By: Nat Nyuan-Bayjay,interlink2004@yahoo.com (231-6-402737/231-77-402737)

Photo by: Nat Nyuan-Bayjay

The Foundation for Human Rights and Democracy (FOHRD), Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (JPC) and the Liberia Democratic Institute (LDI) are three well known civil society organizations in Liberia that have threatened Supreme Court action against lawmakers should they maintain their stance to exonerate individuals indicted by the General Auditing Commission (GAC) audit report. “Should the House of Representatives fail to reverse its recent decision to exonerate individuals accused of financial dishonesty by audit report released by the General Auditing Commission of Liberia (GAC), we will be forced to take that body to the Supreme Court of Liberia”, said the civil society groups.

The lower level of the Liberian National Legislature, referred to as the House of Representatives, Tuesday, August 4, 2009 unanimously endorsed a recommendation from its Committee on Public Account and Expenditure which recommended that Lebanese businessman George Haddad and an official of the erstwhile National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL) Tugbeh Doe be cleared from a US$7 million iron ore sale deal while at the same time demanding re-audit of two others.

The two men, along with two other former officials of the NTGL were indicted by a GAC forensic audit which found them to have conducted improper transactions, thereby requiring them to resuscitate said amount.

The three civil society groups, represented by their heads- J. Aloysius Toe, Executive Director (FOHRD), Cllr. J. Augustine Toe, National Director (JPC) and Dan Tarpea Sayee, Executive Director (LDI) at a joint press conference Thursday warned that the action of the lawmakers is usurping the functions of both the executive and the judicial branches of the Liberian government and is a violation of Article 3 of the Liberian Constitution which states in part “that no one holding office in one branch of government shall exercise functions in the other”.

FOHRD, JPC and NDI are three of the most pro-advocacy groups in Liberia. They stated that the House is thought to be the critical custodian of the people’s hopes and aspirations consistent with the doctrine of representative democracy but is departing from its constitutionally assigned roles of lawmaking and protecting national interests and is sadly and tragically drifting into what they termed “corporate and profit adventurism.”

“We are deeply troubled and greatly disappointed that the House of Representatives will choose to review and hold committee hearings over professionally credited audit reports produced by the General Auditing Commission (GAC) and exonerate the accused persons of wrong doing. That the House of Representatives will reduce the House into courtroom and thereby play blind eye to other important national issues germane to the consolidation and strengthening of democracy is a deviation of their constitutional roles”, the civil society organizations declared.