Liberian lawyer and Assistant Professor of Law at the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, Cllr. Kanio Bai Gbala, is warning against what he calls a dangerous campaign to use ethnic sentiment and public pressure to challenge a land judgment in Gompa City, Nimba County.

Cllr. Gbala, in a strongly worded opinion titled “The Courtroom, Not the Crowd,” on Wednesday, September 30, said anyone dissatisfied with a court decision should use the legal process, including appeals and judicial review, rather than mobilizing crowds or attacking judicial officers.

He also rejected calls for President Joseph Boakai to remove the Chief Justice, stressing that the Constitution provides a specific impeachment process for removing Supreme Court Justices.

The Political Centrism Movement Chairman also added that citizens are free to criticize court decisions, but warned that obstruction of justice, intimidation of judicial officers, and attempts to inflame ethnic tensions are entirely different matters.

Cllr. Gbala noted that it is time Liberia decides whether disputes will be settled by law and evidence in the courtroom, or by political and public pressure in the streets.

The law professor says Liberia must decide whether disputes will be settled by law and evidence in the courtroom, or by political and public pressure in the streets.