As the crisis at the House of Representatives deepens over the attempted plot to oust House Speaker J. Fonati, the Minority Bloc lawmakers in support of the embattled speaker have taken a step further in the matter after it announced a continuous renovation of the House Chambers.
In an internal memo addressed to lawmakers and legislative staffers on Thursday, November 13, 2024, the Chairman of the House Committee on Rules, Order & Administration Representative Marvin Cole said that the renovation works being carried out on the chambers of the House of Representatives (both the old House & Joint Chambers) will continue commencing November 15, 2024.
“All lawmakers and staffers are asked to fully cooperate with the contractor, Delta Architectural & Construction Company (DACC), to allow the completion of the renovation works of the chambers in time as we look forward to the next Joint Legislative Session for 2025 State of the Nation Address (SONA) by His Excellency President Joseph Nyumah Boakai,” the memo said.
As it stands, the Pro-Koffa bloc has not been able to conduct sessions as it lacks at least 37 members required for quorum, having only 30 lawmakers. But the Majority Bloc from time to time has held regular sessions with 43 lawmakers and have taken several actions including the citing of government officials.
It can be recalled that on Monday, November 11, 2024, legislative staffers woke up to the massive destruction of seats in the Joint Chambers of the House of Representatives, the meeting ground for Majority Bloc lawmakers calling for removal of House Speaker J. Fonati Koffa.
It was established that the uprooting of the chairs in the Joint Chambers was carried out late Saturday and Sunday by unknown persons.
However, the Chairman of Majority members Representative Samuel Kogar condemned the vandalism in the Joint Chambers, where property was deliberately damaged, and chairs broken, but vowed that they will hold their session anyhow.
Meanwhile, the Chief of Security at Liberian Senate Dyonosious Wesseh said he placed a call to Director of Security at House of Representative and was informed that it was Montserrado County District #12 Representative Jerry Yougboh, who is a member of Speaker Koffa’s bloc, was the one who gave the instruction to remove the chairs on grounds that a renovation would take place soon.
But Mr. Wesseh said the Senate leadership is not aware of any appropriation for the renovation of the Joint Chambers because no terms have been sent to the Senate’s Chairman on Rule, Order and Administration.
However, Representative Yougboh said that the information was false and misleading because he has never given an order to anybody to remove the chairs in the joint chamber.
Representative Yougboh said the House of Representative signed a contract with Delta Architectural and Construction Company to carry out renovation on the joint chamber building.
He said it is the responsibility of the House to make sure that the joint chambers is ready before President Joseph N. Boakai’s State of Nation Address in January 2025, and that the Speaker owns the joint chambers because he is the one that leads the president to address the nation; thus he needs not to inform the Liberian Senate before renovation is undertaken.
