By R. Joyclyn Wea
The Judge of Criminal Court “B&C”, Judge Boima Kontoe is expected to decide the fate of Associate Justice Kabineh Ja’neh in his (Ja’neh’s) Petition which is currently before the Honorable Supreme Court of Liberia.
Judge Kontoe is expected to break the tie either in favor or against the Associate Justice Kabineh Ja’neh.
Judge Boima Kontoe was recently appointed by the President of Liberia, George Weah to serve as Ad-Hoc judge in order to break the tie since Ja’neh recused himself from the case and the remaining justice could not formulate the quorum to warrant determination of the matter.
Due to Ad-Hoc justice Kontoe’s appointment, the Supreme Court recalled the case for re-argument on Friday, November 9, 2018 to enable the newly appointed justice have an insight on the matter so as to take a decision.
Speaking during Friday re-argument, Chief Justice Francis Korkpor explained that “When we went in chamber, there was no quorum.”
This he indicated led the court to inform President George Weah, something that resulted to the appointment of Judge Kontoe so, that he (Kontoe) can make a decision that would eventually break the tie.
“The President was informed about this and appointed the most senior Criminal Court Judge to serve as Ad-Hoc Justice in order to break the tie in this matter.”
Judge Kontoe was the judge in the late Edwin Clarke versus ECO-Bank case, one of the reliance of the count mentioned in the lawmakers’ petition.
During the re-arguments before the full bench on Friday, one of the counsels for petitioner, Arthur Johnson contended that the impeachment proceeding carried out by the lower house was in violation of Article 43 of the Liberian Constitution which stresses the due processes of law.
He further claimed that there was no rule setup by the house during the process, something which also contravened the constitution provision.
He explained that the house should have formulated a rule before proceeding with the impeachment process which was not done and as such the petitioner petition was timely and matured.
“The representatives along with the senators should have come up with rules before even reflecting the impeachment on the agenda or sending it to committee room. The ground rule setup in the impeachment proceeding is not a ground rule for impeachment,” Cllr. Johnson.
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