By Bill W. Cooper
Amidst the ongoing political tensions in the House of Representatives, a cleric and former president of the Liberia Council of Churches, Bishop Kortu K. Brown, has weighed in on the matter, expressing his disappointment in the country’s legislators.
Wondering who will survive the fight over the House’s leadership, Bishop Brown also expressed deep concerns over the unfolding events in the midst of the economic hardship facing the citizenry.
He spoke over the weekend, during an interactive session with the12th Graders of the Mother Tegeste Stewart Apostolic Pentecostal School in Brewerville, where they questioned the timeliness of the lawmakers’ action that is paralyzing normal legislative functions.
For the past week and days, the country has been stunned by a significant push from 43 members of the House of Representatives to oust House Speaker, Cllr. J. Fonati Koffa, over allegations of corruption, lack of leadership and conflict of interest.
This situation has since affected normal working activities at the Legislature, thus preventing the Representatives from conducting regular session due to lack of quorum for the past two days.
The impasse which has further led to the holding of separate sessions by the adversarial parties has sparked a wave of uncertainty and concerns among the populace, amidst the pressing issues confronting the country that require unity and focused governance.
But in an exchange with the students, Bishop Brown wondered as to who are the real hands which he referred to as (Judas and Jesus) behind the House’s conflict, and said, “Apparently, this signature exercise has been going on for a couple of months now.”
“I wonder who has been behind it. Where’s the Judas? In the Senate, Executive branch, Pro-Speaker or Anti-Speaker groups? Judas is somewhere, he has already done his work and waiting for the results. Also, who is the high priest that gave the money to Judas to execute their plans of removing their target?” he wondered.
According to the LCC former president, about 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ commissioned a team to assist him in laying the foundation for the ushering in of the “New Covenant” relationship between God and man as promised.
He narrated, “However, in the formation of the 12-man team, Jesus also brought in Judas, who history showed was preoccupied with making money and carrying on other disruptive missions.”
“And as a consequence, Judas was willing to do anything to get his aims accomplished including selling Jesus and putting the lives of his friends at risk and at the end of the day, Judas’ mission was accomplished and Jesus was sold,” he intoned.
The Apostolic Pentecostal Church International prelate however, expressed his fear saying that if proper care is not taken, the House of Representatives will be troubled for many years to come.
He warned, “There will be revenge and retribution, continuously, and one of the ways to address this problem is to expose the Judas in this saga, the people behind the scene who are fueling the conflict and hijacking the work of the country all the time.”
“This is why we welcome the efforts of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) to investigate the reported allegations of corruption in this story. What we hope for is that the investigation is comprehensive, considering all allegations of corruption from both sides of the conflict.
Corruption is a menace. It is robbing our country of needed resources to advance education, health, food security, among others. We must meet it(corruption) head on no matter where it comes from,” Brown cautioned.
Meanwhile, Bishop Brown has also welcome efforts to mediate the conflict in the House, appealing to the Representatives to give peace a chance, noting, “We know you all have your points of contentions but right now we have to continue to put our country first.”
“We therefore appeal to our lawmakers to submit themselves to the conciliation process so that the work of the people of Liberia will continue unhindered. Let us settle our differences now to avoid running a divided house or government over the next several months and years,” Bishop Brown added.
