MONROVIA: Following series of agitations from some Liberians calling for the institutions of government to stop Senators-elect Nathaniel F. McGill and Bill Tweahway of Margibi and Rivercess County, respectively for alleged corruption, a civil society group, Clean Democracy (CD) has said in as much as it is the right of every Liberian to speak against corruption, only convictions secured through courts of competent jurisdiction are the only point of reliance to punish anyone such as stopping people from taking up public offices.
In a press release issued yesterday and signed by Paygar Samuel III, acting head of Secretariat of the organization, said its attention has been drawn to some “misinformed agitations without any legal reliance going on in the country which need to be flagged up with the view of providing pieces of advice that will guide the people against being misled”
“What is so worrisome is the fact that most of those who are behind these activities are people that are regarded as legal minded people having studied law at the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, University of Liberia and even practicing the profession at the highest level.
“What this means is that some of these people believe that they can make money from these kinds of activism that are not based on principle and this is the tragedy we found ourselves”, the release said.
The organization signaled a disclaimer that they do not have anything in common with Messrs McGill and Tweahway, but their interest was to educate the public against what they called “miscarriage of justice and media trials” intended to ruin the reputation of fellow citizens with the intent to “materially benefit from a scheme without conscience”.
Clean Democracy said those who are interested to combat corruption in the country must themselves try to be objective and truthful in whatever they advocate otherwise they will abuse the rights of others while also injuring them in the process. The group said the option open to anybody desirous of prosecuting the two politicians is to prevail on the United States government to provide the evidence on the indictment either to the government of Liberia or to civil society institutions so that they can be used to pursue the case in court.
“We have to set up an agenda that we are serious to fight corruption and we do not think it will be a wrong idea if we can prevail on the US government to pass on the evidence to either the government or the civil society groups so that legal actions can be taken against the those who have been indicted.
“What we need to understand in the first place is it does not mean that the contents of the indictment are factual; they have to be tested in our courts and not the courts of public opinion”, the group indicated.
CD furthered that said McGill and Tweahway contested the elections under the Liberian laws and there was no evidence presented from anywhere that they were ever convicted for any crime and therefore it makes no sense now to stop them from being certificated or taking their seats which they legally won.
The body quoted Article 81 of the 1986 constitution to buttress their case: “Any citizen, political party, organization, or association, being resident in Liberia, of Liberian nationality or origin and not otherwise disqualified under the provisions of this Constitution and laws of the land, shall have the right to canvass for the votes for any political party or candidate at any election, provided that corporate and business organizations and labor unions are excluded from so canvassing directly or indirectly in whatsoever form”.
It said there could be a twist to the whole agitation if both McGill and Tweahway decide to approach the courts to sue their accusers for character defamation and demand for compensation for attempting to ruin their reputation.
In conclusion, the organization called on the institutions of government being lobbied by the agitators not to dignify their advocacy “because they do not want to use the law to pursue their allegations since they will not have anything to prove”.
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