The NEWS (Monrovia)
C. Emmanuel Johnson
21 August 2008
Monrovia — The National Democratic Party of Liberia (NDPL) has filed a petition for a writ of prohibition to the Supreme Court against the Liberian Senate for imposing a six-month suspension on the President Pro-Tempore of the Liberian Senate Isaac Nyenabo.
The party, in a petition presented to the high court Justice in Chamber Jamesatta Wolokollie on August 19, 2008, prayed the court to prevent the suspension of Senator Nyenabo because it contravenes the 1986 Constitution of the Republic of Liberia.
The petitioners, including NDPL Acting Chairman Hodo Merriam and Senator Isaac Nyenabo said Article 38 of the Liberian constitution calls for each House of the Legislature to adopt its own rules.
They said it was in pursuant of this provision that the House of Senate of the 52nd Legislature, on March 13, 2006 adopted its standing rules which was re-affirmed July 3, 2007.
"Rule Number One of the Standing rule captioned opening and adjournment of annual session and section 2 thereof states: except as may be extended, regular session of the Senate shall, recess on July 31," the petition indicated.
Additionally, the party noted that Article 32(b) of the constitution also provides for the extension of the Legislature's regular session only upon certificate signed by one-fourth of the total membership of each house and by presidential proclamation calling for extension for adjournment.
But the NDPL said the Senate without any regards of the constitution and the House's standing rule declared the suspension of the President Pro-Tempore.
The party further said there was no request from the legislature for an extension of its regular session.
Petitioners further added "the proclamation for an extension of the Senate regular session was issued to the National Legislature by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on August 12, 2008."
The party indicated that the proclamation was within the context of the 1986 constitution but it did include neither suspension nor removal.
The party argued that the Liberian Senate was on recess prior to the issuance of the proclamation by the president and as such all activities conducted prior to that date of issuance had no legal support, and is therefore outside of the provision of Article 32(b) of the constitution.
The petitioners explained that the decision for suspension and expulsion must be consistent with a resolution of a two-thirds majority but divulged that suspension of the Senate Pro-Tempore was done with a vote of 13 to 11.
Against this backdrop, they further maintained that the Supreme Court should restrain the election of a senator as Pro-Tempore because Mr. Nyenabo's suspension was willful, deliberate and without justifiable cause.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The NEWS. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
