At the opening of the October Term of Court on Monday, October 13, both President Joseph Nyuma Boakai and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia, His Honor, Yamie QuiQui Gbeisay, agreed on the urgent need for various reforms in the judiciary. Still, they stopped short of practical, immediate actions.
President Boakai and Chief Justice Gbeisay outlined several key challenges, including judicial reform, independence, and integrity, as well as prison congestion and overcrowding of court dockets, including those of the Supreme Court of Liberia.
These challenges are not new. They have been there for as long as ever without tangible steps taken to address them. However, it appears that Liberian officials take pride in public occasions, using speeches to recount challenges as if they genuinely care about finding solutions.
They show little interest in solving the perilous problems engulfing state institutions, except to parade in the public glare, presenting or portraying themselves as problem-solvers.
The question of congestion in prisons across the country has persisted as long as the judiciary itself, despite numerous human rights reports on Liberia repeatedly flagging this issue.
The Government does nothing tangible or practical on the ground in de-congesting prisons, including the Monrovia Central Prison that has capacity to host a little over one thousand inmates for a country with a population of over 5 million, which is highly ridiculous.
When will the government allocate a budget to expand or build new prison facilities to meet the current needs of the correctional sector within the justice system? It is not enough to just talk about the problems; we must begin acting now!
“The lack of adequate prison facilities in Liberia is troublesome because, if a magistrate fails to remand a violent criminal who presents no criminal appearance bond, the magistrate is accused of bribery. On the other hand, if he sends the criminal to jail, he is told that the facility is overcrowded. This makes our job very difficult, Honorable Attorney General”, His Honor, Chief Justice Gbeisay lamented at the occasion.
But when did he become aware of this, having served on the Supreme Court bench for years under successive administrations? It was even laughable months ago, when, at a justice forum, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Gloria Musu Scott, learned that conditions at the Monrovia Central Prison are unbearable. This was after she herself had served terms at the Central Prison despite once being head of the nation’s highest court.
We believe it is not enough to merely recount and lament these problems at state functions; instead, we must endeavor sincerely to take concrete actions that will shift the paradigm from worse to better, thereby achieving the kind of Liberia we envision for ourselves and posterity.
