Monrovia – With less than one month to his retirement from the Supreme Court bench, Associate Justice Philip A.Z Banks III says faulty political appointments are affecting the judiciary branch of government.
Report by Bettie Johnson-Mbayo, [email protected]
Justice Banks, who is considered a legal luminary, was appointed by former president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on August 9, 2011 after he had served as chairman of the Law Reform Commission.
Once he retires, he will be the second Associate Justice to step down from the Supreme Court since the end of the transitional government.
Justice Banks replaced former Associate Justice Gladys Johnson who retired in April 2011.
In an exclusive interview with FPA, the outgoing Justice outlined many challenges facing the legal system hoping that appointments of judicial officials will not be too politicized.
He recalled that appointments of judicial officials in time past were vetted by a commission which comprised of the Ministry of Justice and legal experts; something he said is not being done which is hindering the works of the judiciary.
“You know when the Constitution Commission drafted the Constitution that we are now operating under, they had included in there a provision that set up the judicial service commission, this was supposed to be a board that have highly professional people including some of the legal people in the government, including the minister of justice, officials from key legal institutions like the National Bar,” he said.
“And it is that body that will vet folks, who are ambitious in working in the judiciary, and it was on their recommendations, the president will proceed to nominate and that provision was removed by advisory assembly because they felt it was an infringement on the prerogative of the President.”
He said the removal of the section has continued to expose the appointment of judicial officials to the political consideration rather than legal consideration.
“I think in that respect the judiciary has indeed suffered to some extent where we may not have appointed some of our most qualify to judicial positions,” Justice Banks noted.
“But this also is why I have said that our emphasis should be on how we prioritize because if we know that there are settings of our judicial officials who may not have the level of competence for that particular area.”
He urged the government to prioritize and set up advanced programs and give opportunities to individuals to upgrade their skills so that they can be put in positions where they are qualified to contribute to the country.
Recently, despite of Lofa County Senator, and member of the Judiciary Committee Steve Zargo objection to the appointment of Judah Cassell, the committee confirmed her as Deputy Minister for Administration at the Justice Ministry.
When asked about the qualification and confirmation of the Cassell, who is a graduate of International Law from a Chinese University, Associate Justice Banks said to the best of my knowledge the Minister of Justice is one of the best the country can boast about because he is a lawyer and I knew him for over a time.
“I tell you for the Deputy Minister I haven’t done formal analyses of their background and in the role, we are playing on the Supreme Court unless someone comes with a life issue before the court before we can give our views.”
“But I will say though I believe that the law anticipates that those who played key roles at the Ministry of Justice should be a lawyer not just lawyer but good lawyers because there is an enormous burden on the ministry that the ministry has to carry.”
Associate Justice Banks said the Minister of Justice is the dean of the Supreme Court bar and “It is compulsory from our perspective for people who are holding high-level positions must be exposed to the legal profession and meet the legal requirement that is provided by statue.”
“It is not for us to decide on that if any nomination is made, it becomes the matter of the Senate to do its own due diligence and ensure that there is complain.”
“The Deputy will act as a minister and there are chances that you will be cited by the court to appear and handle government cases, so in that instance, you will have to be a lawyer,” he said.