When a group of lawmakers of the House of Representatives in the 55th Legislature declared that they could no longer work with the now former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Cllr. J. Fonati Koffa, they cited a barrage of accusations against his person.
The group of lawmakers who referred to themselves as ‘Majority Bloc’ of the House of Representatives at the time, had insisted that former Speaker Koffa’s removal was grounded in ethics and accountability.
Cllr. Koffa had been accused of practicing private law while serving as a legislator and mismanaged US$9.7 million during his time as Deputy Speaker, allegations which they said violate House Rules 45.1 and 45.2. The bloc insisted that his removal was necessary to restore integrity to the House.
To clear his name of the accusations, former Speaker Koffa had opted for due process to answer to the charges his fellow lawmakers had levied against him. The ‘Majority Bloc’ needed 49 votes to remove Koffa following due process, but they could not obtain the 49 votes, and thus they resulted to hold a parallel session contrary to the Constitution of Liberia.
On the part of Koffa and his loyal colleagues they were not able to reach a quorum for countless numbers of session days, thus they could not do business in keeping with the Liberian constitution. As the ‘Majority bloc’ continued to hold sessions, Koffa and his colleagues’ legal team filed several petitions to the courts, and after months of delays in adjudication, the Supreme Court finally came down with a opinion in which it ruled that every transaction and business carried out by the ‘Majority Bloc’ was unconstitutional and that Koffa was the legitimate Speaker.
But realizing that the Executive branch had surreptitiously supported the ‘Majority bloc’ all along during the legislative impasse, as it did business with them, as well as the Senate also doing business with the unconstitutional ‘Majority bloc’, former Speaker Koffa decided to resign in the interest of the country, but had indeed proven to the people of Liberia and the international community that indeed Liberia still had good people who believed in the rule of law.
Fast forward, Montserrado County District #11 Representative Richard Nagbe Koon, who with the support of other erstwhile renegade lawmakers who had hijacked the Speakership at the House of Representatives, put himself forward to contest for the vacant position following Koffa’s resignation. But prior to that when Koon was serving as Speaker of the Majority Bloc, he referred to himself as the ‘Regime Speaker’ stating every regime needs its own speaker, since therefore he came from the ruling Unity Party, it was prudent for him to be their speaker.
Koon’s assertion at the time began to ring bells in the ears of Liberians as they reflected on the over seven-month long legislative impasse. There were reports that money reportedly changed hands for Koffa to be removed. Questions about who footed the hotel bills of the ‘Majority Bloc’ at the RLJ Five-Star Hotel along the Roberts International Airport (RIA) for the number of months they stayed there to hatch their plot to unseat the former speaker started to spring up. There were reports that allegedly linked Vice-President Jeremiah Kpan Koung, the Liberia Water & Sewer Corporation, the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company, among other income-generating state-owned enterprises of footing the bills at the RLJ. The Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) initiated an investigation following the bribery scandal to remove the former speaker, but up to date, that investigation has probably been thrown into the dust bin without a trace.
In a press statement issued Monday, October 21, 2024 the Commission stressed it did receive reports of some lawmakers receiving the amount of US$750,000, noting that if proven, will present threat to Liberia’s legislative process and democratic governance.
Interestingly, since the bribery scandal at the House of Representatives was reported to the LACC, the anti-graft institution is yet to come out with its findings after almost eight months as the impasse has come to an end following the Supreme Court’s ruling. What has happened to the investigation, where there any findings and who did receive bribes and from whom did the bribes come from? If there was bribe. All these questions are yet to be answered by the LACC.
As reports of the bribery scandal intensified in the country during the legislative impasse, former presidential candidate, Cllr. Tiawan Saye Gongloe, recommended at the time that five years imprisonment for any former rebel lawmaker found responsible for allegedly giving and receiving bribes to remove the former Speaker of the House of Representative.
