–Requests Executive To Revisit Budget Submission
The Judiciary Branch of government, through the Supreme Court of Liberia, has rejected appropriations made for it in the 2024 fiscal budget of the Republic of Liberia.
On June 5, 2024, the Judiciary released a statement, in which it viewed the appropriation/allocation of US$17 million and a one-off “contingency” amount of US$3 million, constituting 2.8% of the national budget, as an imposition by both the Legislative and Executive branches of government on a co-equal branch of the same government, which it is not prepared to accept.
“While the Supreme Court acknowledges and upholds the power bestowed upon the Legislature to ‘make appropriations for the fiscal governance of the Republic’ as enshrined in Article 34(d) of the Liberian Constitution (1986), this court has also upheld the long-standing principle of Constitutional interpretation, which states, in part, ‘the Constitution must be interpreted in light of the entire document rather than a sequestrated pronouncement, as every provision of the Constitution is of equal importance. None of the provisions of the constitution should be interpreted to nullify or substantially impair the other provisions…’
“It is within this legal context that Chapter VII of the Liberian Constitution (1986) and the supporting statutes within the New Judiciary Law impose a legal obligation upon the Judiciary Branch to effectively and efficiently manage the Supreme Court of Liberia and all of its administrative units, 22 circuit courts across the 15 political subdivisions of this country along with its judges and staff, 75 specialized courts across the 15 political subdivisions of this country with their judges and staff as well as 160 magisterial courts also across the 15 political subdivisions of this country with their magistrates and staff in order to ensure that the rule of law prevails within the borders of our country,” the Judiciary release observed.
The Judiciary underscored that the lack of adequate financial support to the Judiciary by the government over the years has resulted into deteriorating infrastructure, lack of logistics and worsening conditions of service at the Judiciary, and that this is substantially impairing the duty of the Judiciary, as mandated by the provisions of Chapter VII of the Constitution, which was cited previously.
The third branch of government maintained that it views the allocation of US$17 million and a one-off “contingency” amount of US$3 million, constituting 2.8% of the national budget, as an imposition by both the Legislative and Executive branches of government on a co-equal branch of the same government and an abuse of the power given the Legislature under Article 34 (d) of the Constitution, in that, such appropriation undermines the function of another branch of government, which it is not prepared to accept.
In the release, the Liberian Judiciary disclosed that, in the spirit of coordination and cooperation, meetings were held with the leadership of the Legislature and the Presidency prior to the passage of this year’s fiscal budget, in which the Judiciary brought to the attention of its other two co-equal branches of the Liberian government that the constant violation of the Financial Autonomy Act of the Judiciary Law, which consistently relegated an entire branch of government to a mere department under the Executive Branch, was not only undermining the rule of law, but also debasing a co-equal branch of government.
“It appears evident, however, from the passage of the Fiscal Budget 2024, that both the Legislative and Executive branches of the Liberian government are not prepared to regard the Judiciary as a co-equal branch of the same government with attending needs as they have elected to appropriate a meager 2.8% of the national budget to the Judiciary (the 2nd largest branch), whilst the Legislative Branch (the smallest) allocates 13.84% to itself and 83.36% to the Executive Branch despite assurances made that such serious concerns of the Judiciary were going to be addressed, even if not in its entirety. This the Judiciary views as unfair, unjust and an attempt by the other two branches of government to further reduce the Liberian Judiciary to nothing; a condition unacceptable to the Liberian Judiciary,” the release noted.
The Judiciary then called on its co-equal branches, the Legislative and Executive branches, to take immediate actions to address this very serious issue by revisiting the budget submission presented to the Legislature through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning by Her Honor the Chief Justice, in accordance with the Financial Autonomy Act of the New Judiciary Law, to avoid any further obstruction of judicial functions within the Republic.