By Grace Q. Bryant
The House of Representatives has cited the Ministers of State and Finance Development Planning to appear next Tuesday to produce pictorial and video evidence of the President and Vice President’s visit to Ghana, and the expenditure reports.
The plenary’s decision yesterday was based on a communication by Montserrado County District 10 Representative, Yekeh Y. Kolubah.
According to Rep. Kolubah, “We have cried on the issues of corruption (Accountability and Transparency) which are amongst issues that led to the failure of the Weah-led Government, especially for the failure of its re-election. When samples of those things start to come out, it is our responsibility to set checkpoints so that they cannot go out of hand before trying to arrest the situation.”
Rep. Kolubah further explained that the President wrote the body informing them about his two-working-day visit to Ghana; and the Vice President also went to Nigeria and Casablanca, which are also working visits.
“We believe such trips require the government’s sponsorship. And if it is not the government-sponsored trips, we need to know as the people’s deputies. Besides, it became a concern when it was stated that the Vice president traveled on a private jet plane,” Kolubah explained.
He added, “We crave the indulgence of this august body to invite the Minister of Finance and Minister of State for Presidential Affairs to appear before the plenary of the House to provide detailed information as stated below; the travel cost of the various travels by the President and Vice president as stated above; and the owner of the private plane used by Vice president Jeremiah K. Koung, since it is being speculated that the owner of the plane is the Vice president’s friend,” he noted
Making remarks following the reading of the communication, Yekeh told his colleagues that he wrote his communication so that MFDP and the Ministry of State can state how the President and the Vice president’s trips were sponsored.
He said the communication is not in bad faith, but it’s on the issues of transparency and accountability
For his part, Nimba County District 7 lawmaker, Musa Bility, said the communication of Rep. Kolubah is line with the Constitution, which states that the President should not receive any gift above US$10,000.
“So, I am asking the Minister of State to come and explain to this body about the President and Vice president’s trips outside of the country,” he noted.
He stressed that the President told the people of Liberia that this will not be business as usual, as they lead the people of Liberia.
The Montserrado County District 10 Lawmaker’s communication sparked mixed reactions among many lawmakers, with many of them asking for the two relevant authorities to explain to the body about said trips.
Meanwhile, after legislative argument from members of the House of Representatives, it was agreed that the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs and the Minister of Finance Development Planning appear next Tuesday with pictorials and video evidence from the Minister of State during his appearance.
