“They Are Looking for Trouble”

--Thomas Woewiyu Warns, Foresees Rebellion If…



By Bill K. Jarkloh/0886468244

Jucontee Thomas Woewiyou has broken silence after a long time of quietude on the political landscape of Liberia, warning that the government is looking for trouble if it continues to pay extravagant salaries to officials while 83 percent of the population lives on a dollar and twenty –five cents a day.

Woewiyou, a former Grand Bassa County Senator, also frowns on laws against pluralistic participation in governance, citing recent law still pending before the House of Representatives from the Senate which has raised registration for legislative positions from US$700 to US$7,500.

The New elections bill provides that one of the eligibility criteria for a candidate to contest legislative seat is to tender a non-refundable amount of US$7,500 to the National Elections Commission. But Mr. Woewiyou said if passed, the law is intended to entrench present legislators whom are paid US$15,000 of taxpayers’ money at the Legislature by preventing potential legislators from contesting their seats.

The former Minister of expressed dissatisfaction with the high salaries paid some officials, making specific reference to the US$15,000 being paid to a legislator as salary plus benefits and US$30,000 paid the Maritime Commissioner and an excess of US$20,000 paid the Minister of Finance as their respective salaries when the vast majority of taxpayers were living in abject poverty.

Some rebellion is going to start

Speaking in an exclusive interview with The ANALYST at his residence at the outskirt of Monrovia, Mr. Woewiyou considers as an “abomination and a crime against humanity” the consumption in extravagant salaries paid officials who are paying no taxes, indicating that the people are paying their hard earned money in taxes to government for their welfare. “If you are consuming whatever little society has at the detriment of others, is a crime against humanity and you should expect trouble when the people rise up against you,” Mr. Woewiyou emphasized.

He did not only speak about the high salaries paid officials and how it may be the reason for rebellion, he spoke of the new elections law that is being passed at the legislature and how raising the fees for candidates is equally an abominable offense resistible amongst others, proffering a solution to save the situation.

He said for the country to be run in a way that people are making all kinds of salaries and demanding huge benefits while 83% of the people are living on 1.25, “I think they are looking for trouble”.

“The most important thing the government should consider,” he warned, “is that as soon as citizens wake up and realize that they are living on up to 1.25 a day and paying taxes to people who are making more than 15,000 a month, then some rebellion is going to start, and we don’t want to go that route,” Mr. Woewiyou declared.

Beginning his exclusive with The ANALYST, Mr. Woewiyou, a former Defense Minister of Charles Taylor’s defunct NPFL diagnosed that the government is broke because of the manner public funds are expended to officials in huge salaries in the absence of inadequate economic activities in the country at a time there is not a lot of industries working in the country.

According to Mr. Woewiyou, “Even though we have more of less attracted this 16 billion dollar investment, the companies here are not working, they are not employing. However, when a government finds itself in such a distrait, it needs to take actions that the citizens will know that the government is broke, that the government is facing financial challenges.”

Never before even...

Questioned what then is the solution to what he called “the economy in a distrait - meaning it’s getting broke, Mr. Woewiyu said, “the solution now is is to scale down the huge salaries to US$3, 000 to US$5,000, and use the surplus from these salaries to support education and health.

“We see what happened in the health sector recently; the nurses and medical workers struck - around the country maybe there were more than three hundred of cases dying because there were no medical personnel at the hospital.”

For this, he said, :… a person living on 1.25 a day and is paying taxes, and you are taking the taxes in the name of our people and our people dying because you are taking the bulk of the taxes, that is crime against humanity. “

He explained that the government is paying to some officials, extravagant salaries that never before even when there were industries working in this country, no government was paying a salary equal to this one. “The government needs to look at the kind of salaries it is paying legislator – 15,000 USD a month plus benefits of all kinds and certain ministers of government making the excess of $20,000 a month; but 83% of the people lives on $1.25 a day,” he said.

“You just sit down and calculate the person who makes 37.50 that is 1.25 a day, if you calculate that by year which is 450.00 a year and divide it by 15,000, that is it will take that person 33 years to consume 15,000 as his earning, while it will take a civil servants who is paid $100 month 12 and a half year before he can earn 15, 000 which is the salary of one person in the government who is practically paying no tax,” Mr. went into mathematical deduction of his argument

According to him, he was appalled to have heard from the Minister of Finance and the President Pro Tempore of the Liberian Senate that the Liberian economy is in a dying state, meaning it is getting broke, but noted that these officials are saying the government is getting broke without saying why and what to do to recover from the economic doldrums that they are announcing.

