Dr. Toga Gayewea McIntosh, CDC’s Former National Chairman of Its 2017 Presidential and Legislative Campaign
IPNEWS – Monrovia: Dr. Toga Gayewea McIntosh, a founding member of President George Weah’s Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) has now turned his back on the party and trying to put a dent in everything the party has bragged about doing for Liberians. In addition to this, he has also announced that opposition political party leader Alexander Benedict Cummings is going to be his preferred candidate for the 2023 Presidential and General Elections.
Before Dr. McIntosh, who once served as Foreign Minister of Liberia, had announced is next political move, he boasted how he had led CDC’s 2017 campaign machinery, which made Weah win the Presidential campaign. According to him, Liberians yearned for change.
“Liberians were yearning for change and flopped [flocked] behind the movement of ‘Change for Hope’ during our campaign. They demonstrated their burning desire at the polls registering a landslide victory for the CDC. Elections are far gone, and the ‘promised hope’ for our people has become a ‘lost hope’. Though faces and names might have changed in the governance landscape, the promised hope for our people has become an ‘illusory hope’ to many,” he emphasized.
See below for the full text of Dr. McIntosh’s speech.
STATEMENT OF ENDORSEMENT OF
ALEXANDER B. CUMMINGS (ABC)
PRESIDENTIAL BID IN 2023
by
Dr. Toga Gayewea McIntosh
Wednesday, August 3, 2022
Fellow Liberians,
Friends of Liberia
Members of the Press
Greetings:
I call you here today to speak out on few burning national issues, and to announce the decision I have made regarding my active participation in the expected 2023 Presidential and General elections and why is this choice relevant at this critical time in our nation’s history. Thanks for honoring my invite.
Let me begin by first stating that this is not a wild choice. It was a deliberate decision taken following a series of consultations and reflections. As the nation knows, my participation in politics over the years have been very active and result oriented. I led the political charge all the way during the last 32 years seeking for what is practical, what is right, what is fair and what advances the common good of our country and the Liberian people.
As recent as five years ago, I was at the forefront in the formation of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC). I was an integral part of the team that drafted the coalition agreement document. It was my voice that announced the birth of the coalition to the nation and to the world at large. I was actively involved in the earlier decision-making sessions of the CDC Governing Council, which has become dormant in the last two and a half years. By the unanimous Council consent at that critical time in our young coalition history, I was selected and asked to serve as the National Chairman of the CDC Presidential and Legislative Campaign of 2017. To the best of my knowledge, I served in that capacity and played my role with all the ingenuity and resourcefulness that were within my capabilities.
Liberians were yearning for change and flopped behind the movement of “Change for Hope” during our campaign. They demonstrated their burning desire at the polls registering a landslide victory for the CDC. Elections are far gone, and the “promised hope” for our people has become a “lost hope”. Though faces and names might have changed in the governance landscape, the promised hope for our people has become an “illusory hope” to many.
As I observe the happenings over the last few years, it seems to me that the leadership of the coalition, including members of the Governing Council, did not, or cannot adequately manage the misdirection in which our dear Mama Liberia is going. It seems to me that we are not moving sufficiently in the change direction we had set forth in our manifesto. All social and economic indicators show that we are far from taking Liberia to where we had promised, leaving our people disillusioned and heartbroken.
With these observations, I began asking myself the troubling question: what is going on, and why is it going this way? I concluded in my search for a realistic answer, that any needed result or outcome from a governance process depended heavily upon the demonstration of the leadership team that is possessed with a clear visionary path, uncompromising commitments, and a collective sense of purpose. These attributes must be rooted on a set of smart policies, strategies, programs, justice, and the rule of law, pursued within appropriate functioning governing structures and systems. Yes, having an effective governance process starts with having the right kind of principled leadership team deeply committed to changing our country and not only changing the conditions of themselves.
Fellow Liberians,
It is very saddened to confess that these dependent factors are in short supply in today’s Liberia. Given where we are today as a people and nation, all conscious minded Liberians must look and act beyond party politics, family relations, and friendships in the interest of our motherland. Liberians have no choice but to regroup and work harder and honestly to rescue Mama Liberia from the current deep hole she finds herself in. Liberians must work harder to reconstruct our beloved country to effectively reclaim its rightful place in the global arena.
As a citizen, but also as someone who helped to get the current leadership elected, I feel a bounding duty to my fellow Liberians to call a spade a spade. Things are bad and only getting worse. Our mama Liberia has entered a state of comma. The priority on the Liberian agenda must therefore be one of saving our dear Liberia. What is most important in this cause is putting Liberia first in whatever we do. We have a duty to change what we can change now to create the future we sought for our country.
Liberia needs a new kind of thinking in its approach to growth and development. Liberian leaders and peoples must, for a start, rewrite a new narrative to ensure the survival and development of Mama Liberia. We must redefine the political structures and economic directions of the nation state. I am not talking about merely changing party names and actors only to repeat the past failures. We need a good break from the past to create a new Republic of Liberia. This is a must and a precondition, if our people are to be lifted out of abject poverty, and if our dear country is to be taken off the slope of underdevelopment.
We need at this time a strong Liberian leadership team that is competent, resourceful, tested in administration and management, one that creates new opportunities for the most underserved among us in this new Liberia. Such a mission needs a competent and honest leadership team with a clear visionary path, uncompromising commitments, and a collective sense of purpose. The nation reconstruction mission also requires the presence of appropriate functioning governing structures and systems capable to formulate and implement smart policies, strategies, and programs.
