LIBERIA NEWS: S/COURT DASHES TARPEH’S HOPE

By: R. Joyclyn Wea

MONROVIA-After battling the Liberian Government for months to reclaim his role as Acting Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Professor Wilson Tarpeh has finally lost the case.

When the Supreme Court decided in favor of the Liberian Government in a tenured matter that was brought before it, Tarpeh’s hopes were dashed as the result of the former administration’s failure to adhere to the act that established that agency.

The high court ruled on April 24, 2024, that Geroge Weah, the former President of Liberia, had erred when he named Wilson Tarpeh as the EPA’s Interim Executive Director without consulting the Policy Council, which is tasked with making recommendations for the nomination of the Executive Director.

PART III, Section 16 of the EPA Act on the Executive Director position states in part that, “There shall be an Executive Director who is a person with wide environmental knowledge and recognized comment on sustainable management of the environment, appointed by the President from a list of three names recommended by the Council, except that the President may appoint an interim Executive Director pending the formation of the Council.”

It further states, “The Executive Director shall serve for 7 years and shall be eligible for reappointment, except that there shall be appointed an interim Executive Director.”

Tarpeh was never a tenure official as alleged because his appointment by the previous President was based on Section 16 of the EPA Act, which grants the President the power to appoint an Interim Executive Director pending the formation of the Policy Council.

The government’s argument that Tarpeh was not granted tenured by the previous President was accepted by the court.

New Republic Liberia

Alphonso Toweh

Has been in the profession for over twenty years. He has worked for many international media outlets  including: West Africa Magazine, Africa Week Magazine, African Observer and  did occasional reporting for CNN, BBC World Service, Sunday Times, NPR, Radio Deutchewells, Radio Netherlands. He is the current correspondent for Reuters 
 He holds first  MA with honors in International  Relations and a  candidate for second master in International Peace studies and Conflict  Resolution from the University of Liberia.