Published: June 16, 2025
In a nation still haunted by the ghosts of its bloody past, Liberia’s pursuit of justice for war crimes is teetering on the brink of collapse—again. Despite grand promises and sweeping declarations, President Joseph Boakai’s administration has failed to back its rhetoric with meaningful action. The Office for the Establishment of the War and Economic Crimes Court (OEWECC), a critical institution created to chart the course for long-overdue accountability, is in crisis. Its staff have gone unpaid for five months. Its rent is in arrears. Its operations are hanging by a thread.
This is not just an administrative hiccup. It is a betrayal—of the war victims, of the Liberian people, and of the nation’s international partners who have watched with cautious optimism as Liberia flirts with the idea of real transitional justice.
Cllr. Jallah Barbu, the OEWECC’s executive director, has made public appeals for support—not to the Ministry of Finance or to the President’s Office—but to church leaders. In a meeting with the Faith and Justice Network, he described the dire state of the institution: unpaid salaries, operational paralysis, and growing disillusionment among staff and stakeholders. This should have been a national scandal. Instead, it has been met with deafening silence from those who swore to uphold justice.
Liberia’s path to healing cannot bypass accountability. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) made this abundantly clear in its 2009 report. Civil society groups have echoed that message for over a decade. Even the President, standing before the United Nations General Assembly last year, renewed his pledge to establish a war crimes court. Executive Order #131 was supposed to be the vehicle to drive this promise forward.
Yet today, that vehicle has no fuel.
It is baffling that a government so eager to champion anti-corruption and good governance has allowed this flagship institution to drift into obscurity. What message does this send to victims who have waited for decades? That justice is too expensive? That justice can wait? Or worse—that justice is optional?
It is not.
What we are witnessing is not just negligence; it is state-sanctioned stagnation. The administration cannot continue to hide behind excuses. This is not about donor reluctance. International partners have repeatedly stated they will not pay government salaries—but they have also called for a national financial commitment as a sign of seriousness. Liberia’s government has yet to deliver even that.
The silence from Capitol Hill is equally troubling. Several lawmakers with deep ties to wartime factions continue to exercise disproportionate influence in the Legislature. Their discomfort with a war crimes court is understandable, but it is no justification for sabotaging national progress. The culture of impunity must be dismantled, not defended.
The involvement of Liberia’s faith community, while admirable, is not a substitute for political will. Bishop Samuel Quire and the Faith and Justice Network have stepped up, launching awareness campaigns and trauma-healing programs across the country. Their moral leadership is commendable. But this is not their burden to carry. It belongs to the state.
If President Boakai is serious about cementing his legacy as a reformer, he must act now. Allocating a budget for the OEWECC, passing enabling legislation, and beginning national consultations are not luxuries—they are imperatives. Anything less signals not just delay, but deliberate deferral.
The wounds of war remain raw. Every day that passes without action is another day justice is denied. And justice delayed, as we know, is justice denied.
The Boakai administration must decide—quickly—whether it will be remembered as the government that broke Liberia’s cycle of impunity, or the one that preserved it. There is no middle ground.
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