Monrovia – The head of the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) Elfreda Stewart-Tamba is expected to face the Supreme Court due to her alleged failure to honor an order of the high court to reinstate 10 dismissed employees of the entity.
It is the fifth time the LRA boss has been invited to show reason why she should not be held in contempt over her alleged failure to implement the high court order which calls for the immediate reinstatement of the 10 dismissed employees.
Madam Tamba risks being detained by the Supreme Court over her alleged failure to honor the mandate from the high court through Associate Justice Kabineh Ja’neh who was then the Justice-in-Chambers. Justice Ja’neh’s ruling was based on a formal complaint filed by Cllr. Tiawon Gongloe on behalf of the 10 dismissed employees.
In his complaint to the Supreme Court through a writ of prohibition, Cllr. Gongloe told the court that his clients were dismissed by the LRA head for an alleged act of corruption but claimed that their dismissal was illegal because they were not given any due process that could have warranted their dismissal
In his ruling in the case following a hearing, Associate Justice Ja’neh called on the parties to return to the status qou ante and that the dismissed employees should return to work since no court found them guilty of any crime. After the hearing, the LRA boss agreed to re-instate the dismissed employees after she luckily escaped jail by the high court for disobedience.
FrontPage Africa reliably learnt that the 10 dismissed employees were re-instated and part payment of their salaries were made available but they have been refused entry into the compound of the LRA to take up assignment. The LRA has refused to comment on the matter despite every attempt made by the FrontPage Africa to seek clarification on the continuous alleged denial of the re-instated LRA employees to enter the headquarters of the entity.
However, the alleged refusal of the LRA boss to accept the re-instated employees have resulted to a new bill of information that has been filed to the Supreme Court by Cllr. Gongloe to again draw the attention of the court to the latest move by the LRA authority against the 10 dismissed employees. The new bill of information filed recently by Cllr. Tiawan Gongloe to the Supreme Court prayed the high court to give an order that will make the LRA boss obey the court’s order.
“Following the ruling of the Chamber Justice holding the respondent/LRA boss Tamba in contempt, informants were paid up to January 2016 but did not restore them to their former positions as regular employees,” said the bill of information
Other part of the bill of information also stated that the respondent has failed and refused to pay informants their monthly salaries for the month of February and continues to refuse for them to retain their previously assigned duties in complete flagrant and reckless disregard for the clear order of the court. The respondent/LRA boss through her legal counsels have not made any response yet to the new bill of information filed recently to the high court.