‘Focus On Freeport’

-Not Impeachment Of Justice Ja’neh-Cllr. Arthur Johnson

By R Joyclyn Wea

In the wake of impeachment proceeding against Associate Justice Kabineh Ja’neh, a renowned Liberian Lawyer, Arthur Johnson is calling on the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) lawmakers, Acarous Gary and Thomas Fallah to stop their impeachment proceeding and focus on the Freeport of Monrovia which is the major issue confronting the nation and people.

According to Cllr. Johnson, the two proponents of the impeachment proceeding should focus on opening the port, dropping taxes and all penalties so that the economy will open as people are dying of hunger and that Liberian businesses are struggling rather than chasing people for rendering decision.

It can be recalled Representatives Acarous Gary of Montserrado County electoral districts eight and Thomas P. Fallah of district five put forth a petition seeking to impeach Associate Justice Kabineh Ja’neh for alleged abuse of power in a matter involving Ecobank and the late Edwin Clark which was referred to the full bench of the Supreme Court for determination by Justice Ja’neh who was then Justice in Chambers and is yet to be determined by the high court.

The two lawmakers are using part of the constitution which gives them right to put forth a bill of impeachment while the portion of the same constitution protects justices and all court actors that they cannot be held liable for decision they take.

However, speaking recently in Paynesville, Cllr. Johnson described the decision by the petitioners as missed perception, noting “this is about not having specific knowledge about the law.”

“When an individual feel or believes that a particular breach of government has taken a decision and is dissatisfy, the best thing to do is to revised the action of the Supreme Court by fumigating a statue or new law and not to impeach a particular justice or justices because they render decision that are not in their interest,” he added.

Cllr. Johnson further emphasized it is counterproductive when people starts using bill of impeachment as a scare instrument to threaten people at the level of the judiciary, who are supposed to be making impassive decisions.

He asserted that there are many who maybe in public service decision making position and are not aware of what went wrong, what was responsible and the essence of getting in public service decision making.

The Liberian Lawyer bewailed “when I start to judge you on the basis of who you are, the tribe you belong to, your perception and view about government and I decide to answer those questions that I raise regarding you and deed with you on that level of public domain or public policy implementation, then I have developed a crisis of identity.”

He indicated that the principle of check and balances and separation of power is under threat.

Cllr. Johnson added that at no time Justice Ja’neh abused the law or power clarifying “that abuse of power is where the law gives you specific power and there is a way for you to use such power and you did not used that power but went ahead and use you own personal feeling and emotional judgment and decided outside the confines of the law or authority given you by rendering a verdict than that is an abuse of authority,” he clarified.

Accordingly, Cllr. Johnson has called on members of the 54^th National Legislature not to be a part of a process that would undermine the democracy of the nation as the attempt has the tendency to scare away investors, adding “when investors come into the country, the first thing they look at is the rule of law. If they find out that your rule of law does not meet the consistency of international requirements obviously they do not put money there.”

Meanwhile, Cllr. Johnson has vowed to file a writ of prohibition to prohibits the alleged illegal action by the two CDC executives (Gray and Fallah) adding, “impeachment is not removal, but rather trial.”

According to him, the action to file a writ of prohibition against the lawmakers’ bill of impeachment is due to the fact that it lacks merit and it’s an abuse of power.

“The law is about consistency, we need to take up time to really understand how the legal system works.”