—- As Supreme Court Places Stayed Order On LTA Nomination
IPNEWS: Barely 24hrs following the placement of a stayed Order by Justice-in-chambers, His Honor Yussif D Kaba, Associate Justice Presiding, in a writ of prohibition filed by petitioners all current commissioners of the Liberia Telecommunication Authority (LTA), the Executive Director of National Identification Registry, Andrew Peters has dragged the government of President Joseph N. Boakai, in another lawsuit for nominating another person to his unexpired tenure position in keeping with statute.
The Executive Director of the National Identification Registry, Andrew Peters filed a writ of prohibition before the Supreme Court against President Joseph Boakai’s nomination of another person to the tenure position he occupies.
Recently, the President nominated Mr. Edward Liberty as Executive Director of the NIR, despite the active tenure of Mr. Peters.
In a 13-count petition, Peters prayed the high court to prohibit and restrain the Executive from illegally and unlawfully removing him from his office at the National Identification Registry.
The writ of prohibition, which has been served on the Minister of Justice and Solicitor General, said the petitioner is currently serving as the Executive Director of the National Identification Registry while a new nomination is being made by Executive.
According to the writ, the petitioner was appointed by President George Weah based on the submission of his name by the Board of Directors of the NIR after a vigorous process.
However, the Supreme Court has ordered the Executive to immediately halt the sitting of Edward Liberty and stop him from taking over as Executive Director of the National Identification Registry.
Last week Tuesday, President Boakai named several new nominees to some already occupied tenured positions in what some have termed as a flagrant disregard to the Act establishing those institutions.
Security of tenure, usually granted in to civil service and in academic appointments is considered an essential condition of maintaining the independence and freedom of those services from political or partisan control.
Against this backdrop, all five Commissioners at the Liberia Telecommunications Authority swiftly ran to the Supreme Court seeking a writ of prohibition after they were replaced despite serving active tenures.
President Boakai nominated Abdullah Kamara as chairperson, while Patrick Honnah, former Lofa County Representative Clarence Kortu Massaquoi, former Margibi Rep. Ben A. Fofana and Angela Bush Cassel, were all nominated as Commissioners.
In a letter addressed to the President, the commissioners led by Chairperson Edwina Crump Zackpah said: “We write to draw your attention to a matter of considerable concern regarding our roles within the LTA. As you are aware, we currently serve under tenure within the organization, each of us having two-plus years remaining in our terms. However, it has recently come to our attention that new appointments have been made to the same position we occupy, notwithstanding our existing tenures.”
They continued: “While we appreciate that such decisions are often made with careful deliberation and in the national interest, we believe there may have been a misunderstanding regarding the status of our tenures. As members of the board of commissioners of the LTA, we feel compelled to remind your excellency of our tenured status. Part Three, Section 9(3) of the Telecommunication Act of 2007, which established the LTA, explicitly prohibits the executive from replacing board members during their unexpired terms. The term of office for the commissioners shall be four years. The appointment of any commissioner may be renewed by the president for another term of four years. No member of the Commission shall serve for more than two terms.”
On the heels of all this legal battled, the Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia stated that it remains concerned over recent appointments made by President Joseph N. Boakai, Sr. affecting tenured positions at public entities.
On Tuesday, February 20, 2024, President Boakai nominated several individuals to the Liberia Telecommunication Authority (LTA), Governance Commission, National Lottery Authority, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Identification Registry, etc.
“Nonetheless, it has come to our attention that a number of these appointments are being made without regard for tenure security provided in relevant laws.”
,”we wish to highlight that tenure security is a settled matter and that interferences with it in the form of appointments to positions of active tenures are unlawful. In the case Martin Sallie Kollie vs the Executive Branch of the Government of the Republic of Liberia, the Supreme Court of Liberia upheld the sanctity of tenure against an illegitimate exercise of Presidential appointment. Then President George M. Weah had nominated a Director General of the National Lottery Authority (NLA)when, in fact, Mr. Kollie, had been commissioned by former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, prior to the election of President Weah. The Court ruled that the appointment was illegitimate since the NLA Director General had a secured tenure of four(4) years, as prescribed by the Legislature.”
