Senators Want Pro-Tempore Out?

If should happen, it would then be the worst disgrace for a man of his stature. Less than 93 days to the end of his tenure, the President Pro-Tempore of the Liberian Senate may just be worry about his fate as Chief Administrator of the Senate and the possibility of his re-election come December 16.

Information gathered by this paper is suggesting that about 85 % of the membership of the Liberian Senate is mobilizing support to have President Pro-Tempore Milton Findley of Grand Bassa County removed from his current post just over six weeks to the Midterm Senatorial election.

A highly respected sources within the corridors of the Senate indicated to this paper that the planned by Senator Findley’s colleagues to remove him is because the President Pro-Tempore has allegedly dragged the august body into a credibility problem. He is accused of mortgaging the independence of the senate to the presidency- a reason for which 85 per cent of the members of the Senate are very bitter.

It can be recalled that the full plenary of the Liberian Senate declared a vote of no confidence in the Director of the Liberia National Police, Col. Christian Clarence Massaquoi for been very disrespectful to that body, but the decision was overturned following the intervention of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf through Pro-tempt Findley.

The source pointed out that the Pro-tempore allegedly reveals every secret/plan of the senate to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as though he’s in the employ of the Executive Branch of Government.

“Every little thing we discuss or plan as one body to be implemented is taken to the Chief Executive by the pro-tempore. We think that’s not the best way to run the affairs of the senate; the chambers we call ‘house of elders’ has been reduced to nothing by Findley, and the only way to stop this is to remove him, even if he has one day left before the ensuing election,” the source hinted.  Senator Findley, who’s ending his nine year mandate, is seeking re-election from the people of Grand Bassa County for additional nine years.

Also during the outbreak of the Ebola virus, the President requested the Legislature to endorse a US$20m loan without providing any details as how the funds would have been used if gotten; the ratification of the loan sailed through without any delay due to the influence of the Grand Bassa County Senior Senator- a decision which also undermined the integrity of the Liberian Senate. 

According to the Catholic-run Radio VERITAS on October 28, 2014, news bulletin in Monrovia, the senators are resolved in ousting their leader for alleged his failure to steer the affairs of the senate, adding that frontline senators holding series of meetings, are determined in making sure that the Grand Bassa County lawmaker is dismissed before the rescheduled Special Midterm Senatorial Election in December.

If the senate succeeds in this undertaking, it will be second time such action is instituted against a President Pro-Tempore since the inception of the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Administratio.  In 2009, the senators voted overwhelmingly to remove Grand Gedeh County Senior Senator Isaac Nyenabo as their political head, but failed, and later former Pro-Tempore Nyenabo resigned following a serious legal battle at the Supreme Court of Liberia.

One of the Senators reportedly resisting the current plot is Grand Gedeh County Senior Senator Isaac Nyenabo. He is using the necessary available means to contain the plot, but the rest of the senators appear to be resolved. When Pro-Tempore Findley was contacted via mobile phone for verification, his personal cell phone rang endlessly up to press time.