By Taisiah K. Merfee
IPNEWS-Monrovia: The former Dean at the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law senior Cllr. T. Negbalee Warner has described the mass voters trucking of citizens across the country as a form of modern day slavery and human trafficking that needs urgent judicial attention to mitigate and prevent future electoral violence.
Delivering the keynote address at the Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA) celebration of “Law Day” at the weekend under the theme: “Episode of electoral violence and prospect’s for Constitutional democracy” Cllr. Warner said that voters trucking is a serious threat to Liberia Constitutional democracy and elections.
“I will discuss at least three areas of which I believe we lawyers, the bench and the bar have a critical role to play in supporting other stakeholders to promoting integrity, and legality of the upcoming elections as some possible ways of preventing electoral violence and enhancing Constitutional democracy. The first is combating voter trucking that decreased votes. The next is illegal campaign financing and lastly, the upholding of the principal of one man, one vote” Cllr. Warner stated.
“Trafficking of voters is part of human trafficking. It’s also a form of modern day slavery which is prohibited by Article 12 of the Liberian Constitution. Article 12 of our Constitution provides that no person must be held in slavery. The sooner we stop and see trucking of voters as an act of human trafficking, and modern day slavery the sooner we will appreciate the need to deal with it urgently” Cllr. Warner warned.
The Liberian National Bar Association on Friday, May 5, 2023 celebrated “Law Day” under the theme: “Episode of electoral violence and prospect’s for Constitutional democracy in Liberia”.
The program which was graced by several lawyers, including the Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyene G. Yuoh and members of the diplomatic corps sought to reflect on the achievement of the legal sector and the challenges that needs to be address.
According to him, voter trucking, illegal campaign financing and the absence of the principal of one man, one voter undermine electoral integrity and promote violence which is against Constitutional democracy.
The Commercial law specialist recommended to the government of Liberia, legislature and the bench of the Supreme Court that for voter trucking to be mitigated, is by making sure that trafficking is less profitable by prohibiting carrying of phones or other electronic devices in voting places that is likely to be used to take photo to complete the balance.
Also to deal with this, he recommended that Liberia should establish criminal procedure for change of constituencies which is deal with by the constitution.
“The right change of constituencies is supposed to deal with by the Constitution of Liberia. Article 80 (c) of the constitution provides that a citizens shall have the right to change his voting constituencies as may be prescribed by the legislature. May I seek a legislatives framework and the normalizing of voter trucking is an affront to Constitutional principal, of a free, fair process” he recommended.
Emphasizing on voter trucking, Cllr. Warner further indicated that voter trucking needs urgent judicial attention and review because it has the propensity to cause serious electoral violence that may cause major harm for the country including property damage and loss of lives when ignored.
According to him, it’s an open secret that the phenomenal of transporting voters from one place to another for the purpose of having them registered and voters in the areas for the transport is wild spread.
The chairman of the board of Directors of Ecobank Liberia explained that this has been accepted by Liberians but what needs to be noted is that such process is unlawful, unfair and has the propensity to cause election violence.
He believes that trucking of voters by its nature is at its request of and for the benefit of the transporter and it’s not much different from human trafficking.
“Voter trucking is not much different from human trafficking. Human trafficking is defined as the illegal transfer, transporting and hearing of a person with the intent to hold the person captive, for or exploit the person. The key elements to human trafficking are three, transportation, exploiting or holding the person and for the purpose of the person service or value. It’s can be concluded that each of the elements of human trafficking are present in the current mass trucking and transportation of person’s for obtaining their services. This is intended to have them register and later return to vote for their candidate that transported them” Cllr. Warner asserted.
He disclosed that one may argue that the practice doesn’t equate to trafficking in person’s in that those who are transported do agree and are not held captive for otherwise exploitation.
“To response to that, is to consider first that consent is not the defense to the offense of trafficking in person because if it was the case we could not have had problem with a poor person being transported to donate their body parts. Even a consent my friend, was the defense, It should also be noted that the law focuses on effective and free consent not consent that is influence by monetary rewards or a promise to please the public.
Obviously, a significant number of the voters who are trucked have no effective choice in being transported. If there were any doubt, about the person or absence of choice the dispersive evidence will be the addition or independent practice whereby the transporter reportedly seized the voting cards of the transported person and also required proof that the transported person voted for him or her before paying the person the balance before the remaining consideration” Cllr. Warner defended.
“I will think that person’s seizing someone voters registration card is not different from a person seizing a person passport in human trafficking cases. However, I also believe that the practice of acquiring proof of voting is sufficient evidences of the person being exploited of their voting services” he concluded.
