Lawyers representing Suspended Director General of the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NAFAA), Madam Emma Metieh Glassco, have filed a lawsuit before the West African Regional Court of Justice (the ECOWAS Court), against the administration of President Joseph N. Boakai.
In Madam Glassco's lawsuit filed by both Counselors Kabineh M. Ja'neh and Sayma Syreniuus Cephus, she (Madam Glassco) sought an order to compel the respondent to issue a public apology for falsely portraying her as corrupt.
According to the suit, the action of the government subjected her to all sorts of fictitious investigation and made her to become a complete outcast and a public enemy number one, unjustifiably in her own country, without any evidence.
Madam Glassco's lawyers had told the Court that their client should receive the sum of US$250,000 (Two Hundred Fifty thousand US Dollars) for expenses including attorney's fees, travel and others associated with the institution of the action.
According to the lawsuit, Glassco's indefinite suspension by President Boakai, amounting to dismissal or her removal as Director General, is a flagrant violation of the NaFAA Act.
She further said she was subjected to an investigation by the office of the OMBUDSMAN without any rules and procedures being put in place as far as preservation of due process clause is concerned.
Madam Glassco also argued that her suspension in the absence of an investigation violated her constitutional rights under the 1986 Constitution, particularly Article 20 (a).
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That Article expressly states: "No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, security of the person, property, privilege or any other right except as the outcome of a hearing judgment consistent with the provisions laid down in this Constitution and in accordance with due process of law..."]"
Glassco contended that, though she as Director General holds office for a term of four years..., consistent with the Sections 3.4.2 of the ACT establishing the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NAFAA), President Boakai suspended her based on the Board of Directors Resolution, instead of affording her the opportunity to defend herself under the due process rights doctrine.
She said, it is the authority of the Respondent Republic responsible for appointing public officials including those with fixed term of office, as in the instance of Applicant.
But the applicable law in the case at bar provides that the appointing authority may remove the Director General only for "cause" which can be established through due process of law, as set forth under Article 20 (a) of the 1986 Constitution.
Madam Glassco was appointed by former President George Weah and subsequently confirmed by the Senate on February 15, 2022, as "Director General, National Fisheries & and Aquaculture Authority, (NAFAA).
The question remains to be answered whether Madam Glassco's lawyers exhausted all of the legal proceedings in the country including the Supreme Court of the Republic of Liberia before running to the ECOWAS Court
