By Precious D. Freeman
The Civil Law Court has ruled in favor of the former Deputy Director General for Information Coordination at the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS), Wilmot Smith, thereby ordering the government to reinstate him and pay all withheld entitlements, including salaries, allowances, and benefits, dating back to his dismissal in 2023.
The court’s ruling, delivered by Judge George Wah-Harris Smith, declared Smith’s dismissal under former President George Weah as “illegal, wrongful, and a violation of the Constitution relative to the Autonomous Agency.”
The judgment mandates the current administration, led by President Joseph Boakai, to “restore, calculate, and pay” all entitlements due to Smith and ensure his immediate reinstatement.
Wilmot Smith was dismissed in 2023 following allegations aired on Spoon TV that linked him to financial misconduct regarding funds intended for enumerators.
The accusations reportedly originated from an unauthorized release of LISGIS’s account statements by an Ecobank-Liberia employee, Yussif Kromah.
These statements were allegedly manipulated by Spoon TV host Stanton Witherspoon and his associates, Martin K. N. Kollie and Alex Williams, former Deputy Director General for Statistics, to implicate Smith falsely.
Judge George Wah-Harris Smith concluded that the dismissal violated both the Liberian Constitution and the LISGIS Act.
Smith’s lawyer, Cllr. Arthur Johnson, argued that the President of Liberia lacks the authority to dismiss officials of LISGIS without due process, as the power to appoint or dismiss such officials rests solely with the LISGIS Board of Directors.
Cllr. Johnson cited Sections 50A.4 (1) and (2) of the LISGIS Act, which clearly outline that the President can only make initial appointments to the LISGIS Board and Director General position.
Subsequent appointments and dismissals are to be handled by the Board, not the President.
The court found that former President Weah’s actions violated Chapter III, Article 20 of the Liberian Constitution, which guarantees due process, and Article 89, which affirms the autonomy of agencies like LISGIS.
The ruling emphasized that tenure positions within autonomous agencies cannot be arbitrarily terminated by the President without proper legal grounds and due process.
The court’s judgment mandates the current government to: Reinstate Wilmot Smith as Deputy Director General for Information Coordination at LISGIS.
Calculate and pay all withheld salaries, allowances, and benefits from the date of his dismissal to the date of this ruling.
This landmark ruling reinforces the autonomy of statutory agencies and serves as a reminder of the constitutional limits on executive power.
It highlights the importance of adherence to statutory provisions governing appointments and dismissals within autonomous institutions.
The government has yet to issue an official response to the court’s ruling.
However, legal analysts suggest that this decision sets a significant precedent in safeguarding the independence of Liberia’s public institutions.
