The first cabinet ministers meeting of President Joseph N. Boakai’s administration, held on Friday at the Executive Mansion, has concluded on the cancellation of some tenure positions at public entities.
According to the President’s Legal Advisor, Cllr. Bushuben M. Keita, several tenure positions in government flout Article 56 (a) of the Liberian Constitution and the Code of Conduct.
Article 56 (a) of the Constitution states, “All cabinet ministers, deputy and assistant cabinet ministers, ambassadors, ministers and consuls, superintendents of counties and other government officials, both military and civilian, appointed by the President pursuant to this Constitution shall hold their offices at the pleasure of the President.”
Cllr. Keita, during a press briefing held at the Executive Mansion on Friday, said, “To brief you on the decision reached by the Cabinet at the first Cabinet Meeting on Friday. The decision is this: with regard to those positions that were established by statute as tenure positions in government, agencies, commission and specialized organizations, for example, you are there for four years, five years, the Cabinet has decided that those tenure positions violate Article 56 (A) of the Liberian Constitution, which says everybody who works for the Executive branch of government serves at the pleasure of the President.”
According to Legal Advisor Cllr. Keita, except for those positions protected by the Constitution, the President has set up a five-man committee to meet those occupying tenure positions at present to review their employment status and how their compensation will be like.
The government will compensate those who are in tenure positions for their remaining unexpired term, except for those who violate article 5.1, which says, “All officials appointed by the President of the Republic of Liberia shall not (a) engage in political activities, canvas or contest for elected offices; (b) use government’s facilities, equipment or resources in support of partisan or political activities, and (c) serve on a campaign team of any political party for the campaign of any independent candidate.”
“Therefore, we announced that for those individuals who have tenure positions today, whom we have evidence violated the Code of Conduct, you will be replaced and we will not compensate you. The laws are there,” the President’s Legal Advisor said.
“But if we say you violated the law, we have videographic and photographic evidence to prove that you did participate in campaign activities.”
Tenure positions were enacted into law by former President Ellen John-Sirleaf’s administration and multiplied by the CDC-led administration, headed by President George M. Weah.
But in 2019, President Weah sent a bill to the National Legislature, which both houses—the Representatives and the Senate—passed, but did not sign into law because the Senate demanded that certain portion of it be amended, which did not work.
According to political pundits, those who remain in tenure positions and still work in the new administration strangulate it and leak out sensitive pieces of information to previous government’s officials, whom they are still paying loyalty to.
For those who are in tenure positions and were appointed by former President Weah, they are not working at the will of the present President, according to Cllr. Keita.
However, in the ruling of the Supreme Court of the case, Martin Sardine Kollie vs the Executive Branch and the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) case Constitutionality of article 16.1 and article 16.2 of the new LEC Law, the Supreme Court said tenures are contracts and those contracts must be respected in keeping with Article 25 of the Constitution.
“Therefore, for all of those tenure positions, they are considered contract for a fixed period, and in such instance where there is employer and employee relationship established, and there is an unexpired portion of the contract the Supreme Court has helped and reagreed that those holding tenure positions should be compensated for the unexpired term of their tenure,” Cllr. Keita said.
