MONROVIA – When the legislative leadership fracas began at the House of Representatives in latter 2024, many partisans of the now ruling Unity Party (UP) of President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, squarely pointed fingers at the then former Chairman of the House’s Standing Committee on Judiciary, which was headed at the time by Grand Kru County Representative, Cllr. J. Fonati Koffa.
In the minds of partisans of the now governing UP what was happening to Koffa, where some lawmakers at the House of Representatives opted to remove him from office for reasons, they thought were incompatible to their likings, was not strange because during the Coalition for Democratic Change’s (CDC) regime, former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia, Cllr. Kabineh Ja’neh was impeached.
The UP partisans blamed Koffa for what happened to Justice Ja’neh. Koffa was head of the Judiciary Committee in the House of Representatives of the 54th Legislature, before he rose to Deputy Speaker.
But appearing on OK FM Afternoon Conversation on Tuesday, May 13, following the election of Montserrado County District #11 Representative, Richard Nagbe Koon, as the new Speaker of the 55th Legislature, former Speaker Koffa responding to a question from a caller regarding his role in the impeachment of the former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia, Cllr. Koffa said he wanted to set the record straight for Liberians to understand the true picture of what happened during the impeachment of former Justice Ja’neh.
According to former Speaker Koffa, what Liberians did not know is that he was allegedly excluded from the process and “a special committee was setup for the impeachment trial of former Associate Justice Ja’neh outside of the House’s Judicial Committee.” He noted further that: “I had nothing to do with the impeachment proceedings because the House’s leadership, headed by Dr. Bhofal Chambers at the time, set up a special committee to deal with the impeachment proceedings.” He further stated that this special committee was headed by Counselor Kanio Wesso.
According to Article 71 of the 1986 Liberia Constitution, “The Chief Justice and Associates Justices of the Supreme Court and the judges of subordinate courts of record shall hold office during good behavior. They may be removed upon impeachment and conviction by the Legislature based on proved misconduct, gross breach of duty, inability to perform the functions of their office, or conviction in a court of law for treason, bribery or other infamous crimes.”
Additionally, Article 43 of the 1986 Liberia Constitution says: “The power to prepare a bill of impeachment is vested solely in the House of Representatives, and the power to try all impeachments is vested solely in the Senate. When the President, Vice President or an Associate Justice is to be tried, the Chief Justice shall preside; when the Chief Justice or a judge of a subordinate court of record is to be tried, the President of the Senate shall preside. No person shall be impeached but by the concurrence of two-thirds of the total membership of the Senate. Judgments in such cases shall not extend beyond removal from office and disqualification to hold public office in the Republic; but the party may be tried at law for the same offense. The Legislature shall prescribe the procedure for impeachment proceedings which shall be in conformity with the requirements of due process of law.”
And so, to support former Speaker Koffa’s claims, it can be recalled the Bill of Impeachment for the former Associate Justice, Kabineh Ja’neh, originated from former Montserrado County District #8 Representative, Moses Acarous Gray and former Montserrado County District #5 Representatives Thomas Fallah, who now represents Lofa County District #1, who at the time thought Justice Ja’neh had transgressed regarding the percentage from gasoline’s sale that is to be deposited for the National Road Fund.
Truth be told, Associate Justice Ja’neh was given due process in keeping with the law, after his impeachment in the House of Representatives, he was forwarded to the Senate, where the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court at the time, Francis Korkpor presided over the preceding. But what critics did not agree with was why was Justice Ja’neh being singled out for the Road Fund when every member of the Supreme Court had signed the opinion of the High Court regarding the issue at hand regarding the road fund?
Meanwhile, Koffa told OK FM Afternoon Conversation that if he, Koffa had done any wrong to the former Associate Justice Ja’neh during his impeachment trial, why would he (Ja’neh) agree to be one of his lawyers when he took the House of Representatives to the Supreme Court of Liberia during the House’s leadership sage?
According to former Speaker Koffa, there will also be political actors who may want to put wedge between professional colleagues, having realized that by doing that, it could tilt the power-that-be in their favor.
Concluding, former Speaker Koffa expounded that the former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia, Kabineh Ja’neh’s impeachment proceeding was quite different from the saga to remove from him from office as Speaker of the 55th Legislature for political reasons. He noted there is not a comparison to the two situations that happened. Meanwhile, former Speaker Koffa has called on every Liberian to be patriotic as well as being nationalistic, because Liberia is the only common denominator, and the only country that Liberians can boost of as their own. He noted that no matter the political divide, Liberia is first and must always be first in the hearts and minds of everyone who calls him/herself a Liberian.
