By Ex-Finance Minister Hon. Samuel D. Tweah,Jr. Write
Understanding what the Liberian constitution, the rules of the House of Representatives and a Supreme Court ruling say when there are two opposing and separate groups of representatives, one with a CONSTITUTIONALLY RECOGNIZED PRESIDING OFFICER OR SPEAKER and another group WITHOUT a CONSTITUTIONALLY RECOGNIZED SPEAKER!
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As our nation teeters on the edge of constitutional crisis, the worst thing to do is to spread misinformation or misunderstanding of what the constitution or legislative rules say about quorum or about the right to preside members of the HOR meeting or sitting for whatever purpose!
As we allow reason to prevail to return to normalcy, it is important to summarize the facts, laws and rules for our people in non-political or non-partsan terms as they exist.
Only three legal documents or sources are important in this this regard: the Liberian Constitution, specifically articles 33 and 49; the rules of the House of Representatives, specifically chapter 6, rule 12 and the opinion of the Supreme Court, specifically the case involving former Speaker Edwin Melvin Snowe.
I have attached as an image articles 33 and 49 and rule 12 of the House of Representatives. I will generally and in summary reference only the Supreme Court ruling in the Snowe case.
Constitution: Article 33
“Simple majority of each House shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, but a lower number may adjourn from day to day and COMPEL THE ATTENDANCE OF ABSENT MEMBERS. Whenever the House of Representatives and the Senate shall meet in joint session, the presiding officer of the House of Representatives shall preside. ” END OF QUOTE.
Explanations
‘Each House ‘ means the House of Representatives and the House of Senate. Some people are misinterpreting this to be ‘ separate chambers or separate houses as in a Pro Speaker chamber or an anti-Speaker chamber. The Constitution only recognizes ONE House of Representatives led by a Speaker and one House of Senate led a Senate Pro Tempore.
Qurum: Today, if the HOR, led by a Speaker, does not have 37 persons sitting, it does not have quorum to do the Liberian people’s business and must end session or adjoin.
Compelling the attendance of absent members:
Article 33 says if there are less the 37 members sitting, the Speaker can COMPEL the other members to attend. The HOR rule that follows says something about this COMPELLING but the constitution only stops at ‘compelling’
Of course, only the Presiding OFFICER, who is the Speaker, can do this compelling, because the constitution only recognizes one presiding officer, the Speaker.
What is compelling and how to compel absent members to attend a session over which a Speaker presides?
The constitution leaves that question with the HOR to determine in its rules and with the Supreme Court to interpret.
Article 49
The House of Representative shall elect once every six years a Speaker who shall be the presiding officer of that body, a Deputy Speaker, and such other officers as shall ensure the proper functioning of the House. The speaker, the Deputy Speaker and other officers so elected may be removed from office for cause by resolution of a two-thirds majority of the members of the House.
Explanation
Article 49 says only the Speaker can preside whenever all representatives are assembled for what ever reason or occasion. The constitution describes the Speaker as ‘ the PRESIDING OFFICER. It names a Deputy Speaker who can preside in the absence of the SPEAKER .
RULE of the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (HOR): Rule 12 chapert 6:
12.1 “A quorum shall consist of a simple majority of the members of the HOR. Quorum shall be necessary for the transaction of business. However, a minority can meet from day to day. Meetings at which a quorum is not present, only a motion to COMPEL the attendance of absent members or to adjoin may be made. “ END OF QUOTE.
Explanation of HOR rule 12
The HOR rule for quorum is based on article 33 of the constitution. It says if there are not 37 members present, the HOR cannot do business. But like article 33, rule 12 says a minority, say 30 persons, can meet from day to day. It says if 30 persons meet, the only business they can conduct is ‘ to COMPEL ABSENT MEMBERS to attend or to close session or adjoin.
Supreme Court opinion in Speaker Snowe case
When in our recent past there were two groups of representatives meeting in separate places as we have today, the Supreme Couty , based on all of the above articles and rules of the HOR, ruled that Speaker Snowe was the only legal Presiding Officer to preside or compel the other lawmakers in a separate location to come under his gavel.
What this ruling means is that the constitution, the HoR rules and the Supreme Court say that HOR members must at all times sit under their PRESIDING OFFICER, whether they are 30 in number or are 73 in number!
Conclusion.
All of the above present the facts and the rules governing any leadership crisis in the HOR so the public should not be misinformed about what is legal or possible.
- Only the Speaker can preside over any group of lawmakers assembling anywhere and for whatever purpose. If the Speaker and Deputy Speakers are not there, that group of lawmakers have no legal existence and can only be described as “ABSENT FROM SESSION”
- Any business conducted by any group of representatives over which the Speaker and PRESIDING OFFICER of the HOR does NOT PRESIDE, that business is NOT the business of the Liberian people as defined under the Liberian constitution!
- The Speaker can compel absent members to attend wherever he or she SPEAKER is sitting through a motion. When the Speaker has 30 members attending a session, which is less than the required quorum, he or she can seek a motion to compel the other members who are not present for whatever reason to attend the session over which the speaker is presiding.
- How can a Speaker carry out this compelling?
Does compelling mean legally and/or physically stopping the other members from sitting wherever they are sitting? If so, how might this be legally and practically done? If not, what is compelling?
The constitution and House rules are silent on these questions: silent on what is compelling and how a Speaker may compel ABSENT MEMBERS!
- No law or rule backs the simultaneous existence of two separate groups of representatives, one group with the constitutionally recognized PRESIDING OFFICER, and another group without a constitutionally recognized PRESIDING OFFICER. The constitution, laws. rules of the HOR back only one GROUP of representatives over which a Speaker, elected once in every six years, PRESIDES!
These are all the basic facts, rules and SC opinion the public needs to know and understand in order to make judgements or form opinions in the current crisis involving Speaker Fonati Koffa and a group of representatives who do not want to sit under him gavel!
Let us all stop misleading and misinforming the Liberian people.
