A draft bill seeking for the establishment of a war and economic crimes court has been wrongly presented to the House of Representatives. On Thursday, June 24, 2021 a group of lawyers, under the banner, Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA), in collaboration with the Association of Civil Society Organizations, presented the bill to the House’s Committee on Claims and Petitions.
What is being considered as a misplacement of the much-talked-about war and economic crimes court draft bill is that the bill was not supposed to be submitted to the Committee on Claims and Petitions because the instrument is not a petition to be given to that Committee, whose responsibility is to receive petitions and not bills.
In accordance with legislative proceeding, a bill is to be introduced or sponsored by sitting lawmakers. Instead of the draft bill being submitted to an individual lawmaker or group of lawmakers for its introduction in plenary, the instrument was wrongly presented to the Committee on Claims and Petitions.
The function of the Claims and Petitions Committee is to receive all claims and petitions for onward submission to the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Upon receiving the petition document from the committee, the Speaker uses his/her own judgment in placing the document on the agenda for plenary’s deliberation, which will lead to action.
The Hot Pepper has been informed that the Speaker did not receive the bill seeking for the establishment of a war and economic crimes court from the Committee’s Chairman, Nimba County’s district #4 Representative, Gonpu Kargon. According to a source, the Speaker informed the Nimba lawmaker that his function as the presiding officer is not to introduce or sponsor bills. The Speaker, according to the legislative source, rejected the bill on ground that the Committee function was not to receive the bill.
“We are here today to submit to you, for your honorable consideration, a draft bill for the establishment of a war and economic crimes court, as recommended by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The bill was drafted by the Liberian National Bar Association (LNBA) as its contribution to our collective efforts for the full implementation of the recommendations of the TRC,” a letter attached to the bill reads.
The submission was done by LNBA President, Cllr. Tiawon Gongloe, and with a cross-section of civil society organizations’ officials.