President George Manneh Weah has issued a Proclamation calling for a Special Session of the 54th Legislature for a period of thirty (30) days beginning August 15, 2022, to September 13, 2022, to act upon matters of national emergency and concern.
According to a Foreign Ministry release, the Proclamation mentioned that Article 32(b) of the Constitution of the Republic of Liberia provides that the President shall, on his own initiative or upon receipt of a certificate signed by at least one-fourth of the total membership of each House, and by proclamation, extend a regular session of the Legislature beyond the date for adjournment or call a special or extraordinary session of that body to discuss or act upon matters of national emergency and concern.
Concurrence with Article 32 (b) of the Liberian Constitution, which provides that the President shall, on the President’s own initiative or upon receipt of a certificate signed by at least one-fourth of the total membership of each House, and by proclamation extend a regular session of the Legislature beyond the date of an adjournment or call a special or extraordinary session of that body to discuss or act upon matters of national emergency and concern.
In accordance with the aforementioned provision of the Act, the Fifth Regular Session of the 54th Legislature of the Republic of Liberia should have adjourned on July 15, 2022, but pursuant to Article 32(b) of the Constitution, the date of adjournment was extended by the Legislature for a period of one (1) week, from July 16, 2022, to July 22, 2022, to give the Legislature the opportunity to discuss and act upon several legislation of time-sensitive nature and others center on integrity, transparency and accountability.
The Proclamation stated that there still exist some time-bound critical national issues which must be resolved as a matter of urgency, and cannot await the return of the Legislature in October 2022, including inter alia, the appointment of a new Chief Justice, setting of new census date, passage of the amendment to the New Elections Law, and ratification and passage of other significant instruments pending before the Legislature, especially agreements of economic nature.
An Act to repeal An Act to Amend Section 1 of An Act fixing the Day for the Annual Adjournment of the Legislature of the Republic of Liberia, and to establish in lieu thereto An Act Setting the calendar of Adjournment for the Legislature, provides at Section 2 Second Adjournment (Second Constituency visit/break), that the Second Constituency visit/break of the Legislature shall commence not later than the third Friday of July of each year and end on the second Friday of October of each year.
