‘We want our Judiciary to be respected’ …Says President Boakai

With the rebranding process of the Liberian Judiciary, President Joseph Nyuma  Boakai has embraced the fight against corruption, which is an impairment to the justice system.

Speaking at the March Term 2024 of Supreme Court opening of Monday, March 11, 2024, President Boakai said the fight against corruption in the Judiciary Branch is important due to their roles to protect the innocent and punish the guilty.

When addressing the 55th National Legislature on January 22, 2024, President Boakai mentioned that the judiciary roles had been marred by inefficiency, corruption and lack of public trust. Based upon this statement, the judiciary began working and challenging lawyers, judges and legislators with financial support to fight corruption.

President Boakai said he is impressed with the efforts being made to fight corruption and references in respect to corruption by the Judiciary Branch of Government since he began President.

“I am impressed with the Supreme Court speech in respect to corruption, condition of the Judiciary and recommendations to the Legislative Branch. We want our judiciary to be respected. It is understandable to provide them what it takes to perform well. It is  time now that we transform this country to be better,” President Boakai’s said.

The President acknowledged the concerns about his statements and expressed willingness to collaborate with the judicial system to make it better and independent in order to gain public trust.

Delivery the opening address, Justice Jamesetta H. Wolokollie said the way to gain public confidence within the judiciary system must start with  attitude and behavior of the justice sector actors, which include justices, judges, magistrates, judicial employees and lawyers to not continue doing business as usual.

Madam Wolokollie said the court is counting on the honorable body to pass legislation and support financial appropriations that will help win the fight against corruption, stressing that the judiciary implores the other two branches- Executive and Legislation to truly evoke the spirit of the constitution required coordination.

“It is no secret that the Judiciary Branch receives the least share of the national budget and this limitation has long hindered the effective operations of this branch. There is an imminent  need for a conference between the three branches of government. We are counting on the cooperation from the two branches to have this meeting in the soonest possible time as we move to the passage of the 2025 National Budget,” Justice Wolokollie stated.  

She said the consultation with the other two branches is particularly concerned with the status of salaries, allowances and benefits of judges in regard to the implementation of Article 72 of the Constitution of Liberia.

 “We must emphasize that a credible judiciary rest more on financial independent judges.”

Pointing out challenges in the judiciary system from the side of the Ministry of Justice, Justice Wolokollie said that

thieves purporting to be Sheriffs and Curators from the Ministry of Justice have infiltrated the Judiciary over the past years and have rained  havoc on party litigants and the courts, thus, embarrassing the Judiciary's reputation.

She mentioned that Section 15.1 of the Judiciary Law provides that "the President by and with the consent of the Senate shall appoint a Sheriff for each county and as many Deputy Sheriffs as are required to carry out the duties of the office."

It is also stated in Section 112.1 of the Decedent Estate Law, that the President with the advised and consent of the Senate shall appoint a Curator for each county, and in addition, for each territory and district in which a probate court is established.

“It is worth noting that although the Ministry of Justice is not referenced in any of the above cited provision of laws, the courts over the past decades have experienced an influx of unknown persons claiming to be sheriffs and constables from the Ministry of Justice assigned to serve as Ministerial Officer to the courts. We also discovered that our Probate Courts are also experiencing this similar dilemma with curators who are purporting to be employees of the Ministry of Justice assigned to our Monthly and Probate Court,” she said.

She furthered that when these occurred, the Supreme Court through the Court Administrator's Office contacts the Ministry of Justice to rectify the alarming level of thievery by ministerial officers yet the Ministry  can not account for 90% of these ministerial officers assigned to the courts across the country.

She continued, “We recently discovered that the curator assigned to the Monthly and Probate Court is an imposter with no employment record with the Ministry of Justice or the Judiciary. What is most surprising is the fact that all of these unaccounted ministerial officers and curators are on government payrolls and are receiving salaries on a monthly basis despite the fact that there are no employment records of them as ministerial officers and curators.”

Meanwhile, the full bench called on the Ministry of  Justice to aggressively work with the Court Administrator Office to ensure that this situation is arrested so that these persons who are often exhibiting criminal behavior in our courts are purged from our Judicial System.