Associate Justice Joseph Nagbe has granted the Government of Liberia’s request to order the National Elections Commission (NEC) to halt the certification of Lofa County Senator-elect J. Brownie Samukai, Jr.
Associate Justice Nagbe said the petition for the writ of prohibition being properly applied for and taking into consideration the controlling laws cited is hereby granted.
He ordered the clerk of the court to issue the ‘authoritative’ writ of prohibition, send a mandate to the first respondent, NEC, disallowing the certification of the second respondent J. Brownie Samukai, Jr., until his disability imposed on him by his conviction is removed according to law. And is here by ordered.
The government of Liberia through the Ministry of Justice filed a writ of prohibition on March 29, 2021 to prevent Senator-elect Samukai, Jr. from being certificated by the National Elections Commission.
The government prays that Samukai is a judicially disenfranchised citizen and a convicted felon.
In February this year, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling, sentencing the former Defense Minister, along with two former subordinates to a two-year imprisonment for misuse of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) pension fund, but with a condition that they would be set free if they restitute the US$1.3 million over a one-year period.
The Government argued that with the guilty verdict hanging over him, Samukai, who had earlier secured a massive victory in Lofa County on the opposition Collaborating Political Party’s ticket during the Special Senatorial Election, was unfit to serve as Senator.
The latest ruling is a major blow to the embattled opposition Senator-elect who is desperately looking for an opportunity to mend his broken character, and the CPP that is seeking to increase its number at the Liberian Senate going into the 2023 Presidential and Legislative elections.
Samukai, former Defense Minister in the former regime of ex-President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, is the candidate of the opposition Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) and he has been battling a legal suit in which he was convicted by the Criminal Court C for corruption, a verdict which was subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court.
Pro-Samuakai Vs NEC
In March, supporters of the former Defense Minister cautioned the NEC to work independent of any political influence as their suspicion shows that the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) is on a witch-hunt against the opposition community.
The supporters claimed that if Samukai is not certificated, they will resolve to series of actions without violence to register their concerns to the national government about how unfairly they are treated in terms of representation.
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