Commenting on the US$30,000 monthly salary paid the Maritime Commissioner, Mr. Woewiyu said he would understand why a Liberian living here like any other individual would be paid that kind of salary when LISCR, a Shipping agency is being paid in millions to administer the Maritime Program.

He added that the President should be blamed because if she never sign the budget, it will never you into effect. “If she doesn’t sign it, if she sends it back to them telling that … what you are doing is ridiculous, you are looking for trouble,” these huge salaries wouldn’t be paid out to officials at the expense of the people and the economy.

Raining Day in Hell

Commenting on corruption as the second vice that got the economy broke, Woewiyu said the money is not used for properly and what it is budgeted for. He cited the 200 million the President reportedly spent on Public Relations to foreign firms as captured by the U. S. Congress’ report, saying that it is useless to spend such a huge amount on Public relations abroad when the Liberian people do not have safe-drinking water and electricity, which no amount of public relations will wide.

Woewiyou then described the president Senate as “law passers” who go about passing laws that will only serve their interest. He cited the new election law that is pending before the House for concurrence, which when passed will raise registration feeds from 700 to 7,5000.

The one time warlord and public official called on all Liberians to prevail on their representatives not to concur with the Senate in passing such a law that has the tendency to perpetuate bad senators in power by disenfranchising potential good legislators.

He also called on the President to veto elections law being enacted if the House should concur, saying that any attempt by the Legislature to override such a veto will be what he called “a raining day in held.”

Govt Confirms Five Suspected Ebola Deaths in Liberia

The Liberian Government through the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has confirmed the death of five persons suspected to have contracted the deadly Ebola hemorrhagic fever in Lofa County.

Addressing a special press briefing at the Ministry of Information on Monday, Liberia's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Bernice Dahn, said all of the five suspected cases were people who came from Guinea for treatment at hospitals in Foya and Zorzor Districts in Lofa County.

According to the Liberia News Agency (LINA), Dr. Dahn said four of the dead are female adults, while the fifth casualty was a male child.

Meanwhile, the Liberia's Chief Medical Officer stated that the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and its partners have dispatched an assessment team to Lofa County, to investigate the situation by tracing contacts, collecting blood samples and sensitizing local health authorities about the disease.

She said the assessment team also took with them protective equipment such as face masks, gloves and goggles to protect health workers in affected facilities.

She told the press conference that the team also took with them chlorine to disinfect the affected hospitals, as surveillance along the border is being strengthened.

The current outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic Ebola Disease, according to Dr. Dahn, said the disease started in the Guinean towns of Guekedou, Nzerekore, Kissidougou and Macenta which are very close to the Liberian border.

The Chief Medical Officer then called on Liberians to avoid direct contact with body fluids of infected or dead people as well as physical contacts such as kissing and handshakes.

She also advised Liberians in the affected areas to wash their hands frequently, avoid direct contacts or consumption of animals such as fruit bats and monkeys, and to always chlorinate their drinking water in order to prevent this deadly disease.

According to Dr. Dahn, sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat followed by vomiting, diarrhea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, as well as internal and external bleeding are all symptoms of the deadly Ebola virus and as such, persons suspected to be suffering from Ebola should be taken to the nearest health center immediately.

In a related development, tests on the suspected cases of deadly Ebola virus in Guinea's capital Conakry are negative, health officials say.

On Sunday, United Nations officials said that the virus had spread to the capital, a port city of up to two million, from remote forests in the south, where some 61 people have died.

The government has sent out text messages, urging people to stay calm and wash their hands with soap. Ebola is spread by close contact and kills between 25% and 90% of victims.

There is no known cure or vaccine, the government said, naming the symptoms of the deadly hemorrhagic disease include internal and external bleeding, diarrhea and vomiting.

Neighboring countries such as Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone are said to be on high alert in case the disease spreads. The BBC Focus on Africa TV reported that Mauritania has closed its border with Mali, for fear of Ebola. Mali borders Guinea and Mauritania.

Five people are already reported to have died in Liberia after crossing from southern Guinea for treatment, Liberia's Health Minister Walter Gwenigale told journalists, while reports from Guinea account for 50 death in Guinea.

However, it is not clear whether they had Ebola.

