Monrovia – The former Chairman of the National Elections Commission (NEC), Cllr. Frances Johnson-Allison has backed Liberty Party’s call for the recusal of the NEC Board of Commissioners in the pending investigation of the party’s complaint of electoral fraud and irregularities.
Report by Gerald C. Koinyeneh – [email protected]
Liberty Party’ Political Leader, Cllr. Charles Brumskine, moments after successfully requesting the Supreme Court to place a stay order on the November 7 runoff election, called on the entire Board of Commissioners of the NEC to recuse themselves from the pending investigation on its claims of fraud and irregularities that marred the October 10 polls.
Cllr. Brumskine contended that his party does not trust the NEC’s Board of Commissioners to investigate its complaints because the board has already prejudged it case.
His latest demand has been met with mixed reactions from the public. Others accused him of stalling Liberia’s peaceful transition, which has the propensity of endangering the peace.
But speaking on the Truth Breakfast Show on Truth FM, 96.1 MHZ, the former NEC Boss who is also a former Chief Justice backed the party and suggested that a neutral team be set up to carry on the investigation.
“There is a legal basis for that. Whenever you feel that your rights may not be protected by a certain officer – judicial or otherwise administrative, if you feel that person have already been compromised or they have already expressed pre-judicial statement against your interest, how can you go back to that person?
The person will just confirm their decision they have already made,” she averred.
Cllr. Johnson-Allison, also former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court intoned that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was in error to have invited scores of Elections Magistrates at her house, adding that her action has created room for suspicions.
“That was strange to me. Off course when something like that happens, people raise eyebrow. I think it was not a good thing to do. “
“The President is the head of state but because that happened at her house, it raises lots of speculations and perceptions. That’s why I said she was ill advised to do something like that,” she noted.