Liberia: Did Pro Temp Have Power to Declare Samukai’s Seat Vacant?

Members of the Liberian Senate have questioned the decision of Pro Tempore Albert Chie to declare the Lofa County senatorial seat won by Brownie Samukai vacant.

The Senators, led by their colleague, Conmany B. Wesseh of River Gee County, declared that in the case of Samukai, the Senate does not have the power to make such a declaration. Rather, Sen. Wesseh said that power lies in the hands of the Supreme Court, which found Samukai guilty along with two others for theft of property, criminal conspiracy, misuse of public money and money laundering in the sum of US$1,147,656.35.

Sen. Wesseh then quoted Article 37 of the Liberian Constitution as giving power to the Senate to only make such pronouncement based on death or expulsion.

Article 37 states that  “In the event of a vacancy in the Legislature caused by death, resignation, expulsion or otherwise, the presiding officer shall within 30 days notify the Elections Commission thereof. The Elections Commission shall not later than 90 days thereafter cause a by election to be held; provided that where such vacancy occurs within 90 days prior to the holding of general elections, the filling of the vacancy shall await the holding of such general elections.”

Sen. Wesseh was joined by Abraham Darius Dillion and Daniel Naatehn of Montserrado and Gbarpolu counties, respectively -- raising concerns about the Senate declaration.

The case against Samukai comes after the Supreme Court earlier this year revoked its two-year suspended sentence given to the Senator-elect and his two former deputies for collectively failing to comply with the high court’s mandate and judgment to pay 50% of the judgment sum, equal to US$573,828.15, within a period of six months.

Their two-year sentence was suspended by the Supreme Court on condition that they (defendants) would restitute 50 percent of the amount payable within a period of six months, a condition which the defendants appear to have breached.

But since that has not been the case, Samukai, Joseph Johnson and James Nyuman Ndokor have to serve two years imprisonment each and pay the full judgment amount of US$1,147,656.35, minus the amount they have already paid.

The three former Defense Ministry officials were indicted and found guilty for theft of property, criminal conspiracy, misuse of public money and money laundering in the sum of US$1,147,656.35.

Prior to the Supreme Court  judgment, Samukai made the payment of US$191,276.05 in three separate checks before Criminal Court “C” Judge Blamo Dixon, but the court said that the payment by Samukai does not constitute 50% nor adheres to the conditions in which the jail sentence was suspended by the supreme court.

It said that the law provides that where criminal defendants are jointly adjudged guilty of a crime, they are together, considered collectively responsible for any fine or penalty until the judgment is fully satisfied. 

Earlier, the Senate Press Bureau had released a statement announcing that the body had informed the National Elections Commission of a vacancy within the Senate following the ruling of the Supreme Court in the Brownie Samukai case.

The bureau, which operates under the watch of the Pro-Tempore, argued that the Senate’s decision was in consonance with Article 37 of the 1986 Constitution of Liberia, which provides that in the event of a vacancy in the Legislature, the Presiding officer of the Chamber in which the vacancy occurs shall, within thirty (30) days after such occurrence, notify the National Elections Commission thereof and the National Elections Commission shall not later than ninety (90) days thereafter cause a by-election to be held to fill the vacancy.

“The Presiding Officer would have me to formally notify you that a vacancy for a Senatorial seat for Lofa exists. Please accept, Madam Chairperson and Honorable Commissioners, the renewed assurances of my highest esteem and consideration,” Senate Secretary J. Nanborlor F. Singbeh wrote.

But when questioned, Pro Tempore Chie rejected his colleagues’ requests to openly discuss the release in plenary, due to its classified nature.

He mandated lawmakers who are interested in knowing the origin of the statement to meet with him in his conference room. He added that his decision to write NEC was based on privileged information and that such would only be divulged to the Senators behind closed doors in his conference room. 

Meanwhile, the Liberian Senate has voted to request the Minister of Finance and Development Planning to submit a comprehensive list of local institutions and/or individuals to whom the Government of Liberia is expected to pay US$84.95 million in the Fiscal 2022 National Budget.

Minister Samuel Tweah is requested to submit the list of the domestic vendors, displaying the amount of money  owed them. job description or items purchased, by Tuesday, February 22, followed by his appearance before plenary on Thursday to give breakdown of payment to the vendors.

Montserrado County Senator Abraham Darius Dillon and several other Senators on Tuesday agreed that it was in the best interest of the Ministry of Finance to give a breakdown to help clear doubts and reservations in the minds of Liberians.

In apparent reply to the Senate's request, the MFDP, in a communication dated February 16, 2022 disclosed that the Government through the Ministry of Finance submitted an amount of US$120 million to service its debts for Fiscal year 2022. “Of the total amount, US$84.95 million (70.8 percent) was appropriated for domestic debt service, while US$35.05 million accounts for external debt service.”

The MFDP further explained that the component of the domestic debt service appropriation will be used to pay for interest on instruments to both commercial banks and the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) as well as vendors’ claims confirmed by the court and regular vendors claims that have accumulated to the amount of US$705.09 million as of December 31, 2021. 

The communication, however, asserted that “it is worth noting that there are more vendors’ claims that are submitted to the government through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning each day requesting payment; as it stands, these overall claims, which are long standing, are being verified or audited by the General Auditing Commission.”

With regard to payment the CBL, the MFDP explained that it is entirely composed of interest service on the Restructured and Consolidated (R&C) of longstanding loans upto 2019, with the total stock of the R&C loan at US$525.48 million. “This amount includes all the legacy loans owed the CBL as well as other IMF/ECF loans and other advances to the government of Liberia through the CBL.  As such, the GoL appropriated the amount of US$15.26 million in the FY 2022 national budget to service the interest which is about 4% of the CBL stock.

The Government of Liberia, the MFDP letter disclosed, is indebted to the various commercial banks in the amount of US$109.4 million through the issuance of various instruments and other direct advances.