No Handshaking in Ganta

<b>…As Ebola Patients Transferred to JFK Hospital

The outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic disease in neighboring Guinea has not only characterized health scare in Liberia, it has also become a tool beginning to restrict a norm of Liberia, the gesture of handshaking. Since Sunday when news started filtering from Zorzor and Foyah in Lofa reporting the crossing of Ebola patients into Liberia, the first advice from health authorities and medical practitioners is warning against handshaking amongst other preventive measures. Now that the Ebola scare has transcended Lofa, moved to Nimba and now Monrovia, handshake has become a menace. With the latest report of Ebola discovery at the Ganta Methodist Hospital, the restriction of handshake has become prevalent in Ganta and other parts of Nimba; Journalist Bill K. Jarkloh reports from Monrovia. Already fear is imminent in the country since the country, Monrovia may follow Nimba restricting handshake in public places as two patients infected with the Ebola Hemorrhagic disease have been transferred to Monrovia from Ganta Methodist Hospital. Our Ganta Correspondent who was contacted confirmed that Ganta Health authorities have admitted to transferring two Ebola patients to the John F. Kennedy Hospital in Monrovia, saying that the fear of Ebola contraction has produced a social effect in Ganta, restricting handshakes amongst the population in that city. “My girl, don’t shake hand with me; you can just wave to speak,” is the reaction of most people in Ganta to handshake in that border city with Guinea since Monday, when the news of Ebola discovery in the Ganta Hospital started spreading like wildfire. Handshake is a social phenomenon in Liberia. In Liberian sociology, handshake is an expression of greetings, gesture, approval or solidarity amongst the people.

“This Ebola thing will affect our finger-snapping that is uniquely identified with the Liberian culture, Matthew Y. Gonyon,

a resident of Ganta told this reporter from that bordering city of Liberia. Ganta is socially an interactive city along the Liberian-Guinean border in northeastern Liberia; usually people from inside Guinea visit Nimba for leisure and vise, visa. But in the wake of the Ebola scare, the residents in Ganta have begun to restrict their social activities, our Ganta Correspondent Emmanuel Williams have hinted. The journalist quoted a Congolese national who is the Medical Director of the United Methodist Hospital in Ganta , Dr. Claude Monga, as saying that two suspected Ebola patients were over the weekend brought from a region bordering Guinea to Liberia, Jaykay (spelling may be faulty) from inside Guinea. But Dr. Monga, who said he has seen the symptoms of the patients familiar with those of Ebola infected persons he experience in his home Congo, noted how the patients were bleeding from their spores. He said because the Hospital did not have room for them, they were transferred to the John F. Kennedy Hospital Sunday for further medical attention. He added that additional patients that suffered gunshot wound from industrial action taken across the border came along with the two suspected Ebola patients. Before the press conference by Dr. Monga, the Medical Director of the G. W. Harley Hospital in Sanniquellie, Dr. Laurie Cooper, called for a quick impact project that will create space to secure Ebola patients coming from Guinea and discoveries that could be made in Nimba. Dr. Cooper was addressing a forum for the induction of Nimba County superintendent in Sanniquellie. She informed the Nimba Legislative Caucus to take her call seriously is at Liberia’s border with Guinea and has already started to receive Ebola patients from that neighboring country where an outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic disease is reported. The female medical doctor indicated the rest of Nimba County could be at risk with the Ebola disease spreading like wildfire. Already, the government of Liberia through the Ministry of Health & Social Welfare has announce the outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic disease in neighboring Guinea, calling on Liberians to adhere to preventive health tips that the ministry was availing to the public.

