Monrovia – House Speaker Alex Tyler is not getting the last laugh as his prayer for writ of prohibition filed before Supreme Court Associate and current Chamber Justice, Jamesetta Howard-Wolokollie has not been granted, according to highly placed Supreme Court sources who posited that Justice Wolokollie is ‘studying’ the writ.
Report by Kennedy L. Yangian [email protected]
This latest development comes on the heels of a petition for a writ of prohibition filed by the Speaker on Thursday August 12, praying the court to prevent his splinter colleagues—who are seeking his recusal to preside in the wake of a damning Global Witness report and prosecution in Criminal Court C — from holding an alternative session in the joint chambers of the legislature.
Sources say Justice Wolokolie is studying the Speaker’s petition for a writ of prohibition filed last week but with a pending showdown today in separate sessions, it remains to be seen how it pans out in the legislative musical chair comedy.
This could be the last straw for Tyler who is mounting a stiff resistance for his recusal—which could ultimately lead to his removal from the powerful position of influence—from his colleagues since his indictment on May 25, 2016 by the grand jury of Montserrado County for multiple criminal offences, including bribery.
His indictment, alongside Senator Varney Sherman plus former and current officials of government, comes amid a report by the British NGO Global Witness that the Speaker and others allegedly received bribes of US$950,000 from a British Company, Sable Mining, to amend the Public Procurement Concession Commission Act (PPCC) in favor of the company to mine the Wologisi Mountain in Lofa County.
In the petition for the writ of prohibition to the high court, the House Speaker through his lawyers say he has been asked by some of his colleagues, known as the anti-Tyler bloc, to rescue himself from further presiding as Speaker only because he has been indicted but there is no law and rules within the Legislature or the Constitution for an elected officer from the House of Representatives to rescue himself.
The Speaker thru his lawyer, Cllr. Johnny Momoh, stated that Article 49 of the 1986 Constitution provides that the Speaker shall be the presiding officer of the House of Representatives while rule 4.1 of the standing rules of the 53rd Legislature also provides that the Speaker shall call the honorable House of Representatives to order at the commencement of each day’s session and proceed to the order of business including presiding over each session’s day.
His lawyer went on to say that the petition for the writ of prohibition was not filed in bad faith and not out of vexation or to delay any proceeding or obstruct the legal conduct of the respondents/anti-Tyler bloc lawmakers.
“Wherefore and in view of the foregoing, petitioner pray your honor for the issuance for the alternative writ of prohibition against the respondents to follow command and order the respondents as member of the House of Representatives to return to status quo ante,” said the Speaker’s lawyer to the high court Justice-in-Chamber, Associate Justice Wolokolie.