Monrovia – Cllr. Arthur Johnson is asking all lawyers and criminal justice practitioners in the country to boycott court activities for three days as a protest against the House of Representatives’ refusal to honor the mandate of the Supreme Court.
Report by Kennedy L. Yangian, [email protected]
Cllr. Johnson has requested legal practitioners to commence their action starting on September 3-5 to demonstrate to the lawmakers that Liberia is a country of law and not of men.
The Supreme Court lawyer call comes in the wake of the refusal of members of the House of Representatives to honor a stay order issued by Associate Justice-In-Chamber Sie-Nyene Youh over the current bill of impeachment before the lower House to have Associate Kabineh Ja’neh impeached.
Associate Justice Youh had issued the stay order on the House after a petition for a writ of prohibition was filed by five lawyers on behalf of Associate Justice Ja’neh.
The five lawyers claimed that although the 1986 Constitution gives impeachment power to members of the House of Representatives under legal arrangement but the lawmakers were not proceeding rightly with the current bill of impeachment against Justice Ja’neh as counts relied upon to impeach the Associate Justice were unconstitutional.
The bill of impeachment against Associate Justice Ja’neh has been brought forward by two Montserrado County lawmakers from the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) Acarous Gray and Thomas Fallah of both Montserrado County Districts #5 & 8 respectively.
Both lawmakers have accused Associate Justice Ja’neh of corruption, proved misconduct among other counts while serving as Associate Justice.
But Cllr. Johnson told reporters at a press conference held at his Center Street Office Monday, August 27, that the stay order requested all parties to the case to return to status quo. But the lawmakers refused to honor the mandate and opted to reply the court in a letter.
“Let every Liberian wake-up and speak on this action because the action by the lawmakers is a complete affront to the rule of law and our democracy,” said Johnson.
Cllr. Johnson, who claims to be a legal practitioner of the criminal justice system for the last 19 years, stated that the action exhibited by the lawmakers, if not checkmated, would demonstrate that there is no court.
According to Cllr. Johnson, one of the root causes of the country’s civil conflict was the disrespect for the rule of law where some people chose not to respect the rights of others and that people who are pushing this altitude are those that did not get the insight and suffering during the dark days
“I did not witness the civil conflict on TV; people who are pushing this action are not aware of other bitter past. Many of them have forgotten but I am not prepared to go back to the ugly past, this why I have waken-up to speak not as a representative of the Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA) but a Supreme Court lawyer,” said Cllr Johnson.