Published: October 9, 2026
PAYNESVILLE — Forty lawmakers, more than half of the 73-member House of Representatives, are listed on the attendance sheet from a separate meeting held Friday as the chamber formally reopened, as a dispute over unpaid benefits and Speaker Richard Nagbe Koon’s leadership carried into the first day of the new sitting.
The Liberian Investigator obtained the sheet, headed by Rep. Jeremiah G. Sokan Sr., chairman of the Reformists Movement. At least one lawmaker on it, Rep. Sam Jallah, said he was not in Monrovia on Friday.
The lawmakers met to discuss a way forward, particularly benefits that several of them say they have not received, and what they described as unresolved issues within the Legislature.
Inside the chamber, a member of the House’s budget committee conceded the grievance had merit.
“It is a legitimate concern for them,” said Rep. Dorwohn Twain Gleekia, co-chair of the House committee on revenue, ways, means, finance and budget. “We ought to address it because it’s about their benefits.”
The lawmakers listed on the sheet are Sokan, Prince K. Koinah, Jacob Debee, Eugene Kollie, Emmanuel Dahn, Anthony Williams, Johnson N.S. Williams, Isaac Wuo, Alex Noah, Blue Benson, Abu Kamara, T’aa Wongbae, Zinnah Norman, Samuel Enders, Saah Foko, Matthew Joe, Mohammad Dosil, Marvin Cole, Roland Cooper, Steve Tequah, Luther Collins, Isaac Bannie, Clarence Banks, Muka Kamara, Bintu Massalay, Sumo Mulbah, Ellen A. Wreh, Jerry Yogboh, Kortor Kwagrue, Priscilla Cooper, Rugie Barny, Sam Brown, Augustine Chiewolo, Alfred Flomo, Prince Toles, Robert Wonba, Dixon Seboe, Edward P. Flomo, Jallah and Romeo Quioh.
Jallah told Punch FM/TV he is in his district, outside Monrovia. He said that had he been in Monrovia, he would not have attended Friday’s opening of the House.
He would not accuse the House leadership of mismanaging or squandering lawmakers’ money, saying he could not make such an accusation without evidence. But he said he has not received any benefits himself.
[RESPONSE: Koon, Deputy Speaker Thomas Fallah or the House press office on the separate meeting, the benefits complaints and the allegations against the leadership, or when and how they were contacted and the outcome.]
Speaking during the reopening, Gleekia said disagreements among lawmakers are common after a legislative break but that members must settle them.
“Whenever lawmakers go on break, agitation will come about, dissatisfaction, mixed feelings will come about, but our ability to come together always has proven that indeed we are leaders,” Gleekia said. “There’s no way that any of us here can downplay the gathering of lawmakers.”
“Our colleagues, whatever they have said or what they are saying is something that needed to be addressed,” he said.
Gleekia said delayed payments didn’t mean the money wouldn’t come. “If there’s a delay in anything, in compensation or benefit coming to our colleagues, that doesn’t mean that it’s not forthcoming,” he said. He said the government disburses funds quarterly under established procedures.
Rep. Moima Briggs Mensah said she accepted that the complaints were real but urged the absent lawmakers to return.
“We know there are issues, but let’s come together and resolve them in our chamber,” she said.
Briggs Mensah said the benefit delays have affected every lawmaker and urged members to find where the payments are being held up.
“Our colleagues, whatever plot they have, they are not wrong, but we’re appealing to them: come to work; let’s sit and see what we can discuss because everyone is affected one way or the other,” she said.
The meeting followed an earlier session between the lawmakers and Vice President Jeremiah Kpan Koung, at which they raised concerns about the House leadership and their benefits, according to sources familiar with the meeting. Koung told them he would take their concerns to President Joseph Nyuma Boakai after Boakai returned from the U.N. General Assembly, sources said. Koung also gave the lawmakers seven days to resolve their differences, a window that expires Saturday.
Koon returned from Guinea on Thursday, but the lawmakers went ahead with their meeting, sources said. Koon also opened a new chat group for lawmakers Thursday night, though no one could independently verify its purpose or membership.
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