MONROVIA – In April this year, the Chairman of the Law Reform Commission – Liberia (LRC), Cllr. Boakai N. Kanneh, when he addressed a stakeholders’ Dialogue/Review held at the EU Embassy in Mamba Point, Monrovia on anti-corruption laws and Code of Conduct for public officials and employees of the Government of Liberia, he disclosed that President Joseph Nyuma Boakai had written the LRC in keeping with its legal mandate to review the election laws of the country in collaboration with the NEC that will lead to reform.
To kick the process rolling in early and mid-May, 2025, the Law Reform Commission (LRC) and the National Elections Commission (NEC) held two preparatory coordination meetings both at the LRC Offices in Mamba Point and the NEC headquarters on 9th Street in Sinkor respectively, to lay the ground works for the technical working session that will further lay the basis for electoral reforms.
The Law Reform Commission (LRC) was established by an Act of the Legislature of Liberia in 2011. It was organized to keep the laws of Liberia and ensure the systematic development and reform, including, review, unification and codification of the laws.
While it is understandable that most government ministries, agencies, commissions and state-owned enterprises (MACS) by legislative enactments and statutes have the legal backings to carry out internal reform of their laws/statutes governing their operations but, they are under obligation by law to coordinate and collaborate with the government entity responsible to reform all laws in Liberia, in this case, which is the Law Reform Commission (LRC).
And so, as part of the roadmap to the 2029 General Elections in Liberia, reforming key electoral laws remains at the core of the National Elections Commission (NEC) Liberia and its partners, including the Law Reform Commission, the EU and UNDP – Liberia
Today, Wednesday, May 28, 2025, the NEC’s Legal Reform Committee along with the Law Reform Commission (LRC), European Union (EU) in Liberia and UNDP Liberia began a two-day technical working session at the NEC headquarters on 9th Street, Sinkor, that will reawaken the entire electoral reform process.
The exercise is highlighting Basics for Good Legal Framework, Guiding Principles, Presentation of Partners Reform Recommendations and NEC Internal Review on Reform Proposals, Formation of Thematic Groups, among others.
On behalf of the NEC, Chairperson Madam Davidetta Browne Lansanah launched and welcomed the session, and stressed the importance of coming together to reform key portions of the election laws of Liberia.
Representatives of the Law Reform Commission, the European Union and UNDP Liberia also pledged support to the process. LRC is being represented on the joint technical committee of the election reform laws, by Commissioner Cllr. Ruth Jappah, Executive Director Cllr. Ramses T. Kumbuyah and Legal Research Officer Atty. Joe Trokon Bryant.
The Chairman of the Law Reform Commission (LRC), Cllr. Boakai N. Kanneh, has always stated the that sole purpose of the establishment of Commission and in keeping with its mediate is to keep under review the laws of Liberia and to codify the laws. He has disclosed that most of the codified laws of Liberia were promulgated between 1972 and 1976, which have been taken over by time and circumstances. Legal pundits and luminaries are of the views that the technical working session being undertaken with the National Elections Commission (NEC) and the Law Reform Commission (LRC) in partnership with the European Union (EU)-Liberia and UNDP-Liberia is geared toward the needed electoral reforms that will lay the basis for a free, fair and transparent elections in Liberia in the very near future.
