One of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, Justice Yarmie Gbeisay on Wednesday, April 23rd, issued an appalling dissent following the reading of the Court’s Opinion in a landmark case. The case involved the Bill of Information filed before the Supreme Court by embattled Speaker Cllr. Jonathan Fonati Koffa along with lawmakers of his ‘minority bloc’ which supports him on one hand, and controversial Speaker Richard Nagbe Koon and members of his ‘majority bloc’ on the other hand.
Koffa among other things argued the illegality of Koon’s ascendency to the Speaker post, passage of the 2025 national budget, etc.
Following the reading of the Supreme Court’s Opinion in which majority of the five-Justice Bench upheld the legitimacy of Koffa as still the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Justice Gbeisay put on the floor his scathing dissent. He among other things described the ruling as a “profound departure from established law and judicial propriety,” warning that the Court had overstepped its bounds into the domain of the political branches.
“The case before us presents a quintessential political question, one that lies beyond the proper jurisdiction of this Court and squarely within the domain of the Legislative or Executive branches of government,” Gbeisay wrote.
He went on to even accuse the Court of receiving the Bill of Information filed by Koffa through a “back door” means, which he frowned upon badly.
The Supreme Court’s Justice went as far as refusing to affix his signature to the Court’s final opinion and called on future justices to revisit and potentially overturn the ruling.
“I respectfully decline to append my signature to the majority opinion,” he concluded. “I further urge this Court, or a future Bench, to revisit and recall the present judgment.”
