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Monrovia – Following media report, President George Weah has termed as unacceptable the attempted usurpation of his constitutional authority by ruling party Senator Sahh Joseph of Montserrado County.
The award-winning FrontPageAfrica (FPA) newspaper reported Tuesday, that the constitutional authority of President Weah was apparently being hijacked by some influential lawmakers of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC)
The paper reported that in the wake of members of the ruling party in various government agencies seeking the removal of non-partisans of the CDC to be replaced by partisans of the governing party, some lawmakers, who are from the first branch of government, the Legislative Branch, on the other hand, were seemingly usurping the power of the Executive Branch, by ordering the dismissal of presidential appointees.
FrontPageAfrica named Senator Saah Joseph, who the paper says is working in cohort with the chairperson of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Health, Rep Joseph Somwarbi, as two of the individuals allegedly usurping the function of President Weah by dismissing government employees serving in the Executive Branch.
Senator Joseph, in a communication, a copy of which FPA says is in its possession, wrote the Human Resource Manager of the Liberia Medicines and Health Product Regulatory Authority (LMHRA), instructing that the Managing Director of the LMHRA be replaced with immediate effect.
But in an Executive Mansion statement issued Wednesday, President Weah termed as unacceptable the attempted usurpation of his constitutional authority by officials of his government, and has with immediate effect, nullified all actions of appointment and dismissal carried out at LMHRA as a result of Senator Joseph’s communications.
President Weah has also directed the Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Samuel Toweah to effect a freeze on all accounts of the entity pending a review of its financial records.
The Liberian leader described Senator Joseph’s action to usurp his authority as an unlawful act that runs contrary to Article 56A of the Liberian constitution which grants exclusive authority to the President of the Republic to appoint all such officials.
“The President has also expressed disapproval of this attempted usurpation of his function and reiterates his call to all officials of the government to carry out their duties in accordance with law and to work diligently to improve the lives of the Liberian people,” the Executive Mansion statement read.
President Weah has therefore, warned of corrective measures should what he terms such flagrant attempt to usurp his constitutional responsibility occur again.
