The Liberian National Bar Association (LNBA) on Thursday, February 15, 2024 ended a day-long engagement discussion with political parties, religious leaders and the media community on non-violent dispute resolution (ADR) and post-election democracy and peace consolidation in Monrovia; Cynthia Quinisier reports.
The initiative is in fulfillment of the LNBA and the National Elections Commission (NEC) Electoral Project, which is supported by the United Nations Development Program UNDP, Europe Union, amongst others.
The stakeholders engagement dialogue, which was held Thursday, February 15, 2024 in Monrovia, brought together political parties, the civil society organizations, religious leaders, media community as well as members of the public.
The interactive symposium was brainstormed under the theme, “Raising Awareness and Seeking Commitment to Non-Violent Dispute Resolution (ADR) as well as on Post-Elections Democracy and Peace Consolidation”.
The dialogue brought to a closure the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Electoral Support Project (LNBACNP) that was launched September 19, 2023, which aimed at strengthening the legal capacity of Liberian lawyers and providing civic engagement for stakeholders across the fifteen counties of Liberia.
The project came about due to a MoU among stakeholders, that included the LNBA and the NEC, to execute a grant of US$150,000. The initiative is the LNBA collaboration with the NEC project.
Also, the objective of the project was to initiate collaboration with the NEC and stakeholders to ensure successful conduct of the 2023 presidential and legislative elections and support the NEC on its effectiveness in the disposal of election cases and increase public knowledge, particularly lawyers, aspirants and political parties and leaders of legal electoral process to reduce court dockets.
Speaking during remarks, LNBA President Cllr. Sylvester D. Rennie extolled the participants for honoring the invitation for the closure of the project, saying that the consolidation of Liberia’s peace and democracy rested on the collective effort of every Liberian hand.
He said this project was developed by the LNBA to ensure there was a partnership with NEC in connection with the electoral program.
According to him, “Now we have come to see how we can brainstorm on the consolidation of peace and democracy in the country.”
The president said, based upon some missteps they saw along the way on the part of lawyers and NEC, they decided to come in to build the capacity of lawyers, civil society organizations, media and stakeholders to ensure peaceful elections and understanding of legal electoral processes.
Cllr. Rennie disclosed that not understanding the law sometimes created problems in the past, the LNBA sees the decongestion of electoral complaints carried by political parties and lawyers as a major concern to be addressed.
“Also, during the program, the security sector was informed about their roles and responsibilities because of partisan security around here. First phase, we visited Montserrado, Nimba, Grand Bassa, Bomi, Grand Gedeh, and the last phase concluded with the rest of the counties. We also provided civic education during the run-off election,” he concluded.
At the same time, Barley Togba, from the Grassroots Agency for Social Service and National Program Coordinator in Bassa, called on partners to extend the training in the communities.
He said one of the issues confronting the people is understanding the laws, and UNDP needs to help the LNBA in making sure it brings some of the project at the community level.
Meanwhile, the political parties were represented by two persons: one from Liberia First Movement Party and the other from the Movement for Progressive Change (MPC). The President of Grand Kru County Bar Association, Cllr. Bongeweh Nah Mabande, also made remarks.