Lawmakers here have thought combative Deputy Information Minister Eugene Fahngon some hard lessons that he will probably never forget if he must ever confront another lawmaker again in a street fight like he did to Rep. Edwin Melvin Snowe.
Based on overwhelming decision by members of the House of Representatives, Fahngon was jailed at the Liberia National Police Headquarters on Wednesday night, 12 September and declared non-governmental material.
He will be transferred to Central Prison on Thursday to complete his two night’s jail term there.He has been disgraced by the lawmakers for insulting and loosely indicting Bomi County Representative Edwin Melvin Snowe.Fahngon was disgracefully hand cuffed on the orders of lawmakers and placed in common jail following several hours of contempt hearing Wednesday.
His first night in jail was at the police headquarters because the Monrovia Central Prison had already closed before the lawmakers concluded with the disgraced deputy minister.The House of Representatives took the decision due to Fahngon’s refusal to speak when he and his boss, Information Minister Eugene Nagbe appeared Wednesday.
Fahngon insisted that he was not speaking on the issue between him and Representative Snowe because his lawyer was not around.He argued that he was asked by the lawmakers to appear with his lawyer at 11am which he claims to have done. But that he waited till 1pm in vain just to learn later that his lawyer had to rush somewhere else.
He insists that his lawyer was not around when he was being asked to speak, which is why he had earlier declined.After an Executive Session, the House reached a decision that he should call his lawyer within 30 minutes.
Yet he told members of the House of Representatives that according to Article 21 (C), he could not speak to the issue except his lawyer.But the Speaker of the House of Representatives Bhofal Chambers informed Fahngon that his lawyer was only there to advice and not to speak for him.
The drama between Snowe and Fahngon was just a street fight that ensued when the lawmaker attempted making intervention in a case in which Fahngon had jailed a Capitol Building worker Kelvin D.J. Matadi. Fahngon had invited agents of the National Security Agency (NSA) and police officers against Matadi over suspicion that the latter was photographing him (Fahngon) while dancing at an entertainment center.
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The officers jailed Matadi at a police depot and Snowe came in the picture to make intervention to be aggressively engaged by the deputy ministers. Fahngon made his own video recording of the drama in which he is seen pointing his finger at the face of the lawmaker, damning and insulting him for allegedly violating the law.
He disowns Snowe as lawmaker in the video, and urges his arrest and detention if he attempts to repeat violation of the law.Fahngon shared the video on social media, and accuses Snowe of tearing a police commander’s T-shirt.
By Bridgett Milton–Edited by Winston W. Parley
