MONROVIA: The fast-striking process that is associated with the removal of Associate Justice Kabineh Mohammed Ja’neh has created serious concerns with many pointing accusing fingers to the office of the president being the sole sponsor of the happenings.
Though the decision to remove Justice Ja’neh was contained in a petitioned filed to the plenary of the House of Representatives by both Representatives Acarous Moses Gray and Thomas Fallah of Montserrado County, pundits believed they are being covertly supported by the president following their ties with the governing party, the Coalition For Democratic Change or CDC.
They claimed, President Weah is using his due influence over the legislature to carry out dubious operations with the removal of Justice Ja’neh being of no exception.
A statement from the “Concern Citizens United To Uphold Liberia’s Integrity (COCULI)” issued on Tuesday, December 18, 2018 alleged that the Liberian leader is pushing for the removal of Justice Ja’neh due to his radical stand on the Supreme Court decision to Cancel a rerun election proposal that was being pushed by opposition political parties during the 2017 General and Presidential Elections.
In the 2017 elections, the ruling CDC which at the time was a member of the opposition political parties, following its emergence as the front-runner of the first round of the Presidential elections agreed to the second round of election due to percentages differences with the second runners-up.
But some of the opposition parties rejected the first round of results, stating electoral frauds and other irregularities thus petitioning the Supreme Court to nullify all of the elections results (including Legislative elections) and hold a new election.
Associate Justice Ja’neh who is believed to be a onetime supporter of one of the petitioning political parties- the Liberty Party, was in the duck-out to support the rerun proposal through his declination vote that set him apart from his colleague’s decision.
This action of the learned judge appears to have since created a serious rift between him and some hierarchy of the Coalition for Democratic Change.
“Justice Ja’neh has the right to his opinion….he didn’t support the holding of the runoff election because he believes at the time it wasn’t necessary. Now, let’s put the past behind us and don’t try to hide behind political tactics to get him off the Supreme Court Bench,” COCULI stated through its statement.
According to the group, the counts levied against Justice Ja’neh in the two lawmakers petitioned is unfounded and is only meant to politically incriminate him.
COCULI described the swift inducement of the Impeachment Petition by the House of Representatives as comical, stating that, the first branch of government has lost its relevance in the governing structure of Liberia.
“Representative Gray and Fallah accuse Justice Ja’neh of using his position to infringe on the rights of ordinary citizens even though this cannot be proven…they both are the president’s friends and the action of Justice Ja’neh during the election didn’t go down well with all of them and so they want to kick him out, which is a sad thing for our country,” COCULI statement which was signed by Abdourame Jabateh averred.
