Chief Justice Henry Reed Cooper

MONROVIA, October 21 – The Supreme Court of Liberia has dispelled widespread belief that the Judicial Branch of government has received no substantial support, momentary or otherwise, to date from the international community.

The Court also informed the public that UNMIL (the United Nations Mission in Liberia) has made no “vibrant initiative to position judges in the rural parts of war devastated Liberia.”

However, the Court acknowledged that UNMIL has assisted with the transportation of some judges to their various assignments.

Concerning logistics and staff support, the Court said a good segment of the population has been made to believe that the international community has been supporting the judicial branch, financially and otherwise.

The Court made the remarks yesterday in reaction to a preliminary statement recently issued by a 40-member multinational delegation of the National Democratic Institute and the Carter Center regarding the unfolding electoral process.

The preliminary statement was published in the October 17 edition of the Daily Observer. Some relevant portions of the statement read thus: “Pre-Election Supreme Court Cases. Shortly before the elections, the Supreme Court issued decisions regarding the electoral process. In one of these cases, the court ruled that voters may mark two choices on their ballot papers concerning candidates for the Senate. This decision was announced belatedly by the Court, leaving little time for implementation by the NEC. In another, the court ruled that a number of candidates previously rejected by NEC should be given an opportunity to correct deficiencies in their applications … However, the scenario sounding these developments raised tensions and illustrated potential problems in the legal framework, particularly concerning redress of electoral disputes, which may have implications for the broader elections process.”

In a statement signed by Counsellor Yusif D. Kaba, Relieving Judge and Acting Court Administrator, the Court said the preliminary statement gave wrong impression of the Liberian judiciary.

Regarding the comment that the Supreme Court action in deciding the COTOL election case was “belated,” which means to make little or delay beyond the usual time, or appearing pass the normal or proper time, the Court said the public should know that the comment is unfair.

“The normal time for completing an appeal to our Supreme Court is 60 days from the date of a decision by a lower court or body; and the Supreme Court usually takes at least four months after Opening the Term, before it renders decisions.”

Concerning pre-elections matters, in the absence of any procedures in the Elections Laws, the Supreme Court decided that such cases be heard immediately; and it did not do so only because NEC asked for more time to file briefs.

The court went on to give a long list of timeframe in which the COTOL case was handled, maintaining that the COTOL case was not handled belatedly but as soon as possible after that case was heard by the Supreme Court, and with speed considering the lack of logistics and sufficient support staff for the Supreme Court.

“Decisions of the Supreme Court will, of course, be late in a process for appeal if a case reaches the Supreme Court late.”

It is interesting to note, the court said, that in the same statement on page 5 of the Daily Observer, under the sub-heading: Legal Framework for Elections, the authors of the statement included the following sentence: “One problematic area concerns ambiguities in the processing and resolution of electoral disputes and challenges of electoral results.”

According to the court, “ambiguities” in the statute initiated by the NEC and enacted by the NTLA were numerous and glaring, especially concerning the appeal procedure for pre-elections cases that came to the Supreme Court. “It was the Supreme Court that quickly took steps to fill-in the void as to avoid confusion with respect to the handling of these cases,” the court said.

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