IPNews-Monrovia-Liberia-25 November 2018: The House of Representatives recent cancellation of some tenure positions in government have been viewed by many political observers as a complete ‘paradox’.
It may be recall the House of Representative on Tuesday, November 22, voted in favor of a report from its Judiciary Committee repealing all tenured positions in government.
Paradoxically, the House Judicial committee reported regardless of its recommendation to scrapped all tenured positions in government requested that the General Auditing Commission (GAC), the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) and the National Elections Commission (NEC) be exempted .
Those tenured positions affected were the Public Procurement and Concession Commission (PPCC), the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) amongst others.
In his recommendation, Hon. Cllr. Jonathan Fonati Koffa, Chairman, House Judiciary Committee, stated that their reconsideration stands from the ‘a constitutional conflict those tenured positions were creating’.
According to Hon. Koffa, previous legislatures were not properly passed given rise to the formation of those tenured positions.
“In my mind given Article 56 of the Liberian Constitution, will and pleasure any law granting tenure must state that the legislature draws this power from Article 89 otherwise it is properly construed under Article 56 and such tenure would be a usurpation of Presidential powers.
“So the vote repealing them is simply a move to revisit them individually as recommended by the Committee. The tenured system has been abused and must be corrected to be constitutionally cognizable,” Rep. Koffa further recommended
Speaking further Representative Koffa said the ‘Liberian Constitution calls for autonomy not tenure and challenge legal expert to show where in the constitution were the word ‘tenure’ is used.
“In order to grant autonomy, I would like to see independent vetting, budget independence, and different report mechanism. Anything short of that is merely protecting jobs for some individuals, who were appointed by a prior president. I am not opposed to tenure. I just want a holistic and constitutionally sensible approach.” Rep. Koffa noted.
It may be recall President George Weah earlier this month presented to the National Legislature a bill seeking to repeal all tenured positions within the Executive Branch of government.
The bill titled, “An Act Prohibiting the Tenure of All Public Officials Within the Executive Branch of Government,” was placed on the agenda of the House’s plenary for discussion during the first day sitting of the legislature extraordinary session held on Tuesday, October 30, 2018.
With the passage of the bill now containing its modifications, the bill will now be sent to the Senate for concurrence.
During the bill submission to the House of Representatives, President Weah stated that tenured personnel in the government would likely impede, obstruct or materially or adversely affect the development agenda of the President but in swift respond following the passage on yesterday, the former ruling Unity Party (UP) and two other collaborating political parties — Liberty Party and Alternative National Congress (ANC) — laugh out the president’s justification terming it as “troubling.”
“We speak out today because these efforts by the President represent an unwise attempt to concentrate unchecked power in one branch of government. And if there is any one lesson we should learn from our recent history it is that this could lead to serious abuse of power at the highest rungs of government with dire consequences for us as a people and as a nation.” The parties stated in a press statement.
The three opposing parties further asked all Liberians to retrospect on the profound implications that the end of tenured positions will have for good and accountable governance in Liberia.
They added: “The end of tenure means the President will have the power to sack the Chairman and all of the Commissioners of the National Elections Commission (NEC) at any time, even in the midst of a highly contested election.”
Among other things, UP, ANC and LP asked “Or take the case of the Executive Governor and Deputy Governors of the Central Bank. They have tenure so they can make monetary policies free of political interference. Do we want them making policies that reflect their professional judgment about what is best for our economy or do we want them taking into account political considerations that have nothing to do with sound economic principles simply because they are afraid that the President will fire them for refusing to obey his or her directives?
“Finally, consider the case of the National Social Security and Welfare Corporation (NASSCORP), which is the custodian of funds that thousands of Liberians depend on for their retirement. Do we want the leaders of NASSCORP making decisions as to how to manage and use retirement funds for which Liberians have worked so hard because they want to please the President who could dismiss them at any time, or do we want them making such decisions free of political bias and based only on what makes economic sense?” The statement concludes.
