By Ethel A. Tweh
Majority members of the Liberian Senate have demanded the immediate recall of their colleague, Senator Morris Saytumah from a budget hearing until the right things are done.
At the start of a joint hearing for the 2023 draft national budget, the senators said they were shocked that the process had begun without their knowledge.
During Tuesday’s regular session of the Senate, Senate President Pro-tempore Albert T. Chie disclosed that both Houses of the Legislature, through their relevant standing committees, had begun a joint hearing of the draft budget.
The Grand Kru County Senator also informed the body that the decision to have a joint hearing was triggered by a request by the House of Representatives to now have a joint hearing this year.
But the majority of the Senators said Senator Saytumah, who Chairs the Ways, Means, Finance, and Budget Committee at the Liberian Senate, did not inform them about the start of the process.
Based on their argument, Senator Chie agreed to recall Saytumah and promised that the latter will not return to the hearing again until the issues are resolved.
Pro-Tempore Chie indicated that the Bomi County Senator is supposed to update his committee members and the full plenary about the ongoing budget hearing.
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The agitating senators said it was worrisome, scary, and wrong proceeding by Senator Saytumah to have unilaterally decided to represent the entire body without prior notice served his colleagues.
They raised a concern over a delay in the distribution of the Senate’s Draft Budget to enable senators to view, critique and analyze the legislative instrument.
They claimed that the Chair of the Ways, Means, Finance, and Budget Committee intentionally did his own thing, adding that such action will never be tolerated by that august body.
Senators Abraham Darius Dillon, Stephen Zargo, Varney Sherman, James Biney, Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence, Francis Paye, and several others strongly opposed the joint budget hearing.
“Who sent him there? Let him come back here, now!” Senator Varney Sherman said.
“Some of you are sitting here and don’t know that [the] budget hearing is going on. Imagine! We should not allow this to happen,” said Senator Abraham Darius Dillon of Montserrado County.
“Besides that, Senator Saytumah has never told us anything about this hearing. He only called for a meeting but such [a] meeting didn’t even hold,” Dillon stressed.
