Debunking the ‘Irrelevance’ of the Infamous Constitutional Advisory Committee, Cllr. Pearl Bull Sets the Record Straight

Cllr. Bull

Cllr. Pearl Brown Bull has taken issues with those who since 1986 have continued to ‘diss’ (dismiss, say bad things about) a so-called, ‘Constitutional Advisory Assembly’ set up by Samuel Doe’s People’s Redemption Council for undoing (changing, messing up) the splendid work that the Amos Sawyer-led Constitution Commission had done in crafting a much-improved version of the earlier, (1847) Liberian Constitution.

Cllr. Brown-Bull pointed out that though she did not reject the fact that some provisions in that 1986 Constitution were undone by the Advisory Assembly---of which she was a member---she wanted it understood that there was nothing fishy about the removal of those provisions, as many have suggested.

Cllr. Bull’s apparent defensive stance stemmed from a comment by a representative of the Political Parties Consultative Forum to an-all women’s consultative forum organized by the Constitution Review Committee (CRC) with the aim of ensuring full participation of women in the review exercise.

In his brief comment, the parties’ representative called on participants at the forum to be sincere and committed to whatever they do in the review process. “We should not revert to the 1986 situation where issues came up after the Constitution committee came up with a constitution and then another committee was setup that undid most of those things that were done by the National Constitution Commission.”

This comment didn’t go down well with Cllr. Bull who saw the need to explain how things had actually gone down in the past---some thirty-three years before. First, she dispelled the notion that the 59-member Advisory Assembly had been hand-picked---and only to serve Samuel Doe’s purpose.

“That is incorrect; the 59 members of the Advisory Assembly were not appointed. We were elected. We were not hand-picked. We represented the people of Liberia. We did not represent a political party or the People’s Redemption Council (PRC),” she said.

Mrs. Bull explained that even though they had undone some of the provisions in the new (1986) Constitution, they managed to raise concerns about women’s rights about one or two things that had not been addressed before.

“We were three women on that committee and we were able to do something during that review process. Prior to that exercise, the indigenous women could not inherit their fathers’ or husbands’ properties. They were considered properties of the men. I want you all to appreciate us, instead of saying that we changed what was there, when you don’t even know what had been there before,” she added.

She bragged of the fact that that Advisory Assembly was able to make a significant change in the constitution that was in the interest of the women of Liberia rather than dwell almost constantly on its members having messed the country up because some of the provisions they changed had worked in the military junta’s interest.

 “I want you to read because some of you have never read the constitution; Article 23 of the 1986 Constitution provided that only civilized women could inherit a third of their husbands’ properties. That was taken out in the draft Constitution. The Constitution that your say we took some things out of, we replaced those items by vote; what you now see in Article 23 of the 1986 Constitution. And today, indigenous women can inherit properties,” she said.

Article 23 of the 1986 Constitution provides that:  The property which a person possesses at the time of marriage or which may afterwards be acquired as a result of one’s own labors shall not be held for or otherwise applied to the liquidation of the debts or other obligations of the spouse, whether contracted before or after marriage; nor shall the property which by law is to be secured to a man or a woman be alienated or be controlled by that person’s spouse, save by free and voluntary consent.

It also provides that the Legislature shall enact laws to govern the devolution of estates and establish rights of inheritance and descent for spouses of both statutory and customary marriages so as to give adequate protection to surviving spouses and children of such marriages.

Indeed, it was in the same manner, Pearl Bull tried to get across, that the even earlier Constitution’s (1847) limitations, omissions and, understandably, its short-sightedness, had failed to serve the country---the entire country---as well as it should have.  To the contrary, it had helped precipitate (hurry, hasten, help bring about) the disintegration (falling apart, wreck and ruin, break up) of the Liberian society, many believed, and called for a modern-day replacement.

The 1986 revised Constitution was therefore seen and accepted by many as a more-relevant and inclusive manifesto (proposal, policy) that took into account the hopes and aspirations of the masses of this once-segregated (divided) people and country---and was embraced by most as a step in the right direction after Doe’s forced himself into the presidency following an ignominious theft of the results of the 1985 presidential election. 

The 1986 Constitution was the handiwork (achievement, creation) of a number of stalwarts and patriots, many of whom had over the years lobbied for, fought for, sacrificed for and even gone to jail to keep this country from going down a path of no return that almost saw this country go up in flames. 

They included Amos Sawyer, J. Rudolph Grimes, Tuan Wreh, Albert Porte, Abraham James, George D. Brown, H. Boima Fahnbulleh Sr., Peter A. Johnson, J. Teah Tarpeh, S. Byron Tarr, D. K. Wonsehleay, David Kpomakpor and twelve others including the only female member, Rebecca Ware Wilson.

The Liberia 1986 Constitution replaced the Liberia 1847 Constitution which was suspended on April 12, 1980, following the coup d'etat which overthrew the presidency of President. William R. Tolbert, Jr. The process of writing a new constitution began on April 12, 1981, when Dr. Amos Sawyer, a political scientist at the University of Liberia, was appointed chairman of the National Constitution Committee (NCC), the 25-member body that was given the responsibility of drafting a new Constitution for Liberia.

The NCC completed its work in December 1982, and submitted the draft constitution to the People's Redemption Council (PRC) in March 1983; subsequently, the PRC published the draft Constitution for public debate. The PRC would later appoint a 59-member Constitutional Advisory Committee (CAA) to review the draft constitution. The CAA completed its work on October 19, 1983. On July 3, 1984, the new constitution was submitted to a national referendum and approved. On January 6, 1986, the Constitution came into force.