Challenges Several Provisions Of LACC Amended Act
MONROVIA: The embattled Executive Chairperson of the Liberia Anti-corruption Commission (LACC), Cllr. Edwin Kla Martin, has petitioned the Supreme Court of Liberia, challenging some provisions of the amended and re-stated act of the LACC.
In his petition, Cllr. Martin, argued that some provisions of the new act are discriminatory and totally contradict the 1986 Constitution of Liberia and therefore should not be allowed to stand.
Petitioner Martin says sections 16.1 and 16.2 of the new LACC Act passed by the National Legislature in July 2022 was a clear and flagrant violation of the principles and doctrine of expo facto law as enshrined in Article 21 of the 1986 Constitution of the Republic of Liberia.
Martin called on the Supreme Court of Liberia, headed by Sie-A-Nyene Yuoh as Chief Justice, to place a prohibition on the respondent by restraining and enjoining said respondents from enforcing sections 16.1 and 16.2 of the Act to amend and re-state the LACC act of 2022.
He said the new law passed by the Legislature on July 22, 2022, cannot affect him as he was nominated, confirmed, and appointed by the President of Liberia for a period of five years before the passage of the new law and therefore the law is expo facto.
Martin told the Supreme Court that the decision by the Legislature to pass such an Act meant that they were taking on to itself the authority of dismissing him which is legally the responsibility of the President of Liberia.
The Country’s Anti-Corruption Chief said he can only be removed for gross breach of duty, misconduct in office, or any proven act of corruption as enshrined in Article 6.8 of the 2008 Act creating the LACC.
Keen observers are of the view that Cllr. Martin’s petition is yet the first test for the new Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyene Yuoh and her Bench to dispense justice where it belongs, as she has in recent times promised to uphold the rule of law.
