The Supreme Court Associate Justice Sie-A-Nyene Yuoh has disclosed that the entire Judicial Branch of Government is faced with “a lot of challenges” relative to the impeachment trial of Kabineh Ja’neh.
She said as the Constitution provides in Article 65 the judicial power of the Republic shall be vested in a Supreme Court and such subordinate courts as the Legislature may from time to time establish.
The courts shall apply both statutory and customary laws in accordance with the standards enacted by the Legislature, she noted, adding that judgments of the Supreme Court shall be final and binding and shall not be subject to appeal or review by any other branch of Government.
She noted that this article prohibits administrative consideration of the justiciable matter prior to review by a court of competent jurisdiction.
“It is indeed a challenging time for the court with only five justices, the challenges faced with it is not a secret, in fact, the Chief Justice Francis Korkpor is presiding by Constitutional mandate over an impeachment and the one being tried is senior Associate Justice Ja’neh,” she noted.
“Indeed this is a challenging time,” she observed, adding that the case will speak for itself.
Justice Yuoh spoke Friday at the First Quarterly Assembly of the Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA) held in Kakata City outside Monrovia just hours before the Liberian Senate overwhelmingly voted to concur with the lower House to impeach Justice Ja’neh
The theme of the Assembly was “Adherence to the Role of Law.”
Justice Yuoh further stated that if the Supreme Court, which is the highest court of the land, is being challenged, what’s about the subordinate courts?
Justice Youh cited another challenge which came during of the formal opening of March 2019 Term of Court when LNBA President Cllr. Taiwan Gongloe send out a call to the Supreme Court to hear and determine cases before it, indicating that “justice delayed is justice denied.”
Justice Yuoh pointed out that t the Supreme Court is fully aware of the implications, with lawyers who have cases before it, noting that lawyers failing to appear in court and comply with dictates of the court will have legal action taken against them.
Justice Yuoh was dissatisfied about the attendance of lawyers at the Quarterly Assembly, with about 70 persons attending the assembly.
Justice Yuoh called on lawyers to always attend the Bar convention not only to discuss issues concerning the bar, but issues concerning the practice of law.
She stressed that there is penalty attached for any lawyer who does not attend the Bar activities after the Supreme Court has sent out a communication for all courts across the country to enable lawyers attend the Bar programs.
LINA
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