My today’s decision is strongly rooted in these conditionalities. I proudly make this decision in the supreme interest of our dear Mama Liberia. What better can I seek for my country at this age, but to help create a launching pad for a truly prosperous and united Liberia that brings hope to all of our people.
Fellow Liberians!
Over the last two months our people were assured that I, Toga Gayewea McIntosh, shall in due course open my mouth and inform the public of my active participation in the forthcoming elections. My consultations and analysis of the results have ended, and my mouth is now wide opened.
First, I am grateful to God for His guidance throughout the process. Second, let me say to those family members and friends that advised that we seek an elected position. Please accept my sincere thanks and appreciation for your confidence reposed in my person. With God’s guidance and in accordance with His divine Will, I have decided to support actively and openly a credible and purposeful presidential candidate in the 2023 elections that is committed and capable to bring real change and renew hope to the Liberian people. To implement this decision, I dutifully assessed all the currently known 2023 presidential candidates. I assessed their capabilities, potentials, honesty, and resourcefulness to bring about the new Republic of Liberia that will lift our people out of abject poverty and take our dear country off the slope of underdevelopment.
My assessment of the presidential candidates shows that Mr. Alexander B. Cummings (ABC) has most of all that it takes, to adequately serve as captain of a well-prepared team to save our dear country, Liberia, out of the doldrums of the woes and depression we are experiencing today. It is against this conviction that I, Toga Gayewea McIntosh do hereby, through this platform, publicly endorse the presidential bid of Candidate Alexander B. Cummings of the Alternative National Congress (ANC) and to pledge my support in the ABC Real Change Revolution. Now is the time for our people and country to experience real and positive change, and I do believe that ABC can be our successful captain.
ABC has exhibited uncommon wisdom, remarkable vision, and exemplary and purposeful leadership to bring about Real Change that would liberate Liberia and her peoples from the current strangulation. ABC brings to the table his wealth of administrative and managerial experiences, and his extensive international contacts, particularly, in the global business community. He has a proven spirit of hard work, commitment to duty and a clear vision to lead the charge for Liberia to recover all the lost years that our country has experienced. The consistency and contents of his policy statements made over the past months have encouraged me to reach this critical decision. Permit me to quote few of his statements that have excited me:
- “The future of our country is not buried in its past. Traveling the same road will never lead us to a new destination. Putting love of party over love for country will continue to see our country and our people suffer. To lift our country up, and end the sufferings of our people, we must change. Change is hard, but continuing as we are doing to ourselves, or going backward, will only make our problems worse”.
- “Regardless of tribe, gender, religion or political party affiliation, Liberians will be prioritized for success in Liberia – success in business, sports, music, and other forms of artistry. If we cannot guarantee success to Liberians, here in Liberia, we do not deserve to be called a Liberian nation”.
- “Today, I invite the national leaders of our country – political, religious, traditional, legal and community – all leaders, to be enjoined in the cleansing of our nation’s soul. The duty falls on all of us to become better examples because the peaceful and prosperous future we seek depends on the values we embrace and nurture”.
Finally,
- “We do not need to resign our country into being considered as amongst the poorest, most corrupt, and dirtiest in the world. Liberians are proud people and do not deserve to be so poor with children siting on dirt floors or standing under leaking roofs to learn; public hospitals in dare needs of beds, medicines, modern equipment, and even the basics such as fuel oil to run generator”.
Fellow Liberians:
In 2023, we again have an opportunity to rescue our country, and this we must do. Liberia has been brought down on its knees during the last four and a half years. Liberia is technically bankrupt in the various sectors of our economy and society. What is needed to get us out of this deplorable situation, is a new and higher levels of international and domestic confidence in Liberia that will lead to renewed investments, and respectability to begin the process of revitalization, growth, and sustained development. Our people are eagerly looking for a new Liberia. A Liberia with better measures instituted to manage our vast natural resources effectively and transparently for the maximum benefits of our people. I join ABC in his belief that Liberians can change their conditions only if our people are properly mobilized and empowered with knowledge, skills, and opportunities to achieve the common goal. Liberians can be convinced that they can do it when the proper and effective leadership team and motivated followship are together committed to instituting REAL CHANGE.
As I conclude, let me in this public manner extend my deepest gratitude and gratefulness to the Political leader, the Advisory Committee, the Executive Committee, and all our devoted partisans in the Liberia People Democratic Party (LPDP), for the political space given me. My decision to support candidate ABC is a personal one and does not in any way mean that I am leaving, or I have left my great party. However, as one of the party’s representatives to the CDC Governing Council, my announcement today requires that the LPDP withdraws my appointment from the Governing Council of the CDC and replace me with another worthy partisan accordingly. An appropriate letter to that effect has been directed to the party Secretariat for the file.
On this note, I call on all Liberians to boldly join me and other well-meaning Liberians on this mission to save our country’s future. I know it gets very difficult to refuse to support someone you know personally or a family member; but we must, at this time, take that difficult road that leads us to greater success. Let us make the hard decision to do the right things and stop the excuses for making the wrong decisions for our lives.
Join me, my fellow Liberians, and friends of Liberia! Let’s correct the wrong. Let’s build this glorious land of Liberty. Let us together do those things that make a nation great amongst nations.
May God bless and guide the Republic of Liberia and save our state.
Thank you!
