‘Pre-Mature’

-Lawmaker Terms Weah’s Bill

By R. Joyclyn Wea

Lofa County electoral district three Representative Clarence Massaquoi has termed as ‘pre-mature’ the Bill submitted by President George Weah seeking to repeal tenure positions.

Speaking with reporters at his Capitol Building office Monday, November 5, 2018, Massaquoi mentioned that the executive does not have the power to create structure, rather, it is the legislature therefore the president should have involved or informed the Legislature before taking such decision or coming up with such bill.

He stated that this is a constitutional issue noting that lack of adherence to the rule of law or constitution provisions was reason why Liberians went through the fourteen years of civil war saying, “Autonomous power given to the President is constitutional and that anything outside the constitution is a violation.”

Massaquoi emphasized that it should have been done in such a way and form that would increase the confidence of the people in the government that is to say it should have been done in the spirit of unity noting “whatever will reduce the confidence and intelligence the people have in us as a government; it makes no sense to me for us to do that.”

“What the law does is to create those structures and it is our responsibility to protect it. The legislature has lot of things to do and we should focus on that. To repeal the propose bill after 12 years, I think it is pre-mature,” he declared.

He hopes those in the House of Representatives would take some practical steps to assist the executive in the way that Liberia will have good image and integrity; “I don’t think the international community will be happy with us to hear tomorrow morning that the elections commission, GAC, LACC, PPCC and social security that is managing pensioners money who are shouldering all the responsibility and we are removing their protections.

He further indicated that there are lot of things that need to be currently looked at instead of taking something he considers less important.

“To me, it does not make sense to repeal tenure positions when there are lots to be discussed instead of taking something that is less important. The economy is the most discouraging thing to discuss now. The government must double up in order to deliver good on its promises to the Liberian people.”

“In 2003 coming from war, the international community saw that Liberia was vulnerable and wanted to put Liberia on map with other nations. We as legislators in keeping with Article 81 and 89, which give Legislature the right to create structures and not the executive; the Legislature in her wisdom decided to create these anti-grabs institutions and knowing that these institutions are the backbone of the country’s democracy, so, we wanted to make sure they are not institutions where the President will just wake up one morning and remove a person and put another person,”  Representative Massaquoi said.