Cllr. Tiawan recommended five years imprisonment for lawmakers who allegedly received a bribe of US$15,000 each to remove the former House Speaker, Cllr. Koffa. He then commended those he termed as courageous lawmakers who exposed the plot.
With all of the shenanigans associated with the erstwhile legislative impasse, the version of events unraveled when the Supreme Court of Liberia ruled in April 2025 that Koffa’s removal was unconstitutional. By then, however, Koon had already taken over as Speaker of the ‘Majority Bloc’ as the Executive and the Senate did business with him ignoring the rule of law and the Liberian constitution.
Now, Koon’s own words in West Point on Friday, May 23, 2025, have cast fresh doubt on those previous claims, confirming what many had long suspected — that Koffa’s ousting was more about partisan power play than principles.
In West Point on last Friday, House Speaker Richard Nagbe Koon confessed that the removal of former Speaker Cllr. J. Fonati Koffa was driven by political motives rather than the ethical breaches previously cited by him and his fellow lawmakers of the House of Representatives.
Speaking during a community engagement in the West Point community on Friday, May 23, Speaker Koon publicly apologized to Liberians for the prolonged legislative crisis that followed Koffa’s ouster, a crisis that nearly paralyzed the House of Representatives for over seven months.
“Let me apologize for the tension we created that embarrassed the government and you, the Liberian people,” Koon stated. He admitted that the decision to remove Koffa stemmed from a desire to ensure political alignment between the legislature and the ruling establishment – Unity Party, echoing what had occurred during the CDC-led government under Speaker Bhofal Chambers.
“A Speaker from the ruling party helps drive the government’s development agenda,” Koon declared to the crowd, many of whom had previously questioned his legitimacy.
Attempting to address that criticism head-on, he added, “I know many of you referred to me as the ‘Chinese Speaker’ or the ‘illegitimate Speaker,’ but today I stand before you as the duly elected and legitimate Speaker of the House,” prompting clapping and chortles from sections of the audience.
However, his confession now directly contradicts the narrative upheld for months by the so-called erstwhile “Majority Bloc” — the group of lawmakers, who insisted that Koffa’s removal was grounded in ethics and accountability. Koffa had been accused of practicing private law while serving as a legislator and mismanaging US$9.7 million during his time as Deputy Speaker, allegations said to violate House Rules 45.1 and 45.2. The bloc insisted that his removal was necessary to restore integrity to the House. The former Speaker however denied all of those allegations against his person.
But since the end of the legislative impasse and the election of a new House Speaker following the resignation of former Speaker Cllr. J. Fonati Koffa, the LACC is yet to report its findings about the investigation, while the new leadership of House headed by Speaker Richard Koon are all silent on the alleged bribery scandal that rocked the nation over the removal of former Speaker Cllr. J. Fonati Koffa.
During the legislative impasse, many Liberians frowned on the erstwhile ‘Majority bloc’ members of the House of Representatives over their action to revolt and remove the former Speaker. Most Liberians argued then that their fight to remove the former Speaker was purely selfish and not in the interests of Liberians.
The fact they knew their own standing rules and the 1986 Liberia Constitution have clear procedures in removing a sitting Speaker, but they chose to ignore the laws for selfish reasons and with an intent to hijack the national budget leading to the 2029 Presidential and Legislative Elections. Lot of Liberians questioned what would Liberians gain in the removal of the former Speaker, because he Koffa supported President Boakai’s legislative agenda despite being an opposition.
Surely, the fears of Liberians have come to reality since the former Speaker left office following his resignation.
For Speaker Richard Nagbe Koon to publicly state in West Point and admit that the decision to remove Koffa stemmed from a desire to ensure political alignment between the Legislature and the ruling establishment – Unity Party, echoing what had occurred during the CDC-led government under Speaker Bhofal Chambers, Liberians should not be surprised of a political backlash against the ruling establishment for reportedly instigating a plot to remove a legitimate Speaker for no other reasons rather than for political alignment to the ruling establishment speaks volumes. Political pundits say Liberia deserves better. Bookmakers are watching.
