Monrovia – The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia, His Honor Francis S. Korkpor, Sr. attended the ECOWAS Judicial Council meeting held in Lome, Togo from 23-25 May, 2018. The Meeting which was held in the Presidential Auditorium Evala of the Hotel 2 Fevrier (Radisson Blu) brought together Chief Justices and their representatives of the 15-member states of ECOWAS.
The purpose of the meeting was to recruit five (5) new judges who will sit on the Community Court of Justice, located in Abuja, Nigeria for the next four years. The newly recruited judges are from the Republic of Cape Verde, Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Except for Sierra Leone whose candidates’ recruitment process has been deferred, all other candidates were recruited.
In his welcome address, the Commissioner in charge of Human Resource Management of the ECOWAS Commission, Prof. Dias Furtado, Jeremias, on behalf of the President of the Commission, H.E. Jean Claude Kassi Brou welcomed all the Chief Justices and representatives of the Supreme Courts of the member States of ECOWAS and thanked the Togolese Authorities for having accepted to host the meeting of the Judicial Council in Lome, as well as the warm reception and the facilities placed at the disposal of the delegates.
After having recalled that security and justice are the fundamental instruments in the establishment and consolidation of a State and in the promotion of peace, social ad cultural well-being of the people, Prof. Furtado commended the establishment of the Community Court of Justice before taking note that the current mandate of the judges expires on the 17th of June 2018.
In his turn, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Togolese Republic, Justice Akakpovi Gamatho welcomed all the delegations and reminded members of the Judicial Council of ECOWAS of their mandate at recruiting five judges to replace the incumbent judges whose mandate will expire on the 17th of June 2018.
To complete the membership of the Community Court of Justice, the Judicial Council agreed to interview candidates from Sierra Leone before the expiration of the mandate of the current judges.
The meeting ended with the adoption of the report to be submitted to the Authority of Heads of States of ECOWAS for approval and implementation.
Chief Justice Korkpor has since returned to the country.