Liberia: Embattled Grand Bassa Lawmaker Tipped to Lead House Specialized Committee on “War on Drugs,” But…

Embattled Grand Bassa County District #5 Representative, Thomas Goshua, is being considered to lead the War on Drugs Committee of the House of Representatives.

Goshua played a significant role in amending the Controlled Drug and Substance Act of 2014, advocating for non-bailable offenses for drug trafficking and lower penalties for drug use and possession. Additionally, he focused on improving the health and well-being of drug users.

Goshua is being preferred for this huge task in absentia since he is yet a member of the 55^th National Legislature as his certification as the Representative-elect is pending due to ongoing court battles over allegations of electoral fraud.

Since 2019, Rep. Goshua has been actively involved in the fight against drugs and initiated the amendment of the 2014 drugs law. This bill aims to provide penalties for drug-related offenses, alternatives to incarceration, harm reduction, public health and human rights initiatives, and the confiscation of properties. The law also aims to reduce the number of disadvantaged youths affected by drug-related issues.

After two years of deliberation by lawmakers, the amendment was passed by the House of Representatives in November 2021 and sent to the Senate for concurrence.

A member of the House's leadership, speaking anonymously, expressed gratitude for the passage of the amendment, considering the worsening drug problem globally.

“Drug problem continues to worsen inexorably from year to year. International drug cartels are becoming more aggressive and more expansionist in attacking new markets with new drugs with ever-changing distribution patterns and with increasing skill in concealment and in handling the money from their sales. Even more worrying, they are using their increasing resources to interfere in the democratic and economic processes of countries by political influence and by taking over key sectors of business and financial services, but thank God, the House could pass it after a review under three years,” a member of the House’s leadership spoke to the Daily Observer on condition of anonymity.

Rep. Thomas Goshua argued that the bill will also provide penalties for drug possession or use, supply, trafficking, production, an alternative to incarceration, harm reduction, public health and human rights, and confiscation of properties, among others, and will also reduce the number of disadvantaged youths in the streets.

President Joseph Nyuma Boakai has declared drugs and substance abuse as a public health emergency in the country.

The declaration comes amid reports of growing waves of drug-related deaths, involving young people and the arrests of hundreds of drug traffickers and users in Liberia regularly.

President Boakai observed that illicit drugs, especially “KUSH,” are destroying the future of the country. He made the declaration during his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) to Liberians, through members of the 55^th National Legislature at the Capitol Building on Monday, January 29, 2024.

“The drug epidemic, especially the use of “KUSH”, in our country is an existential threat eating away at the future of our children and the country. We must stand up and face this national security risk together. Given the need for immediate action to make good my pledge to the thousands of families burdened by this crisis, I am hereby declaring Drugs and Substance abuse as a Public Health Emergency.”

The President further announced the establishment of a multi-sectoral steering committee against the public health emergency. It is against this backdrop that the Lower House is setting up a corresponding committee to help the Executive in the fight against the menace.

However, despite Goshua's success and reputation in the fight against drugs, his appointment as the head of the War on Drugs Committee is currently deferred. Speaker J. Fonati Koffa has postponed the appointment to allow for further consultations and to set up a specialized committee to investigate drug rehabilitation and reintegration in Liberia.

The decision to establish a Special Committee was prompted by a communication from Margibi County Electoral District #3 Representative Ellen Attoh-Wreh, who emphasized the need for effective oversight of the Multi-sectorial Steering Committee established by the President to combat drug use and abuse. 

“Interestingly, I would like to specifically emphasize his mention of the drug epidemic, which has emerged as this generation’s greatest menace, affecting potential young men and women who have fallen prey to drug addiction, thus becoming not only a burden but an existential threat to society,” she noted this in her communication. 

She said President Boakai also made a clarion call to everyone to stand in the fight together as it poses a national security threat and took a bold step by establishing a multisectoral Steering Committee comprising Ministries and Agencies of Government. 

She wants the Legislature to support the President in every way necessary to ensure that his agenda to fight drug trafficking and abuse is met. “In the 54th Legislature, we became the co-sponsor of a landmark bill that got enacted into law and today known as the Amended Drug Law upon which H.E. Joseph Nyumah Boakai has premised his fight,” Rep. Attoh-Wreh’s communication stated. 

“I hereby propose — should this meet your consent as well as Plenary — the establishment of a Leadership Committee on Drug, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration,” Attoh-Wreh stated.