Files Prohibition Petition Alleging Illegal Suspension & Violating INCHR Act

 The Executive Branch of government headed by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai has been taken to the Supreme Court by Suspended Independent National Commission on Human Rights (INCHR) Chairman, Cllr. Dempster Brown for allegedly violating the Act establishing the commission by illegally suspending him.

In a petition for a Preemptory Writ of Prohibition filed to Supreme Court Justice in Chambers Yusif Kaba, Cllr. Brown urged the court to reverse his recent suspension by President Boakai, which the petition says was taken “contrary to the Act creating the Independent National Commission on Human Rights (INCHR),” urging “restoring the parties to the status quo ante pending the final determination of these proceedings..”

On June 26, 2026, President Boakai indefinitely suspended the INCHR Chair “without pay, pending the outcome of investigations into serious allegations of misconduct”. Amid Forgery Allegation, Pres. Boakai Suspends Human Rights Commission Chair, Cllr. Dempster Brown – News Public Trust

The petition was filed against the government of Liberia by and through the Ministry of Justice and what it described as the acting “purported acting chairperson” of the INCHR, Mohammed Fahnbulleh.

BELOW ARE EXCERPTS OF CLLR. DEMPSTER BROWN’S PETITION FOR THE WRIT OF PROHIBITION:

1. “Petitioner further says that Section 16.22(1) of the Civil Procedure Law expressly authorizes a Justice of the Supreme Court, where the urgency of the matter so requires, to issue an Alternative Writ requiring the Respondents to refrain from pursuing the action complained of until a hearing has been held and requiring them to appear and show cause why a Peremptory Writ should not issue.
2. Petitioner submits that the controversy herein presents extraordinary circumstances requiring the immediate intervention of this Honorable Court because the Respondents are continuing to implement actions which are alleged to be in direct violation of the mandatory provisions of the Act establishing the Independent National Commission on Human Rights, thereby causing continuing injury to the Petitioner and undermining the statutory independence of the Commission.
3. Petitioner further says that the Legislature deliberately established the Commission as an institution independent of political control and executive interference in order to ensure that it would discharge its statutory responsibilities impartially and in accordance with the Constitution and the laws of Liberia.
4. Petitioner says that under Article IX of the Act, the Commission consists of one Chairperson and six Commissioners, with the Chairperson serving as the administrative head of the Commission and the Commissioners exercising the powers conferred upon them by the Act.”