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It was a cool evening on Monday, Jan 27, 2025, when officials of the Liberian Government, heads of embassies near Monrovia, international partners, representatives of local and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and ordinary Liberian citizens gathered on the grounds of the National Legislature of Liberia (Capitol Building) to listen to President Joseph Nyumah Boakai’s second State of the Nation Address (SONA).
This action by the president is enshrined in chapter 58 of the 1986 constitution of the Republic of Liberia.
“The President shall, on the fourth working Monday in January of each year, present the administration’s legislative program for the ensuing session and shall once a year report to the Legislature on the state of the Republic. The report shall cover expenditure and income in presenting the Republic’s economic condition,” Article 58 of the 1986 constitution states.
Though not constitutional, this tradition, as old as the founding of Liberia mandated the three branches of government—the Legislature, the Executive, and the Judiciary to be present at the presentation of the State of the Nation Address.
During this second SONA of President Boakai, the full bench of the Supreme Court of Liberia refused to show up without any official reasons for their action.
When DUBAWA contacted the official spokesperson of the Judiciary via WhatsApp, Cllr Darryl Ambrose Nmah said he could not speak for the entire Supreme Court bench, but what he knew was that the Chief Justice, Cllr. Sie-A-Nyene Yuoh was out of the country on an official duty.
Cllr. Nmah said, “The Supreme Court of Liberia did not make a decision not to attend the SONA. Whilst I cannot say why the Associate Justices did not attend because I am not in Liberia, I can’t say for a fact that the Chief Justice was absent from the SONA because she is currently out of the country on official duties and the absence of the Associate Justices was not a decision taken by the Bench.”
Also, before the SONA, during the funeral service of the late Nimba County Senator and former Warlord turned politician, Senator Prince Y. Johnson, Associate Justice, Cllr. Yamie Quiqui Gbeisay said that the Supreme Court would always want to be seen as neutral and avoid the court’s presence where national and political concerns are apparent.
Associate Justice Gbeisay said, “In a politically charged situation as our country finds itself today, the judiciary, which is a technical and neutral arm of the government, chooses to be very tactical, and we are tactical because, in the event where people are coming in conflict with the law, the Supreme Court would like to maintain quorum outside any programme so that in the event there is a problem, the Supreme Court is always prepared to solve that problem.”
Many Liberians view Associate Justice Gbeisay’s statement as a prime reason the full Supreme Court was not present at the SONA, as there is already a political crisis within the House of Representatives.
What are the issues at the House of Representatives?
There is currently a power struggle within the House of Representatives over the speakership of that august body.
Over forty members of the House Representatives have refused to work with the current speaker. Cllr. Jonathan Fonati Kofa had accused him of a conflict of interest and many other allegations.
As a result, those lawmakers moved from the original chambers of the House of Representatives into its separate chamber, where they elected their speaker, Montserrado County District #11 lawmaker Richard Nagbe Koon.
This action of the lawmakers led to embattled House Speaker Kofa’s flight to the Court of Liberia for adjudication, and the court ruled that their action was ultra-vires.
Still unhappy with the events after the high court’s ruling, especially with what he believes to be the wrong interpretation of the court’s ruling by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Liberia, Counselor N. Oswald Tweh, the embattled speaker, again filed a Bill of Petition at the Supreme Court, a matter that is still currently before that body.
Some public sections believe it is because the judges have not yet given their verdict on the case that they decided not to show up at the State of the Nation Address.
What are lawyers saying?
Counselor Ricard Yourfield is a Liberian lawyer. He phoned in on OK Morning Rushing, a talk show aired on a local radio station, OK 99.5 FM, and said that the absence of the full Supreme Court bench from the just-ended SONA can not be considered a boycott but an attempt to be seen as neutral in the ongoing impasse at the House of Representatives since an appeal is already before that body.
Also, Counsellor James Nyenpan disagrees with his colleagues on the matter and says, “The SONA is a national event that brings together all three branches of the government. It is not about who is sitting or not but about the president giving his legislative report and his plan of action for the coming year. So the Supreme Court’s boycott is as a result of precedence and nothing else.”
The two lawyers’ assertions are found between 1:0858 to 1:15:40 hour/minutes/seconds of the over two-hour show, which was carried live on the entity’s live Facebook feed
Conclusion
At present, it is unclear why the full bench of the Supreme Court did not attend the second SONA of President Joseph Boakai without any official statement from the court.
