By Our Staff Writer
“Due to some technical details, the anticipated Extraordinary Session for the Special Sitting of the 54th Legislature is hereby postponed to a new date to be announced by the President, His Excellency Dr. George M. Weah,” says a Tuesday, November 19, 2019 press release from House Speaker, Dr. Bhofal Chamber’s office.
The indefinite postponement of this Special Sitting so badly wanted by the Executive Mansion comes hard on the heels of mounting opposition by Liberian lawmakers to the printing of new Liberian banknotes, Montserrado County District #8 Representative Acarious Gray says is intended to “pay civil servants” for the upcoming Christmas Season.
A ranking CDC member of the House, Montserrado County District #16 Representative Dixon Sebo, Chairman of the House Banking and Finance Committee, has repeatedly said that there is “no urgency” for the government to print new money at this time.
The influential CDC Lawmaker even appeared on the local Fabric FM live morning phone-in talk show on Tuesday, November 19, 2019 and dismissed as “political talk” Rep. Gray’s assertion that the new money will be printing to pay civil servants.
Rep. Sebo said printing of currency does not happen overnight and that it is 8/9 months process.
The independent investigation of the 16 billion new Liberian dollars saga by the US-financed Kroll and Associates in 2018 observed gross discrepancies and recommended structural reforms in operations at the CBL.
“Kroll has identified discrepancies at every stage of the process for controlling the movement of banknotes into and out of the CBL during the Independent Review, including: the Legislature approval for printing new banknotes; the procurement and contracting of Crane AB; the shipping of new banknotes to Liberia; the delivery of new banknotes to the CBL, and; the movement of funds within and out of the CBL’s vaults,” the report
Rep. Sebo along with other Representatives, Larry Younquoi and Domah of Nimba County and Senator Gblebo Brown strongly believe that the serious structural lapses at the Central Bank of Liberia and safeguards in infusion of any new money must be firmly put in place before the issue of printing of new money is put on the table.
Rep. Younquoi claimed that the CDC government of President George Manneh Weah has an “ulterior motive” for being so keen on printing new money, when the deficiencies in the CBL and the government’s Economic Management Team are yet to be addressed.
The Executive Mansion had earlier announced that President Weah is requesting another Special Sitting of the Legislature to discuss urgent issues on the country’s economy and other issues of national concerns and he wanted this start by November 18, 2019.
But the November 19 press release, Speaker, Dr. Bhofal Chambers “in a pop message to his colleagues, extends his profound felicitations for their usual patriotic fervor over the period.”
“Speaker Chambers says the leadership will continue its normal business of governance, in accordance with the rules of the House of Representatives, as the Body is on its annual break as dictated by Article 32-A&B of the Liberian Constitution, which also countenances the return of the Legislature as the present case is,” the press release added.