Liberia: Koon Demands Re-Argument

House majority bloc headed by Representative Richard N. Koon has petitioned the full bench of the Supreme Court of Liberia, requesting re-argument in Speaker Jonathan Fonati Koffa's Bill of Information, while expressing deep frustration over the judiciary's acceptance of the 2024 fiscal budget but contrarily ruling in the House's impasse.

Representative Koon and colleagues through their Counsel, Albert Sims, Counsellor-At-Law and Legal Counsel of the House of Representatives, and Cllr. Varney G. Sherman of SHERMAN & SHERMAN filed the petition here on Friday, April 25, 2025, begging leave of the court to have the above-entitled Bill of Information proceeding re-docketed and a new hearing conducted.

Providing legal justifications for their request, Representative Koon's legal team noted that Rule IX, Part I of the Supreme Court Rules provides that for good cause shown to the Supreme Court by petition, a re-argument of a case may be allowed, once some palpable substantial mistake is made by inadvertently overlooking some fact or point of law.

Based upon that, the petitioners submit that the Supreme Court overlooked and did not consider certain facts and committed some palpable substantial mistakes of law, arguing that had these facts been taken into consideration and hadn't these palpable mistakes of law made, the Court would not have rendered the Judgment: "... any sitting or action of the 'Majority Bloc' (respondents) to the exclusion of Speaker J. Fonati Koffa, the duly elected presiding Officer of the House of Representatives, while he is present and available to preside is unconstitutional and without the pale of the law."

"WHEREFORE AND IN VIEW OF THE FOREGOING, Petitioners pray Your Honors to have the Amended Bill of Information proceeding promptly re-docketed, dispose of it dispatch, the April 23, 2025, Opinion and Judgment of Your Honors in the aforesaid Information proceeding recalled and quashed, and the Prayer of the Returns in the aforesaid Information proceeding granted. Cost to be ruled against Respondents", Koon's legal team urged.

Therefore, they stated that for these reasons, a re-argument of the Information proceeding should be allowed so that these facts and laws may be taken into consideration, while challenging that Chief Justice, Her Honor, Sie-A-Nyene Gyapay Yuoh, wrongfully failed to take into account the undisputed fact that in August, 2024, Petitioners attempted to use the hall at which Plenary of majority bloc was held, they lost confidence in him.

Also, they further indicated that in the April 23, 2025 Opinion and Ruling in the Information proceeding, the Supreme Court ignored these cardinal principles of constitutional governance, and instead, attempted to usurp and did usurp powers and authorities exclusively granted to the Legislature by the Constitution.

Representative Koon's legal team disclosed that assuming without admitting that the conclusion of law made by the court that Speaker Koffa continues to be the Speaker of the House of Representatives and that all sittings and meetings over which he did not preside are unconstitutional and without the pale of the law is valid and legitimate."Then Your Honors are in turn guilty of malfeasance for receiving and disbursing Liberian Government funds, which you knew or should have known had been authorized by Informants through an unconstitutional and illegal process. More than that, Your Honors should not only disgorge whatever compensations or benefits, which Your Honors have received, Your Honors ought to and should be held liable and appropriate sanctions imposed for such serious misconduct, knowingly requesting an unconstitutional assembly of Informants to appropriate funds for your salaries and benefits and knowingly consuming such salaries and benefits as unconstitutionally and illegally authorized by the aforesaid assembly of Informants", the legal team argued.

Furthermore, they contend that assuming without admitting that the conclusion of law that Informants are an unconstitutional assembly of members of the House of Representatives and that all actions taken by them without Koffa presiding as Speaker of the House of Representatives are unconstitutional and without the pale of law, then the entire budgetary process is also unconstitutional, null and void and that payments and settlements of obligations owed to all employees of the Liberian Government and to all persons who have provided services and sold properties to the Liberian Government are also unconstitutional, illegal, null and void, and these payments and settlements should promptly be reimbursed to the Liberian Government.

"Informants submit that the judicial over-reaching and blatant unconstitutional inference in the internal affairs and administration of the affairs of the House of Representatives, contrary to the SEPARATION OF POWERS DOCTRINE, could probably, within a few days, plunge the Republic of Liberia and the governance of the Republic of Liberia into chaos. A petition for re-argument is the proper judicial process to facilitate the possibility of Your Honors' correction of these egregiously erroneous rulings, which could soon possibly destroy the full faith and credit of the Republic of Liberia and foster social and political unrest", Koon and his group say.

The Informants further argue that a fundamental principle of jurisprudence is that court of law should only enter a judgment which is capable of being enforced.

According to the, last week's Supreme Court's judgment, is incapable of being enforced, and is a tantamount to being a void judgment, adding that the Court has conceded that there is no mechanism to compel them to sit under the gavel of Koffa as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

"Koffa having been removed from the office of the House of Representatives pursuant to Article 49 of the Constitution and Rule 9.1 of the Standing Rules of the House or Representatives, and Hon. Koon having been elected as Speaker of the House of Representatives pursuant to Rule 10.1 of the Standing Rules of the House of Representatives, there is absolutely no legal efficacy or factual basis of Your Honors' mandate that Hon. Koffa continues to be the Speaker of the House of Representatives and that all actions and conduct of the House of Representatives over which he does not preside are unconstitutional, null and void, except the creation of a disruption in the governance of Liberia and a paralysis of the social, economic and political fabric of the country. Informants submit that a re-argument of the Informant proceeding is the proper process to facilitate the correction of these errors", they conclude.

This article originally appeared on New Dawn.