Monrovia – Liberia’s Judiciary is on the sting of a constitutional showdown as President Joseph Boakai is reportedly making ready to fee newly appointed Chief Justice Yamie Gbeisay—even if outgoing Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyene Yuoh stays legally seated till mid-August.
Justice Yuoh, who reached the constitutionally mandated retirement age of 70 this yr, continues to serve in her function as Chief Justice till she concludes all issues heard throughout the March Time period of Court docket, in step with the Structure of Liberia and judicial custom and precedent.
Article 72 (b) of the Liberian Structure gives “The Chief Justice and the Affiliate Justices of the Supreme Court docket and judges of subordinate courts of file shall be retired on the age if seventy; offered, nevertheless, {that a} justice or decide who has attained that age might proceed in workplace for so long as could also be essential to allow him to render judgment or carry out every other judicial responsibility in regard to proceedings entertained by him earlier than he attained that age.”
Authorized consultants warn that any try by President Boakai to induct Justice Gbeisay earlier than the conclusion of Yuoh’s judicial duties might end in an unprecedented standoff on the high of Liberia’s judicial hierarchy.
“Two captains can’t steer the identical ship,” remarked one authorized scholar who requested anonymity. “If the President commissions Gbeisay whereas Yuoh remains to be lawfully presiding over instances, it might plunge the Supreme Court docket into institutional confusion and chaos.”
Breaking from custom?
The court docket has seen a gradual transition because the finish of the civil battle. Chief Justice Johnnie N. Lewis resigned from the Supreme Court docket of Liberia in September 2012, citing well being causes. His resignation got here practically a yr earlier than the expiration of his constitutional tenure .
Lewis, who was appointed by then-President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in 2006, had served as Chief Justice for six years. After his resignation, Justice Francis S. Korkpor, Sr., who was then serving as Senior Affiliate Justice, was appointed as Appearing Chief Justice. He was later nominated and confirmed as Chief Justice in 2013 and served in that function till his retirement in September 2022.
He was succeeded by Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyene G. Yuoh, who was then an Affiliate Justice of the Supreme Court docket.
In September 2022, Justice Yuoh was nominated by then-President George M. Weah. She was subsequently confirmed by the Liberian Senate. The transition between Korkpor and Yuoh was easy, with out controversy, and revered constitutional protocols.
Yuoh has served as Chief Justice since 2022, and though formally retired, she stays empowered to rule on all pending issues from the March time period. Her continued presence, alongside the looming inauguration of her successor, raises severe questions on constitutional process, judicial independence, and govt overreach.
Observers say the state of affairs calls for pressing authorized readability to keep away from undermining the integrity of the Court docket and public belief in Liberia’s rule of legislation.
Because the President reportedly eyes the commissioning ceremony, all eyes are actually on Capitol Hill and the Temple of Justice—the place the opportunity of two Chief Justices concurrently occupying workplace threatens to ignite a full-blown constitutional disaster.
