Monrovia — President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf celebrated the second anniversary of her presidency on Wednesday amid threats of impeachment proceedings from the opposition.
The celebration began with a service at the First United Methodist Church in Monrovia, attended by Sirleaf, members of her Unity Party (UP) and cabinet members. At the service, she briefly talked about her government’s successes but acknowledged that “there are still challenges that lie ahead.” She emphasized that her government has been able to provide some basic social services and restore peace within a short period of time.
After the prayer service, participants headed for a musical festival at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium. The event brought together many Liberian artists including the controversial Marcus Davis, alias “Sunday Guy Dear Boy,” who was recently accused of being a rebel commander at Truth and Reconciliation Conference hearings.
The accusation seemed not to affect his reputation – he electrified the crowd with his famous praise song for the president, which had her and her cabinet ministers on their feet dancing.
Amidst the celebrations, however, Liberia's two main opposition political parties, the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) of soccer legend George Weah and Charles Brumskine's Liberty Party (LP), threatened to file a bill of impeachment against the president if she fails to revoke her recent replacement of Judge James Jones. Sirleaf replaced Jones, a lower court judge, with Councillor Comfort Natt. The opposition referenced constitutional articles 71 and 72(b) as their reason for calling for impeachment.
Article 71 states, “The Chief Justice and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court and the judges of subordinate courts of record shall hold office during good behavior. They may be removed upon impeachment and conviction by the legislature based on proved misconduct, gross breach of duty, inability to perform the functions of their office, or conviction in a court of law for treason, bribery or other infamous crimes.”
A constitutional crisis involving the appointment of mayors has only just been resolved. The Supreme Court ruled last week that the president had the power to appoint mayors. It remains to be seen how the current controversy will end.
