As very difficult it is for any lawyer, especially a Justice of the Supreme Court, to speak about the Law because to do so might land the lawyer in contempt of Court, Legislature or held under sub judice. However, while serving as the Keynote Speaker for the Launching of the Bishop Arthur Flomo Kulah Peace Lecture Series on June 29th, Associate Justice Jamesetta Wolokollie did Justice to the Launching.
Associate Justice did Justice to the Launching because she used her knowledge to inform people that it is most important to know one’s culture in order to solve societal problems. She mentioned that at times the Law is written in ways that do not reflect the culture of the people and in ways that the people can not understand. She insisted correctly that when the people do not understand the Law, they can not respect the Law. This means that if the people do not respect the Law, they can not uphold the Law and the Country goes into chaos. The prevention of chaos is the reason why Associate Justice Wolokollie is calling for the teaching of Civics in and out of schools.
Associate Justice Wolokollie is correct because the people do not want to go into a state of chaos. The people of Liberia, having experienced chaos, which took on the forms of coup d’etat and civil war, killing least 300,000 people and injuring many more, definitely prefer Peace to War. The only way for Peace to exist is for Justice to prevail. This is precisely why Associate Justice Wolokollie is pushing for Justice to prevail by making the Law understandable by the people, respected by the people and, therefore, upheld by the people. Such position is upheld by the Constitution of Liberia, as found in Chapter One, Article One of the Constitution that calls for the inalienable rights of the people.
As it is impossible to have fair elections when the electoral system is not fair and this brings chaos, Associate Justice correctly focuses on the work of the National Elections Commission (NEC) of Liberia. She brought to the attention of the people that they should examine the Law and the implementation of the Law carefully and bring their cases on the electoral process to Court way before any election because to bring any case to Court close to the election time would be late. Furthermore, the time given to the entity complaining would be too short, given the bad roads and the misunderstanding of the Law.
Associate Justice did her Keynote Address for the Launching that was held at the Thirty Fourth General Assembly of the Liberian Council of Churches (LCC), where the late Archbishop George Daniel Browne was also being honored with the Launching of the Archbishop Browne Hall of Fame. The LCC also remains concerned about the electoral system and this is the reason for the LCC inviting the Chairperson of NEC to its General Assembly. What remains to prevent chaos is for Justice to prevail. The only way for Justice to prevail is the raising of awareness to motivate people to work together, through the Rule of Law, to transform the electoral system from unfair to fair. It is through this transformation that persons with good records can get elected to bring in the system of Justice, the indispensable ingredient for Peace and Progress in Liberia and in any other Country.