The political leader of the opposition Movement for Progressive Change (MPC), businessman Simeon Freeman has filed two lawsuits against the Liberian Government for what he described as its refusal to put into place the ombudsman and the illegal allotment of funds to several governmental institutions has created serious suffering of the Liberian people who are majority.
Mr. Freeman said the filing of the mandamus by the MPC is intended for the Government to institute the appointment of an Ombudsman that will have the authority to investigate complaints that will be filed to it regarding officials of government who will violate the Code of Conduct.
According to the MPC political leader, recently agents of the Executive Protection Service (EPS) were seen wearing t-shirts and other paraphernalia of the governing Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) during their ‘One Million Citizen Rally’ when their partisans endorsed the second term bid of incumbent President George Weah. “Pretty soon, we will have some government officials using government vehicles and other logistics for campaign purposes when the campaign kicks off, and when there is no Ombudsman, there will be no institution to ensure fair play,” Mr. Freeman said.
Commenting on the disadvantage of the opposition, Mr. Freeman said in the past opposition parties were denied access to public facilities by partisans of the ruling government, and without an Ombudsman there were no place to seek redress or complain, that is why this time around the MPC has filed a law suit to the Supreme Court to compel the government to institute the Ombudsman ahead of the October 2023 presidential and legislative elections.
He said the case will be heard on the 16th of March with the Justice-in-Chambers hearing the case.
The second suit filed against the Government of Liberia, according to MPC political leader, is the double payment of monies to the offices of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Bhofal Chambers; Deputy House Speaker, J. Fonati Koffa and Senate President Pro Tempore Albert Chie.
Mr. Freeman this in the 2023 budget, the Speaker is allotted US$2 million, the Senate Pro-Temp US$1.9 and the Deputy Speaker is allotted US$1.5 million, despite also benefitting from the overall budget of the Legislature.
The MPC political suit said the lawsuit at the Supreme Court is intended to place a prohibition on the 2023 national budget until those officials can return the funds, they allotted individually to themselves.
He said the case will be heard on the 17th of March 2023 at the Supreme Court of Liberia at the Temple of Justice.
Meanwhile, Mr. Freeman disclosed that the MPC is talking and reaching out to other political parties in efforts to have a united opposition for the 2023 elections.
Commenting on the recently released census, the MPC political leader called on Liberians to speak out, especially those Liberians were not counted by LISGIS enumerators during the process. He said despite the international partners hailing the process, they can only have a second thought if the people who are actually affected by not be counted speak out about their omission from the process, then they can get a positive response from international partners regarding the credibility of the process.
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