Liberty Party (LP) Senator Nyonblee Kangar-Lawrence faction and Chairman Musa Hassan Bility faction have both withdrawn, corrected, and filed separate documents of the Liberty Party controversial 2021 constitution or convention to the National Election Commission (NEC) of Liberia contrary to the mandate of the Supreme Court of Liberia that both should jointly as a party file the document to the NEC.
Chairman Musa Bility on May 2, 2022, withdrew the document made the necessary corrections and resubmitted it to the NEC as the Nyoublee Kangar-Lawrence faction on Tuesday, May 3, 2022, also filed their version to the NEC.
On Friday, April 29, 2022, the Supreme Court Justice In Chambers, Jamesetta Wolokollie, mandated the National Elections Commission to return the controversial 2021 Constitution of the Liberty Party in order to ensure its correction in line with the Farmington Memorandum signed by Mr. Bility and Senator Kangar-Lawrence and attested to by members of the National Advisory Council.
This action followed a petition for Prohibition to prohibit all further activities by Mr. Bility and the National Elections Commission pursuant to issues involving Mr. Bility and Senator Lawrence that are being handled at the level of the NEC.
Speaking at a news conference Tuesday, May 3, 2022, Senator Lawrence said they communicated with the National Elections Commission to again formally withdraw the altered constitution submitted by Mr. Musa Bility and Mr. Martin Kollah, but it did not materialize.
The Grand Bassa County Senator, on May 1, 2022, said they communicated with all the signatories to the Farmington MOU including Mr. Bility for a meeting at 9 am Tuesday, May 3, 2022, to ensure the proper corrections in keeping with the MOU are made and signed for resubmission to the NEC.
According to her, the meeting was about to start, when they received a text message from Chairman Bility informing them that he and his team worked with the NEC on May 2, 2022, to correct and resubmit the constitution in their absence in fulfillment of the 72 hours mandate which he thought expired Monday.
Madam Kangar-Lawrence indicated for Mr. Bility to have submitted the document to the NEC without their knowledge it shows that he is violating the Supreme Court order, disrespecting the Liberty Party constitution and the National Election regulation and guidelines.
“We informed Mr. Bility that in keeping with the Liberian civil procedure law section 1.7, the 72 hours does not include Sunday and therefore expires yesterday May 3, 2022, she sent him a copy of the law and encouraged him and his team to attend the meeting” she noted.
The Senator narrated that Musa Bility was also informed that NEC has no jurisdiction over their corrections process, and doing it together as a party was in keeping with the mandate from the court, NEC regulation, and the Liberty Party Constitution, adding that up to the end of the 72 hours yesterday, there was no response from Mr. Bility.
“However, we are pleased to announce that we have concluded the process in keeping with the mandate of the court, and have resubmitted the corrected version of the constitution in keeping with the Farmington MOU and the NEC regulation 3.4 (d).”
Section 3.4 (d) of the NEC regulation provides that within 10 days following the convention, a political party shall submit to the commission a list of its national and local officials, including those of the national executive committee indicating the political sub-division that each of them represents. The said submission shall be under the signatures of both the chairperson and Secretary-General of the convention committee.
According to Lawmaker, Mr. Musa Bility was not the Chairman of the convention and should not have signed and submitted the constitution to the NEC and still has no such authority to sign and resubmit after the alterations are changed to the actual versions.
She disclosed that a copy of the resubmitted version signed by the Convention Chairperson and the convention Secretary-General in keeping with the NEC above regulation has also been sent to the office of the Justice in Chambers.
The Grand Bassa County Lawmaker however used the occasion to call out to the National Elections Commission for the unfortunate role it played and continues to play in fueling their intra-party conflict, stating that the problem they have in LP today May not have reached this far had NEC acted properly within the scope of its rules and regulations.
“Today, it remains a searching question why NEC, having received the Farmington Report in which the parties committed to correcting the constitution, insisted on recognizing the instrument as an authentic document, and why the NEC is still getting involved with guiding our corrections process? Senator Kangar-Lawrence questioned.
Meanwhile, she added that she wishes to state that as an institution that was established to play its rightful role in the building of a democratic culture with its attending benefits anchored on good governance and the observance of rule of law, we must keep our focus on those values. We must not fall prey to the manipulation of individuals and institutions that could be promoting external agenda.
Senator Kanagar-Lawrence said apart from the NEC’s Guidelines that clearly provide how political parties should file convention reports, the NEC’s rules also frown on, and regard as an offense, the submission of false and misleading information to it. Why did it flow with the 2021 Constitution, even after the facts were made available to it?
She noted that they are worried by the NEC’s handling of this matter and the NEC has not only proven its dishonorably and partiality in this matter but has also raised the red flag against itself.
“2023 is such a defining moment for the peace of Liberia. We will not leave it to chance. Hence, in the coming days and weeks, we will engage stakeholders from a broad spectrum of the society in the view of forming a consolidated position on the NEC, as is currently constituted” Madam Kanagar-Lawrence explained.
” I wish to conclude this statement by informing you that all other legal matters before the Lower Court remain. Pending their resolution, I, again, call for calm amongst our partisans. Of paramount importance, those of us who hold leadership roles must take the lead as we endeavor to bring calm to Liberty Party” She encouraged members.
