IPNEWS-Monrovia: It seems there is an everlasting bellyache between former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and her Vice President of 12 years, Joseph Nyumah Boakai.
In the process leading to the 2017 presidential and legislative elections, some supporters of the then governing Unity Party (UP) had ganged up against their former political leader and standard bearer, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for not publicly endorsing their new political leader and standard bearer, Joseph Boakai in the elections that brought former international football icon, George Weah’s leadership to state power.
Former President Sirleaf and former VP Boakai when things were rosy between them for 12 years
On the eve of the 2017 elections, supporters and die-hard followers of former Vice President Joseph Boakai, who had now been elevated as the political leader and standard bearer of the UP, publicly ridiculed their former leader, President Sirleaf on her birthday at the party’s former headquarter in Congo Town on allegations she was supporting football celebrity George Weah under cover, their reasoning was, she had refused to publicly endorse a man who stood by her in thick and thin for 12 consecutive years to run Liberia from 2006 to 2018.
The Unity Party did not rest and even further to expel their former political leader and standard bearer, President Sirleaf and her close supporters within the party for publicly refusing to endorse their new political leader and standard bearer, Joseph Boakai, but instead chose to allegedly support the then opposition Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) candidate, George Weah.
Former VP Boakai and former Sirleaf share laughter in the dying time of their 12 years governance of Liberia
It was alleged that former UP National Chairman and stalwart, Cllr. Sen. Varney Sherman and another former National Chairman, Wilmot Paye and some close allies of former VP Boakai were the ones behind the attacks on their former leader, Mrs. Sirleaf.
With all the rigmarole, the UP new political leader and standard bearer Joseph Boakai in 2017 sat idly by and never prevented his supporters from attacking his former boss of 12 consecutive.
Political pundits say the decision of former VP Boakai not to chastise his supporters’ ‘uncivil’ behavior against the mother of their party – the UP – broke the camel’s back as it is said former President Sirleaf went on to support the CDC candidate, evidenced with her invitation to Mr. Weah to join her break grounds for the Gbarnga-Mendikorma Highway that begins from Bong County and ends in Lofa County to the border with Sierra Leone.
Also former VP Boakai took issues with former President Sirleaf when addressed the UN General Assembly in New York and stated that it was time for general change, where the younger people would take over from she and Joseph Boakai. Boakai’s supporters felt Ellen had stabbed their new leader in the back to declare such a statement without the consent of former VP Boakai.
Former President Sirleaf and former VP Boakai when things were rosy between them for 12 years
In the end, CDC George Weah massively defeated Joseph Boakai in the run-off presidential elections of 2017 after one candidate could absolutely obtain the 50 + 1 percentage needed out rightly win a given presidential election in Liberia.
The rest is history, as George Weah’s CDC has been in power for five years now with few months to the 2023 presidential elections, which the incumbent president is seeking re-election. But his re-election bid has been hit with several calls from the bloc that Weah does not deserve a second term judging from the harsh economic situation Liberians are faced as well as the sufferings they are going through.
Flashback: President Sirleaf and CDC standard bearer George Weah break grounds for the Gbarnga-Mendikorma road that starts from Bong County and end in Lofa County to the Liberia-Sierra Leone border
The Unity Party (UP) broke away from the Collaborating Political Party (CPP) that contained four constituent members, the All Liberian Party (ALP), Alternative National Congress (ANC), Liberty Party (LP) and the Unity Party (UP). The ALP also follow suit because according to them, the ANC and its leaders had ‘fraudulently’ altered their Framework Document. A court proceeding ensued but the ANC came out victorious there was no magnitude in the allegations brought against it and their leaders.
It the wake of the court dismissing the case against the ANC and its leaders, the UP and ALP were left by the wayside having withdrawn from the CPP. The CPP, now with only two constituent parties – ANC and LP- decided to galvanize and now have Mr. Alexander Cummings as its political leader and standard bearer, while Mr. Musa Hassan Bility of the Liberty Party serves as its National Chairman.
Flashback: President Sirleaf shares thoughts with incoming President George Weah in January 2018 during inauguration day
It is been speculated in political circles that the CPP under the leadership of Mr. Cummings is likely to be endorsed by former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for the 2023 presidential and legislative elections, but IPNEWS could not confirm the reports independently as the paper is still digging deeper to unearth the political maneuvering unfolding ahead of the 2023 elections.
Boakai’s Tantrum at Ellen
As so it came so on surprise while addressing the media recently, the opposition Unity Party (UP) Standard Bearer Amb. Joseph Nyumah Boakai disclosed that whether he receives former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s support or not, Liberians will decide whom they want in the 2023 presidential and legislative elections.
“If she supports me, that’s it, and if she doesn’t, that’s it. I am here, I made myself available, and because I know that the Liberia people are looking for credible leadership,” Mr. Boakai told a recent press conference.
“I served the Liberian people with credit, and from Vice President, you will want to be President. But it was not I who said it; she was the one who said it. And we welcome her along well. I don’t need to go into all the details,” he said.
Boakai served as Liberia’s vice president for 12 years during the two presidential terms of Mrs. Sirleaf.
He then contested for the presidency in 2017 but was beaten by incumbent President George Manneh Weah.
Sour relationship between Boakai and Sirleaf was visible as his supporters suggested that his former boss did not back his presidential bid.
Boakai is hoping to make a comeback in the 2023 presidential and legislative elections in his quest to make Weah a one-term president.
He argued that he respects Madam Sirleaf’s right to choose a candidate to support, recalling how he supported her in the 2005 elections when both of them ran on the same ticket.
“Mr. Sirleaf was the one who told me, Joe, you will replace me, and I [thanked her]. But, you know history is history. For some reason, maybe something went wrong. I respect her and her rights,” said Boakai.
“And the same way we supported her, if she doesn’t support me, it leaves with the Liberian people to decide,” he noted.
He said if Mrs. Sirleaf did not support him, she knows her reason, adding that he doesn’t want to go into all those details.
Former President Sirleaf and former VP Boakai in a serious mood apparently over discussion of pertinent matters when things were rosy between them for 12 years
Boakai believes that the Liberian people are looking for a well-qualified, experienced person with a good record that will serve them, and so, if Mrs. Sirleaf wants it or not, the will of God will prevail.
“But to clarify, there is no fuss between us. If anything, you will ask her, but she will never tell you that we have fought,” said Boakai.
Meanwhile, political pundits say the former Vice President has to be clear and tell the Liberian people what actually caused the rift between him and his former boss, President Sirleaf. “Is there something former VP Boakai not telling Liberians that Ellen did to him that she does not want to support his candidature for the Liberian presidency,” one pundit asked.
According to the pundits, Boakai plays diplomacy on the issue all the time of Ellen not supporting him but has refused to come up straight to give the reasons that has led to his former boss not wanting to support him again in his second quest for the Liberian presidency.
IPNEWS will be watching political activities unfold ahead of the 2023 presidential and legislative elections, but in the end it is Liberians who will make the decision of whom become their next president and leaders come 2023.
