The Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Jamesetta Howard Wolokolie, has alarmed over thieves purporting to be Sheriffs and Curators from the Ministry of Justice.
She made the statement Monday, March 11, at the formal opening of the Supreme Court, for its March term, on behalf of Chief Justice Sie -A- Nyene G Yuoh, who is out of the country.
Justice Wolokolie, among other things, pointed out that the Supreme Court, through the Court Administrator’s Office, contacted the Ministry of Justice to rectify the alarming level of thievery by ministerial officers, but, in response, the Ministry of Justice could not account for 90 percent of these ministerial officers who are assigned to the courts across the country, mentioning that they recently discovered that the curator assigned to the Monthly and Probate Court is an imposter, with no employment record with the Ministry of Justice or the Judiciary.
According to Justice Wolokoile, the act of the impersonator has infiltrated the Judiciary over the past years, and have rained havoc on party litigants and the courts, thus, embarrassing the Judiciary’s reputation.
She said the courts, over the past decades, have experienced unknown persons claiming to be Sheriffs from the Ministry of Justice assigned to serve as Ministerial Officers to the courts.
Associate Justice Wolokolie said that they have discovered that the Probate Courts are also experiencing a similar dilemma, with curators who are purporting to be employees of the Ministry of Justice assigned to the Monthly and Probate Court.
Moreover, she maintained that what is most surprising is the fact that all of these unaccounted for ministerial officers and curators are on government payrolls and are receiving salaries every month, even though there are no employment records of them as ministerial officers and curators.
She called on the Ministry of Justice to aggressively work with the Court Administrator Office to ensure that this situation is arrested so that these persons who are often exhibiting criminal behavior in courts are purged from the Judiciary System.
At the same time, she called on all national stakeholders, including the Legislature and the Office of the President, to develop a national policy and budgetary allotment for the implementation of Section 15.1 of the Judiciary Law and Section 112.1 of the Decedent Estate Law, relating to Sheriffs and Curators, to avoid the dilemma that the judiciary is faced with.
In response to Justice Wolokolie’s opening address, Justice Minister, Oswald Tweh, said the Ministry of Justice will coordinate with the office of the court administrator to ensure that the bad apple is put out of the Justice system.
He said the Ministry will also embark upon all Ministry of Justice employees, including the Sheriff, to be investigated.
He said, meanwhile, incidents of theft by the Sheriff will also be investigated and those responsible will be prosecuted.
Meanwhile, the President of Liberia, Joseph Boakai, has acknowledged the numerous concerns being raised by judicial actors regarding his assertions about the Judiciary Bench of Government being marked with corruption.
The Liberian leader called on the Legislative body to pass legislations and support financial appropriations that will help in the fight against corruption in the justice system.
President Boakai, however, expressed his willingness to collaborate with the judicial system to make it better and independent in order to gain public trust.
