Monrovia – As the Senate is set to vote against or for the impeachment of Associate Justice Kabineh Ja’neh, Cllr. Jonathan T. Massaquoi claimed that Ja’neh’s impeachment by the House of Representatives is not out of defiance action as allegedly stated by the president of the Liberian National Bar Association (LNBA), Cllr. Tiawan Gongloe.
Report by Kennedy L. Yangian, [email protected]
Chief Justice Francis Korkpor, speaking at the opening of the March 2019 Term of the Supreme Court, stated that the high court was facing a challenging time due to the ongoing impeachment trial of Associate Justice Ja’neh.
In response to the comment, Cllr. Gongloe stated that what makes it more challenging for the Supreme Court on the trial of Associate Justice Ja’neh was that the Bill of Impeachment on which Justice Ja’neh is being tried is a product of defiance by some members of the House of Representatives.
“But what makes it more challenging this time is that the bill of impeachment on which Justice Ja’neh is being tried is a product of defiance by some members of the House of Representatives of the alternative Writ of Prohibition issued by a justice of the Supreme Court sitting in chambers acting under the authority of law. It is also challenging because the Full Bench of the Supreme Court did not consider the defiance of the presiding Justice’s order as defiance of the entire bench,” Cllr. Gongloe added.
Now, in a latest article, Cllr. Massaquoi debunked what he termed as the “falsehood and legal flaws” in the LNBA President’s response to the opening address of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He added that it was erroneous to state that the Full Bench of the Supreme Court was not concerned about the action of the House of Representatives in ignoring and refusing to appear before the Full Bench of the court.
Cllr. Massaquoi claimed that the records showed that a writ of summons was served on the House on August 21, 2018 requesting that they appear on August 22, 2018 for the hearing of the matter and gave reasons why they think that the alternative writ of prohibition should not be granted just four days after the defiance of the House of Representatives of the order of the Chamber Justice.
The Liberian lawyer continued that records further show that the matter was heard and an opinion was rendered by the Supreme Court, quashing and vacating the alternative writ of prohibition and the peremptory writ of prohibition prayed for denied.
Cllr. Massaquoi further stated that if the argument of the Bar president is that the House Representatives did not file a brief but wrote a letter to the Chamber Justice, “the law in our jurisdiction says if one party appears and non-appearing party has not filed a brief, the non-appearing counsel shall be given 48 hours to file a brief and appear for hearing of the case.
“There is no law in our jurisdiction that says that when a party fails to appear, the court should rule against them or in favor of the present party without hearing the argument of the party that filed. To say that because the impeachment grew out of a defiant action, therefore the petition for prohibition should have been granted without the petitioner proving and convincing the court is laughable,” added Cllr. Massaquoi.
On the question of the Chief Justice presiding over the trial, he noted that Chief Justice Korkpor did not choose to preside over the impeachment proceeding rather he is performing his Constitutional duty under Article 43 of the Constitution which says in the impeachment of President, Vice President Chief Justice, Associate Justices and Judges of subordinate courts of records the Chief Justice presides over the proceeding.