Monrovia – The hall of the Centennial Pavilion was graced by several empty chairs as the event witnessed a massive boycott of several officials of government, especially those at the director level in government and several opposition political parties.
Report by Henry Karmo – [email protected]
This paper has not been able to establish whether opposition political parties were invited or not but the presence of the political leaders of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) George Weah and that of the Movement for Economic Empowerment (MOVEE) Dr. Mills Jones suggest that invitations were given out.
Unlike past Independence Day celebrations where the hall was full to capacity, this last Independence Day celebration of the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s administration witnessed a massive boycott.
Critics believe that the absence of these junior officials is due to green light given several of them to contest in the pending elections that has led to their resignations.
Most of the seats were occupied by representatives of foreign missions in Liberia and ambassadors.
The latest ruling by the Supreme Court on the Code of Conduct ignited a wave of resignations from the government by officials wishing to contest the October elections.
The Court ruled in the Liberty Party vs National Elections Commission case that Mr. Harrison Karnwea though violated the Code of Conduct by not resigning two years prior to the elections as required and he substantially complied because he resigned after the Court declared it law when it was first tested.
This paper gathered that many of the forms were acquired months back, but were not submitted until Friday, just a day after the Supreme Court’s ruling which also happened to the deadline for submission.
Most of the resignations are still being kept undercover. In fact, many had resigned [by letter only] two or three months ago, awaiting the outcome of the Liberty Party vs. National Elections Commission case before officially leaving office.
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