By Melvin Tejan Mansaray
A Member of Liberia’s Delegation to the ECOWAS Parliament, Hon. Moima Dabah Briggs-Mensah has expressed no regret over the decision to expel House of Representative Member, Hon.Yekeh Kolubah of District 10, Montserado County.
Hon. Yekeh’s crime was a statement he made saying that a percel of land in Foya District, Lofa County belongs to Guinea, Conakry contrary to the Liberian government’s official position. He was accused of violating his oath to defend the motherland as an elected representative of the people of Liberia.
Hon. Briggs-Mensah was speaking in an exclusive interview with this medium following the tabling of the Liberia, Sierra Leone and Senegal country reports on Wednesday 6th May,2026, which one legislator, Hon. Abiante described as anti democratic and violates the freedom of speech and freedom of expression rights of Hon. Kolubah.
In response to the questions posed, Hon. Briggs-Mensah said she is unapologetic about the decision following a 49 to 73 vote in favour of Hon. Yekeh’s expulsion from the Liberia House of Representatives.
According to the two-term Independent Lawmaker representing the Central Region, Bomi County, District No. 6, Hon. Briggs-Mensah iterates that she holds no regret about the decision.
She explained that:
“There was a serious land dispute that made our people flee from their homes at the border with Guinea. While our President and every citizen was concerned about this tense situation, Kolubah being a two-term-serving representative sat on a media without any proof and said that Liberia is taking over Guinea and Guinea is in fact right to cross the border to come and take our land.”
She went on to say that the Liberia Parliament has quasi-judicial powers which must be respected. She added that a communication was issued that Hon. Kolubah appears before a Committee to defend himself about his statement.
“Hon Kolubah appeared but came with a lawyer which our rules of procedure doesn’t permit because parliament is not a court room where his lawyer was to defend him. We asked that his lawyer speak through him and he refused and walked out, a show of disrespect for the plenary.”
Hon. Briggs-Mensah said even if one hates his country’s government so badly, they would not sit and defend another country over theirs..
“We took an oath to defend our country,” she asserted.
When quizzed if one should defend their country in a situation in which they feel that they are wrong, Hon. Briggs-Mensah declared, “yes when it is right, but when it is wrong they must prove it.”
She affirmed that the MP made a statement that he cannot substantiate.
” He who asserts must prove it but he did not do that,” Hon. Briggs-Mensah whined, adding that in the absence of proof such statement has no locus standi.
Hon. Briggs-Mensah asserted: ” I will never sell my country to another country.”
She maintained that it was premature for Hon. Kolubah to have made such a statement before even a dialogue or arbitration was underway.
Questioned if Hon. Kolubah’s right to free speech has not been violated, Hon. Briggs-Mensah replied, ” it is not freedom of expression.”
She cited an instance in Sierra Leone where a female politician is serving four years plus jail sentence for incitement.
“He asked us to apologise to Guinea without showing any proof. This led to the Guineans issuing a press statement based on his statement. What if it had been a war situation? I stand by what we did and will always do so. With the 79 to 43 vote in favor of expulsion, it shows that i am not the only one on this. It is left with the people who come to the ECOWAS Parliament and say they didn’t vote. I don’t care about them. I don’t report to anybody.I report to Salala and it is expected of me as an independent to act as such and if need be, I’ll work with the government when they are doing the right thing.”
She continued that there is no connection between Hon. Kolubah’s expulsion and the Speaker’s debacle to remove some MPs from the Liberia delegation to the ECOWAS Parliament.
Hon. Briggs-Mensah said:
“Hon. Kolubah said he has no problem with the Speaker or his deputy. He said it clearly in a video that I’ll share with you. Like i said in one of my videos, i pray that Hon. Kolubah is remorseful during this period that he is no longer in Parliament sits and think about his actions and come back in 2029 as a new person because the resolution only said that he can’t contest for the bye election but he can still contest in 2029 when he could come as a changed man.”
Queried about what if the Liberian Supreme Court rule in Hon. Kolubahs favor, Hon. Briggs-Mensah said:
” If the Supreme Court rule against our decision to expel him, we will look at our rules in Parliament and see what procedure was not followed and turn to the law to find out. But let me tell you, there are three branches of government and the law gives us the right to work with our own rules so if there is any other, we will work with the Supreme Court.”
Hon. Briggs-Mensah ascertained that if the same communication was issued again and they come back to say the decision was not right, “i will still go by my decision to vote that Hon. Kolubah be expelled again for not protecting the sovereignty of our country, for not protecting his citizens, that is my point.”
Hon. Briggs-Mensah emphasized that the Guinean incursion is a topical issue and for a Nigerian MP to bash at them is double standards and hypocrisy because years have come and gone when people lived in the bushes until Donald Trump spoke about it.
“Even when they came to report, they were kind of dodging it. We have a problem and we are part of the Mano River Union (MRU). We are working as brothers and we don’t have to bring the issue up here in the ECOWAS Parliament. We will resolve it in the best way and we will do that. When it reaches the level of ECOWAS, they will come in but as it stands, our Presidents are doing the needful for us to resolve at the MRU level and i pray that we will do that and move on so that our citizens will commute as before.”
It should be noted that the Head of the Liberian Delegation, Sen. Edwin Melvin Snowe and three other MPs openly expressed dissatisfaction over the decision to expel Hon. Kolubah and this was echoed countlessly during the deliberations at the ECOWAS Parliament.
Liberia is located on the West African coast. It is Africa’s oldest republic, established in 1847 by freed American slaves. It features a tropical climate with a 580 km coastline, significant rainforests, and a population of over 5.4 million.
The country faces economic challenges, relies on agriculture and mining, and has strong historic ties to the United States.