Constitutional amendment being proposed by the 54th National Legislature for referendum is Article 45, which borders around the tenure of members of the Liberian Senate. This proposition seeks to reduce the tenure of senators from nine years to seven.
Article 45 of the 1986 Constitution reads, “The Senate shall be composed of senators elected for a term of nine years by the registered voters in each of the counties, but a senator elected in a by-election to fill a vacancy created by death, resignation, expulsion or otherwise, shall be so elected to serve only the remainder of the unexpired term of office. Each county shall elect two senators and each senator shall have one vote in the Senate. Senators shall be eligible for re-election.”
Proposition 2 was proposed to afford the Liberian voters the opportunity to decide whether senators should serve for seven years instead of nine years. The current nine years, according to data collected by relevant institutions, including the Constitution Review Committee (CRC), is too long. It is said that the tenure is so long that a child born in the year in which a senator is first inducted into office will be eligible to vote (18 years) when that senator’s second term expires.
In the minds of those proposing for this article to be amended, a long term does not incentivize a senator to perform will, especially during his second term; therefore, reducing the term to seven (7) years seems appropriate to address those concerns.
If amended, Article 45 will read, “The Senate shall be composed of senators elected for a term of seven years by the registered voters in each of the counties, but a senator elected in a by-election to fill a vacancy created by death, resignation, expulsion or otherwise, shall be so elected to serve only the remainder of the unexpired term of office. Each country shall elect two senators and each senator shall have one vote in the Senate. Senators shall be eligible for re-election. Immediately upon the passage of this amendment and its printing into handbills, all senators shall be elected for the term of seven (7) years.”
If one votes “yes” for Proposition 2 at the National Referendum on December 8, 2020, it means the person is agreeing for the tenure of the Senators to be reduced from nine years to seven years.
However, if one votes “no”, it means the person do not agree to any change in Article 48 of the 1986 Constitution, and that the tenure of the senators should remain at nine years.
In October 2013, a Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) was established by the President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to conduct a nationwide civic education campaign to raise awareness about the Constitution. The CRC was headed by Cllr. Gloria Musu-Scott, and received support from the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).
The CRC was tasked with the responsibility of leading a process that would produce appropriate Constitutional amendments. After concluding the nationwide awareness and consultative process, the Committee submitted amendment proposals to President Sirleaf in 2014 and a national referendum was held in the same year.
However, speaking on a talk show yesterday, Thursday, November 26, 2020, Cllr. Gloria Musu-Scott disclosed that the National Legislature has altered some of the recommendations, as the aspiration of the people at the time called for the tenure of senators to be reduced from nine (9) to six (6), and not seven (7) as is proposed for the December 8 referendum.
Cllr. Scott said it would be disingenuous for the National Legislature to claim that the up-coming referendum is being held based on the CRC proposals they submitted in 2014 because the people requested that the tenure of senators be reduced from nine to six and Representatives from six to four, and not any other way.
Howbeit, the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Nathaniel McGill, has said that, even though there are minor changes on the document presented by the CRC, the amendments suggested for the December 8, 2020 referendum are all based on the CRC proposals.
Minister McGill argued that all the propositions are still in tight, the lawmakers only made changes to the number of years proposed, and this could apparently be due to the recent consultations with their constituencies.