IPNEWS: “This same cartel will carry the budget to Boulevard Palace Hotel Room 1026 to adjust all the numbers,” said House Speaker Fonati Koffa, making a shocking revelation about systemic corruption and public abuse of state resources within the House of Representatives.

Koffa explained that the primary reason behind his colleagues’ attempts to remove him is his “persistent refusal to allow lawmakers to steal from the government’s offers.” He firmly stated, “There is no bloc in the Legislature; I am still the Speaker. They will be resisted. Anything outside the chambers is just a meeting.” Koffa expressed his readiness to confront those plotting against him.

The Speaker indicated that he does not plan to resign, describing the efforts to oust him as “unrealistic and personal.” He highlighted that many lawmakers regularly exploit their oversight authority to extort money from the Executive branch.

During an appearance on Spoon Talk, Koffa voiced his concerns about the budget formulation process. He revealed that veteran lawmakers from the Ways and Means Committee would meet at Boulevard Hotel Room 1026 to manipulate budget figures.

“During these discussions, various government ministries and agencies would be invited to review the initial amounts allocated to them by the Ministry of Finance,” Koffa explained.

However, he noted that some lawmakers would inform these officials that they intended to inflate the budget to secure kickbacks.

“This same cartel came to me when I requested off-budget spending,” he recalled. “They said, ‘Mr. Speaker, we saw in their computer that the off-budget is $15 million, but you can forget it if you ask them for $2 million. Are you crazy?’ He stated.

Koffa reiterated the need for a rigorous audit within the House of Representatives to address these issues, despite the absence of a system for such audits by the General Auditing Commission. He concluded with a poignant statement: “I am broken, not by the spirit but by humanity.”-Courtesy DN-News Liberia