Weah’s election fraudulent

A former Liberian Foreign Minister has described soccer star turned politician Congress for Democratic Change or CDC George Weah’s election as Senator in December 2014 as fraudulent.

Cllr. Momolu V. Sackor Sirleaf also stated that the current head of the Special Presidential Taskforce probing past and present government officials accused of receiving nearly a US1 million bribe, Minister without portfolio Cllr. Jonathan Fonati Koffi is not qualified to bring any charges against Liberians. He says his work will be the fruit of poisonous tree.

“… Mr. Jonathan Fonati Koffa is, unfortunately, among the thousands of people who have automatically lost their Liberian citizenships, and it does not matter, whether he was born in Chicago, Illinois, or Monrovia, Liberia,” he said.

Addressing journalists at a news conference here on Friday September 2, Cllr. Sirleaf said if Weah can described the pending 2017 Presidential and Legislative elections scheduled for October 2017 as a period of true liberation in the first truly free, fair and transparent election here then it means his election in 2014, including those in which Sen. Weah ran and lost and the one in which he became a senator have not been “truly, free, fair and transparent.”

Cllr. Sirleaf whose news conference focused on the validity of the present Liberian Constitution said Liberia’s Constitution is invalid, claiming that every government, since 1980, including President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s has been an interim government.”

“… [But], amidst all of these frenzied maneuverings for fleeting political power, our politicians have not yet realized that, firstly, we have not had a valid constitution since 1980,” he said.

Cllr. Sirleaf argued that Liberia’s first unconstitutional change of government was in 1871 when President Edward J. Roye of the True Whig Party was overthrown by “light-skinned black politicians.”

For a period of 103 years from 1877 until 1980, he said “there were only smooth transitions” here, adding that “every government since 1980 has been an interim government, which came to power after violent struggles, and not by the …suspended 1847 Constitution, nor the abortive-and-aborted PRC Constitution.”

He said if [politicians] here argue that the aborted PRC Constitution is valid …, then “they are all guilty of treason under Article 76 (a) (1), (4) & (5) of that invalid constitution, for conspiring, organizing, supporting, funding, and/or participating in armed rebellions which eventually killed him.”

On the most controversial topic-dual citizenship, Cllr. Sirleaf said Liberians who have taken up citizenship of other countries have lost their citizenships. “ … [They] would therefore be shocked to learn that in addition to the fact that dual citizenship is currently illegal under the laws of our country, they have automatically lost their Liberian citizenships!” he noted.

He said since fraudulently procuring Liberian citizenship is a felony … “if we” do not correctly constitutionalize the rights of natural-born Liberians and their off-springs who find themselves in this dilemma, they will be placed in the same category as those naturalized citizens who have fraudulently procured their citizenships.

“The urgency for President Sirleaf and the Legislature to correct this dilemma is exemplified by the fact that in the current Global Witness confusion, Mr. Jonathan Fonati Koffa is, unfortunately, among the thousands of people who have automatically lost their Liberian citizenships, and it does not matter, whether he was born in Chicago, Illinois, or Monrovia, Liberia,” he said.

Though the Counselor said he hates the existing law, he however, suggested that Mr. Fonati Koffa is disqualified from being an Attorney-at-Law, or bringing any charges against Liberian citizens or officials, noting that “all his work products will remain fruits of the poisonous tree.”

“ … [Until] we correct the situation, his investigation or obtaining of an indictment of Liberian Government officials is invalid ab initio, (Latin word meaning from) and never legally happened; since we cannot pass ex post facto laws, we must urgently constitutionalize the appropriate remedy for this injustice, consistent with the purpose of our existence as a sovereign nation,” he said.

-Edited by Othello B. Garblah