Conmany Wesseh defends US $3.5 million special session fees
says money is legitimate & legal
By Lincoln G. Peters
Outgoing Rive Gee County Senator Conmany B. Wesseh has defended the amount of US $3.5 million appropriated to the 54th National Legislature for special session sitting fees.
According to Senator Wesseh, the US$3.5 million given to the legislature for special sitting is Legal and constitutional, and normal practice at the legislature.
Speaking on the Spoon Conversation over the weekend, he said that there is always controversy around them when it comes to legitimate money owed them.
According to him, when the executive calls the legislature for special session to discuss matters of urgency, it’s normal practice that the executive pays their expenses. But if the legislature itself signed a resolution to come back there is no pay for that.
“When somebody is at a distance location and you tell them to come, you have to pay for their tickets and expenses and that is where that money comes from. But none of those things had been paid. You are telling us to wave it to the Liberian people. I want to see the day that when you are about to be paid your salary in America, you should wave it to the poor people in America” Senator Wesseh noted.
“You got some of that 3.5 million? There is a tendency, especially from the executive to give an impression to the public that what they are paying especially something that is legitimately owed. For the last six months, we entitled to having fuel or gasoline but for the last six months, we have not gotten any. This legitimate and budgeted” he noted.
Speaking further, he noted that the special session that was called by the President was intended to debate on the budget which he said had been done, and other national issues.
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Meanwhile, the Rive Gee County lawmaker indicated that if President George M. Weah were to listen to him, he could have avoided some of the things he encountered.
According to him, the people he advised and worked with who listened to him did well while serving Liberia namely former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Dr. Amos C. Sawyer.
He further stated that even President Weah cabinet officials didn’t have access to him, because there was a huge protocol around him which made it difficult to advise him.
” The trouble that President Weah has today, he looked for it and finds it himself. His recruitment was dealing with ignorance, arrogance, and corruption. Those three things damaged the administration of President Weah. The key in his appointment he was looking for those three things and so, he didn’t and couldn’t fight them ” he stated.
” President Weah, asked me when last we talked. One time we met at a local hotel the only thing he could tell me was how he was organizing to vote me out of the Senate, that he was going to put a young man against me, and the young man was sitting there. That the kinds of conversation we have had” he noted.
The extension of legislative sitting in the name of deliberating on national issues of importance by the executive under Weah’s regime in the six years is just monotonous because of president Weah inability to lead this nation associated with inexperience and ignorance handling the country affair.