By Laurina B Lormia
(Cub-Reporter)
The Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL) has expressed disappointment over the action of the President, citing disregard for relevant laws, and wants Boakai to uphold the sanctity of tenure.
It can be recalled that, on Tuesday, February 20, 2024, President Joseph Boakai nominated several individuals to the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA), the Governance Commission (GC), National Lottery Authority (NLA), and the National Identification Registry (NIR), all of which are already occupied by officials protected by tenure.
In a press statement on February 22, the Legal Advisor to President Boakai, Cllr. Bushuben Keita, referenced constitutional powers of the President to appoint and dismiss those in the Executive Branch by ‘will and pleasure’.
Addressing the press on Tuesday, April 30, at the office in Sinkor, the Executive Director of CENTAL, Anderson Miamen, argued that tenure security is a settled matter, and that interferences with it in the form of appointments to positions of active tenures were unlawful.
According to him, the Supreme Court of Liberia upheld its previous decisions on the matter, noting that President Boakai did not act in line with law.
“Barely 24 hours after public acceptance of the Court’s ruling, President Boakai suspended the Chairman of the Governance Commission and the entire Board Of Commissioners of the LTA and appointed an acting Board Of Commissioners, Abdullah Kamara, Patrick Honnah, Clarence Massaquoi, Ben Fofana, and Angela Bush, the very individuals earlier nominated, against which the court ruled,” he said.
“We are deeply concerned over these developments, including suspension of the very officials who won the lawsuit against the government of Liberia.
While we acknowledge the powers of the President to suspend officials of government involved in corruption and other suspicious dealings, we believe such powers must not be exercised as part of a scheme to accomplish an agenda,” he stressed.
But, as with the other affected tenure positions, it appears that audits or investigations commissioned by the President do not seek to accord those investigated substantive due process, but a mere procedural one to justify removal from tenure positions.
“We are calling out the suspended Chairman of the Governance Commission, Atty. Garrison Yealue, for his active role played during the 2023 election campaign, whilst still serving at the GC. Even as we criticized his actions and do not believe he should continue to head the GC, we hold the position that his removal from the office must not be arbitrary, but lawful, in line with established legal procedures, including due process,” he added.
“We therefore recommend that President Boakai reconsider his decision to appoint the very individuals whose appointments sparked the controversy leading to the Supreme Court’s ruling. We believe that this sends a very wrong signal about the President’s dedication to the rule of law, especially in this instant case,” he added.
However, information reaching this paper late evening yesterday from the SPOON FM media handle, says the Supreme Court denied the issuance of a Writ of Prohibition to the Bill of Information filed, for the suspended Liberia Telecommunications Authority Board of Commissioners.
It can be recalled that President Boakai, on Friday, April 25, 2024, suspended the entire Board of Commissioners at the LTA on grounds of alleged financial malfeasances at the institution.
In the same communication, the President commissioned an investigation of the LTA and appointed an acting Board of Commissioners to steer the affairs of the Liberia Telecommunications Authority.
But the suspended Board of Commissioners ran again to the High Court praying for a Writ of Prohibition against the President’s suspension with a Bill of Information.
