By Grace Q. Bryant
Chief Justice Sie-A- Nyene Yuoh has vowed to dismiss any election case that is not backed by evidence but based on mere allegations and speculations.
Speaking at the opening of the March term of court on Monday, March 13, Justice Yuoh said that the court is well fortified and judicially poised to hear and dispose of all election disputes regardless of the magnitude or underlying currents or those involved.
According to her, her administration has resolved to dispense justice evenly without fear or favor parties; lamenting that the Judiciary Branch is prepared to handle any election case that may arise before and after the General and Presidential Elections in the country.
“The law makes no distinction between men when before it; the high and low here are both on an equal level. The law, while just, has no sympathy; it neither makes men rich nor poor; hence the claim to be rich can have no influence with it and to plead poverty can awaken no sympathy,” the Chief Justice said quoting the East African Company Vs Dunbar case.
The Chief Justice Sie-A- Yuoh pledged at her sitting ceremony that she is committed to upholding the Constitution of Liberia in dispensing Justice, regardless of the persons involved.
She furthered that her administration will strive not to bow down to any other power that be, adding that she owes her allegiance to God, the written law in upholding Constitutional principles of due process that is guaranteed to all citizens and residents of Liberia without fear and favor, and according to her conscious.
In her two-hour speech, Yuoh revealed that the court’s term is important to the Judiciary as it marks the peculiar silence and equanimity that comes before the storm of the electioneering period.
“It is an undeniable fact that our election calendar is the most tumultuous and tedious time in the history of the Supreme Court,” Justice Yuoh noted.
She noted that currently there are cases brewing and gathering at the National Elections Commission between political parties with the recent involving the Liberty Party’s two factions.
She cautioned party litigants, political parties, and independent candidates to safeguard themselves the Judiciary head and added that they should begin by finding lawyers who know how to represent their cases in line with the laws that govern the ethics of the Judiciary.
The Librarian Chief Justice then called on all political parties that the Supreme Court will only be moved by evidence-based cases not on the basis of ideology and the recently created political stronghold.
The Supreme Court has consistently held that the concept of a candidate claiming ‘stronghold ‘over a particular election geographical locale has no factual or legal basis in judicial proceedings, the Chief Justice said.
Among other things, Justice Yuoh said, “The concept of political parties calming what they termed as strong hold has no legal basis, as it is completely doubtful, uncertain and speculative.”
“It is completely doubtful, uncertain, and speculative, in that only the electorate via their valid votes cast can determine whether or not a candidate is widely influential within a particular locale,” she noted.
