By Grace Q. Bryant
House Speaker, J. Fonati Koffa, has promised protesting staffers of the House of Representatives that they all will receive their two months of extra sitting salaries and other benefits from the 54th Legislature disclosing that all the paper works have been done and that their payments are now ready for transaction.
He made the assurance on Wednesday when the staff threatened to revive their protestation if they did not receive their pay before the inauguration slated for Monday.
They were seen at the front of the House’s wing of the Capitol Building, preventing normal working activities, as well as preventing lawmakers from entering their offices while chanting, “We want our extra sitting money.”
Speaker Koffa noted that as leaders of the Legislature, it is regrettable on their part to have staffers protest for something that they worked tirelessly for.
He told the staff that the leadership of the Lower House has already met with authorities of the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) to find a way to resolve all delays behind the payment, and assured them that the disbursement will commence this month.
He observed that the delay of payment was as a result of the transition process that is ongoing, which calls for check and balance between the outgoing CDC government and that of the incoming Unity Party administration during monetary transactions.
“We have already gotten the check from the CBL and deposited it at the GT Bank for onward disbursement to the various account of staffers, and again, I sincerely apologize and regret the action that you have to protest for your money worked for,” he said.
It can be recalled that the protestations were firstly initiated by staffers of the Liberian Senate prior to the closure of the 54th Legislature.
The strike action, which lasted for five days, later witnessed the House staffers forming part of the demonstration in demand of their salary.
The protest was temporarily halted after former Speaker, Bhofal Chambers, committed himself to pay the staffers before his departure from the Legislature.
