By Our Staff Writer
Days after the controversial Press Union of Liberia election in Gbarnga, Bong County, the Supreme Court of Liberia has issued a Writ of Prohibition against the PUL elective congress, after a petition from the team of one of the presidential candidates, Julius Kanubah.
Justice in Chambers,Yussif D. Kaba has directed that the current PUL leadership and team Kanubah meet for a conference today, Wednesday, November 23, 2022 at the Temple of Justice.
Associate Justice Yussif D. Kaba
Team Kanubah is requesting that the highest court in the county quash the result of last Saturday’s (November 19, 2022) controversial election won by the Union’s incumbent Vice President Daniel Nyankonah.
Mr. Nyakonah got 333 votes, while his opponent Julius Kanubah got 15 votes for the presidency. On the other hand, Bettie Johnson Mbayo accumulated 311 votes while her contender got 21 votes. A total of 346 persons participated in the process with 2 invalid votes. The PUL is said to have a membership of over 1,400.
Red flag was raised
On the eve of the election, which was planned to conclude the PUL’s 2022 Congress, a prominent Liberian Journalist and former executive of the Union, Mr. Jonathan Paye-Layleh made a passionate plea for reason to prevail by suggesting that the election aspect be put “on hold”, until controversy over the cleaning of the voters roll is amicable resolved.
Journalists Paye-Layleh, a veteran BBC and Associated Press (AP) Liberia Correspondent at the weekend syndicated an open letter to the PUL authorities and the entire membership of the Journalists Union, which was established in 1964.
Before the controversial November 19, 2022 PUL election this is what Mr. Paye-Layleh said in an open letter he published: “After doing some extensive consultations with the leadership of the Union, those tasked to conduct this year’s congress and the party that has issues with the process, I hereby appeal to the membership to place the electoral aspect of the congress ON HOLD until the concerns that have brought out the controversy are looked into, addressed and a final decision made.”
Another renowned veteran Liberian journalist, Aaron B. Kollie also stepped in, suggesting an urgent legal intervention into what has now become a controversial Press Union of Liberia (PUL)’s 2022 Elective Congress.
“Saturday evening’s late after-hour ruling handed down by the 9th Judicial Circuit Court in Gbarnga, Bong County, in the disputed Press Union of Liberia (PUL) Elective Congress, is the most historically brazen and egregious ill-advised legal judgment by a Liberian court in recent time. As a result, that must be rejected and resisted by the Liberian media in all its forms,” Mr. Kollie says in a special statement he released late Sunday evening, November 20, 2022.