Sie-A-Nyene Gyapay Yuoh criticizes Liberia's ARREST Agenda

Former Liberian Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyene Gyapay Yuoh has criticized the development of the ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development (AAID), stating the Executive Branch formulated the national plan without adequate consultation with the Judiciary.

Speaking at a conference hosted by the Central Bank of Liberia in Monrovia, Yuoh noted that while the Judiciary is included under the AAID’s Rule of Law Pillar, its specific reform needs and priorities were not sufficiently incorporated. She claimed that her previous attempts to establish coordination between the branches—including initiating meetings with the Minister of State, the Court Administrator, and the Dean of the Cabinet—were unsuccessful.

Yuoh argued that a lack of good-faith collaboration prevented the integration of the Judiciary’s existing Five-Year Strategic Plan into the national framework, which could have provided a clearer roadmap for institutional strengthening and the modernization of the justice system. She concluded that, in her experience, the resulting document “did not do the Judiciary any good.”