Liberia, Aug. 23 -- The Arrest of Jewel Howard-Taylor and a Warning for a Nation That Knows the Cost of Politicized Power

By Clarence R. Pearson, Sr., PhD

There is a phrase increasingly heard in Liberia whenever a politically prominent person is arrested, investigated or accused of wrongdoing: "Let the person face the law and exonerate themselves."

Sometimes it becomes, "The law is the law."

At other times, "Let the person go through the process."

The formulations differ, but the underlying argument is often the same: once the state invokes the law, questioning the manner in which it exercises its power is somehow equivalent to opposing justice.

That proposition should trouble every Liberian who believes in the rule of law.

No one ...