AS THE WEEKS DREW closer for Associate Justice Philip A.Z. Banks, III, to be retired from the Bench of the Supreme Court of Liberia, news of the person who would have been nominated to replace this venerable Judge, began to filter in.
JUSTICE BANKS, WHO clocked 70 on June 18, 2018, was the oldest member of the five-person Bench. Because of his invaluable service, he was allowed by the Chief Justice, His Honor Justice Francis Korkpor, to continue in office until Tuesday, August 7, when his retirement ceremony was held. Retired Justice Banks served eight years on the Bench.
ARTICLE 72(B) OF THE 1986 Liberian Constitution provides, “the Chief Justice and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court and judges of subordinate courts of record shall be retired at the age of 70; provided, however, that a justice or judge who has attained that age may continue in office for as long as may be necessary to enable him to render judgment or perform any other judicial duty in regard to proceedings entertained by him before he attained that age.”
BEFORE HE BECAME one of the Associate Justices, Banks served on the Law Reform Commission (LRC) as its chairman from 2008 to 2010, before former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf appointed him in 2010 to the Supreme Court bench. The Senate didn’t have any qualms with confirming his nomination the same year.
RETIRED JUSTICE BANKS’ retirement left the President, Mr. George Manneh Weah, with the challenge to pick a competent legal practitioner as his successor: someone who would be qualified and credible to help maintain public confidence in the Judiciary.
THROUGHOUT HIS eight-year stay at the Court, he may be best remembered for his role in siding with four of the five justices to rule in favor of the contentious 2014 National Code of Conduct (CoC) Act, which caused five out of 103 members of the Legislature to submit a petition for his impeachment.
HE IS DEFINITELY going to be remembered for also reading the famous verdict in the landmark ruling of 2017 election disputes.
DAYS TO HIS RETIREMENT, this newspaper was the first to break the news of who would replace Justice Banks.
ON MAY 10, SINOE COUNTY Senator Milton Teahjay unknowingly leaked who would have been the possible replacement of the retired Justice.
HE UNWITTINGLY NAMED his Sinoe County colleague, Senator Joseph Nagbe, as the man, who was in pole position to replace Justice Banks. True to Teahjay’s words, the President nominated Nagbe a day after the formal ceremony of Justice Banks’ superannuation.
WE WANT TO JOIN OTHERS congratulating him for his preferment as Associate Justice-designate. However, Sir, there are few concerns we like to raise as it relates to your new portfolio should you be confirmed by your colleagues in the Senate. It’s not a question of ‘if;’ there are no odds against your confirmation, especially from the 27-man and two-woman Senate.
SENATOR NAGBE, BY VIRTUE of this announcement, everyone now expects you to be a “former politician.” You have been a politician for the most part of your life. You advocated politically for your constituency, is it going to be easy leaving your advocacy posture and take on a totally new apolitical nature?
AS A SENATOR OR POLITICIAN, you have position as it relates to some of the sticky issues, including dual citizenship, tribal land rights and free speech.
MR. ASSOCIATE Justice-designate if these issues were to come up to the court and you are there, will your already preconceived position(s) affect your ‘fair judgment?’
ON THE DAY THAT PRESIDENT Weah nominated you, you spoke with journalists and you made a somewhat controversial statement: “Every case will have its own facts and circumstances unique to themselves. The facts maybe there but there are circumstances that impel upon the facts and those circumstances may make a difference in the opinion of the Justice.”
SIR, ONCE ONE GETS on the Bench, one has to listen to every side of the arguments and that one’s ruling would have to be based on the facts not the circumstances, which you stressed would also have a huge bearing on your opinions.
MR. ASSOCIATE Justice-designate, specifically, there are issues in the political atmosphere relating to concessions and especially those granted in Sinoe County, the county you represent in the Legislature. It is obvious that you have taken side many times in these matters in the county, how are you going to address those issues if they were to come before the court? Is the will of the people going to be a major factor in your opinions even though you actively participated passing all of those concessions?
ANOTHER THING THAT has come up in the public is your health. Recently, it was rumored that you were ill even though you seemed very fit and boasted of it on the day the President nominated you.
BECAUSE OF SUCH ILLNESS in time pass, you missed many session days in the Senate. An Institute for Research and Democratic Development (IREDD) 2016 report on you senators shows that you took 31 medical absences. IREDD’s score card also shows that you were present 43 times, six absents, and 31 sick leaves, which amount to 55.13 percent of appearance.
FROM MAY TO JULY 2018, the record shows that you were present on the 24th and 31st of May. On June 11th, 14th, 19th and 26th, you were present. The records also show that you attended session on July 5th, 9th, 12th, and 19th. There are no records available for all the other days. However, a source at the Senate disclosed: “This could mean that he was either absent or on medical leave again.” Are you really prepared for the rigors of the Judiciary?
SENATOR NAGBE, YOU HAVE been a politician for a considerable number of years, in that position, you must be available to interact with the people, but now as a Justice, even though still ‘designate,’ do you think it is still expected of you that you are going to visit similar places and continue to interact with the people while in this new position? Or simply, are you prepared for the isolation that goes with the position after having been a politician for such a very long time beginning with your career as Research Analyst in 1987 at the Legislature?