By Grace Q. Bryant
Ministry of Justice Frank Musa Dean has called on the need for a national dialogue to revisit the age clause in the Liberian Constitution.
The official retirement of Chief Justice Korkpor marks the first time ever in the history of the Liberia Judiciary system that a chief justice abided by constitutional requirement.
The occasion was witnessed by the President of Liberia, the Vice President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ambassadors as well as other partners including party litigants and friends of the Supreme Court bench.
Speaking at the adjournment of the March 2022 term of the Supreme Court which marked the official retirement of Chief Justice Francis Korkpor, Sr. held yesterday at the Temple of Justice, Minister Dean said that the 1986 Constitution of Liberia provides that justices of the Supreme Court shall retired at the age of 70 provided.
According to him, a justice who has attained that age may continue in office for as long as may be deemed necessary to enable him/her render judgments or perform any other judicial duty in regards to proceedings entertained by him/her before he/she attained the age.
“Many legal practitioners, including myself continue to reflect on the practicality of this constitutional provision given the evolving, demanding and ever changing nature of our legal system where we give currency to seniority and acknowledge that the longer the years of practice, the wealthier in experience the individual becomes,” he maintained.
Minister Dean argued that the 70 years for retirement provision for the judges, Chief and Associate Justices may not be realistic today; therefore an amendment of the constitutional provision must be proposed.
According to Minister Dean, “Our retired chief and Associate Justices continue to be favored with knowledge, experience, good health and vitality.”
“It might be beneficial to our Judicial Reform Program to consider the concept of a Council or Broad of former Chief and Associate Justices,” he pointed out.
He stressed that the rule of law being an indispensable pillar in a democratic society such as we cannot gloss over the fact that the Judiciary under Chief Justice Korkpor’s leadership played an extraordinary role in keeping Liberia’s infant democracy buoyant and afloat.
“He has been a stabilizing figure during seemingly critical and defining moments of our current democratic dispensation between 2005 up to and including 2020, a period when we as a country endured difficult trying and exacting electoral processes,” he added.
The Chief Justice Korkpor in his final address to the full bench of the Supreme Court of Liberia admonished his colleagues to continue the good work in dispending justice to the Liberian people.
He also expressed thanks and appreciations to the former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and President Weah for giving him the opportunity to serve his country.
He also thanked all the judicial staff, counselors, former Associate Justices and the International partners for supporting the Judiciary under his watch.
In August, President George Manneh Weah named Sie-A-Nyene Gyapay Yuoh as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, making her the third female to assume such post.
Justice Yuoh was one of two female associate justices serving on the country’s Supreme Court bench after her appointment in 2013 by the former president as she was the third most senior justice at the country’s highest court ans she replaces Korkpor.
