PHOTO: Cllr. Tiawon Gongloe, LNBA
By Augustine Octavius, augustineoctavius@gmail.com
The Liberian National Bar Association (LNBA) has appealed to the United Nations Security Council to pass a resolution establishing a war and economic crimes court in Liberia.
The association’s President, Cllr. Taiwon Gongloe said the UN Security Council should set up a justice mechanism for Liberia, because people of Liberia are powerless in ensuring the establishment war and economic tribunal in the country.
Cllr. Gongloe was speaking at a program marking the observance of the International Justice Day organized by the Civil Society Human Rights Advocacy Platform of Liberia, in collaboration with the Office of the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights in Monrovia.
Participants at the program
According to him, relying on the Liberian government will never yield in to the establishment of such court so the UNSC should pass the resolution and impose it on the state and the government
The Liberia National Bar Association’s President maintained that this is so because the executive is dominating the other two branches of the government and it has been so over the years.
“It has been this way under the governments under William Tubman, Richard Tolbert, Samuel Doe, Charles Taylor and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf” If the Executive Mansion does not want something in the legislature and supreme court, it does not happen,” said the LNBA President.
Cllr. Gongloe added: “President George Weah does not want war and economic crimes court established in Liberia but if he wants it; because, there must be accountability for war, the next day , the legislature will past it into law and allot the budget.”
“Liberian presidents have a diversional tactics because when he or she does not want to solve certain problem based on public outcry , he or she sets up a committee or commission to deal with it but the out of the committee or commission will never be made public,” the LNBA President pointed out.
Cllr. Gongloe, who is former Solicitor General of Liberia, said this is one of the reasons he resigned from the Unity Party-led government because former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf deviated from her political pronouncement, action and good governance.
“The worst thing she did,” he went on: “was to institutionalize bribery in the legislature and currently, nothing go through the lawmakers without envelope.”
Cllr. Gongloe explained that the good things in the interest of the masses will be buried unless their pocket is full and it is an open secret that the president controls the legislature and the judiciary.
The Bar Association president hinted that he was once informed by a lawmaker that there is a need for Liberians to look for someone with good moral standing to occupy the executive mansion for decision of this nature to take place in the country is not possible
He noted that the international community is wondering whether the estimated 250,000 who were killed as a result of the war is not an issue to the lawmakers in Liberia.
Cllr. Gongloe expressed surprise to see that some of the lawmakers have relatives who were killed during the war but they do not care simply because greed for power.
The counselor expressed skepticism on the lower House on passing a law establishing the war and economic court because the list on which the representatives affixed their signatures is also missing.
“I am of the opinion that the lower house will also agree with the Liberian Senate because there will be financial inducements and they have all fail us because the pedicle of governance is for the government to seek the interest of the governed,” Cllr. Gongloe.
For her part, former Commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Massa Washington said the senators who voted in favor of the establishment of the Transition Justice Commission constitutes a betrayal of the trust of the people who voted for them
According to her, most of the disadvantaged adults who are on the streets are of the result of the war because their futures were snatched away.
Ms. Massa Washington
She claimed that whatever that has happened at the Liberian Senate is just a constitutional established institution doing what is illegal and she has lost respect for some of these senators.
Madam Washington described the decision of the Liberian Senate to vote in favor of the establishment of the transitional justice commission as fraud, bogus, illegal and a shame
She called on Liberians to vote those senators who backed the TJC and their collaborators in any other elections because they do not care about the people or have any interest in the people they are representing
Ms. Washington maintained that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established on the act of the legislature following the recommendation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
In remarks, the Executive Director of the Global Justice and Research Project, Hassan Bility, described the decision of the Liberian Senate is a crime against justice and honesty in the country; terming them as hypocrites
According to him, the decision of the Liberian Senate is based on their desire to secure the votes from Nimba County during any presidential elections in the future.
Mr. Bility pointed out that the establishment of the Transitional Justice Commission is intended to derail what all that have been achieved by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
He pointed out that his organization will continue to mount pressure outside the country so that all of those suspected of war and economic crime will be apprehended as long as they step in any country against international crimes.
The Liberian war crimes court campaigner noted that the United States Home Land Security is awaiting all those whose names have appeared in the TRC report and his organization will continue to remind them of these individuals.
Council of Churches opposes Senate’s Transitional Justice Commission
Meanwhile, the Liberia Council of Churches has formally written a letter to the Liberian Senate, registering its objection to the decision to establish a transitional justice commission.
The council’s Secretary General, Reverend Christopher Toe, disclosed that the religious leaders reached the decision at an emergency meeting held in Monrovia recently.
Reverend Toe revealed that the religious community has resolved that they will not form part of the transitional justice commission if it is established
In remarks, the Chairman of the board of the Civil Society Human Rights Advocacy Platform of Liberia, Reverend Francis Kollie described the decision of the Liberian Senate as a slap in the faces of the 250,000 people who were killed during the civil war.
He called for unity and togetherness among the civil society organizations involved in the fight for accountability and justice for crimes committed during the civil crisis.
In a related development, the Human Rights Officer at the Office of the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights, David Dolo, said the United Nations strongly believe that holding perpetrators accountable for war era gross human rights violations is the surest guarantee for sustaining peace , democracy and development in a post conflict society.
He expressed concern that none of thethose mentioned in the TRC reports have been to justice and that some those mentioned in the report are holding high positions in the executive and legislative branches of the government
Mr. Dolo noted that the UN is also concerned about the lack of a comprehensive program of reparation for victims of the war.
The program, which was organized by the Civil Society Human Rights Platform of Liberia and the Office of the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights, was held under the theme: “ Promoting Justice and Accountability for Past and Future Crimes in Liberia.”