–Crack CDC Re-election Bid Ahead of 2023

IPNEWS: There is an adage that “politics is interest” as it is now being manifested by some politicians who in 2017 joined forces with the then-opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) of former international football icon, George Weah, to form a coalition that battled the former ruling Unity Party (UP) of former Vice President Joseph Boakai.

Weah’s CDC spearheaded the emergence of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) that comprised constituent parties – Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) of George Weah, former ruling National Patriotic Party (NPP) of jailed ex-Liberian president Charles Taylor that had his former wife Jewel Howard Taylor as a political leader and former House Speaker Alex Tyler’s Liberia’s People Democratic Party (LPDP).

Following the formation of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) that eventually made Weah its standard bearer and Jewel Howard Taylor as running mate, the party was able to accumulate the needed votes that propelled it to the presidential run-off against the former government Unity Party of Joseph Boakai.

Prior to the conduct of the presidential run-off, there were alignments and re-alignments of political actors and stakeholders with the intent of supporting a candidate who shared similar ideologies with theirs in pursuit of the highest office in the land, the Liberian presidency.

One key political actor who endorsed and campaigned vigorously for the CDC of football icon, George Weah, was former rebel general, warlord, and now Senator, Prince Y. Johnson, who used his political influence in his vote-rich Nimba County to convince his kinsmen to vote for the CDC standard bearer. It is said a political pact was reached between the CDC and Senator Prince Y. Johnson that upon victory, the CDC would provide the certain number of jobs to qualified Nimbians, especially those from his political establishment.

But with few months to the all-important presidential and legislative elections in October 2023, it seems the honeymoon between the CDC and Senator Johnson’s MRD political party is like over as the Senator has publicly stated the President Weah and the CDC has reneged on its bargain agreed with the MRD.

‘Pay-for-Play’; PYJ Wants Reward for Political Alliance

–As MDR Threatens CDC Ahead of the 2023 Election

As if Nimba County Senator Prince Y. Johnson, sees the U.S. Treasury sanction Global Magnitsky Act, brought against him for a joke, the former rebel general has once again embarked upon his usual scheme of ‘pay-for-play’, with the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC)

The Global Magnitsky Act authorizes the US government to sanction persons or groups of persons deemed as human rights offenders, including seizures of assets, and ban them from entering the US.

In 2021, Nimba County Senator Prince Y. Johnson was accused by the US government of engaging in large-scale corruption — a pay-for-play scheme with government ministries and organizations for personal enrichment.

According to the US Treasury Department, Senator Johnson was part of a scheme in which the Senator, upon receiving funding from the “Government of Liberia, the involved government ministries and organizations, laundered a portion of the funding for the return to the involved participants.”

“As a senator, Johnson has been involved in pay-for-play funding with government ministries and organizations for personal enrichment;”

“As part of the scheme, upon receiving funding from the government of Liberia, the involved government ministries and organizations launder a portion of the funding for the return to the involved participants.” The U.S. Treasury Department statement read.

Following the actions by the US, “All property and interests in property of the three individuals that are in the US or in the possession or control of US persons must be blocked and reported to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).”

In addition, persons who engage in certain transactions with the designated individual’s risk also being exposed to sanctions or subject to enforcement action, the Treasury said.

Now, Senator Prince Y. Johnson is reportedly up to another scheme to siphon money for personal and collective enrichment.

In a purported statement circulated on social media months ago which has now become evident, the current Nimba County Senator, recounted since November 2017, an agreement signed with the Congress for Democratic Change to give his MDR party political support for financial and other gains.

The statement which was corroborated by Senator Prince Y. Johnson’s Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction (MDR), said the MDR agreed with President George Weah’s CDC for top Ministerial posts, Managing Directors and some ambassadorial positions in Nimba County.

Sen. Johnson stated that since the agreement was concluded to appoint sons and daughters from Nimba County to occupy top positions through our recommendations, his MDR or Nimba County is yet to see sons and daughters from Nimba County in those top senior positions since 2018.

