There are too many people only now talking about Tuesday’s Referendum, and to me it is late for most of these conversations. On Wednesday, December 2, 2020, Mr. Alexander B. Cummings read a joint statement on behalf of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP), the Rainbow Alliance, Student Unification Party of the University of Liberia (SUP), other opposition parties, and civil society organizations calling for the resignation of the current Board of Commissioners of the National Elections Commission (NEC), “given their partisan nature, inexperience and ineptitude,” and the postponement of the December 2020 Referendum claiming that the Referendum is illegal. I believe that we should not be having such a conversation less than a week before the inevitable Midterm Senatorial Election, By-Election and Referendum. These claims by a person who says he intends to help our country be better is categorically misleading.
I say this because public reports attest that conversations about the Referendum started before August 2020. It was an opposition lawmaker, Senator Varney Sherman (Grand Cape Mount), who submitted the propositions to the House of Senate after the Bill to amend 25 Articles of the 1986 Constitution of the Republic of Liberia, put forth by President Weah, were initially dismissed by the Senate based on “standing” (a legal term for someone to prove sufficient connection to an issue or situation). This is why I am shocked to see the same opposition fooling the public with their last minute “intervention,” as if they have not known about all these happenings for over a year.
In the Supreme Court’s judgement on the petition by CPP and Rainbow Alliance (opposition parties) for a writ to prohibit the National Elections Commission (NEC) and the Government of Liberia from conducting the Referendum on December 8, 2020, the opposition parties (in relevant parts) argued that the manner in which the Government of Liberia is going about to amend the eight Articles of the 1986 Constitution was in violation of the Constitution. The opposition parties argued that the Government only had 3 ballot options summarizing the amendments, instead of the 8 separate propositions, and they also argued that there has been no adequate public awareness and campaign for citizens to be able to make informed decisions regarding the Referendum. Thus, “the Government [failed], neglected, and refused to conduct massive education and awareness on the Referendum” as is required according to Article 92 of the Constitution.
On the other hand, the Government of Liberia and NEC argued that the opposition parties did not have standing to request the Supreme Court to grant the writ and listed several reasons why the prohibition should not be granted (without the contesting facts alleged by opposition parties).
However, the Supreme Court disagreed with the Government and said that CPP does have standing to bring NEC to court based on Article 79 of the 1986 Constitution and the Joinder Rule in The Revised Code 1:5:55(1) of the Civil Procedure Law of Liberia. The Court also refused to set guidelines and define what “sufficient public awareness and education” by NEC asserting that doing so would usurp the functions and authority of the Executive Branch of government.
Even the Supreme Court called out the opposition parties for their last minute noise making (in the ruling) when the Court pointed out that the “Official Gazette was published since October 8, 2019, more than a year before [CPP and Rainbow Alliance decided to file the petition before the] Court.” The ruling says (on the next to the last paragraph on page 17) that the lawyers of the CPP and Rainbow Alliance could not give any logical explanation for the late filing of the petition, so the Court decided that the late filing was only to be emblematic or sluggish without considering how much of taxpayers money have been spent already in preparation for the election.
Regarding the Oppositions’ second argument, the Court ruled that the condensation of the 8 Propositions into 3 options/categories by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Official Gazette infringed on voters’ right to exercise their choice, as 1 proposed amendment stood alone as the 1st Proposition, 5 proposed amendments were summarized to one as the 2nd Proposition, and 2 proposed amendments were condensed as the 3rd Proposition. The Court ruled that the summarization of the proposed amendments was “a violation of the letter and intent of the Constitution and the citizens’ rights of choice.” Therefore, the Court mandated the Government of Liberia and NEC to follow the provision of Article 92 of the Constitution and state each of the Propositions separately on the ballots “to afford voters the opportunity to exercise their right of choice,” not that the Referendum is illegal (as Mr. Cummings and the opposition parties claim).
Based on this context, I think all the confusions and the issues we have regarding this Referendum could have been avoided a long time ago if the Legislature had given adequate time to the process of developing the proposed amendments and had informed their deliberations with expert testimonies on viable options and explanations of how the results could play out. I say this because these Propositions were only discussed in closed Executive Sessions and ceremoniously voted upon in the opened Plenary Sessions in 2019, according to legislative reports. I think the conversations to be held now should be the ones explaining why we should vote for or against the Propositions on the ballot, not just vote “yes” or “no” to all the options, because the latter doesn’t help us in any way. Voting yes or no means nothing if you don’t know why you’re voting.
I should emphasize here that choosing not to vote in this Referendum is just as bad as our Government choosing not to tend to the social security and welfare of its citizens, because voting in elections and referenda is our inherent responsibility as citizens of the country we claim to have at heart.
Authored by: Joshua S. Kulah
Featured Image by: ISPI
So then what should we do?
Because not all of us are educated about this whole referendum thing and voting no or yes doesn’t make any difference by not voting.
Well said bro. Thank you
Liberia is weeping; she’s struggling to seeing a son rising up in her favor. her heart grew wistful as she recalled the disservices rendered her by leaders over many years. Liberian Politicians subscribed to”Unhygienic Politics” (if it’s not me, it can’t be you). This continues to undermine the progress of Liberia. They failed to realize that as a nation, we must have common goal (interest to make Liberia better). But they have been engulfed with greed and pride.
The oppositions lacked the organization of goals and objectives. Inner-pride and greed is causing weakness and distractions within the CPP. This is still shows that there’s not yet an organized team whose aim is to help Liberia. All I see and feel about them is, they’re struggling to gain for themselves and forget Liberia as it has been. This Political struggle is 2:4 (four CPP and two collation CDC), yet, the CPP lacked the momentum to have proper check on the government. The referendum has been in existence almost two years; the “late concern” of the CPP is another evidence of disorganization thereby making noise to alert the masses that they (CPP) are working in the interest of the people which of course is not credible.
The Legislature render the worst treatment towards the people of Liberia. They persuaded the masses that they could protect them in the aspects of Political, economic, and social, thereby receiving the power of the people. However, the Legislature execute their managerial duties without the concent of the people Thereof.
The masses, due to the failure of the Legislature to live in harmony with them and educate them on issues of governance, believe that most of the problems they’re faced with are the results of the executive inability to care for them. I agree that the executive has some lapses. But if we had caring Legislature the executive could be aided thereby producing fruitful results for the society.