S/Court decides on tenure case Wednesday

The Court’s decision is crucial in addressing disputes surrounding the current administration’s attempt to appoint new officials in tenure positions amidst claims that some tenure-serving officials from the past government engaged in active politics.

Monrovia, April 23, 2024: Liberia’s Supreme Court will render its decision about tenure positions in government this Wednesday, April 24, 2024, and give opinions in other cases.

The court has for several weeks been hearing multiple petitions filed by some officials who have accused the new administration of removing them from their tenured positions.

Part Five Section (E) of the Code of Conduct disallows all presidential appointees from engaging in political activities, canvassing, or contesting for elected offices.

Section (C) of the same provision prohibits presidential appointees from serving on any political party’s or independent candidate’s campaign team.

The officials challenging their removal from tenured positions are the Chairman of the Governance Commission, Garrison Yealue, Reginald Nagbe, Director General of the National Lottery Authority, Edwina Zackpah, Chairperson of the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA), and Prof. Wilson K Tarpeh, Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

They petitioned the Supreme Court of Liberia for a Writ of Prohibition to stop the Boakai government from removing them from their respective offices in consideration that they serve for tenures.

Reports say Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyene G. Yuoh has said judgments in these cases will have significant implications and are eagerly anticipated by the parties involved and the public.

According to reports, the decisions will be pivotal in shaping legal interpretations and providing clarity on the issues presented in these petitions for a writ of prohibition.

Legal pundits, the parties involved, and the public have been urged to attend the sessions where the court will decide on very sensitive issues that have dominated the polity for some time now.

The Supreme Court’s rulings will be closely watched as they are expected to set precedents and clarify legal positions on the much-debated tenured matters.

It can be recalled that the Boakai-led government replaced the aggrieved officials.

The government contended that those removed from office violated their tenures when they openly and actively campaigned for the former ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC).

The Boakai administration said the officials’ actions violated Liberia’s Code of Conduct, although the affected officials denied the allegations.

Consequently, the aggrieved tenured officials ran to the Supreme Court for relief and interpretation of the tenure laws of the land.