IPNEWS-Monrovia: Following the presentation of the revised Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) Framework Document, the Political Leader of the Alternative National Congress, Mr. Alexander B. Cummings has opened up on the acceptance of the support of other opposition parties, to the collaboration.
Speaking to scores of supporters of the Liberty Party and ANC on Tuesday August 23, 2022, at the Liberty Party Headquarters in 19th Street Sinkor, Mr. Cummings upon accepting the CPP Framework Document as its standard bearer, expressed the group’s desire to have more parties onboard ahead of 2023.
“Although the ANC and the Liberty Party signed this document today, this document is written in a way that it’s welcoming to other political parties, so to all of you here today, and to those that are not, we will be reaching out to everybody to come and join us so we can work together to change our country”, he averred.
He assured his limitless commitment to the CPP, as he believes a possible victory for the opposition comes 2023, heavily relies on the existence of the collaboration.
“Together with the Liberty Party and the other parties that will join, we will work every day to deliver a united opposition so we can make president Weah a one term President”, he noted.
As it now constitutes the Liberty Party (LP) and the Alternative National Congress (ANC), the CPP framework document reflects the withdrawal of two parties, and solidify the collaboration between the LP and the ANC.
However, the Collaborating Political Parties is being chaired by Mr. Musa Bility, with Mr. Alexander B Cummings as its standard bearer.
The CPP framework document was signed by the Political Leader of the ANC, Mr. Alexander Cummings, Liberty Party Chairman Musa Bility, and the Secretary General of the Liberty Party Martin Kollah.
During the official presentation, the document was presented to the Liberty Party Chairman by the ANC Secretary General Aloysius Toe, but earlier urged Mr. Bility and Kollah to publicly sign at the occasion, in order to genuinely confirm their involvement in the process.
Upon being presented to Mr. Bility by the ANC Secretary General, the Liberty Party Chairman further presented the document to the Political Leader of the ANC, who is the standard bearer.
Mr. Bility earlier before presenting the document to the CPP Standard bearer, encouraged supporters of the opposition community to support the agenda of the collaboration, noting that the CPP is the only option for the opposition.
“We believe that other parties will join us in this coalition, we believe that this is the only option that is left for this country, we stay for a reason and the Liberty Party made a commitment from the formation of the CPP that we will never be an obstacle to the forward movement of this organization”, he stressed.
He encouraged supporters of the various parties to ensure their relentless support to the collaboration, as it gears towards the 2023 general elections.
On his part, former Foreign Minister Dr. Toga G. McIntosh assured his commitment to the collaboration as both parties prepare ahead of 2023. He believes the current state of Liberia is unconducive for Liberians, noting his relentless dedication to every positive actions that are capable of delivering the Liberian state.
“I’m one of those people who believe that this country must come from the hole it is in, to get to where it should be, and because I believe in that, I’m prepared to do what I can do to make sure we get mama Liberia out of the hole to where it should be “, he stated.
The Collaboration of Political Parties (CPP) first came together in 2018 immediately following the ascendency of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) government headed by President George Weah.
There were four original parties – All Liberia Party (ALP), Alternative National Congress (ANC), Liberty Party (LP) and former ruling Unity Party (UP). The four parties put up a strong fight in the 2020 Midterm Senatorial election massively defeating the ruling CDC by winning most of the seats, including CDC’s stronghold of Montserrado County.
Fast forward to 2021, when the CPP was finalizing its formation with the crafting of their Framework Document, two constituent parties – ALP and UP officially withdraw their memberships on grounds that the ANC had altered the CPP document, an allegation ANC political leader Alexander Cummings vehemently rejected and a court case had to ensure before the government dropped charges due to lack of concrete evidence.
The Liberty Party, chaired by Musa Hassan Bility, sided with the ANC throughout the legal battle, but its political leader, Senator Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence publicly announced her withdrawal from the CPP, but the Liberty Party as a party remained with the CPP. The Unity Party of Joseph Boakai also announced its withdrawal from the CPP, thus technically the CPP was left with only two constituent party members – the Alternative National Congress and the Liberty Party.
Now that the CPP has presented a revised Framework Document to its two constituent parties – ANC and LP, political pundits say that sets the basis for the CPP to reach out to other opposition political parties with similar ideologies in their fight to make President George Weah a one-term president comes the 2023 presidential and legislative elections.
The ball is now in the court to the CPP to either consolidate its stature as one of the main opposition collaborations in the country as Liberians prepare to either change their government, remain with the government and/or look to the future.
