As President George Manneh Weah prepares to deliver his second Annual Message on the Fourth Working Monday of January in line with the Constitution, some lawmakers on Capitol Hill and civil society group, Economic Freedom Fighters of Liberia are planning to protest to disrupt the event.
Reports from the Capitol say Grand Bassa County Representative Thomas Goshua and Montserrado County Lawmaker Yekeh Kolubah complain that the Executive branch of government headed by President Weah has failed to provide funding to undertake legislative projects in their respective districts.
They claim the President has cool-shouldered them because of their critical stance against the government especially, the manner in which some officials are handling the affairs of state.Both Representatives Kolubah and Goshua are contending if the Executive does not resolve in disbursing funding for their legislative projects, they will walk out of the William Richard Tolbert Joint Chambers at the Capitol when President Weah takes the stage to deliver his Annual Message on Monday, January 28.
Rep. Kolubah, who contested as an Independent Candidate and won a seat in the House, says they are building consultation with other lawmakers to join the planned protest.The self-styled Commander-In-Chief of the Economic Freedom Fighters of Liberia, Emmanuel Gonquoi discloses they will take the streets of Monrovia for the second time, if the government failed to release findings from probe on the missing 16 billion Liberian banknotes.
Speaking to the NewDawn on Tuesday, January 15, via mobile phone, Gonquoi notes the government has failed to release findings from the investigation.He says the President Investigation Team set up by the government has submitted its findings sever since, but the Weah administration is reneging on informing the public about the outcome, adding that the report entirely indicted the current administration.
He laments that it is unacceptable for the President, amid huge financial scandal facing the state to stand before the Liberian people to deliver anything called ‘Annual Message’Article 58 of the Constitution of Liberia states: The President shall, on the fourth working Monday in January of each year, present the administration’s legislative program for the ensuing session, and shall once a year report to the Legislature on the state of the Republic. In presenting the economic condition of the Republic, the report shall cover expenditure as well as income.
By E. J. Nathaniel Daygbor–Editing by Jonathan Browne
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