Bad Labor Practices In Maryland …Senator Ballout Foresees Trouble Maryland County Sen. John Ballout has disclosed that tension was developing in the county between citizens and managements of companies operating in the area. The Maryland County senator also told his colleagues that there is also tension developing between citizens of the county, particularly in Pleebo –Soloken District and Management of the companies, SIFISCA, Cavalla Rubber Corporation and the Maryland Oil Palm Plantation due to problems arising from the companies bad labor practices that remains unresolved by the government. Sen. Ballout explained Tuesday in the Senate Session that residents of the county especially those residing in Pleebo – Soloken District were not happy over bad labor practices by the companies in the area, which the Senator, noted could degenerate into full bloom conflict if the Senate fails to intervene. Over the years, Sen. Ballout said citizens of Maryland County have expressed their discontentment over what has been happening in the labor sector of the county, saying that the government and the Liberian senate continue to pay no attention by taking concrete actions needed to avert the looming conflict in the county. Marylanders, according to him, are peaceful citizens who may not want see things going off hands. But he said the failure of the government to intervene could serve as a key factor that could heighten the tension between the people and concessions in county to an uncontrollable state could affect the entire nation. Sen. Ballout used the opportunity to call on the Liberian Senate and entire government to began taking those steps that would prevent conflict in that county. But Martin Nyeka, the Director of Public Relations and Outreach who was contacted via mobile phone denied knowledge of any bad labor practices; he also denied having any information regarding any looming trouble between the People of Pleebo-Soloken District and the companies mentioned. Saying that that he is organizing a trip of journalists from Monrovia for an assessment visit, Nyeka told this paper that the people of the District and Marylanders in general are on good footing as far as labor practices and cooperation is concern. According to him, Senator Ballout is in a political gimmick for reasons known to him, adding that if there were any labor concerns, the Ministry of Labor would have been involved and its intervention would have calm the situation. These Companies you referred to are not above the law, the law would act against them, Nyeka added.

Don’t Undermine The Constitution, Madam President!

