What appeared to be a drama unfolded Monday May 20, 2019, in the Supreme Court of the Temple of Justice when the President of the Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA), Cllr. Tiawan Gongloe, was forcefully evicted from the stage whilst delivering remarks.
The Bar President, Cllr. Gongloe, and Justice Minister Musah Dean were two officials invited to make remarks at the seating program of Associate Justice Yussif D. Kaba. Justice Kaba who replaced impeached Associate Justice Kabineh Mohammed Ja’neh.
According to judiciary reporters, as he spoke, Cllr. Gongloe was hijacked in speech when he stated that his organization stands by comment that the impeachment proceedings against former Associate Justice Ja’neh was “unconstitutional and a product of violation of a court order.”
The Senate violated Article 73 of the Constitution. The removal of a Justice for performing a legal justice creates a precedent that has the potential of making other judges, especially of subordinate courts to be afraid to freely perform their legal duties when it comes to cases in which the interest of government or powerful persons or entities are involved thereby defeating the purpose for which courts exist in our system of government,” Cllr. Gongloe said.
As Cllr. Gongloe proceeds with his three page speech, chief justice Korkpor repeatedly sounded his gavel warning Cllr. Gongloe to abort his speech. Justice Korkpor added that cllr. Gongloe can’t continue to deliver his full speech, which included a caution to the Full Bench of the Supreme Court.
Chief Justice Korkpor said the Bar President was asked to come and speak on the seating of the new Associate Justice, which was the theme of the occasion.
“If you did not come here to speak for this cause it was better for you to have stayed away. No one spoke about Ja’neh in this Court. If you continue to exhibit this attitude, we will not allow you to speak at court opening. As a lawyer, the other day you came here and said the Court was responsible for the deaths of 250,000 people during the civil conflict.
One lawyer told FrontPageAfrica outside the Supreme Court the chief justice’s action was disgraceful to Liberia, the Chief Justice should be the main protector of the right to speak freely instead of being a dictator and is preventing Freedom of Speech and of Expression.
However, Cllr. Gongloe defiantly told judiciary reporters that the LNBA still maintains its stance.
Cllr. Tiawon Gongloe is among several Liberians that criticized the action of the legislature which led to the impeachment of former associate justice Kabineh Ja’neh in March this year.
Comments are closed.