Is Gov’t Travel Ban against 5 Public Officials Unconstitutional?

In a dramatic twist, the Monrovia City Court presided over by Stipendiary Magistrate Jomah Jallah on Friday, August 14 issued an order restraining several senior government officials from traveling outside of the country, while they are currently being investigated by authority of the Liberia Anti-corruption Commission (LACC).

On the banned persons, the court issued a Writ of Ne Exeat Republica as prayed for by the government through the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) as plaintiff.

This is an equitable writ restraining a person from leaving the jurisdiction of the court or the state, according to the Black’s Law Dictionary.

It is also issued to ensure satisfaction of a claim against a defendant.

The Friday's writ was issued on the suspended Managing director of the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC), Duannah A. Kamara and his Deputy Managing Director for Finance, Sensee J. Morris, and Charles McArthur Gull, managing director of the Port of Buchanan his Chief Statistician, Amara Kamara, who was also suspended and the dismissed Managing Director of the Liberia Airport Authority (LAA), Bishop John Allan Klayee.

Even though the LACC has yet to conclude with its investigation, the Magistrate Jallah's writ claimed that the defendants are about to leave the bailiwick of the Republic to foreign parts, much to the surprise of the plaintiff. 

“And, that the magistrate, having been duly satisfied upon an application filed by the plaintiff, orders a writ of Ne of Exeat Republica.”

However, the lawyer representing the legal interest of Kamara, Counselor Amara Sheriff, has filed a resistance to Magistrate Jallah’s traveling ban, arguing that it is a clear violation of his client’s constitutional rights to due process. 

Kamara was suspended by President George Weah over a leaked recording on questionable authorization of US$900,000 for a contractor, an accusation Kamara has repeatedly denied.

The Jallah's writ further instructed that, “if the defendants cannot give a bail approved by the court, you will be in the common jail of Montserrado County to remain there until they file such bail and security.”

In counter-reaction, Cllr. Sheriff wondered how the magistrate arrived at the writ, when in fact, the prosecutors had not drawn up an indictment or a formal complaint for the crime that led to his client’s suspension.

“Kamara was never given the opportunity to be heard in keeping with due process of the law, nor was he ever brought under the jurisdiction of this court, prior to the issuance of the writ,” Cllr. Sheriff said, challenging

the magistrate action. “His decision will argued and defeated, because it is unconstitutional, illegal, arbitrary and intended to damage his reputation.” 

According to Sheriff, there is no evidence of prior action that is pending before the court or in any court in the jurisdiction, to allege a complaint against Kamara for the commission of any crime.

“Kamara is just a subject of criminal Investigation and most of all he does not have any intention to flee the country. He has been cooperating with the investigators at the LACC,” Sheriff further argued in his response to the magistrate’s decision.

Sheriff also claimed that Kamara is not a flight risk and therefore, he is prepared to prove the magistrate’s violation of the Constitution. 

“Jallah’s decision will be dismissed and quashed as though it did not exist, because it is a product of witch hunt that has caused serious embarrassment to the reputation of my client,” he said. 

Meanwhile, lawyers of Gull, Morris, Kamara and Bishop Klayee have yet to respond to the writ.