Liberia: Restoring Justice - Liberia's Path From Rule of Outlaw to Rule of Law

opinion

Liberia moves away from being a country of injustice to being a country of Justice only by moving away from the Rule of Outlaw to the Rule of Law. It is due to the fact that Liberia is ruled by the Rule of Outlaw that the longstanding problem of poverty continues to prevail in Liberia. The National Elections Commission (NEC) of Liberia, the legal body for supervising elections in Liberia, operates in ways that violate the Constitution of Liberia. This violation leads to violence that, at times, takes on the forms of coup d'etat and civil war, both of which have been experienced by Liberians.

On account of this experience, the people of Liberia declare: We want Peace! No more war!

It is due to this experience that the people of Liberia conclude: Liberia is headed in the wrong direction (Afrobarometer. 2020). To place Liberia in the right direction, the people who love Liberia have taken actions through the Rule of Law to motivate the publication of several Commentaries to help solve problems in Liberia.

NEC, in its supervision of the October 10th Election, continues the bad electoral record of the holding of elections in Liberia. Look at the violation of the Rule of Law by NEC when NEC declares wrongly that the voting date for the second round election is November 14th. The correct gate for the second round election is November 7th, the second Tuesday after the announcement of the final results by NEC. This date is set in the second sentence of Article 83(b) of the Constitution of Liberia. To allow NEC to prevail in having the voting on November 14th is to continue the prevailing Rule of Outlaw in Liberia. This prevailing Rule of Outlaw must be stopped. The continuous Rule of Outlaw leads to violence. The good news is that the people who who love Liberia have the capacity to stop this Rule of Outlaw.

Witness how this Rule of Outlaw is being stopped. It is being stopped by non-violent actions. The members of the 52nd and 53rd National Legislatures who wanted to be re-elected were not re-elected. The same outcome befell the Legislators from the 54th Legislature, not forgetting the candidates with bad records who wanted to be elected on October 10th.

This outcome did not happen by accident, as nothing happens by. This outcome happened through the raising of awareness to spread knowledge about the records of candidates. Upon becoming aware, voters said that they were not going to vote for them because they, the candidates, would be selfish just like the previous candidates.

How can this bad electoral system be transformed into a good electoral system? For the sake of credibility, the two contending political parties in the second round should exercise their respective constitutional responsibilities to make the transformation. However, this transformation can come as the people who love Liberia continue to raise awareness to motivate the voters to vote for persons with good records who, upon election, will bring Justice, the only ingredient for Peace in Liberia and in any other country.

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