Boakai’s WECC ED Pick Gets Wider Approbation -Dozens of Civil Society Groups Favor Jonathan Massaquoi

MONROVIA: News of President Joseph Boakai’s appointment of one Liberia’s well-known lawyers was instantaneously greeted with loud barks and alarms in stern rejection. A group of Liberians civil society organizations had contended that the nominee, Cllr Jonathan Massaquoi, was not the right person for the much-revered position because, according to them, he was conflicted and compromised by his role in providing defense and association for war crimes indictees. The objectors argued that the man who dined and wined with individuals accused of war crimes lacked moral grounds to head the ensuing War and Economic Crimes Court (WECC). However, in the last couple of weeks, the objectors have been facing objections from civil society colleagues, nearly on a daily basis. And as The Analyst reports, the biggest pro-Massaquoi base and loudest voices of support came yesterday, July 4, 2024, from dozens of civil society organizations that drew up a strongly worded resolution in support of the WECC Executive Director nominee.

Two leading membership-based civil society organizations, the Liberia NGOs Network (LINNK) and the Solidarity & Trust for a New Day (STAND), have tendered their support to Cllr. Jonathan Massaquoi, nominated by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, to preside over the office of the much-anticipated War and Economic Crimes Court.

The Solidarity and Trust for a New Day (STAND) and the Liberia NGOs Network (LINNK), which comprises dozens of civil society organizations in a resolution signed declared their support  for the appointment of Cllr. Jonathan Massaquoi as Executive Director of the office of War and Economic Crimes court in Liberia.

It call be recalled that sooner Massaquoi was appointed by President Boakai, Liberian civil society organizations under the Coalition for the Establishment of War and Economic Crimes Court in Liberia and the human rights community released a strong statement rejecting the appointment.

The lead campaigner of the coalition, Adama Dempster, said at the time that the human rights community and CSOs were deeply troubled by the appointment of Counselor Massaquoi as head of the WECC when Massaquoi “is serving as lawyer for Madam Agnes Reeves Taylor, wife of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, in a UK court for alleged war crimes during Liberia’s civil wars”.

Mr. Dempster revealed at the time that Counselor Massaquoi was also said to have represented another war crimes indictee, Sierra Leonean national Gebril Massaquoi, who was prosecuted   by Finnish authority for crimes committed during Liberia civil war, leaving behind hundreds of victims as a result of his alleged brutal civil war atrocities in Lofa County.

Since the statement by Mr. Dempster and his group, a number of renowned Liberian lawyers and civil society organizations have come to the defense of Massaquoi, counterarguing that there was nothing wrong constitutionally and best-practice wise for a lawyer to plead for alleged criminals.

LINK and STAND have also joined the choruses supporting Massaquoi, reasoning in a joint resolution that President Boakai has got the constitutional authority to appoint an Executive Director of the office of War and Economic Crimes Court in Liberia, adding that he has rightfully exercised that power by appointing Cllr. Jonathan Massaquoi as Executive Director.

States the resolution in part: “While STAND rallies Liberians to reject all appearances and symbols of undemocratic takeovers in a few West African countries, we also believe this negative regional experience should serve as a cautionary tale for our own government to prioritize the socio-economic and human resource development of its people to strengthen their support for democratic governance. Subsequently, the Legislature, under the leadership of Speaker J. Fonati Koffa and Senate Pro Tempore Nyonblee Karngar-Lawrence, made a decision that resonated commendably with the people. With the House passing a resolution calling for the establishment of war and economic crimes courts for Liberia, which was reconciled a month later through a resolution by the Liberian Senate, STAND commends the House’s leadership and all its members for this historic step forward.

“The urgency of this national moral and legal imperative prompted STAND to issue several statements calling on the President of Liberia, H.E. Joseph N. Boakai, to establish the office of a War and Economic Crimes Court for Liberia. Against this backdrop, to ensure accountability for war crimes committed between 1979 and 2003, and economic crimes committed between 1979 and 2024, President Joseph Nyuma Boakai issued Executive Order No. 131, establishing the Office of a War and Economic Crimes Court for Liberia, and appointing Cllr. Jonathan Massaquoi as Executive Director.”

The civil society groups recalled that in May, 2005 the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was created by an act of the Legislature to investigate gross human rights violations, systematic abuses, and violations of international humanitarian law occurring in Liberia between January 1979 and 14 October 2003, and has since made a submission of its  final and consolidated reports to the Legislature.