Female Activist Pailey Wants Key Legal Instrument Amended on Appointment of Chiefs and Associate Justices in Liberia

By: W. Roland James

Robtel Pailey, a Liberian-based American who recently served as the Orator for the 177th Independence Day Anniversary of Liberia, is calling for an amendment in the fundamental law that gives the president the power to appoint the Chief and associate justices of the Supreme Court of Liberia.

Article 68 of the Liberian constitution gives the President the leverage to appoint and commission the Chief Justice and associate Justices of the Supreme Court with the consent of the Liberian Senate.

The Liberian female activist, Robtel Pailey believes that said provision of the Liberian constitution needs to be amended to have an independent body of legal practitioners of the citizenry, aside from the Executive and the Legislature to elect or appoint the key justice actors in order beef up the independence of the justice system and maintain a check and balance among the three branches of government.

Deliberating in a recent interview, on Sunday, August 11, Madam Pailey emphasized that the appointment of key justice actors by the president is potentially leading to the lack of independence in the justice system over what she termed as "owing a sort of loyalty" to the head of state in discharging their functions as a separate branch of government.

She maintained that in fighting to strengthen the justice system of Liberia, key policies and laws in the book must be looked at and revisited to prevent interference in the workings of the Judiciary.

"The Executive is elected as well as the Legislature, but the Judiciary is not elected. Even if they cannot be elected, they can be appointed by an independent body of the people. That's one of the ways to minimize interference by the Executive and Legislature in the third branch of government".

"All of the heads of the Supreme Court bench, including the Chief Justice, are appointed by the Head of state, and I think that needs to fundamentally change. Because what it does is, it creates some form of conflict of interest where these judges or justices owe some sort of loyalty to the head of state".

"The whole point of having three branches of government is that you want to have checks and balances. Now, how can you have checks and balances when the Judiciary is beholding to the Executive? There is no way that they can maintain a certain level of antonymy of independence when they are appointed by the Executive themselves", Robtel Pailey underscored.

In furtherance, Madam Pailey noted that the country is at a crucial moment where the justice system needs to work free from external pressure to hold the democracy of the state.

According to her, this is among other issues affecting the system that the Executive and Legislature must the political will and see the need to amend.

Madam Pailey's assertions retrospect many Liberians on what was seen as a political tussle between the CDC of then-President George Weah and UP of then President-elect Joseph Boakai of appointing an associate justice (which was not confirmed) at the near end of his (then-President Weah) regime, something many termed to be a fight from the Executives (in-coming and out-going) to have appointment influence over the Judiciary Branch of Government.