A major fire destroyed the joint chambers of Liberia’s Capitol building in Monrovia as a bitter struggle over the leadership of the House of Representatives fuelled protests and a wider political deadlock. No one was inside the building when the blaze broke out, and authorities had not determined its cause.
Thick black smoke and flames rose from the legislature early Wednesday, prompting President Joseph Boakai to order a security investigation. The president condemned the destruction, while police chief Gregory Coleman said investigators had not ruled out arson. The government offered a $5,000 reward for information about the fire.
Police brought four people in for questioning, including House Speaker Jonathan Fonati Koffa and Representative Frank Saah Foko. Coleman said investigators wanted Foko to explain a social-media video in which he allegedly referred to burning the chambers, because the building caught fire the next day. Police also sought an explanation of a post by Koffa during the preceding protests. Questioning did not amount to a charge, and neither man’s responsibility for the blaze had been established in the reporting available at the time.
The fire followed demonstrations on Tuesday sparked by an effort to remove Koffa as speaker. Police arrested dozens of protesters and used tear gas to disperse crowds. Some demonstrators also called for Boakai to resign, widening the confrontation beyond the internal dispute in the House.
The fight over Koffa had developed over several months. A faction of representatives claimed to have removed and replaced him, while allies resisted the action as unconstitutional. Liberian law requires a two-thirds majority in the House to remove a speaker. The impasse left parliament unable to function normally and prevented passage of the annual national budget. A Supreme Court ruling had failed to settle the competing claims.
The coincidence of the blaze with a second day of political unrest heightened suspicion, but officials cautioned that no direct link between the protests and the fire had been confirmed. That distinction remained important as police interviewed political figures whose statements had drawn scrutiny.
The destruction of the joint chambers created both an investigative challenge and a practical obstacle for a legislature already unable to resolve its leadership crisis. Even before repairs could be considered, the authorities faced pressure to establish how the fire began through evidence rather than political accusation. At the same time, lawmakers still needed to address the unresolved speakership and budget disputes that had brought the institution to a standstill before flames damaged its meeting space. The blaze consequently intensified an already acute national institutional crisis.
