Pressure Mounts Over June 7

-As MOJ, Organizers Of June 7 Protest Drag To Supreme Court

By R. Joyclyn Wea

A group under the banner Citizens United to Sustain Peace and Democracy through the Center for the Protection of Human Rights has filed a petition with the Supreme Court Chamber-Justice to issue an alternative writ of mandamus against the Attorney General of Liberia and the chairman of the joint security and counsel of patriots.

Mandamus is a writ issued by a Supreme Court to compel a lower court or a government officer to perform a mandatory or purely ministerial duty correctly.

The group is asking the Associate Justice Joseph Nagbe to designate a venue where the Government and the Council of Patriots will meet to present their petition preferably Samuel Kanyan Doe Sport Complex in Paynesville or Antoinette Tubman Stadium on United Nations Drive in Central Monrovia.

The Human Rights group also wants Chamber-Justice Nagbe mandates Government to provide security for the Council of Patriots and the protesters given a day to present their petition.

The group is relying on Article 13 of the Liberian Constitution which states “Every person lawfully within the republic shall have the right to move freely throughout Liberia to reside in any part thereof and to leave there from; however to the safeguarding of public security, public order, public health, or morals or the right and freedoms of others.”

According to them, the much publicized June 7 protest has created fear in investors, teachers, parents and health workers, therefore on June 7 parents will not allow their children to go to school, health workers will not go to hospital and all markets will be closed because there is no designated venue for the presentation of the petition and a as such; commencing June 7 will violate the rights of the citizens of Liberia and foreign residents.

The group further indicated that the failure to designate a specific venue where the government representative and co-respondent council of patriots will meet for the presentation of their petition is a violation of the rights of other citizens who will not form part of said protest.

Pundits see the move by the group as another smart attempt by the National Government to have the Council of patriots disembarked the plan of assembling on that day.