Liberia: Boakai Urged to Suspend or Dismiss Finance, Justice Ministers Over Supreme Court Ruling Controversy
Monrovia — A former Budget Analyst at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP), Wilmot F. Smith, has called on President Joseph Boakai to suspend or dismiss Finance Minister Augustine Ngafuan and Justice Minister Oswald Tweh for what he described as their deliberate misguidance during the country’s recent budget crisis.
Smith, President into working with what he termed an “unconstitutional” leadership in the House of Representatives.
He argued that the one of the architects of the Public Financial Management (PFM) Law, accused the two senior officials of misleading the ministers’ legal and fiscal advice led the executive to engage the Richard Nagbe Koon-led “Majority Bloc,” despite a Supreme Court ruling that questioned its legitimacy.
According to Smith, Finance M..inister Ngafuan wrongly advised that the government risked shutting down if the national budget was not passed urgently. Smith countered that under Section 17 of the PFM Law, the minister had legal authority to execute up to one-twelfth of the previous year’s budget until proper legislative approval was secured.
“The Minister of Finance deliberately ignored the PFM Law, and the Justice Minister gave an irrelevant legal opinion that misled the President,” Smith stated. “This is a betrayal of trust, and both men should be held accountable.”
He also criticized the Senate for relying on the Justice Ministry’s opinion to pass what he described as an illegal budget, arguing that the Legislature should have consulted its own legal advisors rather than depending on the Executive Branch.
Smith further clarified that the Supreme Court’s December 2024 ruling did not mandate recognition of Koon’s bloc, stressing that the Judiciary had merely submitted its budget through the proper legislative channels–not to the contested Speaker.
The former official’s comments come amid growing political tension and questions about the legality of the current budget process. Pro-government critics have also voiced concern over the legitimacy of actions taken by lawmakers aligned with Koon.
Smith urged President Boakai to take swift disciplinary action against the two cabinet ministers to restore public confidence and uphold constitutional order.
By FrontPageAfrica.
