IPNews-Monrovia: The leadership of the House of Representatives headed by House Speaker Bhofal Chambers and Deputy Speaker Prince Moye,  have rubbished the allegation that they are not in support of the government’s harmonization measure.

It can be recalled on Wednesday, October 9, a group of angry lawmakers headed by Rep. Hanson Kiazolu (Montserrado County District #17) threatened to lead a campaign to remove Speaker Chambers and Deputy Speaker Moye, if it is established that they refused to cut their salaries and allowances as they did to other colleagues of that body.

But in a joint statement issued late Thursday, October 10, Speaker Chambers and his Deputy Moye clarified they have already made individual cuts as of the passage of the 2019/2020 fiscal budget by 31.9 percent and 35.6 percent respectively.

Excerpt of the statement: “As regard concerns raised by few members of the House of Representatives on the issues of remuneration at the Capitol Building, following the passage of the 2019/2020 Fiscal Budget, the Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr. Bhofal Chambers, wishes to clarify that it remains committed to earlier agreement with the Executive Branch on ‘salary harmonization across Government.”

The statement for the first time revealed that Speaker Bhofal Chambers annual salary amounting to US$1,221, 123 during Fiscal Year 2018/2019; which now stand at US$1,043, 265 , following a so called reduction during the current 2019/2020 fiscal budget.

Additionally, the Office of Deputy Speaker Prince Moye, during fiscal 2018/2019 of US$766,381, is now also experiencing a so called reduction of US$722,942 for FY2019/2020.

It may be recalled, Rep. Kiazolu, who also chairs the opposition Unity Party lawmakers, noted that it was unfortunate for the civil servants and the Judiciary to allow cut in their salaries, yet the Speaker who earns a combine total of US$40,000 as allowance (US$29,000) and gasoline (US$15,000) monthly would refused to allow cut.

According to Rep. Kiazolu, if the Speaker and his Deputy ignore the harmonization program as initiated by the government, there will be repercussion upon their return from constituency break in January 2020.

“This is unfortunate for the Liberian people, and being the head of the Unity Party Legislative caucus, which is the biggest opposition political party blog in the Legislature, I want to inform the Liberian people that if Speaker Bhofal Chambers maintains his salary at US$40,000 per month, that is US$29,000 by allowance and US$15,000 gasoline allowance, we will resist it upon our return. There will be a revolution here,” said Rep. Kiazolu.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has adjourned its Second Sitting for constituency (agriculture) break and will resume on the second working Monday in January, 2020.

All actions of the House of Representatives which concern enactment of laws, protocols, or ratification, according to Speaker Chambers are reserved until the resumption of its third sitting for the period 2020.

This article was brought to you by the project: “Transparency and Accountability in the Public Sector”, focus on: “Following the Money”, with support from OSIWA