By Alex Yomah
Atty. Teklo Maxwell Grisby has differed with President George Weah’s decision to annul all tenure positions within the Executive Branch of government.
The Small Arms Commission is among tenure positions under discussion at the legislature.
It can be recalled, a bill on canceling tenure positions was passed by the House of Representatives and it is currently before the Senate for concurrence; when passed upon, it will then have to be approved by the Executive.
But justifying his statement, Atty. Maximum Grisby, said that when the Act creating the Commission came into effect in 2012, tenure was granted to executives of the Commission, hence, he believes that tenure must be maintained in order to provide for independence, unlimited access and avoid interference from the appointing authority.
The Chairman of the National Commission on Small Arms, when defending the relevance of the Amendment of the Fire Arms and Ammunition Control Act, said this is relevant in that it will grant exclusive authority to two institutions, Commission on Arms and the Liberia National Police to regulate fire arms.
Atty. Grisby also argued that only the Commission on Arms will be charged with the authority to license arm holders in the country and ensure that only security personnel and hunters are in possession of fire arms, as there are still other people who are neither security nor hunters in possession of fire arms.
The Presiding Officer of the hearing, River Gee County Senator, Conmany B. Wesseh concluded by commending the invitees for the presentations and assured that the Senate Committees on Defense, Security, Intelligence and Veteran Affairs as well as Judiciary will submit its report to Plenary for further action on the two proposed amendment.
The discussions were triggered by the Senate Committee on Defense, Security, Intelligence and Veterans Affairs and Committee on Judiciary concluded the public hearings with the Liberia National Commission on Small Arms regarding two Amendments proposed by the President of Liberia to the Legislature.
The Amendments include: An Act to Amend the Executive Law, creating the National Commission on Small Arms to provide for the creation of the National Commission on Arms as well as the Fire Arms and Ammunition Control Act of 2015.
The Public Hearings brought together Executives of the National Commission on Small Arms, Independent National Commission on Human Rights as well as the Small Arms Control Unit of the Liberia National Police in order to look into the implications and relevance of such amendments so as to give the Senate relevant Committees a foresight in order to advice plenary adequately.
However, during the climax of the hearings on Friday, the Chairperson of the National Commission on Small Arms, Atty. Teklo Maxwell Grisby told the committee that when the Act creating the Small Arms Commission is amended, this will avoid the economic burden of creating another Commission to manage the handling of conventional arms, as the Commission on Arms, when created by virtue of the Amendment, will regulate both small arms and conventional arms.
When enquired by the Senate Committees on the issue of whether structural problems will evolve by the Amendment and why the proposed Amendment is requesting tenure for Executives of the Commission, the Chairperson stated that when passed there will be some structural adjustments, but that will be far less than 100% as opposed to creating another Commission to handle conventional arms.
