Not Guilty, Until Found Guilty

A PARANOID AND SUSPECTING society like ours does not take into account procedural frameworks or legally acceptable norms when running judgments on issues of law or legality; maybe conscience and morality, too. The engrained concept or attitude of classifying everyone as a felon, untrusted and worthless character with no moral rectitude and standing to speak on national issues or occupy public office, whether ever convicted or not, remains an unrelenting nuisance and a moral and intellectual decadence spanning decades in Liberia. Both the literal and illiterate class of society is as guilty as the other when it comes to prejudging or convicting others far before they are even paraded before a judge to answer charges or allegations of wrongdoings.

IT IS A SORT of brashness that becomes embarrassingly pervasive once one is opportune to serve in a government deemed to be callously corrupt and unaccountable. Whether established or backed by facts and preponderant evidence, Liberians chew not less in condemning or pre-judging the erstwhile Ellen Johnson Sirleaf administration of being corrupt than any other government in the country’s governance history. Former Auditor General John Morlu is on record for prejudging the Ellen administration as being three times corrupt than the government before it. To date, Ellen and her administration are clustered as corrupt plutocrats who milked the national coffers for personal benefits. 

THE SAME PLAUSIBLY GUILTY verdict of being corrupt is laid at the feet of the recent former government of President George Manneh Weah, and there are many conspiracy theories that he lost last year’s elections on the basis of massive corruption his officials indulged in, and he did nothing to address.

NOW, THE BOAKAI GOVERNMENT’S indictment of several officials of the former administration has further widened the Pandora box and inflamed the nuance of finding people guilty before they are truly judged guilty in the court of competent jurisdiction. Former Finance Minister Samuel D. Tweah, Jr., one of the indictees has become the most victimized of pre-judgment concept of categorization. For most Liberians, Tweah is the worst thing that ever happened to Liberia, and also blamed for the discomfiture Weah endured at the polls.

THE LAWS OF THE Republic are categorical when it comes to when people are considered guilty of a crime. One is presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of competent jurisdiction, and indictee Tweah is covered under this legal philosophy, and should not be referred as felon when he is not being arraigned before a judge and informed of his charge and rights. In the absence of exhausting the legal rudiments, he remains an indictee (not guilty), regardless of how much he is hated, what party he belongs to, or who felt injured by his actions as Minister of Finance. It is about allowing the court to make the determination that he is innocent or guilty before he is crucified as such.

LEST LIBERIANS, WITH THEIR deep religious or Christian background in biblical understanding, forget the Jesus being found guilty precedence or scenario far before Pontius Palace washed off his hands in any decision about Jesus fate following an in-depth exhaustive investigative process that found no evidence of wrongdoing against him. Yet, the crowd, just as Liberians are doing, demanded that he be put to death based on preconceived ideologies and perceptions.

OURS IS NOT TO build any pedestal of defense for Tweah and the rest of former officials arrested and charged for alleged corruption while in office. It is to provide a framework of understanding that helps to defuse what has become a societal debauchery of crucifying people before they are even found guilty of their alleged crimes. Whether or not Tweah avails himself, justice still awaits him no matter how long, or if possible tried in absentia as provided for under the law.

LIBERIA IS A COUNTRY known for making mess of everything, regardless of the circumstances, at times for personal grudge or misinformation being told about someone. Yes, Tweah is not a saint, but when it comes to the indictment, it is prudent he is accorded some sort of dignity until proven of found guilty, as per the law.