-Amid Separate Conventions and Violent Clashes
I[PNEWS: One of the political parties in the tripartite Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), the former ruling National Patriotic Party (NPP), is in a deep split if not carefully handled and managed could spill over to their political marriage of 2017 between the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) of President George Weah, National Patriotic Party (NPP) of jailed former president Charles Taylor and now of Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor and the Liberia People’s Democratic Party (LPDP) of former House Speaker Alex Tyler.
On Friday, October 7, 2022, the incumbent Standard Bearer of the NPP, Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor reportedly ignored a Supreme Court of Liberia order that mandated NPP National Chairman James Biney and Secretary General Andrew Peters to hold the party’s convention, by dedicating to herself the responsibility thereof, thus leading to violent clashes.
The violent clashes led to the party holding separate conventions at the Paynesville City Hall with the NPP political leader and standard bearer, Vice President Taylor presiding over one group, while National Chairman Biney and Secretary Peters presided over the other.
The NPP’s 7th Biennial Convention was held in compliance with the mandate of the Civil Law Court, which adjudicated the prolonged leadership conflict within the former ruling party of jailed former President Charles Taylor.
Eyewitnesses say it all started when supporters of VP Taylor attempted to force their way into the convention hall after being denied doing so due to lack of convention passes or accreditation.
The Vice President in return was said to have ordered Emergency Response Unit (ERU) officers of the Liberia National Police (LNP) to take siege of the gate to allow her “unaccredited” supporters into the convention hall.
This was met with a stiff resistance from the Biney’s faction leading to a dogfight inside the convention hall. Following nearly an hour of intense dog fight among faction members, calm returned but that calm was short-lived as violence erupted again.
This prompted the VP Taylor faction to conduct their convention outside the hall of the Paynesville Town Hall
When the VP Taylor group left the hall the Biney’s faction proceeded with their convention thereby, retaining the Maryland County Senator Biney as National Chairman after his challenger Abel Massaley, a former Senator of Grand Cape Mount County on the NPP ticket in the past withdrew from the race.
However, partisans went ahead to elect George S. Mulbah- Vice Chairman /Administration, Daoda Metzger – Vice Chairman for Operations, Charlyne A. Taylor – Vice Chairman for Gender Affairs, John A. Siaway – Vice Chairman/ Planning, Policy and Research and Dopoe Menkarzon – Vice Chairman/ Special Project.
The rest of the elected executives are Thomas G. Goba – Vice Chairman/Finance and Investment, Sylvia Z. Taylor – Vice Chairman/Social Services, Allison Barco – Vice Chairman/Governmental Affairs and Randolph C. J. Cooper – National Treasurer.
Upon their elections, Mr. Biney in discharging his first major task appointed a 16-member coalition framework review committee to look at salient issues in the agreement that bounded the party to an agreement signed by the Congress for Democratic Congress (CDC), the Liberia People’s Democratic Party (LPDP) and the NPP during the 2017 election.
The 16-member committee is headed by Cllr. Abel Momodu Massaley and Dr. Agnes Reeves Taylor as Co-Chairperson while Atty. Allison Barco is the Secretary-General. Others on the Committee are, Samson Wiah, Albert Quenah, Charlyne A. Taylor, Dopoe Menkarzon and other eminent partisans.
The convention conducted by the Biney’s faction also mandated the National Executive Committee of the Party to conduct conventions for the National Secretariat and other leaders with 6 years tenure across the country.
Meanwhile, around 5 pm, VP Taylor’s NPP faction moved outside of the hall and proceeded with activities of the convention with Emmanuel Lomax, chair of the elections commission.
Lomax said votes were taken and a decision was made to render all positions in the party vacant, allowing each of the partisans to contest.
“We the delegates attending the 7th Biennial Convention of the NPP do hereby declare the vote as a block to individual names attached for elective positions,” he said.
“We delegates have proffered this resolution and secured signatories of two-third majority votes of the 638 delegates … to give legal effect to any decision at this Convention,” he added.
Naming the officials elected, Lomax said Mrs. Jewel Howard Taylor was elected NPP Standard Bearer, Cllr. Stanley Kparklain – NPP National Chairman; and Morris Paye – NPP Secretary General, among others.
Early signs of the convention experiencing some hitches popped up during the preparatory stages of the event when the party could not raise money for the initial budget of USD100K meant to cater for 638 delegates from across Liberia which prompted the party to take a decision on September 4, 2022, at its national Headquarters to reduce the number of persons on the list to 301 persons, according to the Biney’s Faction.
