Bad Blood Pulls In CDC…As Defeated Speaker Takes Party, Deputy To Task
The rift between the outgoing Speaker of the 54th Legislature Bhofal Chambers on one hand, and his deputy Cllr. Jonathan Fonati Koffa and the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) on the other hand, continues to intensify.
From his latest outburst, it is clear from all indications that the internal conflict between the outgoing Speaker and his deputy, who is backed by the party (CDC) is far from being over.
In his soft but grieving tone when he addressed a news conference at his Capitol Building office in Monrovia on January 3, 2024, Speaker Chambers, who lost to former student leader Anthony Williams in the Representative race in 2023 Presidential and Legislative Elections, pointed out his return at the Legislature has been undermined by Deputy Speaker Koffa and the Party.
Speaker Chambers re-echoed that his deputy is unfit to occupy the position of Speaker because he is compromised due to his links with many public and private corporations.
According to Speaker Chambers, any attempt to elect Cllr. Koffa as Speaker would be equivalent to promoting bad governance because the country would be having a compromised speaker.
“He has links all over; LISCR, Bea Mountain, Solway….These attitudes have the tendency of impending Liberia’s development process. He traveled to Greece before as head of the Maritime Committee, and I was surprised because he does not work in the Executive. This country needs help,” the outgoing Speaker voiced out.
Mr. Chambers, who is currently fighting a legal battle of alleged elections irregularities against the man who defeated him in the October polls, feels he has been undermined internally and externally by his own party and by his deputy.
“I was undermined internally and externally. The first approach by the party and deputy undermine my own process before the court. My case can’t be in the process of adjudication then the party put forth a candidate for the speakership. And so all I can say is that Koffa is not the proper character to succeed me as Speaker.”
“My call against Koffa’s election as speaker is an issue of concern and not fear. I'm only informing Liberians that Koffa is not the choice for the Speakership. When you are here [in the House], all interests outside must stop so as to avoid you from being compromised. I hate nobody, but I have to tell the public what they need to know,” Chambers told journalists at the news conference Wednesday.
This is not the first time Speaker Chambers has hit out against his deputy.
When he appeared on a local radio show in Maryland County a fortnight ago, the outgoing Speaker also openly took his deputy to task, when he for the first time, branded him as a compromised lawmaker who is unfit to steer the affairs of Legislature.
Members of the 55th Legislature are expected to go to the polls on January 15, 2024 to elect a speaker and deputy speaker, hence; Deputy Speaker Koffa is standing in these elections to replace his boss Chambers, who is challenging the Pleeboe Sodokan District Representative election result between him and pronounced winner Anthony Williams of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP).
But as the Deputy Speaker Koffa stands to contest the most coveted legislative position, Speaker Chambers told Voice of Hope in Maryland County that the Grand Kru County Electoral District #2 Representative (Koffa) is already compromised, and as such, electing him to the speakership position would erode the credibility of the House.
"We have somebody who has been compromised, the current deputy speaker who wants to be speaker in these elections."
"It is common knowledge that Honorable Koffa is the lawyer for the Central Bank of Liberia. He cannot be a lawmaker and at the same time lawyer of the Central Bank of the CBL. You cannot be a lawmaker or deputy speaker and you are the lawyer of Liberia Telecommunication Authority and Maritime and Bea Mountains".
The Maryland lawmaker also accused his deputy of undermining his office as Speaker, stating that he complained him to President Weah on the matter before.
"But it's sad because for the time we have been in the legislature for the entire six years he has been undermining the office of the speaker to the extent that I even had to talk to the president and the president had to call him".
In addition to these direct accusations, surrogates of Speaker Chambers are also publicly bent on launching verbal and written attacks against Deputy Speaker Koffa thus compounding the rift.
It could be recalled that a damaging article was recently altered by Chambers’ Political Affairs Officer, George Watkins, in which he described the Deputy Speaker as a “Serpent Legislator.” In that article, the writer opined that Cllr. Koffa did not only undermine his boss (Chambers), but also provided testimonials against Liberian government officials to US government to be sanctioned.
But the Deputy Speaker has since denied these allegations and vowed not to ever share the same platform with Speaker Chambers, stressing that those allegations are tantamount to destroying his life.
In denial of these claims, Deputy Speaker Koffa clarified that he is not a personal lawyer to any group or individual.
Speaking in an interview with legislative reporters up Capitol Hill recently, Cllr. Koffa said Chambers is suffering from trauma caused by his defeat to Mr. Anthony Williams.
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