Justice Kabineh Ja’neh Highlights Pitfalls in Liberia’s Justice System

Many have, overtime, criticized Liberia’s Justice System sometimes describing it as weak, corrupt, unfair, and at time for sale to the highest bidder. The latest criticism comes from one of its own – Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Bench, Kabineh Ja’neh.

He spoke at an International Symposium on the State of Democratic Governance and Development in West Africa and Challenges of the future held at the Monrovia City Hall recently on the topic “The rule of law in Liberia: Access to Justice Perspective”. Justice Ja’nah examined issues, which he noted, bordered on access to justice with particular focus on Liberia’s criminal justice system“Our goal here is to highlight the challenges faced by the System and to encourage a more robust national investment in the criminal justice sector especially in the light of UNMIL departure from Liberia”.

According to Justice Ja’neh, Liberia’s justice system, particularly the criminal justice sector, is besieged by numerous and complex challenges, naming several hurdles as key to reform and desired transformation of Liberia’s justice system. These include:

1. Archaic habit by security officers of rushing to arrest suspects without gathering relevant evidence adequate to ensuring successful prosecution;
2. Perennial failure by magistrates to properly exercise their authority to issue writ of arrest only upon determination that probable cause exists, as mandated by law;
3. The passage of barrage of laws not necessarily responsive to current realities;
4. Prohibition on being called upon to answer to a capital or “infamous crime” except “upon indictment by a Grand Jury;
5. Inverse relation between number of magisterial courts and population size like in Sinoe and Grand Kru vis-à-vis Nimba, Bong and Lofa.
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Justice Ja’neh emphasized that these challenges have had serious implications within the context of our criminal justice administration.

“Some of the consequences include long pre-trial detention, prison strikes, repeated jail break attempts and mob justice actions. In my judgment, the key and most often criticized is the pervasive sluggishness at which the wheels of the justice system turn. As it stands, “Access to Justice”, particularly in the criminal justice sector, remains a hugely elusive goal. Long pre-trial detention, ladies and gentlemen, is an obtrusive violation of our Constitution (1986) and brings into question our claim of being a country operating under the “Rule of Law”.

 

Justice Ja’neh highlighted other concerns that have undermined and may continue to undermine public trust in the criminal justice system including but not limited to the following:

• Access to justice by the “poor” and prisoners.   

 

1. “A society where the vulnerable and poor majority are unable to access the courts in order to protect their fundamental rights, to challenge national actions and policies, and to put forth their claims, said society cannot justifiably claim to be under the canopy of the “Rule of Law”.
2. The rights of a good number of accused persons are being insidiously violated as suspects continue to languish in prison and detention centers for ages without being indicted or tried. Monrovia Central Prison is fast becoming the humiliating home of accused persons, especially the poor and destitute who, unfortunately, cannot afford to hire lawyers to defend their fundamental rights of due process.

• Protection of “fundamental human rights”:

 

Justice Ja’neh pointed out that a nation’s commitment to the rule of law is exhibited by adhering to internationally accepted standards, including the protection of the rights of the accused. He maintained that respect for fundamental rights is sine qua non to the preservation and sustainability of peace and security in every society.

“Transgression of fundamental rights of the people of this country by successive administrations has been identified as a key contributor to Liberia’s violent civil upheavals”. Notwithstanding these constitutionally protected rights, the rights of a good number of accused persons are being insidiously violated as suspects continue to languish in prison and detention centers for ages without being indicted or tried. Monrovia Central Prison is fast becoming the humiliating home of accused persons, especially the poor and destitute who, unfortunately, cannot afford to hire lawyers to defend their fundamental rights of due process”.

 

Statistics of pre-trial detainees at the Monrovia Central Prison is said to be alarming. According to Justice Ja’neh, reports as at March 15, 2015, show that the total number of pre-trial detainees at the Monrovia Central Prison was 691 (six hundred and ninety one). He noted that some of these detainees have been at the Monrovia Central Prison for up to at least 6 (six) years. Sex crimes detainees account for roughly 30% of the overall figure of pre-trial detainees. He emphasized that:

 

“In the current system in Liberia, an accused could remain in pre-trial detention from one (1) day to more than three hundred and sixty five (365) [EX. Austin and Robert, 2,000 days and above] due to the requirement that an indictment be presented by the Grand Jury as a condition precedent to a criminal defendant being brought in the Circuit Court to answer to any major or capital offense. Hence, detainees languish literally forever in our prisons.”

 

Meanwhile Justice Ja’neh has called for an amendment to the statute on Grand Jury composition to include perhaps a group of magistrates randomly selected from within the County to constitute its Grand Jury. “We believe that a group of magistrates, in comparison to lay persons, is better trained and situated to examine and pass on evidentiary questions”. He said the Grand Jury System, as constitutionally provided and practiced in Liberia, has become a major obstacle to according the accused his/her constitutional right to speedy trial.

 

Despite these challenges to Liberia’s criminal justice system, Justice Ja’neh commended the Government for including “Access to Justice” as a “Development Pillar” in its reform agenda. Under this Development agenda, the Liberian Government seeks to create a robust justice system that guarantees due process of law through access to justice for all. This reform agenda item is aimed at creating a truly responsive, speedy and inexpensive justice delivery system and dispute settlement for the benefit of all, without any regard to political eminence, economic and social status.

Another criticism of the criminal justice system is the availability of trained magistrates and courts not only in Monrovia but across the country. According to Justice Ja’neh, since 2006, the Government (in collaboration with development partners) has made tremendous investment in reforming and transforming our entire justice system, especially the criminal justice sector. He noted that every county now has a law school graduate as County Attorney, and an equally trained defence counsel paid by government, adding that the Judiciary, under the Government’s human capital investment initiatives, recruited more than 100 (one hundred) legally trained persons at the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, and built courts throughout Liberia to assure access to justice.

 

Concluding, Justice Ja’neh noted the most outstanding public concerns still needing answers:

 

• Why those charged with raping children, armed robbery and economic crimes are not kept in jail?
• Why is it that the court is weak and corrupt as to keep unleashing “criminals” unto the public who are so shameless as to rape children?
• Why will the justice system give freedom to those who commit the crime of siphoning huge public monies thereby depriving the country of desperately needed development funds which could be utilized to build schools and hospitals for the people of Liberia?.“Ladies and Gentlemen, it is of utmost importance to emphasize here that successful prosecution of crimes, especially crimes of interest to the general public, which include murder, rape, armed robbery and economic crimes [corruption cases], would remain a practical impossibility as long as the petit jury, the civilian component in the prosecution process, is bent on selling justice to the highest bidder.”
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