Monrovia – Since the indictment of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, J. Alex Tyler, along with others by the Government of Liberia based on allegations contained in a report released by Global Witness, the new political home of the Speaker, the Liberia People Democratic Party (LPDP) has been mute on the issue as a political institution but it seems after Andrew Grooves, Chief Executive Officer of Sable Mining broke silence, many individuals and institutions are finding their voices to comment on the saga.
Speaker Tyler and past and present officials of government have been indicted along with Sable Mining in alleged illegal payments reportedly offered by Sable to these Liberian officials.
A special presidential task Force set up by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has indicated that it has sufficient evidence to prosecute the accused, pushing ahead with an indictment but during the weekend, the CEO of the company said to have allegedly provided the money in question described the ongoing trial as politically motivated.
“Mr. Groves believes that these allegations are politically motivated ahead of the imminent presidential elections, and are specifically designed to undermine the candidacy of Varney Sherman, one of Liberia’s most respected lawyers, and Alex Tyler, the speaker of parliament and also a presidential candidate. “
“Mr Sherman is a highly respected and preeminent member of Liberian society and it is beyond comprehension that he would be involved in the matters in question”, stated the Sable CEO.
Now the LPDP, a new political party with Speaker Tyler as senior member has declared that the ongoing trial is an intimidation ploy being used by the Presidential Task Force using the prosecutorial powers of the Executive headed by the President.
“The LPDP further asserts that the real mission of the “so called” task force is to intimidate using the prosecutorial powers of the executive to extort political agreements from targeted persons”, LPDP Secretary General Menipakei Dumoe told a news conference in Monrovia Monday.
Abuse of power
The LPDP Secretary General reading a statement from the party accused President Sirleaf of abusing her powers and called on the Liberian leader to desist.
“We call on the President to stop abusing her powers in such a manner that threatens the fragile political stability that the country is currently enjoying.”
“For example we have learned that the President, in her continuous abuse of her powers have reportedly instructed the Minister of Finance to stop all payments to the House of Representatives in an attempt to arm twist that august body into doing her will.
“This action, if it is true would be unconstitutional, tyrannical and a further demonstration of the lawlessness of the President”, said Dumoe.
The LPDP says it believes that no democracy can survive without the rule of law vowing that it will not allow people it is describing as thugs to destroy Liberia’s democracy without the party fighting back.
“Let it be clear that we are not afraid and will not surrender our God and constitutionally guaranteed rights to a power hungry imperial presidency. “
“An attack on the civil liberties of any Liberian is an attack on the liberties and rights of all Liberians. “
“It is with this view that our party stands by Alex Tyler in the defense of his fundamental rights as a citizen to speedy and fair trial in the courts and to be presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of competent jurisdiction”, the LPDP vowed.
Illegitimate Task Force
The LPDP has declared that the Presidential Task Force is illegitimate and does not have jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute those accused in the Global Witness report.
Said the LPDP Secretary General “As a matter of fact, the Presidential Task Force which is illegitimate in this instance, does not have jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute those accused in the Report, in consonance with our laws. Which is why Cllr. Koffa required a letter patent to allow him prosecute on behalf of the republic. We also have it on good authority that the dodge game being played by the Minister of Justice and the head of the “so called” task force, Cllr. Koffa, is a delay tactic meant to prolong the legal process as the state is without evidence to prosecute. We have already started seeing the exhibition of selective justice and political witch-hunt in the workings of the Task Force”.
The LPDP declares that it would be remiss if it did not question the moral credentials of the head of the Presidential Task Force and de facto chairman of the Liberty Party Cllr. Jonathan Fonati Koffa, who it says is a person allegedly under probe by the Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA) for choosing to lie during his admittance process.
Challenging Global Witness
The LPDP is describing the Global Witness report as wild allegations which it states are unsupported by shred of evidence and is challenging the group to produce more evidence.
“The LPDP challenges Global witness to publish its evidence so that the public can examine, because a transparency organization must not be dealing in the dark”, Dumoe told the journalists.
Since the release of the GW report, the country has been tense with discussions on the report.
The Government of Liberia through a Special Presidential Task Force set up by President Sirleaf has already indicted Speaker Tyler, Senator Varney Sherman, Richard Tolbert former head of the National Investment Commission, Sable Mining, its CEO Groves and others on alleged criminal offences including economic sabotage, criminal facilitation, criminal conspiracy, money laundering and others.
Speaker Tyler, Senator Sherman and others have filed bail bonds thus enabling them to be set free on bail as the trial goes on.
There are mixed views in Liberia regarding the trial as some believe it is a witch-hunt against some of the accused while others say it is a good fight against corruption.