The party in a press statement signed and approved by Andrew Peters and Senator James Biney, National Secretary General and National Chairman respectively said the message was properly communicated to the partisans and the necessary adjustments were made, adding that the delegates were still excited despite the setback.
Now despite said understanding for a total compliance with the list for accreditation purposes, confusion broke up when on the instruction of the Secretary-General, some persons said not to be accredited were stopped from entering the hall.
These affected persons contended that the decision to comply with the number of persons does not exist and the original list of 638 remains.
Also speaking to journalists following the induction of the officials by the VP Taylor faction, VP Howard-Taylor said the NPP brought 638 delegates from across the country.
She said when the delegates arrived, they were told that there was a fake list of 301 persons.
“But we gathered and had some discussions with all the County chairpersons and delegates, and they have chosen. So, we have 13 chairpersons from 13 counties, and it is a new leadership of the NPP that has been inducted,” Madam Howard-Taylor noted.
She accused Andrew Peters of the fake list, saying he removed names of the actual people from the counties and replaced them with names of people who did not come from the counties.
Null and Void
In the wake of the simmering internal wrangling within the National Patriotic Party (NPP), one of the sects in the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) reached its peak during the Party’s biennial convention over the weekend leading to a deep split, the Chairman emeritus of the NPP Chief Cyril Allen said the decisions reached by both divides were illegitimate and will not be accepted by the party.
Chief Allen said the party’s constitution did not give the authority to VP Taylor, as the standard bearer to preside over a convention. He also noted that while Chairman Biney remains legitimate, the decision reached by his faction could not be accepted because the resolution to open the convention was not officially endorsed by the party’s executive committee.
He called for both sides to return to status quo ante and implement the court’s mandate in accordance with the party’s constitution. “The VP was in error to preside over a convention and direct.”
The NPP disputed convention should have been in fulfillment of the Civil Law Court’s mandate to take the Party to its long overdue 7th Biennial Convention in keeping with the 2004 Constitution.
However, with the misunderstanding, it is highly likely that the disputed parties will return to the court again.
CDC Chairman Sets Up Mediation Committee in NPP Crisis
Meanwhile, the lead party of the tripartite Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) national chairman, Mulbah K. Morlu has constituted a special mediation committee to help resolve the recent agreements within the National Patriotic Party, a member of the tripartite arrangement.
Taking a cue from the failure of the former Collaborating Political Parties (CPP), in resolving their internal dispute, the leadership of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), in consultation with the Governing Council, the National Executive Committee of the Coalition for Democratic Change, has with immediate effect appointed a Dispute Resolution Committee to mediate lingering disharmony within the NPP that appears to have exacerbated during its recent convention in Monrovia.
It may be recalled, the former ruling party, a constituent member of the ruling CDC, over the weekend held it’s the bi-annual convention which resulted into uncomfortable confusion among rival groups of the NPP.
The NPP Special Mediation Committee, as it will be known, is authorized amongst other things, to fully investigate post-convention controversies alleged to have emerged out of the NPP’s 7th biannual convention and submit recommendations to the CDC leadership for a sustainable resolution.
Consequently, the National Executive Committee of the Coalition for Democratic Change anticipates a finished report from the committee within 14 days.
In a release signed by Mulbah Morlu, Nat’l Chairman/CDC, the committee is expected to report in 14 days, the Mediation Committee shall by Tuesday, 25 October 2022, deliver a full report in which recommendations accompanied by action plans, will be enclosed.
In furtherance of the rule of law, and as the NPP Special Mediation Committee remains seized of the matter, the Coalition for Democratic Change requests all parties to refrain from public comments that impugn the integrity of the investigative process or bring the party into disrepute.
“Therefore, the following individuals are appointed to the membership of the NPP Special Mediation Committee:
- Cllr. Charles Gibson, Chairman
- Hon. Moses Y. Kollie, Co-Chairman
- Henry Fahnbulleh, Secretary
- Prof. Wilson Tarpeh, Member
- Sen. Richard Devine, Member
- Cllr. Edward K. Goba, Member
- Hon. John T. Richardson, Member
- Madam Lydia Nimley, Member
- Hon. Jefferson T. Koijee, Member
- Garbla V. Williams, Member
- Hon. Reginald Sokan-Teah, Member”
Meanwhile, political pundits are of the belief that a timely intervention could avert a spillover to the ruling CDC that could affect their chances in the pending 2023. Also, some political commentators say a delay to resolve the impasse in the NPP could see a similar situation as it is in the opposition Liberty Party, where its political leader Senator Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence is at loggerheads with the party’s National Chairman Musa Hassan Bility over legitimacy of who runs the day-to-day activities of the political party.
