A large number of members of the Liberian House of Representatives has petitioned to remove from office Honorable J. Fonati Koffa, speaker of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Liberia.
Led by Representative Clarence Gahr (CDC, District #5, Margibi County) and Representative Sekou Kanneh (District #2, Montserrado County), the group accused Speaker Koffa of “conflict of interest and other allegations” relating to the abuse of office and power and involvement in private business ventures that involve state agencies including the Liberia Maritime Authority (LMA), the Liberia Petroleum Refinery Company (LPRC) among others.
Members of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Liberia, most of whom are accused of receiving bribe to remove their speaker from office. The U.S. Government routinely sanction corrupt officials across the world.
According to the group, they accused the speaker of being unfit for the position for the stated reasons as well as another unsubstantiated allegation they revealed.
Meanwhile, the quest to remove the speaker has created a standstill in the legislative functioning of the country, especially when it comes to matters of the lower house.
This dysfunction has drawn the attention of the regional and international community as well as Liberia’s partners including the United States government which is working to help spur sustained, market driven growth through cross-cutting initiatives in agriculture and food security, humanitarian/emergency response, infrastructure, including farm-to-market road rehabilitation, energy, workforce development, private sector and financial market development.
More recently, the United States provided roughly $600 million and deployed U.S. military personnel to Liberia in response to a 2014- 2016 Ebola outbreak that killed nearly 5,000 Liberians.
In the midst of these massive U.S. support to Liberia, allegation of corruption and bribery by some lawmakers to remove a sitting speaker of the House of Representatives in Liberia may likely warrant targeted sanctions against those accused if proven.
United States sanctions are financial and trade restrictions imposed against individuals, entities, and jurisdictions whose actions contradict U.S. foreign policy or national security goals.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions against targeted foreign jurisdictions and regimes, as well as individuals and entities engaging in harmful activity.
A few individuals including senior government officials in Liberia are currently under U.S. government sanctions for corruptions, pay to play and other acts including bribery, an act the lawmakers are currently accused of in their attempt to remove the speaker from office.
For their part, the opposition lawmakers have consistently refuted these accusations, terming them as “distractions.” However, that may likely not prevent the U.S. government from undertaking an inquiry to establish the facts.
If the facts are established that the lawmakers involved and accused have received bribe to oust the speaker, they could face the fate of past Liberian government officials currently on sanction for corruptions, pay to play and other acts including bribery.
