By Frank Sainworla, Jr. fasinworla@yahoo.com
Consternation greeted last Friday’s majority vote by the Liberian Senate to impeach and remove a member of the Supreme Court of Liberia, Associate Justice Kabineh Ja’neh by a large section of the public including opposition parties.
“To impeach Justice Ja’neh, shame on them,” was how Mr. Alexander Cummings, the leader of the opposition Alternative National Congress (ANC) described the move by Senators at the close of the controversial impeachment trial, which started on February 14, 2019.
The trial preceded the August 2018 impeachment indictment against the Supreme Court Associate Justice by the House of Representatives.
This Justice of the five-member Supreme Court Bench was impeached last Friday of one of the four-count charges he was indicted on by the House of Representatives, which has to do with a Writ of Prohibition he (Ja’neh) granted petroleum dealers in Liberia under the Road Fund in the amount of US$27 million. That Writ of Prohibition stopped the Liberian government taxes/levy of 25 US cents imposed on the price of gasoline and fuel at the pump.
Shortly after the impeachment vote was concluded and announced, Lawyers representing the embattled Associate Justice pleaded with Chief Justice Francis Korkpor, who presided over the impeachment trial, not to put the verdict in the Senate’s record and called for a revote.
But Chief Justice Korkpor denied their request saying“Counsels, there must be a real issue in order to set aside and order a revote. There have been no substantive complaint brought before me to rule out the verdict from the jurors.”
“On the one relating to the road fund case, 22 Senators found him guilty and four not guilty and three absences, therefore and in keeping with Article 43 of the Liberian Constitution the accused has been found guilty. Under the vine, I will now discharge from the Liberian Senate with thanks and hereby, order that this proceeding is hereby adjourned,” the Liberian Chief Justice said.
Records from the Senate say the votes of 22 Senators supported the removal of Justice Ja’neh, while four voted against it with three abstentions.
Speaking on the same day (Friday March 29, 2019) when two members of the House of Representatives officially joined the ANC, Mr. Cummings led the “shame on them…Shame on them” chorus, as he expressed his disgust over the impeachment of Justice Ja’neh, a process he claimed was unconstitutional.
“It shows lack of integrity and lack of courage on the part of the Senate,” Cummings, who was one of the defeated candidates in the 2017 presidential election, retorted in Monrovia.
For the Spokesman of the main opposition UP, Mr. Mo Ali: “The impeachment of Justice Ja’neh is unconstitutional and wrong. So chief you can even appoint all Mandingoes on the Supreme Court Bench will not change that fact.”
In a post on the Social Media network, the UP Assistant Secretary General said:
“Besides, do not try to make it look like vacancies on the Supreme Court Bench are divided among tribes. This is an attempt to pit one group of Mandingo people against another. The people are too sophisticated and will not fall for that Divide-and-Rule you are attempting to introduce. Liberians are not stupid people sir.”
Earlier during the impeachment trial, Expert Witness and retired Supreme Court Associate Justice, Philip A.Z. Banks condemned the way the way the proceeding was done, which lacked the due process of law and violated Article 43 of the Liberian constitution. Therefore, he described the whole impeachment trial as “unconstitutional”.
The ANC is a part of the four-party deal reached recently by Cumming’s party, the main opposition Unity Party (UP) of former Vice President Joseph Boakai, Charles Brumskine’s Liberty Party (LP) and the All Liberian Party of business tycoon, Benonai Urey dubbed “Collaborating Political Parties”.
The two Representatives who crossed over to the ANC last Friday are Nimba County District # 8 Rep. Larry Younquoi who left the former ruling Unity Party and Lofa County District # 5 Rep. Cllr. Beyan Howard (Independent).
Both of the Liberian Lawmakers said they were making the move at a time when the country was experiencing serious problem with governance, with the economy going from bad to worse.