Justices at the Supreme Court of Liberia are expected to decide the fate of Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) former Executive Director, Wilson K. Tarpeh and four other tenure cases today.
The Chief Justice and Associate Justices will make a determination in the five tenure cases. On Tuesday, March 26, 2024, Justices questioned whether President Joseph Boakai’s nomination of Dr. Emmanuel K. Urey Yarkpawolo as Acting Executive Director violated the EPA’s Act, specifically Section 16.
At the hearing, Yarkpawolo’s lawyers were asked if the appointment was based on a recommendation from the Policy Council to which they responded in the negative but contended that the President has the authority to appoint an Interim Executive Director until the Policy Council is formed, as outlined in Section 16.
The EPA Act stipulates that the President can only appoint an executive director after receiving recommendations from the Policy Council, which President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s administration adhered to in past appointments.
Notably, President Weah’s appointments raised questions about adherence to this process. The Policy Council’s reconstitution following the change of government in 2018 has been a point of contention, as it plays a crucial role in vetting and recommending executive director candidates.
When questioned what harm it would have caused Boakai if he had first constituted the policy Council before the appointment of Yarkpawolo since the council did not approve Tarpeh’s appointment by President George Weah, Yarkpawolo’s legal team argued that Tarpeh’s appointment by President Weah was derived under the authority of the Act to appoint an interim/Acting Executive Director.
The EPA Act requires that the President shall only appoint an executive director after the recommendation of the Policy Council, which shall submit to him a list of three names from which he shall choose one.
President Johnson-Sirleaf came to office in 2006, the Policy Council was constituted by her. In the same year (2006) the Council vetted candidates for Executive Director and based on their recommendations, the first ever tenured Executive Director, Mr. Ben Donnie, was appointed by President Sirleaf.
However, Mr. Donnie died in 2009. Upon Mr. Donnie’s death, the EPA was run by officers in charge until the Policy Council again convened, vetted, and recommended a list from which another tenured Executive Director in person of Alfred Armah was appointed. But unfortunately again, in 2010, Armah also died.
Following Armah’s death, the Policy Council again vetted and recommended a list from which President Sirleaf appointed in 2010, Madam Anyaa Vohiri as the third tenured Executive Director. Madam Vohiri served her full tenure.
Again, in March 2018, Mr. Nathaniel Blama, Sr. was appointed by President Weah as an Interim Executive Director.
The Policy Council of the EPA had not been reconstituted since the tenures of the majority of its members expired with the change of government from both Sirleaf to Weah Administration in January 2018.
Known that with the nonexistence of the Policy Council, President Weah made an appointment and subsequent dismissal. Between 2019 and 2020, President Weah appointed and dismissed Mr. Nathaniel Blama as Executive Director of the EPA.
President Weah decided to dismiss Blama as he was serving as an Interim Executive Director.
After Blama’s dismissal, Weah immediately appointed Tarpeh and constituted a seven-year tenure as provided for under Section 16 of the EPA Act, even though his recommendation for the job was never channeled through the EPA’s Policy Council recruitment process.
Tarpeh had three years and two months while serving as Interim/Acting Executive Director to ensure that the EPA’s Policy Council was reconstituted to carry out the vetting and nomination of Executive Director Candidates for President Weah for appointment which did not happen when Weah was defeated in the 2023 presidential election by President Joseph Boakai
Boakai himself not following President Sirleaf’s footsteps of constituting the Policy Council appointed Dr. Yarkpawolo as Interim/Acting Executive Director, replacing Prof Tarpeh.
The recent appointments and dismissals within the EPA leadership have raised concerns about procedural adherence and continuity within the agency. With President Boakai’s appointment of Dr. Yarkpawolo as Acting Executive Director amid these complexities, the matter is now under scrutiny by the Supreme Court for a decision on the legality and compliance of the appointment process.
