IPNEWS-Monrovia: One of Liberia’s oldest opposition political institutions, the Liberian People’s Party (LPP) in a press statement issued on Monday, October 3, 2022 in Monrovia, appealed to the Legislature and the international community to investigate the frequent news that the governing party is training militants to kill perceived opponents and rig the 2023 national elections.
“To protect our democratic gains made we are appealing to Liberians to remain vigilant than ever before as peace-loving people not allow few persons to kill their hope and dreams, and gamble with the future of their motherland,” LPP’s release states.
According to the LPP, a party once headed by veteran Liberian economist and politician, Dr. Togba-Nah Tipoteh, “President George Weah and his Coalition for Democratic Change government’s oligarchs along with their chief enabler in former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf are doing everything possible to keep him in power at the detriment of the nation.”
The party reemphasized that it is guarded by over 3 decades of experience as the primary lead in the national struggle against tyranny, corruption, nepotism and all forms of social injustice, and as the vanguard of the campaign for democracy, the rule of laws, it can say with certainty, but also with disappointment that the country democracy is in the Internal Care Unit (ICU).
LPP says it sees trend events in the country to be corroborating from a statement made by one of the confidants of President Weah, Senator Prince Johnson, in 2019 that the President was going to rig the 2023 elections to remain in power.
Nimba County Senator Prince Johnson alleged in 2019 that President Weah would rig the 2023 elections. LPP wants the allegation investigated as well
The party believes that the identity of the author of the video here in circulation in referenced, and whether or not the international community is aware of the video are immaterial to the critical national security issue raised in the video.
“While some of the issues raised have not been verified, others are facts that have been experienced by some people the use of former civil war combatants as a disruptive political force during the recent special elections in Lofa County; militants of the ruling party Coalition for Democratic Change were Lofa County implicitly coercing Lofa voters to vote counselor Joseph k. Jallah, the CDC choice,” the party stressed.
LPP is concerned about the CDC militants who were organized by Rep. Thomas Fallah and present in Lofa County during the by-elections
Stating further in its release the LPP reiterates: “The mysterious disappearance of a National Elections Commission staff in Grand Gedeh County after the December 2021 election, the manipulation of the results of the Lofa senatorial by-election.
Former Veep Joseph Nyumah Boakai claimed that NEC changed the numbers in favor of candidate Joseph Kpator Jallah.
However, the former General Secretary of the Unity Party also stated that the former ruling party has concluded to focus on uniting the voters in Lofa County, but at same time was requesting the government to punish officials of the elections commission because they manipulated the results.
The susceptibility of the NEC to be manipulated by the ruling party; and the strange presence of a large number of Burkinabes in the forest in Grand Gedeh County.
LPP was banned, and its leaders harassed and intimidated, prominent citizens from Nimba County were being targeted for elimination, while the Armed Forces of Liberia, and government bureaucracy became tribalized.
The events that followed the leak of John G. Ramsey’s plot greatly validated the axiom that practice is the fundamental criteria of truth. And of course, the end result of the scheme was a bloody civil war of untold consequences.
Though the late President Samuel Doe and his handlers vehemently denied knowledge of the Ramsey’s letter, the strategy outlined in the letter was scrupulously acted on subsequently.
The leaked letter had advised Doe that in order to prolong his stay in power, he must first strengthen his grip on power by purging the military of Nimbaians and them give dominant role to his kinsmen within the AFL, suppress the Gio and Mano people, suppress the Liberian People’s Party, etc.
Fellow Liberians, once again our national capacity to decipher truth from what is being communicated to us, and to apply historical lessons has been strongly challenged.”
“Recently, a video circulated on social media allegedly plotted by President George Weah to rig the 2023 presidential and legislative elections.
LPP is also concerned about statement concerning the hiring and training of hired criminals trained to carry firearm to kill partisans of opposition political parties
Now, Representative of Electoral District #10 of Montserrado County, Yekeh Kolubah held a news conference on Sunday, October 02, 2022, stated that he has in his possession evidence that President George Weah administration has trained criminals (hired criminals trained within two to carry firearm) to kill partisans of opposition political parties, and will use the trained criminals to rig the 2023 general elections.”
Concluding, the LPP these national security issues as pointed out in its press release need to be addressed, thus it is calling the National Legislature and the international partners to investigate these reports in other to create a conducive atmosphere for a free, fair and transparent elections in 2023.
