Claim: “Hon. Cllr. J. Fonati Koffa, during his tenure as Deputy Speaker of the 54th Legislature, alarmingly overspent his budget.”
Source: Koffa’s Removal Resolution
Verdict: True, 2023 showed the current Speaker overspent when he served as deputy speaker.
Full Text: On Thursday, October 17, 2024, some members of the House of Representatives in the 55th legislature signed a resolution to remove J. Fonati Koffa, speaker of the house.
Article 49 of the 1986 constitution of Liberia calls for the removal of the speaker, deputy speaker, and other House of Representatives elected officials.
The above provision states, “The House of Representatives shall elect once every six years a Speaker who shall be the presiding officer of that body, a deputy speaker, and such other officers as shall ensure the proper functioning of the House. The speaker, the Deputy Speaker, and other officers so elected may be removed from office for cause by resolution of a two-thirds majority of the members of the House.”
The signed resolution, among other things, claimed that “the Speaker, Hon. Cllr. J. Fonati Koffa, during his tenure as Deputy Speaker of the 54th Legislature, alarmingly overspent his budget and was believed to have used his budget line as a conveyor for suspicious financial transactions. This is evidenced by the alarming outrun of $ 4,038,687 (actual money spent), a whopping $2,936,159 higher than the amount of $ 1,102,528 budgeted for the fiscal year 2023 for the office of the Deputy Speaker.”
Those lawmakers referenced Page 3 of the Fiscal Year 2024 Draft National Budget.
According to them, the action of Koffa amounts to systemic corruption, continues to reflect negatively on the office of the speaker, and subjects the Honorable House to shady practices by putting a credibility blot on the image of the Honorable office, which immensely violates Article 5(c) of the 1986 Constitution of the Republic of Liberia.
Article 5C states, “Take steps, by appropriate legislation and executive orders, to eliminate sectionalism and tribalism, and such abuses of power as the misuse of government resources, nepotism, and all other corrupt practices.”
Also, those aggrieved lawmakers used Rule 44.1 of the House’s Rule as a legal reliance for their removal proceedings.
The Rules under the subheading Being Free From Corrupt state, “Members are expected to fight corruption effectively by being free from corrupt practices and opposing corruption and set an example in any anti-corruption struggle.”
Verification: To verify this claim, The Stage Media (TSM) checked both the 2023 and 2024 budgets.
In the 2023 budget, the office of the Deputy Speaker received an allocation of US$1,541,025, however, the outturn shows US$4,038,687.
The outturn report in the budget compares the actual expenditure for the year to the approved budget for the year. It is the fourth budget monitoring report for the financial year.
Conclusion: Based on our research, it is true that even though the 2023 budget allocated US$ 1,102,528 for the office of the deputy speaker, however, the outturn shows that US$ 4,038,687 was spent.
