By Augustine Octavius
The National Elections Commission (NEC) has announced the postponement of the date for the nomination of candidates for the bi elections for the senatorial seats in Montserrado and Bong Counties, which was originally set for March 15, 2018.
The ascendency of Senators George Weah and Jewel Howard-Taylor of Montserrado and Bong Counties to the presidency and vice presidency will cost the bleeding national coffers nearly US$4 million to get their replacements.
NEC Chairman Jerome Korkoya said the postponement is due to the funding of these by-elections has still not been agreed by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.
Addressing a press conference in Monrovia on Tuesday, Chairman Korkoya added that the government has not responded to the budget of 3.9 million United States Dollars the commission has submitted.
He pointed out that this has left the commission in the position of uncertainty because NEC may not be able to continue of the elections that cover 45 percent of the total registered voters in the country without a clear budget allocation.
Korkoya maintained that it is essential that before proceeding with the preparations for these elections; adding “ a budget is allocated to provide legal and operational certainty for the commission.”
According to Chairman Korkoya, the election timetable is extremely tight and if it is going to be able to meet the constitutional timeliness, it is imperative that the issue of the budget is resolved as soon as possible.
The NEC Chairman said it is important to note that NEC has only 56 days left to conduct the by-elections
Chairman Korkoya went on, the commission has notified the national legislature regarding the challenge and the commission hopes that the same will be swiftly be resolved.
Recently, the electoral authority setup a steering committee to oversee the preparation for the by-elections in Montserrado and Bong Counties in the senate.
The two seats were made vacant following the election of George Weah of Montserrado County as President and Jewel Howard-Taylor as Vice President
The committee, according to Chairman Korkoya, drawn up the budget of 3.9 million United States Dollars and forwarded same to the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.
The counselor stressed the crucial importance that the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning respond promptly to the commission’s request in order for NEC to meet the deadlines set out by the Liberian Constitution
The NEC Chairman said “the commission is bound by the constitution and legislation to respect the timeliness set out by the Liberian Constitution.”
Figures produced recently by the Finance Ministry and the Central Bank of Liberia backed pronouncements made by the new President Weah that the government is broke, with bank balance as low as US$5m.
NEC’s Chairman Cllr. Jerome G. Korkoya said the on February 13, 2018 it received a formal notice dated February 1, 2018 from the Senate informing the commission of the existence of two vacancies at the Senate.
According to him, pursuant to article 37 of the 1986 Constitution of Liberia, the National Election Commission shall not later than 90 days thereafter (February 13) cause a by –election to be held to fill these vacancies.
It’s not known where the funds for the senatorial By-elections will come from or whether, like other elections and Census mandate by the constitution, the pending May polls will be put on hold for some time.
Article 56 of the Liberian constitution requires the holding of chieftaincy elections across the country to complete the democratic process, but this has not been done since the post-war elections were first conducted over 12 years ago.
The government of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf had been criticized in some quarters for failing to abide by the constitutional mandate for the holding of local elections.
Moreover, two CDC stalwarts in the lower House, Representatives Saa Joseph and Acarous Gray of Montserrado County, are poised to contest the pending Senatorial polls.
So, if either of the pair wins, additional hundreds of thousands of US dollars will later be needed to hold another Representative By-election three months thereafter.