-Former Liberia Associate Justice, Pei Edwin Gausi tells legal practitioners
By: Shallon S. Gonlor/ shallonsgonlor@gmail.ccom
NIMBA COUNTY — Former Liberia Associate Justice, Pei Edwin Gausi says judicial corruption has direct damaging consequences on the administration of access to justice.
Cllr. Gausi named judges, lawyers, jurors, and party litigants as elements contributing to corruption in the judicial system.
“Today, our judiciary is corrupted because it is you judges, lawyers, jurors, and party litigants that are making the system to be corrupted,” he asserted.
Judicial corruption means the voice of the innocent goes unheard, while the guilty acts with impunity.
Cllr. Gausi said corruption continues to undermine the judicial system in Liberia, denying citizens access to justice and the basic human right to a fair and impartial trial, noting how it has decreased public trust in justice and weakens the capacity of the judicial system to guarantee the protection of human rights.
“Corruption decreases public trust in justice and weakens the capacity of the judicial system to guarantee the protection of human rights, and it affects the tasks and duties of the judges, prosecutors, lawyers, and other legal professionals”.
The former Supreme Court Associate Justice stressed the devastating impact on the legal profession by seeking impunity.
He emphasized that corruption has destabilized the central part of the administration of justice, generating a substantial obstacle to the right to an impartial trial and severely discouraging the public’s trust in the judiciary.
According to Cllr. Gausi, illegal interferences with justice can result in violence, noting further that when the court is corrupted by greed or political involvement, the balance of justice becomes limited, and the ordinary people suffer. “When courts are corrupted by greed or political expediency, the scales of justice become limited, and ordinary people suffer”.
Judicial corruption means the voice of the innocent goes unheard, while the guilty acts with impunity.
Former Associate Justice Gausi discouraged judicial corruption, highlighting the importance of an independent judiciary cannot be overemphasized.
He said no single solution will effectively tackle the problem, but a list of the solutions, including judicial independence, openness, adequate resources, and accountability offer a holistic approach.
The Liberian legal luminary has meanwhile offered detailed recommendations to promote judicial independence and accountability, encouraging individual integrity, and more effective enforcement of the law to safeguard the judiciary against political influence.
Pei Edwin Gausi is an experienced Liberian lawyer having served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia and as Deputy Minister of Justice for Economic Affairs.
He also served as Chair of the Liberia Copyright Management Board was an Independent Copyright Advocate in Sacramento, California, and is a member of the California Lawyers for Artists.
He made these remarks Monday during the formal opening of the February Term of Court at the 8th Judicial Circuit Court in Sanniquellie, Nimba County.
