IPNEWS: In order to resolve the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) controversial election conducted in Gbarnga, Bong County despite several complaints by a contending party regarding the process, which later filed a Writ of Prohibition to the Supreme Court of Liberia for redress, the Justice-in-Chambers of the High Court, Yussif D. Kaba has given the contending parties one week to settle the matter out of court.
Having called both parties to a conference on Wednesday, November 23, 2022 at 3:00 pm, Associate Justice Kaba mandated the two sides to find a way to settle the matter among themselves, saying, litigation brews hate.
Associate Kaba’s mandate comes following a petition for a writ of prohibition prayed for by Julius Kanubah, a presidential candidate seeking to overturn the results of the PUL elections held in Gbarnga, Bong County recently.
Justice Kaba wants the parties to do some soul-searching since they are in a fraternity.
The Wednesday conference was held at the Temple of Justice with contending parties present along with their legal counsels. The lawyers made presentations on behalf of their clients with intermittent questions from Justice Kaba.
The Justice has given one week to the parties, and failure to meet will give the Court no option but to decide on the petition.
It can be recalled the campaign team of Julius K. Kanubah for the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) Presidency, headed by Mr. Raymond Zarbay, Edwin Clarke, Weemon Jallahcole, Titus Tokpah, Romeo Togba, Festus Poquie and Beatrice Sieh all of the city of Monrovia on Monday, November 22, 2022 filed a petition for a Writ of Prohibition to Supreme Court of Liberia against the outgoing leadership of Charles Coffey, Judge Boima Kontoe Resident Circuit Judge, Ninth Judicial Circuit Court, Atty. Ade Wede Kerkulah, Fabine Kwiah, Eddie Harmon, Cllr. Bobby Livingston, Atty. Al-Varney Rogers, Musa M.B. Kanneh, Daniel Nyakonah, Caroline Myers-Zodua all of the City of Monrovia.
The petitioners in the above entitled cause of most respectfully pray unto the High Court for the issuance of the Writ of Prohibition against the within named respondents for the following, that petition provides that prohibition is a special proceeding to obtain a writ ordering the respondent to refrain from further perusing a civil procedure law of Liberia.
It also states that on November 18, 2022 they filed a petition for declaratory judgement along with a motion for preliminary injunction before the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court for Bong County, praying the court to prohibit, restrain and enjoin the 2nd respondents from conducting and participating in any election on behalf of the Press Union of Liberia until the final determination of the matter at bar, and to further order the respondents to turn over power after the expiration of their administration to a neutral body to take the Press union of Liberia to election within two weeks.
That to their dismay 1st respondents vacated their injunction without a notice to them and without having a hearing of the motion for preliminary injunction and has failed and refused to serve the petitioners copies of the respondents returns to their petition for declaratory judgement, along with their motion to vacate the injunction up to and including the filing of this petitioners petition.
The petitioners also state that the act of the 1st respondent violates their constitutional rights as provided for under article 11(c) which provides that “All person are equal before the law and are therefore entitled to the equal protection of the law.” Also article 20 provides that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, security of the person, property, privilege or any other right except as the outcome 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, hence petitioners pray your Honor to set aside the 1st respondents decision to setting aside petitioners petition.
They also said in count five of their petition that Article 10 section seven of the by-laws and constitution of the Press Union of Liberia provides that whenever the Union is holding elections, the Election Committee shall dis-aggregate the voters Rolls and publish it in not less than two local newspaper (dailies) and not later than 30 days before congress. These mandatory provisions of the Press Union Constitution were ignored, set aside and totally disregarded, moreover, 2nd respondents elected to recruit Criminals, MCC Workers, students, Cub Reporters as well as non-Journalists and flooded the voters’ Roll.
Consequently, petitioners called for the cleaning but the respondents for the cleaning up of the fraudulent Voters’ Roll have failed, refused and neglected to do so even in the face of an injunction which is a clear violation of the petitioners rights to free and fair election, hence petitioners filed, this petition for a writ for prohibition to prohibit and restrain respondents from proceeding by the wrong rule contrary to law.
That prohibition is a special proceeding to obtain a writ may be issued to undo what has not been done legally, petitioners further state that this petition has been filed in good faith and not merely for the purpose of delay and to baffle justice.
#Team Kanubah Welcomes Justice Kaba “Words Of Encouragement” In PUL Elective Congress Controversy, But….
