MONROVIA: A Lawmaker who has been principally accused of being used by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai as a mastermind for the removal of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Cllr. Jonathan Fonati Koffa, Prince Toles, has categorically distanced himself from the claimed plot.
Representative Toles who represents Montserrado County District-#8 in the Lower House of the bicameral Liberian Legislature however admitted that on last Friday, March 22, 2024 he met with Montserrado County District-#10 Lawmaker, Yekeh Kolubah but, their discussion had nothing to do with any provision of coupons for furniture, worth US$4,500 for each lawmaker, as an inducement to unseat House Speaker Koffa, as it has been alleged by Representative Yekeh Kolubah, also of Montserrado County.
Representative Prince Toles: “I held conversation with Yekeh on Friday but, it was not concerning coupon for furniture distribution.
“He is my colleague. I have all rights to discuss with him at any time of his convenience but we never held discussion on Coupons,” Representative Toles added.
“What Yekeh is saying is malicious and meant to dim the good character of President Joseph Boakai. “What I see in his (Rep. Yekeh’s) hands is faked. I am sure he faked that document from the World Trade Center.”
Early this week, Montserrado County District#10 Representative, Yekeh Kolubah, raised alarm, claiming that President Joseph Nyuma Boakai planned to remove the Speaker of the 55th Legislature, Cllr. Jonathan Fonati Koffa, an Executive of the opposition Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), for subsequent replacement with an influential member of the governing Unity Party (UP) in the Lower House of the Legislature.
Representative Kolubah claims the removal of the Speaker is being supported by the Unity Party (UP) lawmakers who previously backed UP’s defeated candidate, Richard Nagbe Koon, for the post of Speaker of the 55th Legislature.
Representative Kolubah’s allegation that President Boakai planned to remove the speaker also generated reactions by several lawmakers in the Lower House.
One of the Lawmakers, Montserrado County Representative, Richard N. Koon, reacted that: “Honorable Kolubah will have to stop his lies against me. All he is saying is false and far from the truth. I never instructed any lawmaker to pick up coupon from J. Mart,” a business center for furniture on Randall Street, Central Monrovia.
Another Legislator, Dixon Seeboe asserted: “Actually I didn’t receive any coupon from Representative Prince Toles but we heard this furniture Coupon business when we visited President Boakai in his conference room. Some colleagues were sharing joke about it. But again, it is not surprising because this issue has been in the corridors for long. What I want to tell Representatives Koon and Toles is: Be careful on how they address their colleagues because comrade Kolubah has right to his opinion.”
Representative Frank Saah Forko: “Look some of us supported Speaker Koffa with conviction that he is the best person to lead us. What we are hearing is scaring, but any attempt by President Boakai to bribe the Legislature, we will impeach him. If Comrade Kolubah puts any bill of impeachment on the legislative floor, I will support it.”
Representative Musa Hassan Bility: “Look colleagues, we have to be very responsible enough. What we say through jokes during session or our gathering as Lawmakers should not be taken to the public. I can remember us sharing joke when we met with the President. What we were saying about bloc was just fun, but I am surprised that it is in the public. Anyway, I am just from Nimba, so I don’t know anything about this new revelation. But what I can remember is we had this as fun when we met the President.”
During the elections of that august body in January, 2024, 31 lawmakers voted Representative Koon while 36 Lawmakers voted in favor of Speaker Jonathan Fonati Koffa, declaring Cllr. Koffa as winner of the election for Speaker of the 55th Legislature.
Montserrado County District#10 Representative Yekeh Kolubah has alleged that the decision by House to elect opposition lawmaker Koffa, as Speaker of the Legislature, has not still settled down well with President Boakai and his ruling Unity Party (UP) Alliance.
Therefore, the leadership of Representative Koon’s ‘Bloc’ has been on a political maneuvering to remove Speaker Koffa, who represents Grand Kru County District-#2 and the opposition Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC).
Making the revelations on OK FM, Monday, March 25, 2024, Representative Kolubah accused President Boakai of also using Representative Richard Nagbe Koon to share a whopping US$4,500.00 worth of coupons of office furniture to each member of his bloc.
According to Representative Kolubah, the sole intent of the “Good Will” from the Executive is to financially induce some influential lawmakers against Speaker Koffa’s leadership to bring in someone of the President’s choice from the ruling establishment as Speaker of the Legislature.
The Montserrado County Lawmaker displayed a coupon of the office materials with a signature thought to be the Signature of the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Sylvester Grisby.
Before then, the Lawmaker took some reporters to J. Mart Business Center on Randall Street to authenticate the coupon validity upon receiving it allegedly from Montserrado County District#8 Representative, Prince Tole, an alleged distributor of the Coupons to Lawmakers.
In a video circulating on social, the J. Mart Business Center’s Manager (who refused to identify himself) authenticated the validity of the coupon and claimed that it was issued by the Minister of State, Sylvester Grisby. Minister Grisby is yet to comment on the coupons’ distribution saga.
Representative Kolubah also criticized President Boakai and the Unity Party for “wrongfully proceeding” contrary to the mantra of change that propelled the Unity Party Alliance to state power in 2024.
Representative Kolubah: “We said former President George Manneh Weah was running the country in the worst direction but today, we the people are fighting to remove a Speaker who has done no wrong to anyone in the Executive or the Legislature. We didn’t campaign across the country to offer bad leadership but to lead by example.”
He claimed witch-hunt by the President Boakai has diminished the image of the government just in two months after declaring on January 22, 2024, to discontinue “Business as Usual” in public office.
