Published: October 5, 2026
BUCHANAN, Grand Bassa County — Cllr. Charlyne M. Brumskine has credited the Liberty Party’s reconciliation and Senate Pro Tempore Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence’s leadership with helping make her appointment to the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice possible.
By Gibson Gee
Brumskine, daughter of late Liberty Party founder Cllr. Charles Walker-Brumskine, made the remarks during the party’s rebranding and headquarters dedication ceremony in Buchanan, where she reflected on her upcoming role on the regional court and the party’s political reconciliation.
“I’m going to Nigeria to represent Liberia on the biggest court in the region. I will be a judge, but I represent the Bassa people. It is Liberia who I represent,” Brumskine told the gathering.
The ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government approved her appointment on July 19, 2026, during its 69th Ordinary Session in Lungi, Sierra Leone.
She was among five judges approved to serve on the Community Court of Justice for the 2026–2030 term, alongside Awa Bah of The Gambia, Désiré Henri Aihou of Benin, Henrietta Uzoamaka Didigu of Nigeria and Yaouza Ouro-Sama of Togo.
Brumskine becomes the first Liberian woman appointed to the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, headquartered in Abuja, Nigeria.
But her remarks in Buchanan were less about the appointment itself than the political reconciliation she believes helped make it possible.
“And it was the Liberty Party coming together, reconciling, that helped me to get this position,” she said.
Brumskine’s acknowledgment comes against the backdrop of years of internal disagreements within the Liberty Party, a political organization her late father founded.
Charles Walker-Brumskine founded the Liberty Party and became one of Liberia’s prominent opposition politicians. Following his death in 2019, the party experienced prolonged internal divisions over leadership and direction.
Karnga-Lawrence, who serves as Senate Pro Tempore and political leader of the Liberty Party, has been central to efforts to reunify the party.
The reconciliation process gained significant momentum in 2025, when the party moved toward reunification under Karnga-Lawrence’s leadership.
Brumskine herself became publicly involved in the reconciliation effort. In 2025, she presented a reconciliation symbol bearing her late father’s image to Karnga-Lawrence during a Liberty Party program in Monrovia, a gesture meant to symbolize healing divisions within the party.
Her comments in Buchanan now connect that reconciliation to her appointment to the regional judiciary.
A Historic Seat for Liberia
Brumskine’s appointment gives Liberia representation on the ECOWAS Community Court at a time when the regional bloc continues to grapple with questions of constitutional governance, human rights, regional integration and the rule of law.
The court is ECOWAS’s judicial institution and ensures the observance of law and principles of equity in interpreting and applying the bloc’s treaties and other legal instruments.
It also has jurisdiction over specified disputes involving member states, ECOWAS institutions and human rights matters.
Brumskine brings extensive legal experience to the position. She founded and leads CMB Law Group and has taught at the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law and the Liberian School of Law.
Her professional experience spans private legal practice, public policy, and international affairs. She has worked with the Liberian government on issues including anti-human trafficking policy and Liberia’s negotiations toward accession to the World Trade Organization.
Liberia Lands Two Key ECOWAS Posts
Brumskine’s appointment is part of a broader gain for Liberia within the regional organization.
The ECOWAS Authority also approved the appointment of Dehpue Yenpea Zuo, Liberia’s deputy minister for economic management, as ECOWAS commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture for 2026–2030.
Zuo’s appointment took effect Sept. 1, 2026.
His appointment, alongside Brumskine’s, gives Liberia representation in two significant areas of the ECOWAS structure — the regional executive and the regional judiciary.
While Brumskine will serve on the Community Court of Justice, Zuo will oversee a portfolio focused on economic affairs and agriculture.
The two appointments come as ECOWAS continues to navigate challenges involving economic cooperation, regional governance, constitutional order and integration among West African states.
Carrying the Brumskine Legacy
For Brumskine, the ECOWAS appointment also carries the weight of her family’s political history.
Her late father’s founding of the Liberty Party established a political legacy that has remained closely associated with the Brumskine family.
At the Buchanan ceremony, she called on the party to preserve that legacy while moving forward after years of division.
“This is your time. This is your season. Carry on the legacy. Liberty Party, let’s go home. This country wants it,” she said.
Her remarks came as the Liberty Party unveiled its rebranded identity and dedicated its headquarters in Buchanan, presenting the ceremony as part of a new phase for the party following its reconciliation.
For Brumskine, the occasion brought together three chapters — her late father’s political legacy, the Liberty Party’s effort to reconcile its factions, and her own elevation to the ECOWAS regional judiciary.
As she prepares to take up her post in Abuja, Brumskine will join a five-member judicial panel responsible for interpreting and applying the legal framework of one of West Africa’s most important regional institutions.
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