“The power of the Legislature to insulate public positions against removal by the will and pleasure of the President was further interpreted to include the power to legislate officials out of office through a Legislative act.”
“In Re: The Constitutionality Of Sections 16.1 And 16.2 Of The Act To Amend And Restate An Act To Establish The Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission And To Re-Establish The Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission, the Supreme Court held that tenured positions which are creatures of the Legislature can be divested of tenure by the Legislature.” CENTAL mentioned.
The pro-democracy group further emphasized that positions constitutionally protected by tenure and, therefore immune to legislative manipulation are clearly stated in the constitution and includes positions of President, Vice, President, Chief Justice, Associate Justices, Legislators, Judges of Subordinate Courts of records etc.
CENTAL: “For such categories of public officials, only the Liberian people acting through a referendum can remove or amend their tenures.” “Simply put, constitutionally protected tenures can only be removed without cause by the people of Liberia, and Legislatively enacted tenures can only be removed without cause by the Legislature. Where cause exists for removal, different competent authorities to effect removal have been designated.”
Furthermore CENTAL stated that it is dismayed about the decision of President Boakai to appoint persons to actively occupied tenured positions. The action of the President does not only violate relevant laws, as enacted by the Legislature and interpreted
by the Supreme Court, but undermines the tenets of good governance, which tenures seeks to promote and defend.
“This is particularly true in the case of public integrity institutions whose leaderships are required to act with utmost independence, impartiality, and void of political interferences.”
“Given President Boakai’s professed commitment to good governance and the fight against corruption, it is of great importance that his actions are consistent with what he professes.”
“Liberia cannot afford a continuation of disregard for the rule of law and promotion of political interests, at the expense of our hard fought and growing democracy. We cannot continue to repeat the same mistakes of yesterday when such can clearly be avoided. If business must not be as usual, keen attention must be paid
to the excesses of yesterday with an eye to averting recurrence.”
“we therefore recommend the following to President Boakai:
1.That President Boakai immediately recalls appointments to positions occupied by persons with active tenures;
2.That President Boakai constitutes the membership of the National Environment Policy Council of Liberia to allow for a recruitment process for the position of Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), consistent with section 16 of the EPA Act.”
“By appointing an Acting Executive Director, CENTAL believes the trend of interim appointments continues without any deliberate action to comply with the EPA Act. This will be business as usual and not a deviation from the ugly past, which the President has severally promised.
3.That the Office of the Ombudsman be constituted and fully supported to allow for investigation of possible breach of Code of Conduct provisions regarding political canvassing and campaigning, which could constitute ground for removal from tenured positions, especially those of public integrity institutions like the
Governance Commission.”
“CENTAL believes that in the absence of determination by the Ombudsman, officials in violation of the Code cannot be lawfully removed.
Due process must be followed in all cases of removal for cause. We conclude by reminding President Boakai of our recently published open letter to Him, which outlines key anti-corruption reforms and efforts he should pursue, to succeed in his anti-corruption efforts.”
“These include, but are not limited to Leading by example by publishing his assets, incomes and liabilities declared with the Liberia Anti-corruption Commission and setting very high standards for other officials and others to follow; Providing adequate financial, moral, logistical and other supports to public integrity institutions; Timely establishing and fully funding the office of Ombudsman to oversee implementation of the Code of Conduct for Public Officials; and Timely and impartially investigating and prosecuting corruption complaints/cases. Others include Investigating and prosecuting former government officials sanctioned for Corruption by the US Government; Preventing and addressing Budget Corruption; Strengthening partnership with civil society and the media in fighting corruption and other issues; Auditing all branches of government and implementing Audit Reports and Recommendations from the General Auditing Commission.” CENTAL release concludes.
