The Unity Party (UP) of President-elect Joseph N. Boakai has withdrawn a lawsuit earlier filed against the Speaker of the House of Representative and Representative of Grand Kru County’s district #2, Cllr. Jonathan Fonati Koffa and the National Elections Commission (NEC). However, the withdrawal was made with reservation.
The withdrawal was made on behalf of the party and its leadership through its legal representation: Cllr. Benedict K. Sagbeh, Cllr. Zarzar Lighe, Cllr. Moiffie Kanneh and Cllr. Cole Bangalu.
In the notice of withdrawal addressed to the Clerk of the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court and dated January 17, 2024, the UP said, “You will please take judicial notice and spread upon the records of this Honorable Court that petitioner in the above-mentioned cause of action has on this day and date withdrawn its petition for declaratory judgment with reservation. And for so doing, this shall constitute you legal and sufficient authority in the premises. Respectfully submitted, Unity Party (UP), petitioner, by and thru its legal counsels.”
On January 15, 2024, at about 12:30 p.m., a few hours before the election of Cllr. Koffa as Speaker of the House, The Unity Party (UP), by and through its National Chairman, Rev. J. Luther Tarpeh, Secretary General, Amos Tweh and all other officials of the party dragged Cllr. Koffa and the National Elections Commission (NEC) to the Civil Law Court, requesting a petition for declaratory judgment to boot out Cllr. Koffa from the candidacy of the Speakership of the House.
According to the petition of the in-coming ruling party, Cllr. Koffa was not qualified to occupy an elected position under Liberian law; as such, the court should nullify his election as Representative of Grand Kru County’s district #2 in the October 10 general and presidential elections, which will subsequently affect and cause him to relinquish his position as Speaker of the House.
The Unity Party relied on Article 4 Section 1 of the act amending and/or nullifying certain provisions of the Alien and Nationality Law relating to citizenship and restoring the citizenship rights lost as a consequence of those provisions. The article reads, “A Liberian citizen who holds the citizenship of another country shall not be eligible for any elective public office while still a citizen of another country. Should such person desire to contest for elective public office, the person must renounce the citizenship of the other country at least one (1) year prior to applying to the National Elections Commission to contest for an elective public office and such documentary evidence of such renunciation of citizenship of the other country shall be filed with a circuit court in Liberia and with the National Elections Commission (NEC) at least one (1) year before application to the National Elections Commission to contest for the elective public office.”
The court, after receiving the petition for declaratory judgment, gave Cllr. Koffa ten (10) days to respond.
However, barely two days since the petition was prayed for, the Unity Party has made a U-turn on their decision and has withdrawn the petition for unexplained reasons.
According to sources close to Ambassador Boakai, after the speakership election on Monday, Cllr. Koffa met with the President-elect behind closed doors, discussing a wide range of issues of national concern. It is being rumored that Cllr. Koffa has either extended an olive branch to Ambassador Boakai or threatened, along with his supporters, to boycott the inauguration ceremony, one of which may have brokered the peace between them and causing the President-elect to prevail over his party to rescind on the petition.
The Constitution requires that, at the time of inauguration, the President is required under the Constitution to take a presidential oath promising to preserve and defend the Constitution and faithfully execute the law. The oath is administered by the Chief Justice of Liberia in front of a joint session of the Legislature. This means in the absence of a quorum of the joint session of the House and Senate, inauguration cannot take place.
Apparently for fear that his inauguration may be threatened, President-elect Boakai may have intervened in the matter.
However, observers are saying that, if this is the case, the UP, after the inauguration, could influence members of the House to rise up against Cllr. Koffa’s Speakership and cause for his impeachment from the position. They quickly pointed out that this may be difficult to achieve, as the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) is the dominant party in the lower house, and so the effort of the new administration may just be a waste of time and resources.
The observers wondered who is politically advising the Unity Party (UP), pointing out several coordinated errors between their winning of the November run-off election to the date of the inauguration. They say this does not augur well for the transition, especially with the entire country being divided into almost two equal halves. They warned that, if the UP is to be successful in the next six years, they will have to be extremely careful as to how they handle the political affairs of the country, or they may create an army of enemies against themselves in the first year of their rule.