“The citizens of Nimba have for the past five years been knocking at my door for the president to appoint them, and we have used all diplomatic means and have consistently engaged this CDC lead government, but nothing is working in order to get redress and make our people who struggled during the campaign period happy!”

“Once again, my fellow citizens of Nimba and supporters in Liberia and around the World, we like to take this time to inform you that the agreement we signed with the CDC has come to an end! So, for and on behalf of the great people Nimba and all partisans of the MDR Political Party, we are now constrained to make this pronouncement that we are “HALTING OUR POLITICAL SUPPORT” to the Coalition!” The MDR Political leader Prince Johnson stated.

Dangerously, the former rebel murderer warned President Weah that he does not like ‘betrayal’.

Prince Y. Johnson: “As a former general in the army, we believe in agreement and don’t like to betray what we have agreed upon, so we ask you to remain calm until we can later inform you about where to go.”

The concurrence of the once-seen purported Prince Johnson statement on social media by the MDR last year confirmed the U.S. Treasury sanction under the Global Magnitsky Act.

In the statement issued by MDR, the party threatened to halt all ‘POLITICAL SUPPORT’ to the Coalition for Democratic Change.

Political pundits view Senator Prince Y. Johnson’s statement as not only placing a dent on CDC’s chances for the much-publicized 2023, Presidential and Legislative Elections, but places Sen. Johnson in a state of dilemma for war crimes prosecution following the elections in 2023.

It may be recalled; Senator Prince Y. Johnson was sanctioned by the U.S. Government for alleged corruption. The sanctions against Johnson come under the Global Magnitsky Act, which authorizes the U.S. government to sanction those it sees as human rights offenders, freeze their assets, and ban them from entering the U.S.

The former rebel General is responsible for the slaying in 1990 of President Samuel Doe, who had been captured by his forces during the country’s 14-year civil war. Johnson sipped beer as he watched his men torture and mutilate Doe who begged in vain for mercy in a widely circulated video.

Pres. Weah to Lose Major Support in Bong County ahead of Election

As though the threats from Nimba County Senator not withdraw its support to the CDC in the October elections, another ally of President George Weah’s CDC, former Bong County Senator Henry Yallah said he may not support President George Weah’s re-election bid should he fails to appoint a native of the county as a cabinet minister ahead of this year’s presidential elections.

As of the 2008 Census, Bong had a population of 328,919, making it the third most populous county in Liberia. The county proved crucial to President Weah’s ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) in the 2017 presidential elections, winning the county in both the first and second rounds.

The last native of Bong to have served in President Weah’s government was former Agriculture Minister Dr. Mogana Flomo, who was appointed in 2018 and got dismissed in 2019.

And Yallah, who joined the CDC in 2020, believes it is “unthinkingly wrong” for a county with a huge population to be ignored by the government. “This is not about me, it’s about the relevance of Bong in the body politics of the country. The government is being dominated by people from the South-east, a geographically irrelevant region of the country,” he said.

“I will not go out and campaign this year when the campaign starts. What will I tell my people? Vote for the party that has marginalized you over the years at the expense of smaller counties. Those people from the smaller counties should be the ones fighting for President Weah’s re-election, not those from Bong,” he said.

On whether he would join any political party if offers were available ahead of this year’s presidential elections, he replied. “It’s not out of the cards.”

Yallah garnered 25,000 votes in his failed re-election bid in 2020, and he believes he still has the political relevance in Bong to make any political party win the county. “No senator in Liberia who sought re-election accumulated that number. Besides, I have managed to remain engaged with my people since I lost the election.”

Like Yallah, prominent sons and daughters of Bong County have shared similar views about the “marginalization” of county in the current government despite have a vice president and a native of Bong County in Jewel Howard -Taylor.

A local daily, FrontPage Africa reported recently that former Liberian Ambassador to the United States of America, Jeremiah Sulonteh, is reportedly feeling “betrayed” by the government despite reported assurances to have him appointed.

