By Sallu K.Swaray
The Bomi County Senator, Sando D. Johnsonhas accused Senate Pro-Tempore Albert Tugbeh Chie of tampering with 9th ballots intended to acquit former Associate Justice Kabineh M. Jan’eh, saying that Pro-temp Chie took the actual ballots in the ballot box and returned with it the next day with a surprising result.
Johnson believed that Jan’eh would have been acquitted if the ballots were to be counted instantly after voting and notedthat taking the ballot box home to return it the next day was problematic for Associate Justice Jan’eh.
He indicated, “The ballots to acquit Ja’neh was tampered with because after the day of the voting, Senator Chie took the ballot box comprising the ballot papers to his house and returned with it the next day to give the results.” This, he accentuated, resulted to the unconstitutional removal of Associate Justice Ja’neh from office.
Accordingly, the Bomi County Senator said he will testify at the ECOWAS Court should Justice Jan’eh advance to the court an appeal of his impeachment, if he (Johnson) is given the opportunity to do so. Senator Johnson furthered that he will testify against the illegal impeachment of the former Supreme Court Justicebecause his removal from the Supreme Court Bench was unconstitutional and politically motivated.
Sen. Johnsonfrowned that the manner in which some of his colleagues voted to impeachJustice Jan’eh was a breach of the constitution, if the ballots were the true votes of members of the Senate. “If I am given the chance to go to the ECOWAS Court to testify, I will testify against my colleagues at the Liberian Senate, because Jan’eh removal was not only illegal but also unconstitional.”
The Bomi County lawmaker noted, “I see Ja’neh impeachment as personal vendetta and it is bordered around the integrity of our country Liberia, the Supreme Court and the country’s Constitution, which we have always pledged to uphold, defend and protect.”
Senator Johnson reiterated that the Ja’neh impeachment has created an embarrassment to the Liberian people, the country’s image as well as the international community because such impeachment did not go the proper way.
He promised to launch an all-out campaign against those senators who voted to remove Kabineh Ja’neh from office. He pledged that come 2020,he will go county to county to campaign in the constituencies against those senators who voted for the illegal impeachment of Cllr. Ja’neh.
Justice Jan’eh was impeached for granting a Petition for a writ of Prohibition applied for by petroleum dealers to stop the collection of the levy/tax $0.30 from the pump price of petroleum sold in the country, a decision by the senate which stands against Article 73 of the Liberian Constitution which protects and immunes justices and judges of the Supreme Court and other lower courts from reprimand for their opinions, judgments and statements made while functioning in their official capacities.
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