“Halt Immediately”

Sen. Alphonso Gaye Tells MOJ

By Jackson C. Clay, Jr.

Grand Gedeh County Senator, G. Alphonso Gaye is calling on the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) to halt Immediately the process of indicting some former and current officials of government over the General Auditing Commission (GAC) report.

Senator Gaye call was contained in a communication filed to the plenary of the Liberian Senate which was read in open plenary Thursday, June 20, 2019.

According to Senator Gaye’s communication, the act of the Ministry of Justice to indict some current and former officials of government based on the GAC report is very wrong and should be halted immediately.

“My attention is drawn to media reports naming former and current officials of government that are either indicted or to be indicted by the Ministry of Justice based on the GAC report they may have in their possession. This is wrong and it should be halted Immediately,” Senate Gaye noted.

The Grand Gedeh County Senator indicated that though he appreciates the Ministry of Justice to carry out its duties and responsibilities in keeping with statutes, but it should be done within the confines of the law and established procedures.

“The Ministry of Justice should not be in the business of looking for cases to prosecute rather it should wait for cases forwarded for it to be prosecuted,” the communication quotes Senator Gaye.

Senator Gaye indicated that by law, the General Auditing Commission (GAC) reports to the legislature following the completion of an audit and the legislature in return mandates the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to conduct a public hearing, after which the report will be submitted to both plenaries, House of Representatives and the Liberian Senate for endorsement.

He added “This endorsement report is then forwarded to the President who has the authority to forward same to the Ministry of Justice for action. This was never done in this process.

Meanwhile, the plenary of the Liberian Senate which is the highest decision making body of that august body has forwarded Senator Gaye’s communication to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for perusal and report to full plenary within two weeks.