Sulonteh, however, could not confirm nor deny this information, but a relative to the Suakoko born told FrontPage Africa: “Ambassador Sulonteh is really disappointed in the government for failing to appoint him and he’s considering parting ways with the CDC.”

Last year, a 19-year-old student of a Bong County school embarrassed the vice president during a town hall meeting in Gbarnga when she asked this question: “Madam Vice President, why is it that there is no cabinet minister from Bong County in the government you’re serving in? Is it that they aren’t qualified or what?”

In response, a disappointed Howard-Taylor was quoted by FrontPage Africa as saying: “The people of Bong should be patient, because with or without Bong County, CDC will still win re-election.”

The CDC has struggled to win Bong County, losing all three elections.

Some of the reasons include, reliance on overrated political points, internal wrangling within the Bong chapter of the CDC, and conspiracy of some party elites.

In 2014, the party lost the senatorial election by-election to independent candidate Henrique Tokpa and the 2020 Special Senatorial election to Prince Moye of the opposition Collaborating Political Parties (CPP).

Senator Jeremiah Koung’s Revelation

In October 2022, Nimba County Senator Jeremiah Kpan-Koung said he and his political leader, Senator Prince Y. Johnson, were unsure about their support for President George Weah’s second term bid in the 2023 presidential and general elections.

Senator Johnson’s Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction (MDR) was pivotal in securing Pres. Weah’s victory in the 2017 runoff election.

When he spoke on Voice of Gompa, a local radio station in Nimba, he stated he and Sen. Johnson are not happy about the treatment Nimbaians (residents of Nimba County) are getting from the CDC-led government.

Sen. Koung: “I am not happy with the CDC Government. “Up to now, I am supporting President Weah but, this could change depending on the result of the negotiation on behalf of our people. Sen. Prince Y. Johnson, my political leader, is not also happy with the government, we are reviewing the MDR marriage with the Coalition, in terms of what have we benefited as a party.”

According to the Nimba Senator, he spoke the minds of most Nimbaians who feel betrayed by the CDC government, especially in the allotment of positions in the government.  He said Nimbaians are disappointed that most of the appointments in government have gone to the South easterners where the President hails from.

The Nimba County Senators believed that over the five years of Weah’s administration, his Nimbaians (people of Nimba County) have been denied opportunities including appointed positions in the CDC-led Government.

Koung’s statement was made in the wake of rumors that Mr. Alexander Cummings of the opposition Alternative National Congress (ANC) was considering picking Koung as a running mate in the pending 2023 presidential and general elections.

 ‘Weah Has Desecrated the Church and Promise Breaker’ – Says Senator Johnson

As if the threats from Nimba County Senator, Prince Y. Johnson to halt his support to President Weah’s second term bid, on Sunday the Nimba lawmaker tagged the Liberian leader, President George Weah as ‘Promise Breaker’, and said the President has desecrated the church without being ordained as pastor by preaching at the Forky Klon Jlaleh Family Fellowship Church.

The former warlord turned-evangelist made these assertions during his last Sunday sermon at his Chapel of Faith Ministries in Paynesville amid applauds from his congregation, as he further disclosed that the Liberian leader awarded lucrative jobs to his kinsmen in the southeastern part of the country.

He said the Liberian leader has turned his back on the people of Nimba County after they gave him massive support during his election as President of Liberia, and further vowed that the people of Nimba will not throw their support during the 2023 elections this time.

During the Liberian leader first term, Senator Prince Johnson was one of the first to endorse the former soccer star George Weah in the runoff for Liberia’s presidency next month, “I am calling on my supporters to join me in supporting George Weah for the presidency,” Johnson told his kinsmen in Monrovia during a news conference in 2017.

Johnson’s support would go on to help Weah win the presidential run-off overwhelmingly against former governing Unity Party candidate vice president Joseph Boakai.

With this latest development, it is believed that the political marriage between President Weah and the Nimba County is slowly coming to an end ahead of October 2023.

The Cracks within NPP Places Dark Clouds over CDC Second Term Bid

…. Party Says She Is No Longer NPP Political Leader; But could this Leadership Struggle Foil CDC’s Re-election Quest?

