It is often said that wrong is wrong even if everybody supports it. And right remains right even if no one supports it. Decision, wrong or right must be taken and upheld in order to prove a point either as a final arbiter with a vested interest or through manipulation. The world over, the judiciary has had its own basketful of challenge as justice is dispense by humans and humans are not free from errors. However, sometimes, it becomes compelling to doubt the performance of certain judiciaries with repeated history of judicial misconducts as the case of Liberia’s judicial system that has come under sustained criticism by rights activists and world’s largest democratic nation (America).
“By Paul M. Kanneh & Jesefu Morris Keita, contributing writers”.
“The constitution and law provided for an independent judiciary, but the government generally did not respect judicial independence and impartiality. Judges reportedly solicited bribes to try cases, grant bail to detainees, award damages in civil cases, or acquit defendants in criminal cases. Defense attorneys and prosecutors reportedly directed defendants to pay bribes to secure favorable decisions from judges, prosecutors, and jurors or to have court staff place cases on the docket for trial. Some judicial officials and prosecutors appeared subject to pressure, and the outcome of some trials appeared to be predetermined, especially when the accused persons were politically connected or socially prominent”, US 2023 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Liberia on
While it is truly acknowledged that we do not have the legal expertise to critique the legal substance of the recent adjudication of the Government of Liberia versus Gloria Musu Scott relative to the murder of Chaloe Musu; we are troubled by the latest pronouncement made by the Chief Justice of the top court of the Republic of Liberia.
On 28th August 2024, Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyene G. Yuoh said the discrepancies in Pathologist Kolee’s analysis were crucial factors in the reversal of the case outcome. She added that Dr. Benedict Kolee misled Judge Willie and the jury of Criminal Court ‘A’ while testifying during the trial as state witness. Chief Justice further stated that Pathologist Kolee indicated that the DNA samples collected at the home of former Chief Justice (Crime scene and the victim) were all female samples without any male sample.
However, the Chief Justice said during the cross examination by the rebuttal witness, Dr. Mathias Okeye, the US based Nigerian; Dr. Kolee changed his earlier statement when he acknowledged the presence of a male DNA on the victim’s left finger; thus, contradicting his previous statement. This, the Chief Justice said led to an incorrect life sentence for Cllr. Scott and her three family members.
But Dr. Kolee, through a media publication maintained that he stands by his testimony given in court. “I STAND BY ALL STATEMENTS MADE IN COURT during the hearing of the said case. I wish to state in clear and unequivocal terms that NO wrongs were done by me and my team in the said case; the wrong doers in this case are those who maliciously stabbed Charloe Musu at least nine times leading to her eventual murder”, said Dr. Kolee as he called on the Judiciary to focus its attention on finding the murderers of Charloe Musu.
This latest revelation coming from the Chief Justice appeared to put a serious dent on the integrity of Dr. Benedict Kolee as one of the only two home-based pathologists this country can boast and be proud of at the moment. While this is not a matter of public debate between the Chief Justice and us, we find it very impracticable to lay the blame at the feet of only one person-Pathologist Benedict Kolee.
We see a bigger problem with the entire Judiciary branch of our democratic form of government which emphasizes and promotes the equal but distinct separation of power into the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary respectively. For us, we have come to the realization that there is a fundamental issue with many anomalies that have come to characterize the judicial mishap associated with Chaloe Musu’s murder case and several others that have in recent years, brought a degree of embarrassment to the country. Furthermore, from a cursory perspective, it is quite clear to us that there seemed to be a wider systemic issue with professionalism and commitment to duty as opposed to singling out one individual whose responsibility it is to report what he sees.
That said; kindly permit us to mention few of the major legal battles that bring fruit to bear on the point being made. It is no secret that judicial officers on countless occasions have engaged in acts that bordered on dereliction of duties, thus affecting the outcomes of very important cases to the state. Such failure by judicial personnel as reported by the US State Department Report, points to systemic failure. In a nutshell, it is fair to posit that judicial officers are the ones that should be held liable because they are the ones who failed to adequately and effectively do their respective tasks.
We are reminded about the US$ 100 million Drug Case (https://thenewdawnliberia.com/suspected-drug-traffickers-to-testify-in-us100-million-cocaine-bust-case/) which our government willfully lost at Criminal Court “C” on 18th May 2023. A jury panel sitting in Monrovia with presiding Judge Blamo Dixon handed down unanimous verdict acquitting the four accused men; a major blow to Liberia’s fight against illicit drugs trafficking. As if this was not enough, Judge Dixon ordered the prosecutors to return some $200,000.00 government seized from the 4 defendants. As regards this huge judicial failure, the country ‘s traditional partner the United States expressed sadness that the suspects were acquitted.
The then US Ambassador Michael A. McCarthy said while he could not second guess the legal proceeding, he was worried that this defeat did not send a sign of weakness in enforcement to international criminal cartels.
Also, in the year 2019, the Liberian nation and political space became overheated when the Liberian Government decided to impeach a member of the Supreme Court bench, Justice Kabinah Ja’neh. Here again, the Liberian Government and to certain extent, the Judiciary, was again on display for all to see. At the end of said process, many Liberians voiced out their disapproval cum disappointment with respect to how political powers were used to undermine true justice and fair play by influencing the removal of a Justice of the Supreme Court bench. To-date, the government then under former President George Weah refused to honor the decision of the ECOWAS community’s court after the impeached Justice took an appeal there and won (https://newspublictrust.com/impeached-justice-janneh-wins-case-against-cdc-govt-at-ecowas-court#:~:text=Home,and%20Januaria%20Costa).
Not forgetting the case of businessman Amos Brosius and that of Judge Eva-Mappy Morgan of criminal court “A”, wherein Judge Eva-Mappy allowed one of the contending parties; Monrovia Oil Trading Company, to have access to the joint escrow account owned by the contending parties. Long matter short, the said case, to-date, has remained unresolved almost a decade plus. To safe face, the Judiciary Inquiry Commission suspended Justice Eva Mappy-Morgan for one year without pay and benefits. This is the head judge of a very important Court (Commercial Court) being suspended for judicial misconduct.
On 17th April 2024, the Liberian Court also acquitted American Missionary, Lucas Richards in a landmark case. Lucas was accused of attempting to murder his Liberian wife Jessica Llyold in September 2023.
All of these instances reflect a daunting image of our country judicial system and also speak to serious leadership and system failure that require more holistic approach in order to restore trust and confidence in the country justice system. It is argued that great leaders take the blame and pass on the credit. Acknowledging and learning from mistakes allow you to lead by example, and encourage your team to see mistakes not as end of the line, but as the beginning of growth. Therefore, we would like to call on Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyene G. Youh to man up in acknowledging the systemic failure and also take the lead in addressing the flagged issue as well as others not mentioned by us.
Thus, instead of dragging Dr. Benedict Kolee’s image and integrity in the mud, we admonish you Madam Chief Justice to rise to the current state of affairs and leave the poor pathologist to live in peace while you focus on addressing the age-old systemic failure, which you and your colleagues have sufficiently exploited to your advantage in order to settle personal scores. Madam Chief Justice, if the Government of Liberia could lose a 100 million drugs case that had the full backing of the most sophisticated cum powerful country, it shows that anything can happen within the Liberian judiciary such as acquitting the former Chief Justice and blaming it on the poor pathologist hired to do a piece of job.
