Despite his serial unsuccessful exploits to obtain the Liberian presidency, Cllr Charles Walker remains unarguably one of Liberia’s respected patriots and dedicated statesman and politician. And one thing characteristic of his lifestyle, at least as genuinely demonstrated over the years, is his positive engagement with any ruling party and his non-violent but rule of law advocacy for greater democracy, good governance and durable peace in the country. And the citizenry remains continuously knowledgeable of this honorable disposition and grateful to him. A Liberian group, the Excellent Sports and Intellectual Association (ESIA) on Friday, March 8, 2019 has presented their gratefulness to this revered Liberian jurist a bit overt and external, decorating him with an accolade titled, “Father of Democracy in Liberia”. The Analyst’s Anthony Q. Jiffan reports.
The vision bearer of the opposition Liberty Party (LP) Counselor Charles W. Brumskine has received accolade as Father of Democracy from a group of intellectuals under the banner Excellent Sports and Intellectual Association (ESIA).
Justifying the Accolade
The group has pinned the accolade’s justification to Cllr. Brumskine’s exceptionally lawful temperament demonstrated during the 2017 general and Presidential elections.
ESIA said they were awarding the opposition leader and legal luminary with the “Father of Democracy in Liberia” award for his contributions towards the sustainability of the Liberian democracy and stance in the maintenance of peace that Liberians have enjoyed for about 13 years.
Presenting the Certificate of Honor to Cllr. Brumskine, the Chairman of Excellent Sports and Intellectual Association (ESIA), Mr. Smith Peters said following consultations amongst members of the institution, they unanimously singled out Cllr. Charles W. Brumskine as a person who deserves such prestigious award for his contributions to the country’s democracy and support for a peaceful co-existence.
He said ESIA has understood that there were times that Liberia went to elections and people were disenchanted due to what they termed as ‘unfair practices’ carried out during those elections, and their way of addressing the situations was going to the bushes which took the country through many years of crises.
“You did not go that way when you saw the illegality during the 2017 elections as a respecter of the rule of law, you took the legal position instead of brutalizing peaceful citizens” He said.
According to ESIA president, those things that Cllr. Brumskine observed were similar to what led other Liberians to have brought war into the country.
Mr. Peters also indicated that the honor bestowed upon the Liberian legal luminary is in recognition of his positive legal actions, especially the one taken following the 2017 general and presidential elections by seeking redress of his grievances through the court and not business as usual, the path that led others to the bushes.
Receiving the Certificate of Honor Friday, March 7, 2019 at the well-attended ceremony on Carey Street, Cllr. Brumskine said Liberians must always choose using the rule of law in resolving critical national issues instead of resorting to violence which has the propensity to destabilize the peace that the country now enjoys.
Lawful during tense elections times
Cllr. Brumskine said, as the Standard Bearer his Liberty Party, did their best following the pronouncement of the results during the 2017 elections when the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) and the Unity Party (UP) were declared for a run-off by challenging the process through the court system and ensured that no one got hurt from their action that would otherwise have come.
“We did our best to challenge the results from the first round of the 2017 elections when we saw that the process was not transparent,” he said of the result in which he took the fourth place.
“We took the legal stance and made sure that none of our people got hurt form our action; that’s the kind of Liberia we want.”
He informed the gathering about his experience over similar attitude of unfair practices in the 2005 elections but did not take the challenge as he did in 2017 because Liberia’s peace was very fragile at that time, and as such a position taken in recent time could not be better in the past so he let it go in the interest of the Liberian people.
Cllr Brumskine further sad: “I felt the same unfair practices in the 2005 elections just as I felt in 2017; but our country just came from a transitional government and so we had a very fragile peace. So I thought that the judiciary system could not even be tested.”
He mentioned that he would have chosen to get in the streets, go to the bushes and destabilize the peace and security of the nation like others who felt the same way he felt in 2017, but refused to do so but rather chose to do due diligence to the Liberian Constitution which requires every Liberian to channel their dissatisfaction through the legal process.
Bending Rule of Law in Kabineh Ja’neh Impeachment
Cllr. Brumskine used the platform of his honoring program to speak about corruption, which he said can destroy the outlook of the nation but any bend of the rule of law is a damage to the entire system.
He specifically indicated that the process to impeach Associate Justice Kabineh Ja’neh by the Liberian Senate is in contradiction of the Constitution.
“The impeachment against Justice Ja’neh is unconstitutional and interestingly,” he stressed, adding that the Chief Justice of this country “sits there and does not have anything to say about that when he is aware that the legislature is proceeding wrongly against the Associate Justice.”
Cllr. Brumskine opined that the legislature did not craft any procedure for the impeachment against Justice Ja’neh, noting that they are making mockery of the law because all of the counts levied against the embattled Associate Justice are non-substantial and cannot be used to impeach an associate justice.
Comments on Audit of US$25m Mopping Up Exercise
The LP Party Founding Standard Bearer lauded President Weah for ordering the General Auditing Commission (GAC) to conduct a full scaled audit into the US$25m which was intended for the mopping exercise to bring about stability in the Liberian economy.
Cllr Brumskine however said such audit should not be conducted by GAC which is a government commissioned audit institution but instead must be done a foreign and independent audit firm to carry out such responsibility to ensure credibility.
Comments are closed.