...There Is No Better Option Than to Comply President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf needs to be obedient to the ruling of the Supreme Court suspending the Attorney General of the Country, Justice Minister Christiana Tah from practicing law for six months no matter how faulty one may consider it. This is because it carries with it the authority of the Constitution of Liberia. Obedience to the Supreme Court’s ruling would indeed demonstrate respect for the tenets of democracy in the context of the rule of law as professed by Madam Sirleaf and her administration. Since the inception of the Sirleaf regime, the President has always professed respect for the rule of law, and if she should be taken seriously in this respect, Madam Sirleaf’s option in dealing with the Tah suspension issue should not undermine the Constitution; it should rather be a decisive action that would portray her and the government good in respect of protecting and defending the constitution, which of course is imbedded in her oath of office. Such action expected of the Madam is clearly to either remove her Justice Minister from office by appointment of acting or proper Minister of Justice pending the service of the contempt punishment meted out to Madam Tah by the high court. As the matter of fact, Minister Tah should not be made indispensable as attorney general, the forerunner of justice in the country, at the expense of the Constitution. The Issue It is recalled that sometime last year, former Agriculture Minister Chris Toe proceeded to the Civil Law Court and Complained the Front PageAfrica Newspaper through its Publisher Rodney Sieh for running what in essence of the complaint was an irking story the paper. The story was said to be culled from official audit report by the General Audit Commission (GAC). The report alleged to some extent in part or in whole that the Agriculture Ministry did not account for some money spent from public coffers to fight army worms that were destroying crops in Bong County. Toe contended that the FrontpageAfrica story was libelous and had caused him damage in the tone of US$1.5 which he went to claim; and upon hearing, the Court awarded Mr. Toe the case. Report said Rodney’s lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court but did not end the appeal process. What might have happened to derive a reprimand by the Supreme Court is still seem to be a myth, but Sieh was said to have been remanded to prison in the wake of the claimed by former Agriculture Minister Toe. When public sentiments was built as the Sieh issue became a media agenda, the FrontPageAfrica’s managing editor of illness; he was taken to the JFK Medical Center where he was taking treatment when Justice Minister Tah granted him a “Compassionate Release” based on request of Sieh’s lawyers, claiming that it was part of her constitutional duties under section 34.20 of the Criminal Procedure Law. The Attorney General did not mention whether or not the power of her office to grant “Compassionate Leave” applies in a situation where the Supreme Court has jailed someone for contempt, which was apparently in the case of Rodney Sieh. As I followed the issue, I read views of some legal minds saying Sieh's release did not accord with Liberian law, although the Minister of Justice said she had invoked the criminal procedure law to temporally release Mr. Sieh from the Monrovia Central Prison on Compassionate ground. The issue now becomes whether or not the Justice Minister has the right to grant the compassionate leave in the circumstances that had prevailed in the Rodney Sieh Case; whether or not Sieh was jailed for contempt or for Toe’s damage claim and whether or not the Supreme Court was in error in its ruling against Minister Tah. The Supreme Court Ruling So Mr. Sieh was released from the Monrovia Central Prison under a clause of the Criminal Procedural Law Section 34.20 in the Liberia Code of Law Revise (LCLR) Volume I. This law states inter alia that “…the Attorney General shall formulate rules or regulations governing compassionate leave from institutions and in accordance with such rules and regulations, may grant any prisoner to leave his institution for short periods of time, either by himself or in the custody of an officer, to visit a close relative who is seriously ill, to attend the funeral of a close relative, to return to his home during what appears to be his own illness or to return home for compelling reasons which strongly appeal to compassion.” But the Supreme Court claimed that this clause does not apply in the Sieh situation. No! The court says it cannot be reason why Mr. Sieh was release since the FrontPage Africa boss was jailed on the orders of the Supreme Court for his failure to exhaust an appeal process started by his legal counsels in his behalf. Notwithstanding, Sieh, represented by his legal counsels Beyan D. Howard and Fonati Koffa, was released by the Minister of Justice Christiana Tah through application of the “Compassionate Leave” law. Please I should not be misunderstood in the presentation of this public opinion of mine, for my argument is not to say it was wrong to release sieh; I am saying this right to freedom should have been rightly channeled to avoid the present hullabaloo, and since the high court has problem and meted out punishment to a high profile official, the President should now act decisively not to undermine the constitution of Liberia. In a communication from the Supreme Court quoted in the media, the high court sitting in its October Term commanded its marshal to invite Justice Minister Tah (on Wednesday, October 16 at 9: 00 a.m.) to show reason why she should not be held in contempt. The Court, the final arbiter for justice in the land, described as unlawful the release of Mr. Sieh having served imprisonment for over one month and two weeks with his rights to seek medical treatment respected from time to time while in prison, according to reports. The Constitution and Executive Reluctance Sieh was let out by the Justice Minister reason that led to her suspension by the Supreme Court while the court’s action carried with it the authority of the Constitution. This makes the reluctance by the Office of the President to suspend the Justice Minister or remove her from office in compliant with the high court’s ruling worrisome. Recently, the President was quoted in press release that she has taken note of Justice Minister Tah’s suspension by the high court stopping the Attorney General from practicing law, and has commenced consultations for optional action. Consultation for optional action? I must restate that this is just meant to undermine the Constitution, for any such consultation that precludes concrete action replacing the suspended official contravenes the Constitution which provides for coordination in the exercise of their separation of powers. Coordination in this context should not be seen as reason for the Supreme Court to ask for the President’s permission before ruling on judicial or constitutional matters since that would warrant interference with the dispensation of justice. In Article III of the 1986 Constitution on which Liberia presently exercises her sovereignty, it is provided that “…. Consistent with the principles of separation of powers and checks and balances, no person holding office in one of the branches shall hold office in or exercise any of the powers assigned to either of the other two branches except as otherwise provided in this Constitution; and no person holding office in one of the said branches shall serve on any autonomous public agency.” In this case, the objective of the President’s consultation is incomprehensible, since the court’s