LIBERIA: PRS GOVERNANCE AND RULE OF LAW PILLAR ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L MONROVIA 000026 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/06/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV EAID LI SUBJECT: LIBERIA: PRS GOVERNANCE AND RULE OF LAW PILLAR ON BRINK OF DIVORCE REF: A. 2008 MONROVIA 477 ¶B. 2008 MONROVIA 742 Classified By: Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield for reasons 1.5 B and D. ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs Amara Konneh is frustrated with how the Governance and Rule of Law (GRL) Pillar of the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) is functioning and has asked the President to assign it to another Minister. According to Konneh, the agreement made at the Rule of Law Retreat in September (Ref B) to split the pillar into a Governance sub-pillar, chaired by Konneh, and a Rule of Law sub-pillar, co-chaired by the Chief Justice and the Minister of Justice failed because Chief Justice Johnnie Lewis sidelined Minister of Justice Philip Banks in the Rule of Law sub-pillar and would not cooperate with Konneh in the larger GRL Pillar. A best case scenario would be if the larger Pillar split completely into a Governance Pillar and a Rule of Law Pillar. END SUMMARY. MINISTER OF PLANNING WANTS OUT OF GRL PILLAR ¶2. (C) In a private conversation with PolOff following the January 6 meeting of the Governance sub-pillar of the Governance and Rule of Law (GRL) Pillar, Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs Amara Konneh said that he was frustrated with how the GRL Pillar was functioning and that he had asked President Sirleaf to assign it to another Minister. He said he officially told her that because the Ministry of Planning will be overseeing the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of all four PRS pillars, it was inappropriate for him to chair one of them. But, he also admitted working with the Chief Justice inside the larger GRL Pillar was "impossible" and said promises of better cooperation between the Chief Justice and the Minister of Justice made at the Rule of Law Retreat in September (Ref B) failed. He said that a full GRL retreat chaired by President Sirleaf would be the only possibility to move the pillar forward, but feared even that may not be enough. In his opinion, Sirleaf should make Banks head of the Governance Sub-Pillar to give him equal footing with the Chief Justice within the larger GRL Pillar. RULE OF LAW SUB-PILLAR HIJACKED BY CHIEF JUSTICE ¶3. (C) The Governance sub-pillar still suffers from some of the same inefficiencies as the larger GRL Pillar always has (Ref A),but has improved considerably since Minister Konneh took it over in August. The Rule of Law sub-pillar, on the other hand, has made no progress whatsoever. At the beginning of the only meeting the sub-pillar has had since the Rule of Law Retreat four months ago, the Chief Justice sidelined the Minister of Justice as co-chair saying that he "will not be subservient to the Executive Branch" and demanded that his gavel be brought to him on a pillow by the bailiffs so that he could chair the meeting alone. The Chief Justice has subsequently failed to show up for the last two sub-pillar meetings, without notifying donors or Ministry of Justice officials before their arrival that the meeting would not take place. Deputy Minister of Justice Eva Mappy Morgan told PolOff December 23 that talks between the Chief Justice and her Minister had been "less frequent" since the Chief Justice refused to share power with the Minister. She said none of the Rule of Law retreat agreements have been upheld either. COMMENT: ¶4. (C) Given the promises broken to date, it appears that other agreements reached at the September Rule of Law retreat, including the inter-governmental rule-of-law taskforce, may also be in jeopardy. We suspect that Minister Konneh, an ambitious 38-year-old recent Harvard graduate, is extremely frustrated with trying to work with the Chief Justice and is looking for a way to gracefully get off from what is likely to be a sinking ship. The best solution would be for Sirleaf to break the GRL Pillar into separate pillars, a Governance Pillar, chaired by the Civil Service Agency or the Governance Commission, and a Rule of Law Pillar, co-chaired by Minister of Justice and the Chief Justice as agreed. This would at least protect the gains made within the Governance sub-pillar from the complete dysfunction of the Rule of Law sub-pillar. Otherwise, a GRL retreat chaired by the President herself (as she is the only one the Chief Justice listens to) may be the only hope of getting the Chief Justice to cooperate in a constructive manner with the other members of the pillar. Even a successful pillar retreat, however, may not be any more fruitful than the Rule of Law retreat was before. THOMAS-GREENFIELD