IPNEWS-Monrovia: As the ongoing forgery and criminal conspiracy trial against the opposition political leader of the Alternative National Congress (ANC), the party Chairman Senator Daniel Naatehn and Secretary General Cllr. Aloysius Toe, the Secretary General of the NEC-recognized Liberty Party, Martin Kollah has made a startling revelation as to what prompted three constituent party members of the Collaboration Political Parties (CPP) to insert an Exit Clause in the Framework Document of the collaboration.
Appearing on the popular 50-50 Talk Show on local radio station, SKY FM, on Tuesday, May 10, 2022 in Monrovia, Mr. Kollah disclosed upon the formation of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP), three of the constituent members – the former Unity Party (UP), All Liberia Party (ALP) and the Liberty Party (LP) grouped together without the knowledge of the other constituent party of the CPP – the Alternative National Congress (ANC) and formed what he called ‘a CORE GROUP’ and decided to come up with a strategy that would entrap ANC political leader Alexander Cummings to not leave the CPP if he did not obtain the standard bearership of the collaboration.
ANC Political leader Alexander B. Cummings
According to the Liberty Party Secretary General, the other three CPP constituent members – UP, ALP and LP feared that ANC Cummings was new on the block and his alliance with the CPP would propel him to the top and it is that fear that made them to draft the Exit Clause in the CPP Framework. “The intent of that exit clause was to entrap Mr. Cummings who was new on the political landscape so the other three parties – UP, ALP and LP – said it was not time for Cummings to be leader for them as he was new and needed to wait for his time,” Mr. Kollah stated.
The Liberty Party Chief Scribe however said the intent of the Exit Clause was actually good but neither did they know that there were ulterior motives on the part of the part of the CORE GROUP that were the political leaders of the UP, ALP and LP, who felt that ANC Cummings was coming to change the political dynamics in Liberia, and thus they feared that he could overcome them politically.
Kollah alleges UP, ALP and LP grouped themselves into a Core Group within the CPP without ANC Cummings’ knowledge
He said the CORE GROUP within the CPP did not want for ANC political leader Alexander Cummings to leave the Collaboration and contest in the name of his party or the CPP, eventually if he did not become the standard bearer, so the Exit Clause was put into the Framework of the CPP. “They feared Mr. Cummings’ financial might and new ideas so they thought they could strangulate him to remain within the CPP if he did not achieve his objective to become the standard bearer of the Collaboration,” Mr. Kollah startling revealed.
He noted the very Exit Clause that had drafted to entrap Mr. Cummings today holding to the letter after Unity Party and the All Liberia Party announced their withdrawal from the CPP. “This is why the Liberty Party and ANC complained to the NEC. We await the Supreme Court to come down with a ruling on the matter,” Mr. Kollah asserted. “Unfortunately for the UP and ALP, Mr. Cummings and the ANC along with the Liberty Party remain within the CPP, so the Exit Clause has come back to haunt its very framers.”
Commenting on the ongoing forgery and criminal conspiracy case at the Monrovia City Court at the Temple of Justice, Mr. Kollah said it is foolhardy to accuse the ANC and its officials of altering the CPP Framework document when it was the same CPP Framework the National Elections Commission (NEC) used to recognize the CPP and legitimize it as a political institutions that contested its first election when its candidates participated in the December 2020 Midterm Senatorial elections that made Abraham Dillon and Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence senators. “So how come they never protested this same CPP Framework when they won their respective Senatorial seats,” Mr. Kollah wondered.
Meanwhile to authenticate his claims, Mr. Kollah named the former All Liberia Party Vice President for Mobilization and Recruitment Momo Sambola as one of the persons who knew about the Exit Clause being inserted into the CPP Framework to entrap the ANC political leader.
Speaking to SKY FM on Tuesday also, Mr. Sambola affirmed the Liberty Party Secretary General’s assertion stating one of the reasons he and other county heads of the ALP left the party was because of the Exit Clause that was intended to entrap Mr. Cummings if he had left the CPP, and the decision of the ALP to withdraw from the CPP on bogus reason that the CPP framework was altered.
“If Liberians can remember upon our resignation from the ALP we told them that Mr. Benoni Urey who is the political leader of the ALP pulled out of the CPP without the support of the entire Executive Committee of the ALP. Some of us voted against the decision because we felt it was a wrong decision as we thought the allegations being levied against Mr. Cummings were bogus,” Mr. Sambola said.
It may recalled, minutes after the declaration by Mr. Cummings, eleven party officials jointly announced the termination of their membership with the opposition All Liberian Party (ALP) of businessman-turned-politician Benoni Urey.
The defected ALP Partisans stated that they are opposed to the disintegration of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) which ALP recently said is breaking away from.
Those who signed it include National Vice Chairman for Mobilization and Recruitment, Momo A. Sambola; Janjay P. Zodagar, River Cess County; D. Ellis Koffa, Sinoe County; Miatta Fahnbulleh, Grand Cape Mount County; Mohammed O. Sheriff, Lofa County; Margaret Cooper, Vice-Chair, Grand Bassa; Alfred B.S. Jerbo, Margibi County; Augustine T. Toe, Grand Kru County.
Meanwhile, Mr. Kollah and Sambola told the 50-50 Talk Show that are ready to provide more details that led to the insertion of the Exit Clause within the CPP Framework at the appropriate when called upon.
