Filed in by Olando Testimony Zeongar – 0776819983/0880-361116/life2short4some@yahoo.com
MONROVIA, Liberia – The Economic Freedom Fighters of Liberia (EFFL), has again, accused President George M. Weah of masterminding the impeachment of Supreme Court Associate Justice Kabineh Ja’neh, so as to get him off the High Court Bench, to pave way for the Liberian leader’s alleged grand plan of impeaching Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor to be met with no stiff judicial resistance.
Punch FM/TV’s online service recalls that since coming to power about a year ago, a seemingly unabated feud continues to linger between president Weah and his Vice President Howard-Taylor, with reports of suspicion from the president’s inner circle that his Veep wants to overthrow him and take his job.
Vice President Howard-Taylor has repeatedly denied such allegation, but a recently leaked audio recording has again heightened the suspicion, with a ranking member of the Vice President’s party, the NPP, suspended Bong County Superintendent Esther Walker claiming that men belonging to President Weah’s inner circle were angry over why a traditional title in her county, that they believe should have been conferred on the president was instead bestowed on the VP. The men according to Madam Walker view this act as a ploy on the part of the vice president to overthrown the president.
The EFFL also says President Weah plans on rigging both the 2020 senatorial elections and the General and Presidential Elections slated for 2013, and that by ousting Ja’neh, a critical voice on the Supreme Court Bench, the president and his collaborators, who the EFFL did not name, will get easy ride, should electoral disputes arising from these pending elections come before the Supreme Court.
Addressing a well-attended press conference in Sinkor Monday, EFFL Commander-In-Chief, Emmanuel Gonquoi described the move to oust Justice Ja’neh as a politically motivated impeachment, indicating that President Weah and his followers’ plan to impeach the Supreme Court Associate Justice comes with fear to have independent minds on the High Court Bench because there are arbitrary plans to instigate several other actions including rigging both the 2020 and 2023 elections respectively.
“The administrative structure of the bench clearly signals that Justice Ja’neh will be in chamber by 2020 and 2023. Therefore, they fear that he will openly resist any form of rigging of elections in 2020 and 2023,” CIC Gonguoi said.
He accused President Weah of supporting internal crisis within the National Patriotic Party (NPP), as a way of disfiguring the NPP and Vice President Howard-Taylor; thereby rendering the party insignificant to the Coalition. The president’s Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), the NPP and the party of former Speaker Alex Tyler, the Liberia People Democratic Party (LPDP) merged in 2017 to form the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change.
Further naming President Weah and his followers’ planned actions that are expected to follow Justice Ja’neh’s impeachment, Gonquoi averred that by getting the Associate Justice out of the Supreme Court, the president and his followers intend to have full control of the High Court, to the point that the Chief Justice will be subjected to any form of political control.
He added, that once Justice Ja’neh is out of the Supreme Court, President Weah and his followers will proceed with what he called their planned illegal removal of Madam Howard-Taylor as Vice President of Liberia, through a bogus impeachment process, and have her replaced by Minister of State and Presidential Affairs, Nathaniel McGill.
Gonquoi said the move to impeach Justice Ja’neh is also intended for President Weah and his ruling elites to have a weak Supreme Court Bench over which they will exercise full political control, especially for future electoral processes which they intend to rig, as well as in the event fraudulent practices and constitutional crisis arise in the country.
“The EFFL is unapologetic to evidently and reliably unearth that the President of the Republic of Liberia H.E. George M. Weah is the orchestrator of the national disrespect, unorthodox, politically motivated, and illegal impeachment proceeding of Associate Justice Kabineh Ja’neh and categorized it as a total displayed of arrogance, egotism and indiscipline from the lower house, specifically surrogates of this already failing regime towards the honorable Supreme Court and it is a direct attack on good governance,” CIC Gonguoi said.
“Illegal impeachment”
The EFFL, which says it is unapologetic, condemns and describes as nonsense, what it refers to as self-centeredness and illegal impeachment proceeding and voting exercise demonstrated by people it called pocket followers and dunk-funded members of the House of Representatives.
“Emphatically with no regret, EFFL distance the interest of the masses from said actions using this medium and other national and international medium in sending a strong caveat to President Weah that there exists a David that is prepared to resist the unease plans as well as to vigorously prevent every attempt that has the propensity to disparage the rule of law and the integrity of the Honorable Supreme Court. It is a gross disrespect to the Court that yesterday you ran to for sanity,” said Gonquoi.
“We say to you President Weah by undermining our hard-earned democracy and international reputation, you invite poverty to live with us because international organizations and donors considered good governance and the rule of law as a prerequisite for aid towards national agenda for development, Gonquoi added.
‘Call to international partners’
Gonquoi said: “The EFFL calls on the United States Government, and African Union, the International Justice Group, United Nations and EU to closely monitor Liberia as signals of bad governance continuously surface and undermine the essence of democracy, while dictatorship is gradually but surely nurtured as the operational order of this administration.”
He said the EFFL is deeply troubled by the immature political occurrences in Liberia; an act, if not resisted and thwarted, could leave no future for this current and the future generation of Liberia.
‘Locking the Legislature’
“Therefore, we want to inform the Liberian people and the International Community that, as soon as possible, the EFFL will rally Citizens and organizations for the purpose of protecting and saving the Judiciary and maintaining the Peace and Democracy of Liberia,” Gonquoi stressed.
He disclosed that during the protest, which according to him is honored by Article 1 of the Liberian Constitution, “we will issue Vote of no Confidence in those Senators who are involved with the removal of Justice Ja’neh and as well lock the National Legislature for showing us (the people) disrespect.”
Howbeit, deputy presidential press secretary Smith Toby informed Punch FM/TV’s online service that the Executive Mansion could not respond to the EFFL’s allegations, because the Mansion was unaware about the specifics of the EFFL’s press conference.
He said the Mansion needed time to make itself abreast of exactly what is contained in the EFFL press statement, after which it would respond. But as of the time of this report, the Executive Mansion had not done so.
