The Liberia National Rule of Law Retreat hosted by government of Liberia and development partners has ended in Monrovia with a resolution calling on the three branches of government to facilitate greater cooperation and collaboration on Rule of Law issues.

The resolution acknowledged that while “the Constitution of the Republic of Liberia and several legislative provisions divide tasks in the delivery of justice between the judiciary, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Labour, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there is no framework for the different parties to jointly formulate policies that would make the design and implementation of programs for holistic accomplishments of the task of delivering justice.”

The government of Liberia decided to hold the retreat with the aim of bringing together the Judiciary, relevant ministries, agencies, civil society, and the international community to ably consider the problems faced by or associated with the achievement of the rule of law, and derive suggestions and recommendation for the alleviation of existing problems.

Governance and the Rule of Law is the third pillow of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Four issues were identified and discussed in connection with achievement of the Governance and the Rule of Law pillow. They were Policy Coordination, Legislative Process, the Criminal Justice Process, and implementation and Monitoring Coordination.

Under the Policy Coordination session, the need to introduce a paralegal system in Liberia was highlighted.

A task force comprising the Supreme Court, the Liberia National Bar Association, the Louise Arthur Grimes School of Law, and the Ministry of Justice is being constituted by His Honor Johnnie N. Lewis, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia, to study and set our clearly the functions, roles, and qualification of persons who will participate in the paralegal program. The task force will also look into the question of non-lawyer magistrates.

The session on Legislative Process recommended that the Legislative Drafting Service should be reactivated in accordance with Section 80, Chapter 4 of the Legislative Law and supported by National Government.

The session further advocated that to enhance access to public bills, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should publish every law immediately upon printing into hand bill, and that public access to copies of enacted laws should be in accordance with Chapter 3, Section 60 of the Legislative Law, which provides that the General Service Agency should have in its possession copies of enacted laws for sale to the general public by the first of April of each year after each publication.

The session also called for the reactivation and empowerment of the division of printing and publication of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On the Criminal Justice Process session, the Retreat advanced that the Liberian National Police be adequately trained and capacitated in all relevant areas, including the urgent need for forensic training and laboratories. Participants also called for construction of court houses and residences for Circuit Court Judges, County Attorneys and Public Defender in the fifteen counties, among other suggestions.

The Implementation, Monitoring and Reporting Coordination session that intra-governmental working group meetings among the three branches be held on a regular basis. It further called for the enhancement of sensitization awareness on the PRS and its implementation, and sensitization of the public on their rights, duties and responsibilities as citizens and residents of the Republic of Liberia.

The resolution of the Retreat was signed by Honorable Amara M. Konneh, Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs, His Honor J. Boima Kontoe for the Judiciary, Honorable Philip A.Z. Banks, III, Minister of Justice, Cllr. Oswald N. Tweh, President of the Liberia National Bar Association, and witnessed by Ellen Margrethe Loj, Special Representative of the Secretary- General.

The Retreat held from September 15 to September 16 at the City Hall brought together more than 200 hundred stakeholders representing the three branches of government, civil society including the Liberia National Bar Association, the Law School, and development partners, among them UNMIL, and the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiate.

Several key personalities addressed the Retreat including President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, His Honor Johnnie N. Lewis, SRSG Margrethe Loj, Minster Amara Konneh, Minister Philip Banks, Solicitor General Tiawon Gongloe, Atty. James Kaba, and Clerk of the House of Representatives.

Court Acquits Alleged Armed Robbers
By George J. Borteh

Judge Boimah Kontoe of Criminal Court-A and D at the Temple of Justice, on September 17, 2008 acquitted two alleged armed robbers after lawyers representing the government of Liberia failed to produce evidence against them.

The two suspects, Jeremy Wanpoe and Forkpa Kessely were set free following a motion of ‘Judgment for Acquittal’ filed by their lawyer.

“Jeremy Wanpoe and Forkpa Kessely are hereby released of the charge of Armed Robbery and the Clerk of this court is issue their release”, Judge Kontoe said. Defendants Wanpoe and Kessely and two others identified as Eric Morris and Mark Khomkeh were arrested on May 28, 2008 in the Paynesville community for allegedly armed robbing some residents of the community.

According to records in the possession of the court (Court-D), in May (date not mentioned), the four defendants allegedly attacked residents Victoria Gwen and Samforkpaeh Koryon and made away with valuable items.

The suspected armed robbers during the incident hit one of the victims, Victoria, with a mortal pencil which caused her to fall to the ground and chopped off the right ear of another victim, Koryon.

Ruling in the motion that acquitted defendants Wanpoe and Kessely, Judge Kontoe said that he found no evidence pointing to the role-played by the acquitted defendants and even witnesses produced by the government.

For co-defendants Eric Morris and Mark Khomked, the Criminal Court-D Judge told both lawyers in the case that the court has sufficient evidence to go ahead with the case and advised the defendants to be prepared to testify.

At the same time, the trial of defendants Morris and Khomked is expected to resume early next week and both lawyers in the case are advised to be in court pending an assignment of the case.