Today, on behalf of our constitutional democracy and Liberians worldwide, I, through my esteemed counsel Jerome G. Korkoya, Esq., filed a petition with the Supreme Court of the Republic of Liberia, challenging the Liberian government’s erroneous and unconstitutional assumption that a Liberian automatically loses his or her Liberian citizenship when that Liberian becomes a naturalized citizen of a foreign country, votes in a foreign election, or serves in a foreign armed forces without prior approval from the President of Liberia.

The lawsuit challenges as unconstitutional the arbitrary visa demand by the Liberian government, which only requires certain Liberian citizens to obtain nonimmigrant visas before they maybe permitted to enter Liberia. The lawsuit also challenges as unconstitutional several provisions of the Aliens and Nationality Law of Liberia (provisions), which seek to deprive a Liberian of his or her Liberian citizenship without due process of law. The lawsuit does not ask the Liberian government to recognize dual citizenship, nor does it ask the government to recognize my American citizenship. The lawsuit does, however, require the Liberian government to respect all of my rights as a natural-born citizen of Liberia, including but not limited to my constitutional right to due process of law.

Article 20(a) of the Liberian Constitution is one of our most important protections against arbitrary rule. It prohibits all levels of the Liberian government, including the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary from depriving any person of life, liberty, property, privilege, or any other right without a hearing and a judgment consistent with due process of law.

Ignoring this clear prohibition, the government continues to use the challenged provisions, which lack any semblance of due process, as reasons to deprive me and tens of thousands of similarly situated Liberian citizens of our constitutional rights. The government has gone as far as to require several of its natural-born citizens to become “naturalized” Liberians, on the erroneous assumption they lost their statuses as natural-born Liberian citizens.

Such actions have a chilling effect that inhibits the exercise of constitutionally protected rights, especially among Liberians who lack the financial means or willingness to challenge them. Moreover, calling something a “law,” that clearly does not have the force of law, will not advance respect for the rule of law. The challenged provisions cannot withstand constitutional scrutiny.

Any first-year law student can tell you the challenged provisions, by their expressed terms, violate the due process clause of the Liberian Constitution. The only question here is whether the Liberian government, which advertises itself as a government of laws and not of men, can enforce provisions the Constitution does not recognize as law. I believe, and the Constitution tells us, the answer is no.