Days after the Supreme Court ruled in the Liberty Party (LP) case, the National Chairman of the party, Musa Hassan Bility, has declared that Senator Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence is no longer the Political Leader of the party.
In an external memorandum dated April 16, 2023, Chairman Bility, as the authorized Liberty Party leadership, said, “Please be informed that the Supreme Court (SC) of Liberia has handed down its final ruling in the Petition for a Writ of Certiorari in the case Musa Hassan Bility and others of the Liberty Party (Appellees) v. National Elections Commission, Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence and Emmanuel Azango (Respondents), declaring the Liberty Party (LP) Constitution filed at the National Election Commission (NEC) and the LP leadership duly elected and inducted at the January 2021 LP Special National Convention in Gbarnga. As such, please note that the National Executive Committee, under the leadership of the National Chairman, Mr. Musa Hassan Bility, is the only body authorized to manage the day-to-day affairs of the LP.”
The memo continued, “Also, we kindly inform you that Sen. Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence is no longer the Political Leader of Liberty Party (LP). Sen. Karnga-Lawrence was expelled from the position of Political Leader in March 2022 and appealed to the Court to invalidate the expulsion on the basis that the LP National Executive Committee did not have the authority to expel her because the LP 2021 Special National Convention that voted the National Executive Committee into leadership and the Constitution that came out of that Special National Convention were both illegitimate. The recent SC Ruling has explicitly addressed both matters by declaring that both the LP 2021 Special National Convention and the resulting Constitution are legitimate and that the LP National Executive Committee is, constitutionally, clothed with the authority to manage the affairs of the Party. Additionally, as per the LP Constitution, her tenure as Political Leader has expired in October 2022.
“We ask, therefore, that you please refrain from conducting business pertaining to LP with anyone other than the National Executive Committee, under the leadership of Mr. Musa Hassan Bility.”