–Says ‘Disenfranchising Brownie Samukai Is Political Suicide for CDC’

IPNEWS-Monrovia: One of the strong founders of the governing Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), which is now in a political marriage with two other parties and called Coalition for Democratic Change, Dr. Lester Tenny says following the election of President George Weah in 2018, strong political bedfellows hijacked the CDC thus thwarting the agenda of the then grassroots party.

Dr. Lester Tenny claimed that President Weah’s inability to make independent decisions has led to him frequently taking direction from aides, who are only interested to enrich themselves at the detriment of Liberians. “As a result of their selfish interest to enrich themselves, they intentionally tells the president what he wants to hear instead of being truthful to him as an advisor should be. 

Flashback: President Weah being welcome back home by Presidential Affairs Minister Nathaniel McGill

​The former official of President George Weah’s administration has asserted that the President needs to weed out these greedy elements otherwise the 2023 presidential and legislative elections will be a mirage for the CDC because Liberians are suffering a lot under the Weah-led administration. 

Dr. Lester Tenny, who once worked in the Weah government as Vice President for Technical Services at the National Oil Company of Liberia, claimed on the popular SPOON TALK Show this week noted that since Weah is being micromanaged, he (Weah) appears to believe that the living condition of his people has improved, when in fact it is getting worse daily.  

He is accused of micromanaging President Weah’s office and authority

“President Weah needs to detach himself from the strange bedfellows if his chance of remaining the people’s choice for continuity is to be guaranteed. These (bedfellows) are the newcomers who chose to exclude the grass-rooters,” Tenny, Associate Professor of the Economics at the University of Liberia argued, during an appearance on Spoon TV on June 21. “They are micromanaging the President and the presidency and excluded CDCians from even meeting their political leader. They are CDCians, but they came in late. 

“What the people voted for in 2017 is not what they have today, as suffering is even more in the cause they believed his background of being part of the excluded class, a class of poor people, he could have been cognizant of the plight of his ordinary supporters and made the needed difference in transforming their lives.” 

Commenting on the Brownie Samukai’s disenfranchisement in the 2020 Midterm Senatorial election, it was wrong for the CDC government to politically witch hunt the former Defense Minister having overwhelmingly won the votes of the people of Lofa County. “It was political error to disenfranchise Brownie Samukai a situation that will never the CDC to win Lofa County in any election in Liberia during the tenure of the Weah-led administration.” 

Tenny, who remains a member of Weah’s ruling Coalition for Democratic Change said his affiliation with the party was on the basis of a change mantra, a change that will transform not a few, but the people in general to a different level “of understanding, to a different level of improvement, and to a different level of self-identity.” 

Some CDC partisans along with President Weah at their headquarters

He added that many, including himself, did not join the governing party on the basis that Weah was the best candidate but on the belief that he could have configured a team that would bring about changes and improves the lives of the people. 

“We didn’t join the CDC because we were of the opinion that George Weah is the best candidate but we believed he could have configured a team that would lead a change. We compromised everything. People were insulting us. They felt that nobody in their right mind would want to identify with CDC as a party that has been perceived as a party of hooligans, thugs, and lawless people.  But our presence brought some sense of balance and sanity. I am a party man,” Tenny said. 

“I believe in the institution. About voting Weah in 2023, we decide to fix the internal problems now or disintegrate and go our separate ways. This is to prove that we have tolerated a lot, but there are still men who will put up a fight. I am one of such men. I am not going to join any other political party.” 

Meanwhile, Tenny, in his outburst, said that he joined Weah’s party on the basis of the president’s philanthropic gesture and nothing else as he was a beneficiary of said gesture while a student at the University of Liberia. 

“It was his scholarship program and his social interaction with just everybody. Those reasons compelled me to become a part of the movement he established,” he said. 

Former Defense Minister Brownie Samukai – Dr. Tenny says CDC committed a political suicide to disenfranchise him his seat for the Lofa Senate

“The ordinary people and I stood with Weah not because he was best qualified or had the sophistication needed for the Presidency, but because we counted on his past efforts then to unite the national soccer team and his poverty background as a yardstick for ascendancy to the Presidency.” 

On June 19, Tenny posted a video on his Facebook page, claiming that key members of the Weah administration would be jailed if an opposition party wins the 2023 presidential and legislative elections. 

“Look, if the opposition wins in this country, it going to be dangerous for certain figures in the CDC government, people will go to jail; people will go to jail on perception; people will go to jail in reality; people will be prosecuted because the new government will not be able to solve the economic problems.” 

“The people are aggrieved and we feel nothing is wrong. When we try to send out the signal that we need to hold together as a unit, we need to strategize, but they do not listen,” Tenny stated. 

He added that his party is deeply divided and the only hope for president Weah’s second term victory is a splintered opposition.  However, when he and others try to send out a signal that something is fundamentally wrong in the ruling party and that elections are just around the corner, their messages fall on deaf ears. 

Some disenchanted CDCians at their party headquarters in Sinkor

“Those who advocated for the party were marginalized. [You people] stop fooling George Weah, pretending like you get the masses. Don’t be thinking that you will have an easy ride, it’s you people who will go to jail when these people take power from you.” 

Tenny said he was moved to publish his thoughts on Facebook live video after having observed the poor turnout at the CDC party headquarters during the 17th-anniversary celebration of the Congress for Democratic Change over the weekend. 

The CDC party is one of the three political parties comprising the Coalition for Democratic Change, of which Tenny is a part. 

Dr. Lester Tenny has always been a vocal partisan of the governing CDC. Prior to him joining the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL), Dr. Tenny criticized the CDC government for appointing half-baked Liberians to top jobs, especially university dropouts. 

The outburst of Dr. Tenny has gone wide throughout Liberia with many CDCians calling for the requisite change if they want to retain power in 2023. Political pundits says Dr. Tenny may be right in his outburst but it may be too late now with the 2023 elections right around the corner.