Wants At least US25M for the Judiciary Branch
PHOTO: Cllr. Sylvester Rennie, LNBA President
Monrovia, Liberia- The Liberian National Bar Association (LNBA) through its President Cllr. Sylvester Rennie has come up strongly in the recent rejection of its allocation made in the national budget by the Executive and Legislative branches of government.
LNBA President Cllr. Sylvester Rennie says the recent very low budgetary allotment to the Judiciary Branch of Government in the tone of US17M is “insufficient and unrealistic”, saying that, if President Joseph Nyumh Boakai wants a functional judiciary void of corruption, he must allocate at least US$25 Million to the third Branch of government (Judiciary).
President Boakai, in his first state of the Nation address last January, said: ”Our justice system which is meant to protect the innocent and punish the guilty, has been marred by inefficiency, corruption, and lack of public trust.”
Even though President Boakai has the Rule of law in his “ARREST Agenda,” the rule of law less than a year under his administration is gradually going down the drain.
At a news conference held at the head office of the LNBA in Monrovia, Cllr. Rennie said, the Bar is disappointed and surprised about the budgetary allocations made to the Judiciary Branch by the government.
The head of the LNBA expressed that for so long the Judiciary Branch of government has been treated in the past as an ordinary Agency of government adding that when it had to do with budgetary allocations which undermined and impeded the activities of the Courts and other functionaries of the judiciary.
The LNBA further stated that out of a total budget appropriations of FY-2024 of US$738,859,837( Seven hundred, thirty eight million, eighty hundred fifty nine thousand, eight hundred and thirty-seven United States Dollars, the Judiciary is allotted US$17,000,000(seventeen million United States dollars) of the FY-2024 budget which is very inadequate to address some of the pressing challenges faced by the Judiciary which include construction of Judicial complexes in some of our counties amongst others.
The Bar says the Rule of Law is a pivotal pillar under the ARREST Agenda of the Boakai’s administration and to subject or allot such a very budget for a Branch of Government, which has competing compelling priorities, while ordinary agencies under the Executive Branch of Government are allotted more money in their budgets, is a disservice to the Rule of law sector which undermines access to Justice.
Cllr. Rennie further stated that most magisterial court in the country are presided over by non-lawyers and in order to for lawyers to be attracted to serve in these positions, the necessary incentives must be provided by the Judiciary.
He explained that these incentives are supposed to be provided for within the budget of the Judiciary and if they are not provided, it becomes difficult for the judiciary Branch of government to attract the caliber of lawyers to serve in these positions.
Similarly, there are debt, probate, tax and sexual offenses courts that are established in all of our counties but only a few of those courts have judges while, the others do not have due to budgetary allocation. This has caused the sockets of the Circuit Courts around the country to be overcrowded because the Circuit judges have to assume jurisdictions over these various courts the Bar president said.
“In order to for a more functional Judiciary, there must be realistic budgetary appropriations” made to the Judicial Branch of government to enable that Branch of government render the kind of judicial services expected of it,” the LNBA stated.