Meanwhile, the National Campaign Management Team of the Julius Kanubah for the Presidency of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) has welcomed the “words of encouragement” from Associate Justice Yussif D. Kaba, admonishing all sides to the controversy surrounding the 2022 PUL Congress to meet and find a solution to the disputed PUL Congress and subsequent elections.
Associate Justice Kaba, who is presiding in Chambers, proffered the words of encouragement on Wednesday, 23 November during a Conference at the Supreme Court involving the disputing parties to the controversial 2022 PUL Congress.
The Supreme Court Conference is in the wake of a petition for a writ of prohibition prayed for by Team Kanubah.
The Julius Kanubah National Campaign Management Team believes the advice by Justice Kaba for the parties involved in the controversy to meet within a week and find a common understanding demonstrates judicial leadership at the highest professional level, which is lacking at the PUL at the moment.
Team Kanubah also commends Associate Justice Kaba for his judicial interrogative expertise and perspectives about the implications of the conflict surrounding an institution as the PUL, which is not healthy for the larger Liberian society, and if not resolved amicably could drag on and reach the full bench of the Supreme Court.
In order to move forward and save the blemished image of the PUL in the wake of the disastrous former leadership of Charles Coffey and Daniel Nyakonah, the Julius Kanubah National Campaign Management Team is calling on pertinently credible media stakeholders to lead the process of finding solutions to the PUL twin crisis that encompassed the failure of leadership at the PUL and the holding of an unconstitutional Congress, leading to the election of an illegitimate leadership.
Team Kanubah is of the view that since the tenure of the failed leadership of Charles Coffey and Daniel Nyakonah has since expired in line with Article 9 of the PUL Constitution, it was now time for relevant media stakeholders to immediately step-in in the interim and help guard the process of organizing credible elections to find a legitimate leadership in accordance with Article 11 of the Union’s Constitution.
Meanwhile, Team Kanubah continues to call on its hundreds of supporters to maintain a calm and civil posture, as it continues to pursue the legal process to its logical conclusion.
Team Daniel-Bettie Welcomes Justice Kaba’s Decision
Also, Team Daniel-Bettie campaign team has welcomed the decision by the Justice-in-Chamber, Associate Justice Yussif Kaba who presided over the petition for Writ of Prohibition on the PUL election held in Gbarnga, Bong County over the weekend.
The Justice in chambers Yussif Kaba has given the contending parties one week to settle the matter out of court. Having called both parties to a conference, Associate Justice Kaba mandated the two sides to find a way to settle the matter among themselves, saying, litigation brews hate.
Associate Kaba’s mandate comes following a petition for a writ of prohibition prayed for by Julius Kanubah, a presidential candidate seeking to overturn the results of the PUL elections held in Gbarnga, Bong County recently.
Justice Kaba wants the parties to do some soul-searching since they are in a fraternity.
Meanwhile, President-elect Daniel Nyakonah of the Press Union of Liberia says his team is open to reconciliation as mandated by Associate Justice.
Mr. Nyakonah is urging team Julius to honor the pending reconciliation initiative.
At the same time, Team Daniel is calling on its supporters to remain calm as the judicial process
The campaign team said the Gbarnga vote is legitimate until the final judgment from the Supreme Court.
Former PUL Chief Scribe Winston Monboe, Veteran Journalists Aaron B. Kollie and Jonathan Paye-Layleh Call for Intervention
At the same time, a former Secretary General of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) and veteran Liberian journalist formerly of the VOA fame, Tom Winston Monboe, has added his voice to that of his colleagues, including Aaron B. Kollie, Jonathan Paye-Layleh, the Publishers Association of Liberia (PAL) and all well-meaning PUL that have called on every stakeholder of the union to uphold its sanctity and aspirations of the founders of the PUL.
In a statement posted on is Facebook page on Monday, November 21, 2022, Mr. Monboe expressed utter disappointment by actions of his colleagues to hurt the reputation and legacy of the Press Union of Liberia.
“A lot of us sacrificed, at some point at the peril of our lives to uphold the sanctity foundational to the aspirations of the founders of the PUL,” the former PUL Chief Scribe says.
Commenting further, the one-time Voice of America (VOA) Liberia’s Correspondent notes: “Our most critical period was when there was the so-called Greater Liberia faction of the PUL. Even during that era, we all demonstrated borderless allegiance to maintain the unity of the Union.”
He then laments: “What I am reading is not good for the organization to which we have inextricable connection, bounded by a shared professional identity.”
