Trial Judge Places Stay Order on All Proceedings of PUL including Induction

A stay order has with immediate effect been placed on all proceedings of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) including a so-called induction ceremony, scheduled for Friday, 23 December 2022.

The stay order was imposed by the Resident Circuit Judge presiding in the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in Gbarnga, Bong County.

Judge J. Boima Kontoe placed the stay order on Thursday, 15 December 2022, during the Reading of the Mandate of the Supreme Court, ordering him to resume jurisdiction and proceed in keeping with law into the controversy surrounding the PUL 2022 Congress and subsequent elections.

The stay order was requested by lawyers representing Team Kanubah on grounds that the illegal occupiers of the PUL leadership and so-called elected officers of the PUL pose a threat to the Union by their decision to conduct elections and plan induction, meant to undermine the outcome of the proceedings into the Petition for Declaratory Judgment.

The Action for Declaratory Judgement was filed against the PUL now erstwhile administration of Charles Coffey and Daniel Nyakonah as well as the Membership Committee chaired by Fabine Kwiah, the ad-hoc Congress Committee chaired by Carolyn Myers-Zoduah, and the ad-hoc sub-Committee on Elections and Inauguration chaired by Atty. Ade Wede Kekuleh.

The Action for Declaratory Judgment along with a motion for Preliminary Injunction was filed by the National Campaign Management Team of Julius Kanubah for the PUL presidency.

In the petition, Team Kanubah criticized the conduct of the PUL 2022 elections because of several violations of the Union’s Constitution in relation to the Membership Register.

The violations, Team Kanubah insisted, amounted to acts of electoral fraud, because the PUL Full Membership Register (Voter Roll) was not published on time and disaggregated as required under Article 10 Section 7 of the PUL Constitution.

Moreover, the Full Membership Register (Voter Roll) was flooded with non-journalists and ineligible members (voters) including interns, cub-reporters, criminals, and high school students.

Team Kanubah is of the view that the stay order marks the beginning of a significant step in the pursuit of justice and electoral integrity in the PUL after back-to-back cases of voter roll fraud under former President Charles Coffey and former Vice President Daniel Nyakonah.

We will work to ensure that those bent on hijacking the leadership of the PUL are legally exposed and brought to book in a bid to restore credibility, integrity and dignity to our Union which was built upon the principles of democracy.