‘There Must Be Due Diligence”

-Rep Morris Speaks of Justice Ja’neh’s Impeachment

By Reuben Sei Waylaun

Montserrado County electoral district one Representative, Lawrence Morris says there must be ‘due diligence’ as the House of Representatives’ specialized committee peruses the impeachment Bill before it against Associate Justice Kabineh Ja’neh of the Supreme Court.

Recently Representatives Acarous Gray of Montserrado County electoral district eight and Thomas Fallah of Montserrado electoral district five, both of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) launched an unprecedented bid to remove Associate Justice Kabineh Ja’neh over what they described as “proven misconduct, abuse of public office, wanton abuse of judicial discretion, fraud, misuse of power and corruption.”

According to the two stalwarts of the governing CDC, their Bill of Impeachment is based on what they believed is factual and has legal explanations.

The petitioners of the Impeachment argued that Justice Ja’neh should be impeached, ousted and removed from the Supreme Court of Liberia.

“It is our hope and prayer that this Honorable Body will give this petition its utmost consideration in order to rid our judicial system of some of the most deceitful and fraudulent activities, most of which are perpetrated by, and credited to the likes of his Honor Justice Kabineh Mohammed Ja’neh,” the communication said.

The Bill has since been submitted and discussed during the 46^th Day Sitting and has been sent to a specialized committee setup by House Speaker Bhofal Chambers based on a motion proffered by Representative Nathaniel Barway of Grand Kru County District electoral district one.

The 8-man Ad-Hoc Committee is mandated to review and investigate the Impeachment Petition as well as write-out of the proceedings. The committee’s members include Rep. Kanio Wesso, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, as chairman and Rep. Edward Karfiah is the co-chairman. Others are Representatives Dixon Seboe, Jeremiah Koung, Dr. Isaac Roland, Clarence Gahr and Rustonlyn Suacoco Dennis.

Article 43 of the 1986 Constitution gives the House of Representatives the power to prepare a Bill of impeachment.

However, speaking to a team of legislative reporters Tuesday, Representative Lawrence Morris said there is an issue and they as lawmakers need to look at all sides taking into consideration the merits and demerits.

“There must be best practices legally and before coming out with any decision that will affect change. There have to be due diligence. I am neutral for now,” he said.

Meanwhile, a prohibition has since been placed on the impeachment proceeding by Justice in Chambers, Associate Justice Sie-A-Nyene G. Yuoh after a complaint from Ja’neh’s lawyers.