S/Court orders Finance Minister arrested
– for impeding the judiciary’s functions
By Lincoln G. Peters
Liberia’s Supreme Court has ordered the country’s Finance Minister Samuel Tweah arrested for allegedly hindering the functioning of the judiciary.
A court arrest order dated 7 November 2022 is authorized by all four sitting Justices of the nation’s highest court.
The court has five justices, but a new presidential nominee must be confirmed by the Liberian Senate to complete the number.
At the time of the release of the order, sources say Mr. Tweah was not in the country.
However, the high court demanded the immediate arrest of his living body to show cause why he shouldn’t be held in contempt for creating a constitutional crisis against the judiciary.
The court order did not give details about how Mr. Tweah is hindering the functioning of the judiciary.
But there have been claims in some quarters which this paper is yet to verify that salaries for judicial workers have been delayed for some time now.
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Sources have hinted that since she took over the Judicial branch of government, Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyene G. Yuoh has held meetings with workers allegedly surrounding similar concerns.
There is no official information available surrounding what the issues were, but rumors have been about salary issues.
The writ of arrest which is signed by the clerk of the Supreme Court, Cllr. Sam Momolu directed the Marshal of the Court Amos B. Kesseh Dickson to arrest the living body of Minister Tweah.
“By directive of the full bench of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Liberia, you are hereby commanded to arrest the living body of Samuel D. Tweah, Minister of Finance,” the writ ordered.
It added that Minister Tweah should show cause why he should not be held in contempt of court for impeding the function of the court and creating a constitutional crisis for the judiciary.
