IPNEWS-Monrovia: One of the staunch and die-hard founding members of the governing Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), now the Coalition for Democratic Change following a political marriage with the former ruling National Patriotic Party (NPP) and the Liberia People Democratic Party (LPDP) during the 2017 elections, Manja Varney Gbassey Kromah has disclosed how the party former Chairman Nathaniel McGill marginalized grassroots professionals of the party after winning the 2017 president elections.
Mr. Kromah, who had to suspend his activities with the CDC following the 2017 elections and due to the way he said Presidential Affairs Minister Nathaniel McGill was going about drawing up the new government without the input of top hierarchy of the party, has reiterated that the CDC as an institution is still missing on the issues affecting it as a governing party.
He disclosed in 2017, CDC won with little over 700,000 (seven hundred thousand) votes out if the 1.3 million registered voters. Manja Kromah indicated out of that number CDCians, including ‘George Weahans’ (partisans who only believes in George Weah) accounted for 40% or so.
Former CDC Chairman and now Minister of State Nathaniel McGill
The former CDC Security Council Chair disclosed in a statement issued over the weekend in Monrovia, that “With no regards to this statistics, Minister McGill with animosity against Chairman Mulbah Morlu for reasons no one knows and our party structure, drew up the government with absolute exclusion of the party. Most of those party ideologues who got little jobs were either based on their proximity with president George Weah, McGill or some personal connection; like a Comrade who confided in me that he had to pass through Minister McGill’s friend before he could be appointed at one of the government institutions even though he was serving as secretary general of a major Committee of the party.”
Manja further stated that “89.9% of all party recommendations sent to the office of the President were never honored as the President was either been ill-advised by Minister McGill or was playing the ‘decent-man’ game with the party.”
He recounts: “Minister McGill started using some of his surrogates at the time to spread lies that our party Chairman was collecting money from partisans or outsiders to place their names on the listing even though it was glaring that he Minister McGill was the one collecting money from political mujahedeens for appointments example like LRA, CSA, NAAFA, LAA, and many other places.”
According to Mr. Kromah, the action and in actions of Minister McGill resulted to the government payroll padding by those intruders who were brought in the government by either minister McGill or those of his associates without any opportunity for CDCians who committed their all for their political struggle to be a success. “Today, we are been referred to as either impatient, insightful, arrogant or not party disciplined only because we have refused for our labour to be enjoyed by the same people we had fought for all those years in opposition for bad Governance, corruption, nepotism and so for. We are continuing to beg the same people for our daily survivability even though we are qualified more than most of them.”
The former CDC Security Council Chair laments that “this wicked and ingratitude actions on their part has resulted in the party (CDC) losing major elections over the past time. Instead of the likes of McGill and other party hierarchy taking a step back to listen to these concerns of partisans and find a holistic solutions, they are again deceiving the president that he can win the 2023 election with or without the party structures. Based on this arrogance, they are now building cells and auxiliaries all around the country hoping that the victory of Cllr Joseph Jallah (Independent candidate but later joined the CDC upon his victory) in Lofa recent by-election will be sustained.”
Concluding his statement, Mr. Manja Varney Gbassey Kromah warned that CDCians are not stupid and may not be voicing their anger publicly at the moment like they did over the past years when they were in opposition. He notes when they get the opportunity of deciding the fate of CDC candidates come the 2023 presidential and legislative elections, there will only be on thing on their minds regarding how they were excluded and marginalized by Minister Nathaniel McGill while strange political bedfellows enjoyed the fruits of their labor, it will be pay back politically by voting out the CDC just as it was done in the December 20, 2020 Midterm election.
Mr. Kromah then advises: “CDC needs to recalibrate, listen to our concerns, resolved some of our issues and bring back this 40% of the votes, or else failure will be disastrous comes 2023.”
