IPNEWS: The Judge of the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court sitting in Gbarnga, Bong County, has cancelled the results of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) 2022 controversial elections.
In a landmark ruling on a Motion for Summary Judgment, Judge J. Boima Kontoe, ordered an entire rerun of the PUL 2022 elections on or before October 18, 2024.
Judge Kontoe ruled that he was ordering the rerun because the PUL 2022 elections were conducted in violation of the Union’s Constitution and the PUL elections Campaign Guidelines.
In the ruling, Judge Kontoe mandated the constitution of an interim committee of seven former presidents of the PUL and four media elders to take over the leadership of the PUL.
The committee of eleven is tasked to conduct fresh, free and fair elections, and to clean the voter roll of the PUL consistent with Article 10 Section 7 of the Union’s Constitution.
The Motion for Summary Judgment was filed on February 26, 2024 by lawyers representing the National Campaign Management Team of Julius Kanubah for the PUL presidency.
The motion sought the Judge to rule on the original Petition for Declaratory Judgment filed on November 18, 2022 by Team Kanubah in relation to violations of the PUL Constitution.
The Petition for Declaratory Judgment bordered on violations of the PUL Constitution regarding the failure of the PUL former leadership of Charles Coffey to produce a credible Membership Register.
Team Kanubah complained that rather than producing a Membership Register, Coffey along with the Committees on Membership, Congress, and the sub-Committee on Elections and Inauguration published what they called “voter roll.”
The voter roll produced by Coffey and his allies was flooded with non-journalists and ineligible members, amounting to membership registration fraud – designed and orchestrated to steal the leadership elections of the PUL.
Besides, Coffey and his allies went ahead to stage a Midnight elections of the PUL, from 7:30pm on Saturday (November 19, 2022) to 3:40am on Sunday (November 20, 2022), violating the PUL election campaign guidelines.
Meanwhile, Judge Kontoe has fined the Charles Coffey–Daniel Nyakonah–Musa Kenneh–Akoi Baysah former leadership of the PUL along with the relevant Committee Members, and their lawyer US$300 each, for reckless attitude and disrespect to the Court by refusing to attend trial, despite being served several Court notices.
They were ordered to remit the fine into government coffers within 72 hours, failure upon which would lead to their arrest and detention at the Gbarnga Central Prison.
In the wake of the ruling, Team Kanubah will hold a special press conference on Thursday, June 20, 2024, during the afternoon hours.
It may be recalled, In February 2024, Judge of the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in Bong County denied and dismissed a motion to strike filed by the lawyer representing the former administration of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL).
Judge J. Boima Kontoe made the decision on Friday, 16 February 2024 during a hearing into the motion to strike which was filed on 23 December 2022.
The lawyer of the PUL’s former administration had filed the motion, challenging the 12 December 2022 Amended Petition filed by the legal team of the National Campaign Management Team of Julius Kanubah and Beatrice Sieh for the PUL leadership.
The PUL ex-administration’s lawyer had questioned the legality of the legal team of the campaign team of Kanubah–Sieh to withdraw and amend their original Petition for Declaratory Judgment, thereby asking the Judge to quash the entire suit because it was withdrawn and prematurely amended.
But in a resistance motion, lawyers of the campaign team of Kanubah–Sieh justified the legality of the Amended Petition, citing relevant civil and electoral procedure laws.
Judge Boima Kontoe therefore granted the request of the lawyers of the campaign team of Kanubah–Sieh for the motion to strike to be denied and dismissed because it was an unnecessary legal technicality.
The denial and dismissal of the motion to strike is yet another legal victory for Team Kanubah–Sieh because by quashing the motion, the Judge can now hear and adjudicate the petition for declaratory judgment bordering on fraud underpinned by violations of the PUL Constitution by the former leadership.
Meanwhile, Judge Kontoe has cited the legal counsels and parties to the PUL 2022 Congress dispute for a Pre-Trial Conference on 26 February 2024, intended to see if both parties have reached a settlement on resolving the dispute outside of court, if not, present witnesses and evidence to commence the trial.
Before the pre-trial conference, Judge Kontoe has ordered counsels of the parties to the PUL dispute to confer with each other and reach a possible settlement, if not, the case will proceed in keeping with law as mandated by the Supreme Court, where Team Kanubah–Sieh secured a major legal victory in a landmark ruling of 19 December 2023 .
In this regard, Team Kanubah–Sieh is working with its legal counsel on the pathway forward as it has and will continue to brief media and civil society stakeholders who have been mediating to find a solution.
Until the pathway is found, Team Kanubah–Sieh admonishes its hundreds of supporters and those interested in the democratic development of the PUL not to honor any invitation in the name of the PUL.
Since November 2022 the PUL has not had any legitimate leadership, stresses Team Kanubah–Sieh, while describing as appalling the repeated action of Akoi Baysah and Daniel Nyakonah to disrespect the Court’s Stay Order of 15 December 2022, by impersonating as acting leaders of the PUL.
Together with Charles Coffey and Musa Kenneh, Baysah and Nyakonah are part of the PUL former administration along with their cronies that engaged in fraudulent practices including manipulation of the PUL Full Membership Register, Corruption, and staging an infamous Mid-Night Election.
