Africa-Press – Liberia. Mr Sam K. Zinnah is calling on the executive chairperson of Liberia Anti-corruption Commission (LACC) Cllr. Edward Kla Martins to resign following the decision by Cllr.
Martins and the LACC to proceed with the allegation against the Chairperson of the National Elections Commission Davidetta Browne Lansanah in the manner they did, which Zinnah said clearly shows the subjective intention and motive of the LACC.
Zinnah, a former senatorial candidate in the just ended by-election on the ticket of the opposition Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) in Gbarpolu County told Smart News Liberia in an exclusive interview that it is now overtly clear that LACC is more political than neutral, credible, and objective – and it is dangerous for Liberia’s infant democracy.
“Cllr.
Edwin Martin, a lawyer by profession, is fully aware that the LACC does not have prosecutors’ power or authority to proceed to court without first assaulting the 90 days statutory period,” Mr Zinnah indicated.
According to him, the LACC boss and his LACC chose to bypass Justice Minister Musa Dean because they know Minister Dean knows better and would have never signed on to such elementary violation or disrespect of the law. Subjective procedure:
Zinnah further said in the interview that during the LACC so-called investigation of the allegation against the NEC boss, there was consistently weekly leaks of the investigation thus showing clearly that the process was marked and marred by fraud with the intent to prejudice the outcome of the investigation.
The former senatorial candidate claimed at the end of the investigation, NEC was not served a copy of the outcome or findings of the investigation, instead, Cllr.
Martins held a press conference and read out a statement that was not on paper, adding, “That action indicated that they (LACC) were fixing the report to match their subjective process. By that action, NEC Boss countered the LACC press statement and referred to the LACC verbal claims as “lies. ”
“Without LACC making her report, (findings and recommendations) public, they chose to ignore the law that requires LACC to forward the case to the Justice Ministry, they (LACC) proceeded to Court and drew up the indictment against NEC Boss.
Something they did not and do/does not have the authority to do. ” Zinnah further stressed that the bill submitted to the Legislature, if passed, to grant or give LACC prosecutor authority, is still pending before the Legislature.
How can Cllr. Martins and all the Lawyers at LACC start using the law that is not even passed by the Legislature and signed into law by the President of the Republic of Liberia?
“The procurement or bidding procedure or process does not start with the boss of the entity.
It starts with the procurement committee which comprises of bid document preparation, publication, review committee, approval of qualified bidders listing, review of submitted bid documents, evaluation committee, and award of contract to winner(s) of the bid.
“These processes are presided over by different committees and departments. So, if any violation was done by NEC, which is yet to be proven by Cllr. Martins and his LACC, it means all the Commissioners of the NEC should be held liable.
Subjectively selecting one Commissioner and blaming the action of the Commission on that Commissioner is clearly a tactic designed to unfairly target that person,” Zinnah said. He said he believes that Cllr.
Martins and all the Lawyers at LACC must immediately face the Grievance and Ethics Committee of the Supreme Court of Liberia for flagrantly disrespecting the law, especially with the intent to prejudice the investigation.
“I am calling for the immediate resignation of LACC Chairman Cllr. Edwin Martins.
His action has brought serious credibility question to the LACC, An institution that is supposed to be objective, neutral and credible. The subjective trend introduced by Cllr.
Martins is dangerous to Liberia’s infant Democracy,” he concluded. Meanwhile, efforts made by Smart News Liberia to get the side of LACC through the Executive Director Moses Kowo prove fruitless as his mobile phone (0776404240) rang endlessly.
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