Concluding, the PUL former Secretary General, Tom Winston Monboe, states: “The elders of the Union need to meet and help to save the Union from what appears to be a creeping public ridicule that could cause a long term reputational damage to our revered and historical watchdog credentials.”
It can be recalled prior to the controversial Gbarnga PUL elective congress, veteran Liberian journalist of BBC-fame, Jonathan Paye-Layleh called on the PUL leadership to put a hold on the election aspect of the Congress until all concerns raised by a contending candidate and his team regarding the process leading to the elections are amicably resolved.
Mr. Paye-Layleh, who is also a former president, Press Club, PUL; former chairman, PUL Grievance & Ethics Committee; former member, PUL Election Committee; and former, PUL Mediation Committee in the Rodney Sieh-Chris Toe Case, says he was troubled by the ongoing election-related controversy in the Union as it goes to the poll, and called for intervention and understanding that will get the matter amicably resolved in the interest of the oneness that has kept the journalist body together over the years. But his plead fell on duck’s back as the Charles Coffey leadership fail to heed.
Also another veteran journalist Aaron B. Kollie calls for urgent Judicial Review of controversial PUL’S Elective Congress held in Gbarnga in Bong County over the weekend.
Veteran journalist, Kollie is seeking an urgent legal intervention into what has now become a controversial Press Union of Liberia (PUL)’s 2022 Elective Congress.
“Saturday evening’s late after-hour ruling handed down by the 9th Judicial Circuit Court in Gbarnga, Bong County, in the disputed Press Union of Liberia (PUL) Elective Congress, is the most historically brazen and egregious ill-advised legal judgment by a Liberian court in recent time. As a result, that must be rejected and resisted by the Liberian media in all its forms,” Mr. Kollie says in a special statement he released late Sunday evening, November 20, 2022.
According to the veteran Liberian journalist, the ruling by the court, in a newly cherished judiciary, headed by Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyene Yuoh, that has won public admiration and approbation for its open declaration to uphold the rule of law without fear or favor, has the sole intent and purpose of sowing seeds of discord and disunity within the PUL that should not be entertained, but urgently reviewed at the highest level of the judiciary.
At the same time, the Publishers Association of Liberia (PAL) called for sanctity to prevail in keeping with the laws of the union, as doing the wrong thing will divide the union. Other individual Liberian journalists through their respective social media pages have called for the right things to be done to salvage the damaged image of the PUL.
PUL President Constitutes Independent Media Stakeholder Committee to probe Controversial Gbarnga Election
Meanwhile, the President of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL), Charles Coffey, has constituted an Independent Media Stakeholders Committee to probe into the current electoral disagreement among members of the Union.
According to press release issued and signed by PUL Secretary General Musa Kanneh, the Union president’s decision is in adherence to Supreme Court Justice-in-Chamber Yussif D. Kaba’s mandate, following a conference with concerned parties on Wednesday November 23.
Those named on the committee are:
- Prof. Weade Kobbay-Boley, Mrs. Melisa Annan Chea, Representing the Association of Liberian Journalists in Americas, Martin Brown, Trokon Tarr, Euriah Togar, Teah Doegmah and Tetee Kanneh.
The PUL according to a release stated that the objective of the committee is to ensure the smooth resolution of the current electoral disagreement that derived from the controversial PUL Gbarnga election, which saw Team Julius Kanubah staying put because it said it could not participate in a Fraudulent process.
Prior to the PUL election, Team Kanubah filed several complaints to the PUL Membership and Election Committees over Voters’ Roll paddling and had called for a cleanup, which reportedly fell on death ears. Subsequently, Team Kanubah filed an Injunction to halt the Gbarnga Elective Congress until the Voters’ Roll was cleaned up, but the PUL with the help of Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) lawyer, Samuel Pearson filed a petition to vacate the injunction overnight, that led the PUL Election Committee to conduct a controversial election it said its incumbent Vice President, Daniel Nyakonah had won. Team Kanubah not satisfied filed a Writ of Prohibition over the entire process at the Supreme Court of Liberia on Monday, November 22, 2022.
At Conference Call, Justice-in-Chamber Yussif D. Kaba mandated the contending parties to resolve their disagreements amicably and failure to do so, the High Court will then have no alternative but to take a decision over the electoral saga. It is out of Justice Kaba’s advice that the PUL president has set up a stakeholder committee to look into the controversial election saga to logical conclusion.