judgment was clear and comprehensible in the absence of theoretical legal knowledge of its implications. For me, I don’t understand what the President meant by wanting implication of the ruling against the Justice Minister for which she said she was consulting before action. This executive position of course contravenes Article 65 of the Constitution which says, “Judgments of the Supreme Court shall be final and binding and shall not be subject to appeal or review by any other branch of Government. Nothing in this Article shall prohibit administrative consideration of the Justifiable matter prior to review by a court of competent jurisdiction….” Besides Article 65, Article 66 of the same Constitution states that “The Supreme Court shall be final arbiter of constitutional issues and shall exercise final appellate jurisdiction in all cases whether emanating from courts of record, courts not of record, administrative agencies, autonomous agencies or any other authority, both as to law and fact except cases involving ambassadors, ministers, or cases in which a country is a party. In all such cases, the Supreme Court shall exercise original jurisdiction. The Legislature shall make no law nor create any exceptions as would deprive the Supreme Court of any of the powers granted herein.” So and in view of these citations, who is the lawyer that will advise that the President should act unconstitutionally? Certainly, the reluctance by the President to remove Minister Tah from office in support of the Supreme Court judgment leaves much to ponder. Maybe the President is saying that the Supreme Court ruling should be given another interpretation by her lawyers, and that her action would be on the basis of the outcome of her consultation, or perhaps she insinuating that the Supreme Court was wrong to have suspended Attorney General and Justice Minister Tah? Does the office of Attorney General and Justice Minister feel adequate to operate without performing its cardinal function as Dean of the Supreme Court Bar? These and many others continue to filter down rational minds in the wake of the reluctance by the President to suspend or remove from office the Attorney General and Justice Minister in adherence to the Supreme Court ruling. Since the President is concerned with implication of the ruling, the meaning of practice of law comes to the fore, in the face of the Supreme Court’s contention that the Attorney General is suspended from the practice of law for six months. In its most general sense, definition of the clause “practice of law” involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents (including legislations) for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiations and court proceedings such as lawsuits, and is applied to the professional services of a lawyer or attorney at law, barrister, solicitor, or civil law notary. This infact includes a growing number of legal document assistant services which have traditionally been offered only by lawyers and their employee paralegals. So in the case of the Attorney General who is basically the prime person to play these roles including the drafting of laws amongst others for the state, the suspension means she is stopped for the period of the suspension from doing these legal businesses for the state, especially as Dean for the Supreme Court Bar. In its opinion and judgment, the Francis Korkpor Bench adjudged: “That the respondents, Counselor Christiana P. Tah, Minister of Justice/Attorney General and Counselor Beyan D. Howard committed contempt against the judiciary. Their actions [to grant "compassionate release" to the FrontPageAfrica’s Rodney Sieh jailed last year in connection with a libel case instituted against him by former Agriculture Minister Chris Toe] were not in consonance with Section 34.20(1) of the Criminal Procedure Law of Liberia.” The Supreme Court further ruled that, “The actions of the respondents were instead deliberately intended to proceed through the Executive Branch of Government and release a prisoner who had been imprisoned for contempt of court without any reference to the Judiciary, in utter violation of the doctrine of separation of powers as enshrined in our constitution. Their actions are therefore punishable as such.” The Court further ruled that “For her role in releasing Rodney D. Sieh from prison as well as her persistent affront to this court demonstrated in her refusal to reverse the action which formed the basis for the contempt proceedings, notwithstanding her Counsel’s promise to return Rodney D. Sieh to prison, co-respondent Christiana P. Tah, Minister of Justice/Attorney General, is hereby suspended from the practice of law in the Republic of Liberia directly or indirectly for the period of six(6) months; while, for his role played in the release of Rodney D. Sieh from prison ….” Why Consultation? So what is incomprehensible that the President is holding consultation about? Who are the eminent lawyers and legal professionals [former Chief Justices and former Associate Justices of the Supreme Court] that will make President Sirleaf to fully comprehend the implications of the Court’s decision other than what is laid down in its findings? Certainly, it is quite interesting that the President who respects the rule of law will want to comprehend implications of a Supreme Court ruling before acting on it. I wonder how the President thinks the ruling has abrogated the powers of her office as President of Liberia for which her action should be undermining the organic law of the State. What the President’s office is expected to do, if she wants to retain the services of Cllr. Christiana Tah in her government as justice minister, is to temporarily appoint an acting Minister of Justice pending expiration of the six months timeline of the Supreme Court ruling, since this judgment cannot be reversed in a manner reminiscent of extending executive clemency. It also means after six month, she may reinstate her. But as it is, it would appear that the President is being carried away by sentiments of friendship, which is not a good thing for this fledgling democracy. If Ellen or her legal team knows that the Supreme Court has no business for suspending the Attorney General, it should be made clear at once, although that will change nothing to rescue Minister Tah since the Supreme Court is the final arbiter of justice, and it has said that the channel used by Minister Tah in granting the Compassionate Leave is not in line 34.20 of 1LCLR. Conclusion In conclusion, the Supreme Court would not certainly hear a case to derive the punitive measure if it has no real issue within the Justice Minister. I certainly think all of the justices wouldn’t find reason of suspending the Attorney General without any misconduct. Do they have malice against her? If the answer is a yes, then why? Whether or not there is malice, the Supreme Court is the Supreme Court given the constitutional authority to give final definition to constitutional and law issues. Therefore, the failure by the President to comply with the high court’s decision does nothing less than openly defying the authority of the Constitution of the land as inherent in the Supreme Court’s establishment. In my opinion, two wrongs cannot amount to a right. If in fact the Supreme Court was in error by the decision, the prudent thing to do is to either remove Madam Tah from office to avoid the looming constitutional crisis in sight or dialogue with the Supreme Court in the spirit of the coordination attending doctrine of separation of powers and functions, so that the high court may see reason of purging Cllr. Tah the suspension which is a punitive measure for contempt of the Supreme Court.