-Vows Commitment to Reform, Robust Scrutiny
Harbel, Margibi County – Members of the House of Representatives Saturday voted unanimously to amend their Rules and Procedures to meet present-day legislative standards in conducting legislative business.
During the 3-day Legislative Reform Forum, 67 lawmakers – comprising more than two-thirds, said “yea” in agreement with the proposed amendment of the rules and proceedings.
House’s Speaker J. Fonati Koffa urged lawmakers to submit all proposed “rule changes” to the Judiciary Committee, chaired by Atty, Michael Thomas for review and compilation for subsequent scrutiny and adoption by plenary – the highest decision-making of the House of Representatives.
“I want us to develop a way forward where all of you who have rules’ changes to write them down, submit them to Judiciary; Judiciary compiled them and resubmit them to the plenary. And then we will put a committee together to review and go through them and then we can bring it back for adoption,” Speaker Koffa said.
The forum
The Legislative Reform Forum is addressing the key capacity needs of attendees and benefiting from both local and foreign expertise in law, best practices, and comparative parliamentary procedures.
The planning for this forum took months and it’s a crucial part of the projects of some international organizations like UN Women which are working to improve the welfare of Liberian women and girls through more responsive lawmaking and oversight.
The Government of Liberia contributed a little over USD 16,000 towards the cost of holding the three-day event. 69 lawmakers attended the House’s reform forum
The items that were covered by donor agencies and international organizations were disbursed directly to relevant vendors. This means that the House of Representatives did not receive any funds from the donors and cannot be asked to account for such.
The House says the Reform Forum generates follow-up activities and initiatives that will leverage cooperation between the House of Representatives and donor partners to materially improve governance in Liberia.
