Monrovia, Liberia – A resolution seeking the impeachment of Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyene G. Youh, citing misconduct and gross breach of duty, is set to be introduced by the House Majority Bloc, led by Speaker Richard Nagbe Koon, according to The Liberian Investigator.
The draft resolution, which The Liberian Investigator said it obtained, accuses Justice Youh of inciting a constitutional crisis, obstructing the judiciary, engaging in nepotism, and defrauding the public treasury. The Liberian Investigator noted that it has not independently verified any of these allegations against the Chief Justice.
Since Speaker Fonati Koffa was removed, there have been tensions between the legislative branch and the judiciary. In light of the House of Representatives’ leadership crisis, the resolution claims that the Chief Justice’s failure to schedule important cases has left the nation in a state of uncertainty.
According to the resolution, Chief Justice Youh has declined to set hearing dates on important petitions pertaining to the House’s continuing leadership crisis. As a result, the document claims, there is “a continuous and current constitutional crisis with two members claiming the Speakership and no adjudication of the matter.” The House enacted many laws, including the National Budget, but the standoff has raised questions about their legitimacy.
The resolution further charges Justice Youh with organizing her fellow justices on the Supreme Court bench to abstain from President Joseph Boakai’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) due to the Justice Minister’s interpretation of a Supreme Court decision on the House leadership crisis. The document claimed that this was a “surreptitious artifice” to weaken the Executive’s power.
The resolution claimed that Chief Justice Youh has influenced court nominations in order to further her political and personal agenda. It asserted that in an attempt to rid the judiciary of those who disagree with her orders, she “submitted to the President a list of magistrates whose terms should not be renewed,” notwithstanding their qualifications and moral character.
The document added that the Chief Justice’s actions have weakened the rule of law and jeopardized judicial independence, stating that the selection of magistrates is a presidential duty that should not be influenced by the Chief Justice.
Chief Justice Youh is also accused of nepotism by the House Majority Bloc, which says she selected her biological daughter as a special assistant in her office even though she was unqualified. This purported act of favoritism, according to the resolution, produced “a special level of employee not accountable generally to the system but only to her mother.”
Lawmakers have accused the Chief Justice of financial impropriety, claiming that although her daughter works at a private medical institution, she is included on the government payroll. The document claims that it constitutes fraud against the public treasury to continuously pay money from government coffers to someone who merely serves the government.
Credit: The Liberian Investigator
