The Unruly Act of Association’s President Moses Sandy
By Gibson W. Jerue
There is one cardinal objective of journalists – the attainment of true democracy. With democracy comes rule of law, human rights, freedom of speech and of the press, good governance and social justice. These tenets are sine qua none. That is why journalists sacrifice their lives to stand in the gap for the good of the people, highlighting their messages, aspirations, grieves and general concerns. For the same reasons journalists inform the people of what their government does. All these are noble objectives that drive journalists’ resolve every day. And then comes advocacy journalism, which is deeply rooted in the heralding of the rule of law.
But there is one thing also that taints the good motive – bias. With bias comes partisanship, unprofessional and mediocre behaviors that compound the work of journalists and stain their reputation. What good is a journalist when his readers and listeners doubt his/her credibility! That brings me to the issue I wanted to discuss, which is the press release issued recently by the Association of Liberian Journalists in the Americas (ALJA). Let’s look at specifics of the press release that I thought are not only troubling, but also partisan.
In its reaction to the move by Montserrado district numbers 5 and 8, Acarous Moses Gray and Thomas Fallah, the ALJA described their action as a “ploy” to impeach Associate Justice Kabineh Ja’neh. The use of the word “ploy” beats my imagination that my colleagues would term a real time move to impeach a sitting justice as a “trick”, to define ploy. I wonder how did the journalists know it is all a trick and not real. But let’s get to the meat of the press release.
Pointer 1:
ALJA says “…the House of Representative must disengage from such action with immediacy because it doesn’t serve the best interest of the country…”
My critique:
To begin with, Representatives Gray and Fallah are taking good advantage of the laws of our country. Let me explain. Under the 1986 Constitution, which is the organic law of our land, Article 43 clearly states who has the power to prepare bill of impeachment: “The power to prepare a bill of impeachment is VESTED SOLELY in the House of Representatives…” That means Reps. Gray and Fallah are within the legal perimeters in their quest to impeach Associate Justice Ja’neh. The two lawmakers are not gathering scores of their supporters and demonstrating or picketing in front of the Temple of Justice or at the residence of the Justice. They are following the law. Any sound journalists who believes in democracy, which has one of its tenets as “rule of law”, would encourage the lawmakers to stay within the confines of the law. But rather than fight for the rule of law, the leadership of ALJA, not the rank and file, has injected themselves into the political wrangling thereby taking on partisanship posture. One question that begs answer: Had Reps. Gray and Fallah taken to the streets instead of pursuing the legal route, would ALJA then call on them to pursue the legal process? What were those journalists thinking when they demanded the lawmakers to “disengage” from the impeachment process?
Pointer 2:
The ALJA calls the impeachment proceedings as a “distraction”.
My Critique:
I don’t know what my colleagues were thinking. For them, since there is hardship in Liberia, and which has always been the case, nothing else should happen. The lawmakers have given at least one or two of their reasons for wanting to impeach Justice Ja’neh. They say the Associate Justice a) abuse his power when he allegedly commandeered a parcel of land belonging to a 90-year old woman, and b) that his judgment to do such a thing desecrates him to maintain the position of that high stature. Let’s look at why a justice of the Supreme Court may be impeached: “The Chief Justice and Associates Justices of the Supreme Court and the judges of subordinate courts of record… may be removed upon impeachment and conviction by the Legislature based on proved MISCONDUCT, gross breach of duty, inability to perform the functions of their office, or conviction in a court of law for treason, bribery or other infamous crimes.” (Article 71). Take a second look at “misconduct”. If Gray and Fallah can prove that Justice Ja’neh did commandeer or take the land of a 90-year old woman unjustly, then misconduct is proved. I wonder my colleagues read the Constitution before publishing their press release? How could they term as “distraction” allegations against a Justice of the High Court as grave as that?
Pointer 3:
The ALJA says the impeachment effort was “orchestrated” by the CDC government to remove Ja’neh.
My Critique:
The first question off the back is how did the journalists know it was orchestrated. Do they have any information that the CDC administration held a meeting, wrote internal memo, or has had problem with Ja’neh for any reason that the journalists know that we don’t know? This is preposterous! So, are they still journalists or political activists? They have accused the House of Representatives as fanning the orchestration of the CDC to remove Ja’neh. Why don’t they allow the legal process to play out before coming out with such partisan statement? You can only say it is orchestrated when you very well know with facts, not conjectures and innuendoes.
Pointer 4:
According to ALJA, the allegations against Ja’neh are not public and are “half-truths and innuendoes”.
My Critique:
By the way, my colleagues shot themselves in the leg. They claim the allegations are “half-truths”, then they are “innuendoes”. Which is it? As for half-truths, is that not why we have the legal process to separate half-truths from half-false? As the journalists demand Reps. Gray and Fallah should disengage, how do we get to the bottom of the half-truths? Or are the journalists interested in this kind of grave allegation spewed out there and left unsolved? Is that what they are interested in – for Ja’neh to deal with these allegations for the rest of life? I thought journalists should be interested in any story line or leads that allege that a government official took advantage of a 90-year old woman. Or this is no story these days for ALJA? I wonder, by the use of innuendoes here, are the journalists saying that Gray and Fallah are insinuating? Does that look like insinuation, with the submission of article of impeachment? What is wrong with my guys?
Before I end this, I like to call out Moses Sandy, President of ALJA not to behave unruly, uncouth, unprofessional and insulting to me again. He called me this morning, we talked for 30 minutes. He spoke the longest and when I was speaking, he cut the phone in my ear. I wrote this to him: “Moses, it was very rude for you [to] cut the phone in my ear. You spoke and I was speaking and you just cut the phone…that was very unintelligible, despicable, uncouth and unprofessional. Don’t ever do that to me ever again!” Since I sent that text at 8:34am Central Time, Moses has not texted, called or emailed me to explain his action. I respect him and all my colleagues, but I can take it away as fast as I could.
