Monrovia – The House of Representatives has declared the Deputy Minister for Press and Public Affairs at the Ministry of Information, Culture Affairs and Tourism (MICAT), Eugene Fahngon, a non-governmental material and sentenced him to two nights in prison for legislative contempt. In addition, the House’s plenary levied a fine of L$4,99.99 against him. He’s being sent to jail for proven misconduct [ads1]against two members of the House of Representatives.
It took more than 8 hours of legislative proceedings for Members of the House of Representatives to decide the fate of Faghon, who is accused of gross disrespect to Representative Edwin Snowe.
The representatives took the decision Wednesday, September 12, evening at an Extraordinary Session upon his (Fahngon’s) appearance before Plenary to show cause why he should not be held in contempt after his scuffle with Representatives Edwin M. Snowe and Moses Acarous Gray over the weekend.
Min. Fahngon is on record for using vulgar language on the two representatives.
In an unprecedented event that was filled with drama, it took the House more than eight hours to arrive at the decision that was witnessed by cross-section of citizens including both supports of the Deputy Minister and the Legislature.
He was handcuffed and escorted to the notorious Monrovia Central Prison where he was expected to spend the next two nights.
Earlier, the House had dropped their contempt charges against the Minister of Information, Lenn Eugene Nagbe, who had also appeared alongside his deputy to state why they should not be held in contempt for refusal to honor the House’s invitation on Tuesday, September 11, 2018.
In an apologetic posture Minister Nagbe took responsibility for their failure to appear even though he blamed it on clerical deficiency because according to him the letter didn’t reach him on time and for that he was sorry.
Plenary then opened proceedings into Minister Fahngon and Rep. Snowe’s saga, but he (Fahngon) requested plenary to reschedule his appearance to allow him to appear with his lawyer, whom he claimed had earlier accompanied him, but because the lawmakers did not convene session at the prescribed time (10 am) stipulated in the invitation, she left.
This angered majority of the lawmakers and it led Speaker Bhofal Chambers to call for an Executive Session. Following their return, they voted in favor of Rep. Dixon Seibo’s motion to accord Fahngon a 30-minute break in order to bring in his lawyer.
After much delay, his lawyer, Cllr. Frances Johnson Allison appeared, and when Fahngon was given the opportunity to speak after clips of the audio on the incidents between him and Snowe were played live in Plenary, he said he will only speak through his lawyer, referring to Article 21 ‘C’ of the constitution of Liberia.
There was a deadlock that resulted which led Speaker Chambers to ask the Chairman of the House’s Judiciary Committee, Rep. J. Fonati Koffa for his counsel.
Rep. Koffa advised his colleagues to proceed with the hearing, noting that although the constitution calls for a right to counsel, it did not say an accused should not testify during a legal proceeding. He argued that Fahngon’s lawyer could not testify on his behalf because she was not presence during the commission of the alleged offense.
With that, Rep. Clarence Massaquoi of Lofa County filed in a motion for the House to deem Deputy Minister Fahngon a non-governmental material and inform the Senate and President George M. Weah that it can no longer work with him (Fahgon).
Following series of amendments by Reps. Samuel Kogar and Acarous Gray, plenary voted unanimously to send him to jail to spend at least two nights behind bars at the Monrovia Central Prison. But because it was already past 7 p.m. when they (lawmakers) concluded the hearing, Fahngon was remanded at a holding cell at the Central Police headquarters. He is expected to be taken to Monrovia Central Prison today, September 13.
Source: frontpageafricaonline.com
