Paynesville – A minute after his induction as the President of the Liberia National Bar Association, Cllr. Tiawon Gongloe took a ride on the Executive branch of government, pointing at its recent Constitutional violation by nominating and commissioning Liberia’s Ambassador to the United States without the consent of the Liberian Senate.
Report by Al Varney Rogers, [email protected] 0886304498
The National Bar President, in an emphatic tone, said no provision of the Liberian constitution provides for such action of the executive.
“There is a current debate on whether the President can appoint an ambassador while the Senate is on recess, the clear legal answer to this is ‘capital NO’; there is no provision under our constitution for the appointment of an ambassador without the advice and consent of the Senate under any circumstances,” Cllr Gongloe averred.
He added that other countries constitutional provision cannot be the justification for any illegal action of a public official in Liberia.
“Article 54 of the Constitution of Liberia provides for the appointment of public officials by the President. There is no exception to this mandatory constitutional procedure even if there is a state of emergency,” Gongloe added.
The newly elected Bar President added that no provision in the Constitution provide for “recess appointment”.
“The constitution of other countries may have provision for the appointment of an official when the Senate is on recess for instance Article 2 section 2.3 of the American constitution quote that the President shall have power to fill vacancy that may happen during the recess of the senate but which shall expire by the end of the next session.
“But a provision from the United States constitution cannot form the basis for appointing any officials in Liberia; the Constitution of Liberia provides how Liberia should be governed,” said the popular human rights lawyer.
He frowned on lawyers for not speaking out when there are national contentious issues, adding that lawyers only confined themselves to issue brought to them by their clients.
“We will not and should not be silent individually and collectively as members of the legal profession and confine ourselves to only issues brought to us by those who are able to pay us for our services,” he urged his colleagues.
“While the legal profession is the means we earn money to sustain ourselves like the bar of other countries the Liberian people look up to us to give them counsel when they are confused, whether their government and its functionaries are in the firm work of the law or not, only we can make that clarifications, when we fail to speak on illegal action by public officials, we must take the blame if conflict erupts from our silence,” Gongloe said.
He reassured that the association of Liberia’s top lawyers “will not be silent” on contentious issues that could lead the nation to its ugly past.
“We must not and will not be silent on contentious legal issues that have the propensity to lead our country into confusion and chaos that will reverse the gains made,” Gongloe added.
“After 14 years of civil conflict that cause the life of over 250,000 of our compatriots and the destruction of our basic infrastructures, the voice of the bar will be heard loudly, we owe a collective duty as lawyer to our country to provide clarifications on legal issues which will help sustain the peace and prevent conflict,” he added.
Cllr. Gongloe stressed that it is in the profession interest of lawyers to ensure that peace is sustain, adding that courts and law firms close immediately when there’s a sound of gun.
“It in our professional interest to do everything legally possible to sustain the peace, lawyers [is] perhaps the only profession that cannot practice their profession in the absence of peace.”
“As we experienced our own civil conflict, the court and law offices immediately shut down at the first sound of a gun but preacher continue to preach at refugee camps, medical doctors were practicing their profession at clinics, journalists were practicing their profession by reporting on the conflict and earning money. Therefore, our recent national experience has shown that it is impossible for us to perform our profession when our country descends into conflict,” Cllr. Gongloe said.
The National Bar President maintained that it is not in the professional interest of lawyers to remain silent when decisions and actions that clearly violate the Constitution, statutes and international treaties are taken by public officials of the three branches of government.
Gongloe’s inauguration speech has been described by many as “fire-burn” speech. Many have hailed him as “the man they know, who does not hold back in speaking truth to power”.
It can be recalled, when he served as Minister of Labor, Cllr. Gongloe equated President Sirleaf’s action of sending her cabinet on compulsory administrative leave as a “sign of a creeping dictator”, something that didn’t go down well with the Executive causing his exit from the Sirleaf’s administration.
Recently, Gongloe blasted and call for the recusal of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for his role in the impeachment of Associate Justice Kabineh Ja’neh.
Many say, probably it is his stance that proved costly for him, that the Chief Justice Francis Korkpor and Associate Justice Joseph Nagbe failed to show up for his induction ceremony as head of the LNBA.