Senate Confirms 162 Nominees, Takes first Consecutive Break with Major Unresolved National Issues
By : Laymah Kollie
Monrovia -March 17,2024: The Plenary of the Liberian Senate on Thursday March 14,2024 took its first Consecutive Break in the first segment of the first session of the 55th National Legislature. The break comes following many unresolved issues on the floor of plenary. The matters include: the alleged violation of tenure positions, the resolution on the establishment of War and Economic Crimes Court, the National Budget etc. These issues are currently in committee rooms and expected to report to plenary upon their return on 10th May.
During its first segment, the Liberian Senate was able to confirmed 162 Presidential Nominees at various Ministries and Agencies of Government.
According to Senate Pro-Tempore Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence, while on break, the Senate will carry on other basic functions; as such: confirmation hearings of nominees, public hearings amongst others.
“While we are on break, committees have been mandated to carry out committees’ functions to include, public hearings and confirmation hearings.
During the first segment, the Senate was confronted with and dealt with a number of national issues, some of which remain unresolved. These includes; Tenure positions in the Executive; a resolution from the House of Representatives on the Establishment of a War and Economics Crime Court in the country” Pro-Tempore Lawrence said.
Adding, “Also, the Senate was very busy in the first segment with confirmation hearing of Presidential Nominees. All of the nominees were properly vetted by the various Senate Committees. Although there were weaknesses in certain cases, it is the general opinion of the Senate that most of them met the basic requirements to deserve the opportunity to go to work and contribute their quota to public service”.
However, the Pro-Tempore pointed out the Bea Mountain protest in Cape Mount and Army wives protest as areas the government didn’t handle properly.
“Some of the low points of this Government, of which all of us as Senators are a part, is the way we handled the protest of the wives of Personnel of the Armed Forces of Liberia and the unfortunate deaths and injuries which occurred at Kinjor and the vandalization of the equipment and other properties of the mining company.”
Stressing , that “concrete steps have been taken to address these situations. Dealing specifically with the AFL wives’ situation, the senate has reached a decision to address some of the issues discovered as a result of an investigation conducted by its defense and security committee”
Meanwhile, Pro-Tempore Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence stated that as a matter of priority, the Liberian Senate will also address the debate on the 2024 national budget in the coming days.
“The senate agreed that on the basis of priority, some of the most pressing issues will be address during debate on the 2024 fiscal budget that has already been submitted to the legislature by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning”.
