At a commissioning ceremony, President Boakai promises “no sacred cows.” On the streets of Monrovia, citizens ask: “Then why are the cows still walking free?” By Michael Adeboboye, Editor in Chief
The new judges stood in crisp black robes. Court marshals adjusted their white gloves. Outside, the August heat pressed down on Capitol Hill.
Inside, President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, 81, leaned into the microphone and delivered the line that will be clipped and shared for weeks:
“To those who believe their position, influence, wealth, or authority places them beyond the reach of justice... We will identify you! We will pursue you! We will find you! And we will deal with you in accordance with the law. There will be no sacred cows in this Joseph Nyuma Boakai Administration.”
Applause filled the room. The Chief Justice nodded. Diplomatic Corps members took notes.
But 30 minutes away, in Red Light Market, 24-year-old Musu Kamara watched the speech on her phone and laughed.
“No sacred cows?” she said. _“My brother has been in Central Prison for 14 months waiting for trial. No lawyer. The man who killed my cousin was out on bail in 3 weeks. Which cow is sacred?”
That is the gap President Boakai must now close: between the rhetoric of the robes and the reality of the streets.
THE SPEECH: JUSTICE AS NATIONAL SURVIVAL
Boakai framed the judiciary not as a legal technicality, but as the engine of his ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development.
“A nation cannot prosper where the rule of law is weak. Investors lose confidence. Citizens lose hope. Criminals become emboldened.”
He centered the threat: drugs, organized crime, and corruption. Liberia, he warned, risks being “stigmatized as a narcotic state.”
It was the toughest language of his presidency on crime. He praised the Joint Security for recent busts, and vowed arrests, dismissals, and investigations were “not politically motivated.”
To the new judges he offered both a mandate and a warning: be independent, but be fast. “The wheels of justice turn slowly. Perhaps they do. But they must never turn so slowly that our courts become revolving doors.”
THE HOLES: WHAT CITIZENS AND CRITICS SEE
For many Liberians, the speech sounded familiar. Strong words. Little follow-through.
The "Sacred Cows" Problem Since 2023, Liberia has seen at least 3 major cocaine seizures linked to individuals with political or business ties. In each case: big arrests, press conferences, then silence. Cases stall. Suspects get bail. Files disappear.
Civil society group Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia calls it “arrest theater.” “You can’t say ‘no sacred cows’ when the cows are in your cabinet meetings,” said Cllr. Tiawan Gongloe last month.
The President’s own line — “They are not politically motivated”— is an admission that the public believes they are.
The Speed vs Resources Problem Boakai demanded “dispatch” from judges. But in Nimba, Lofa, and Grand Bassa, magistrates still write judgments by hand. There is no case tracking system. Some courts haven’t had fuel for generators in months.
The 2026 national budget allocated less than 3% to the Judiciary. The Executive controls that purse. “You can’t ask for a Ferrari and give us a wheelbarrow,” one county judge told CAJ journalist on condition of anonymity.
The Independence Problem Boakai assured the room: “judicial independence is indispensable.” In the same breath he said he and the Chief Justice had “just discussed some of these issues” before the ceremony, and that judges must remember “the patriotic interest of Liberia.”
To lawyers, that sounds like pressure. “Patriotic interest is not a legal standard,” said a Monrovia criminal defense attorney. “It’s how you justify convicting the wrong person.”
THE CITIZEN TEST
In West Point, James Kollie, a keke driver, put it simply: “President, we don’t need more speeches. We need one rich man to go to jail and stay there. Just one. Then we’ll believe.”
That is the bar. For ordinary Liberians, justice is not about policy papers. It’s about:
Getting a land case heard in less than 5 years. Not paying $50 “magistrate fee” to get bail. And seeing a drug suspect not walk out because “evidence is missing”
SO: RHETORIC OR REALITY?
Boakai’s speech did three important things. It put the judiciary at the center of economic policy. It gave political cover to the Chief Justice’s reform push. And it put drug traffickers and corrupt officials on public notice.
But a speech does not convict anyone. A speech does not fund a court. A speech does not stop a file from disappearing.
The President ended with his trademark line: “Think Liberia, Love Liberia, and together Build Liberia.”
The next 6 months will answer whether “Build Liberia” includes building a justice system that works for Musu in Red Light, not just for judges in robes on Capitol Hill.
Until then, the question hangs in the humid Monrovia air:
Is justice finally becoming reality? Or is it still just very good rhetoric
