Published: September 9, 2026
MONROVIA — The standard-bearer of The People’s Party, Joseph K. Bannie, warned the Boakai administration on Saturday against what he called the impulsive use of state institutions in its drive to hold officials of the previous government accountable, saying the pursuit is legitimate, but the method is not.
“Yes, this government is doing great to hold the past government accountable, but it must not be impulsive. Let it be through due process of law. The law is not for personal pleasure,” Bannie said.
He said prosecutions must rest on evidence, proper investigation and judicial determination rather than political pressure or public sentiment, and that any perception the justice system is being used to settle scores would damage the administration’s credibility and public confidence in Liberia’s institutions. Accountability, he said, is not the same thing as retaliation, and everyone accused of wrongdoing is entitled to the protections Liberian law guarantees.
Bannie pointed to the legal cases against U.S. President Donald Trump, saying aggressive legal action against a political figure does not necessarily end that figure’s influence and can instead generate sympathy, deepen division and leave the target stronger.
He also criticized what he described as the dismissal of a Liberian judge by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai for performing his judicial duties, saying judges cannot administer justice if they fear political consequences for decisions taken in the course of their constitutional responsibilities. The issue goes beyond one judge, he said, and political interference in the judiciary would set a precedent available to every administration that follows.
He was blunt about the Justice Ministry. “No DOJ or Department of Justice belongs to any individual, let alone a president,” Bannie said, adding that the ministry’s constitutional and statutory duty is to enforce the law in the public interest rather than to serve as an instrument of political confrontation.
The precedent runs both ways, he said. “The hunter might become the hunted if not being careful with the law,” Bannie said, noting that governments change and that those exercising power today may be outside government tomorrow. Due process, in his account, is as much a protection for the current administration as an obligation on it.
Bannie said he does not object to the investigations themselves. Where credible evidence exists, officials accused of corruption or other offenses should be investigated and, where appropriate, prosecuted. But investigations must be transparent and free of political interference, he said, or those accused will be handed the means to cast themselves as victims of persecution and shift public attention off the allegations. Strict adherence to due process, he said, is the government’s strongest answer to that charge.
He called on Boakai to protect the independence of the judiciary, respect the authority of state institutions and allow the courts to perform their constitutional functions without interference.
His remarks come as the administration pursues a series of cases against figures associated with the George Weah government.
Neither the Ministry of Justice nor the Executive Mansion has responded to Bannie’s criticism.
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