Slipping Into Lawlessness

-Rep. Younquoi Foresees; Describes Speaker Chambers As From “Hero To Zero”

As internal wrangling further sinks the House of Representatives into deeper fuss and confrontation; and with the widening gap between the Independent Legislative Caucus (ILC) and the rest of the lawmakers of the House headed by Speaker Bhofal Chambers over alleged encroachment and denial of legitimate benefits, Nimba County Representative Larry Younquoi has observed that the manner and form things are obtaining at that august body portray that the House is slipping into lawlessness.

Rep. Younquoi who is member of the ILC said to continue to tell the people how badly the House of Representatives is going; that’s the driving force behind the formation of the Independent Legislative Caucus.

Meanwhile, the Nimba County electoral district eight Representative and chairman of the Independent Legislative Block (ILB) says House Speaker Bhofal Chambers has dwindled from “hero to zero’ since his ascendancy to the post a year ago.

Appearing on Truth FM in Monrovia on Wednesday January 23, 2019, the Nimba County lawmaker who is also the chairman of the newly formed Independent Legislative Block (ILB) said the intent of the group is to provide guidance to the leadership of the House of Representatives headed by Speaker Bhofal Chambers on how to proceed with the business of the legislature.

“We have established this group not to fight for the removal of anybody from his/ her position, but to erect necessary checkpoints for the constant unlawful proceeding by our speaker,” Representative Younquoi further indicated.

He also said the establishment of the ILB is meant to rebrand the National Legislature from being what is now perceived by the public to be a sub-branch of the executive branch of government to its first branch status of the government of Liberia.

According to the Unity Party lawmaker, Speaker Chambers was made by the press to his current position due to his critical posture on national issues under the past regime of the Unity Party led government of which he was given every opportunity to speak on any happening in the ruling establishment, but the leadership of the CDC lawmaker is the other way around.

“Speaker Chambers needs to know how he came to this position. He was very critical during his days in the opposition and no Speaker suppresses him in the form and manner he is suppressing others on the floor of the Legislature. The Speaker has just reduced himself from being a hero to zero by becoming a bag-boy to president Weah,” Younquoi noted.

Representative Younquoi alleged that the Speaker has constantly suspended the rules of the legislature requiring head count on crucial national issues to a “yea nea” votes, including the preferment of only one lawmaker,Montserrado County district eight Representative, Moses Acarous Gray to raise motions on all emerging and critical national issues and the fast-tracking of the signing of what he described as a “bogus” loan agreement with EBOMAF without any due diligence to the source of the fund.

“One world leader said, it is better to run the government with the press or to run the government without the press, but he chooses to run the government with the press. The journalists went all over tracing the source of the EBOMAF Loan scheme, and they discovered that this institution doesn’t exist, but the Speaker, without due diligence to the views of the media rallied the signatures of some members of the legislature and passed this agreement,” he recounted.

The Nimba County lawmaker further expressed dismay over the way in which Speaker Chambers treated the information about the reported attack on one of the members of the House of Representatives, Representative Yekeh Kolubah of Montserrado County electoral district ten.

“It is my first experience for a branch of government to submit one of its own so quickly for investigation. Why the Speaker will choose not to give first preference to the issue regarding the life of our colleague, Hon. Kolubah, but to submit him to an investigation of a committee? While I may not say I agree with the tone of Hon. Kolubah on how he addresses issues, I don’t think the way the Speaker preceded was the right way to go,” he concluded

When contacted, Bobby Addison, the Media Officer in the office of House Speaker Bhofal Chambers told our reporter he cannot speak on issues without the consent of his boss.

“I have to be authorized by my boss first before speaking. I must get words from him first okay,” he said in a mobile phone interview.