The Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia or CENTAL has expressed serious dismay over President Boakai's latest decision to appoint individuals to key government institutions that hold tenured positions.
CENTAL Program Director Attorney Gerald D. Yeakula told reporters on Wednesday, February 21, 2024, in a news conference that the Center is concerned about recent appointments made by President Boakai that have affected tenured positions at public entities.
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press: we wish to highlight that tenured security is a settled matter and that interferences with it in the form of appointments to positions of active tenures are unlawful", he argues.
President Joseph Boakai nominated several individuals to the Board of the Liberia Telecommunications Authority, Governance Commission, National Lottery Authority, Environmental Protection Agency, National Identification Registry, among others, pending senate confirmation.
But in a three-page press statement, Atty. Yeakula says he is taken aback by those appointments, which he says are being made without regard to tenured security that are provided in relevant laws.
According to him, the action of the President does not only violate relevant laws but undermines the tenets of good governance which Mr. Boakai seeks to promote and defend.
The CENTAL program manager notes that given President Boakai's professed commitment to good governance, and the fight against corruption, it's of great importance that the President's actions are consistent with what he professes.
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He says Liberians cannot afford a continuation of disregard for the rule of law and promotion of political interest, at the expense of their hard-fought and growing democracy.
"We cannot continue to repeat the same mistakes of yesterday when such can early be avoided", he cautioned, noting that this must not be business as usual, keen attention must be paid to the excesses of yesterday to avert recurrence.
Meanwhile, Atty. Yeakula is calling on President Boakai to recall nominees made to positions occupied by persons with active tenures.
"President Boakai should constitute the membership of the National Environment Policy Council of Liberia to allow for a recruitment process for the position of the Executive Director of the EPA, consistent with section 16 of the EPA act", he suggests.
He says that CENTAL believes the trend of interim appointments constitutes deliberate actions that do not comply with the EPA act, saying this will be business as usual and not deviating from the ugly past, which the President has severally promised.
