Posted March 26, 2007
Executive And Legislative Branches May Need Constitutional Tutoring
By Thomas Kai Toteh
Senior Staff Writer
tnyantk@yahoo.com
The Executive and Legislative Branches of Government of
the Republic of Liberia, have in less than six months, by-passed the due
process of law on two major occasions. First, Two-Thirds of the House of
Representatives attempted to remove former Speaker Edwin Snowe without the
due process of law clause of the Liberian Constitution.
According to Article 20 (a) of the Liberian
Constitution:
No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, security
of the person, property, privilege or any other right except as the out come
of a hearing judgment consistent with the provisions laid down in this
Constitution and in accordance with due process of law. Justice shall be
done without sale, denial or delay; and in all cases not arising in courts
not of record, under courts martial and upon impeachment, the parties shall
have the right to trial by jury.
The Supreme Court, in accordance with its
constitutional mandate, halted the attempt by some members, who referred to
themselves as a majority group in the House of Representatives to impeach
Edwin Snowe. The Supreme Court decision to reject their unlawful action was
commendable by law abiding and legal minded Liberians and national and
international pro-democracy activists.
The Independent Newspaper was closed down by the Police
on orders of the Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, after the
paper published porno photo of the then Minister of State for Presidential
Affairs, Willis D. Knuckles, Jr. While it is true that the Executive Branch
may have some legal claims against the paper, it is regrettable that people
of high caliber and who are expected to be exemplary figures in fair
execution of the law of the land including the Justice Minister, Information
Minister, the chief executive, and chief prosecutor,
would be the ones
to circumvent, if not all, but some essential parts of the constitution.
There are so many questions in the air regarding the
intent of those who are taking the law into their hands. What are their
intentions? Are they returning to the old days-before and during the civil?
Or are they just ignorant of the law and need to some tutoring of the
constitution?
But someone asked a very good question during our
conversation on this issue. He asked, “What don’t these people use the court
to decide these cases if we say we are a country of land not of men? To add
to the view of my partner, I think it is not in the best interest of this
administration to act before thinking and it is not in the best interest of
the Liberian people to be subjected to arbitrary rule.
However, we must commend our Supreme Court for its
continued watchful eyes during this critical time in our nation history.
This is a transitional period leading to the restoration of rule of law and
as such needs to be carefully watched, not only by the Supreme Court, but by
all law abiding, legal minded, and freedom loving people of Liberia and
their friends.
