Magistrate Displays Evidence Against Chief Justice -Wants Him Impeached
By Ora Garway
Bensonville's Stipendiary Magistrate Peter Gonsahn has presented some documentary evidence to the National Legislature including the judiciary personal account of Chief Justice Johnnie N. Lewis.
He claimed in a communication to the National Legislature that apart from the judiciary account, the Chief Justice has a personal account for the judiciary where he stored funds for his personal use. He named the personal judicial account number as 022063005600 that is currently being used at the Central Bank by Justice Lewis.
In exhibit p/1, the magistrate noted that last November shows that a discriminating act of allotting 520 gallons of fuel for only eight of more than 800 magistrates of Liberia . “Gasoline and diesel oil report for March 2008 show eight Monrovian Magistrates were given fuel, but more than that, the Chief Justice girlfriend Kebeh L. Mulbah received 100 gallons while those in the employ of the judiciary were excluded,” Peter Gonsahn averred.
The magistrate, who has launched an impeachment campaign against the Chief Justice for his alleged corrupt attitude at the judiciary, pointed out that the Chief Justice used the fund of the judiciary to purchase a car with plate number KLM-1 and a 50KVA Generator for his girlfriend Kebeh of the Township of New Georgia .
More besides, Magistrate Gonsahn noted that a relative of the Chief Justice Samuel Ross who is not an employee of the judiciary received gasoline allowance of more than 125 gallons monthly under the false title of Special Assistant to the Chief Justice for Southern Affairs and that he is stationed in Greenville, Sinoe County with a cash allowance of US$1,000 monthly.
He however said each magistrate receives the quantity of 65 gallons gasoline but he does not know why he had never received any. Magistrate Gonsahn last August filed a complaint with the speaker and members of the House of Representatives charging Justice Lewis with “misuse of public office, hijacking jurisdiction of subordinate courts, discriminative corruption in the judiciary and misapplication of entrusted property.”
Article 71 of the Liberian Constitution indicates that Chief Justice plus Associate Justices and judges of the subordinate courts may be removed upon impeachment and conviction by he Legislature based on proved misconduct, gross breach of duty, inability to perform the functions of their office, or conviction in a court of law fro treason, bribery or other infamous crimes.