The prolonged internal legal leadership tussles within the National Patriotic Party (NPP), one of the constituent parties of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Charge (CDC), is now beyond boiling as the standard bearer or political leader position has been declared vacant and is now up for grabs.

The Chairman of the Party, James Biney, said that Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor is no longer the political leader of the party and that she has been duly informed of her fate within the party.

The decision to declare the position vacant, he said, is in keeping with the party’s constitution. The party has already extended notice for applications from members who are interested in becoming the next standard bearer.

“The NPP does not have a political leader or standard bearer now as we speak as per our constitution. We have already told VP Taylor that her tenure as the standard bearer of the party has ended,” Chairman Biney said at a press conference a fortnight ago after a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held at the Party’s headquarters in Congo Town.

“As of December 2, 2022, Jewel Howard-Taylor’s tenure as Standard Bearer of the NPP constitutionally ended in line with articles 3.2 and 9.1 of the NPP’s Constitution.”

Article 3.2 of the NPP’s constitution states: “There shall be a national convention held once every six years or during the year of general and presidential elections, amongst other things, to nominate and endorse candidates for presidential and legislative positions as a result of primaries held in the political subdivisions. According to Article 9.1, no officer or official of the Party can succeed himself or herself more than once.”

Except amended, which is yet to be done, the constitution of the NPP prohibits Madam Taylor and all elected officials from seeking a third term. She was first elected Standard Bearer of the Party in 2010 and was reelected in 2016 for another six-year term.

In observance of the National Elections Commission’s published electoral guidelines, and the NPP Constitution sections 11.1 and 11.2, which relate to the nomination of legislative candidates and presidential candidates respectively, the NPP’s NEC mandated its Secretary-General, Andrew Peters, to solicit applications from members for nomination as the Party’s legislative and presidential candidates.

NPP Bitter Legal Tussle

Trapped in a bitter leadership struggle dating as far back as 2018 between Taylor and Biney, the NPP also found itself in a legal battle that the Supreme Court’s intervention seems far from restoring calm. The nation’s highest court however granted legitimacy to the Biney faction of the party.

On August 4, 2022, the Supreme Court handed down two separate rulings in the NPP matter before it.  In the first case, “Jewel Howard Taylor, Standard Bearer vs. James P. Biney, National Chairman et al,” the Supreme Court sustained a Civil Law Court ruling that said that VP Taylor, as an ex-officio member of NPP’s NEC, has no authority to convene the meeting and or issue formal communications in the name of the Party.

“All actions taken by the Standard Bearer to convene meetings, to preside over meetings, conventions, and administer the affairs of the Party administratively were illegal and unconstitutional, and hence, reversible and unenforceable, and accordingly, the Standard Bearer herein are all, jointly and severally barred, prevented, prohibited and restrained from attempting to usurp, interfere with, obstruct, impede, and assume any of the functions and operations of the NEC,” the Court said.

The Supreme Court also upheld the 2004 Constitution produced by Biney’s leadership and its amendments which were adopted in Tubmanburg, Bomi County, in 2016. The Court furthered that the alleged 2016 revised Constitution relied on by Taylor be simultaneously declared illegal, null and void — adding that the National Chairman, the National Secretary General, and other ranking members of the National Executive Committee, are the proper and lawful authority to convene meetings of the Party and issue out publication in the name of the Party.

In its second ruling, the Supreme Court overturned the decision of the National Elections Commission and recognized Biney as the legitimate Chairman of the Party and all other officers in his leadership, and requested him, Biney, to take the Party to its 7th Biennial Convention in line with the Party Constitution, and mandated the Civil Law Court to resume jurisdiction over the matter.

On the strength of these two rulings, the Civil Law Court mandated Biney’s leadership to take the Party to its 7th Biennial Convention — an event that became chaotic when the convention was convened on October 7, at the Paynesville Town Hall.

But in an apparent disregard to the Supreme Court rulings, Taylor, on that same Friday at the convention, resisted Biney and Peters from presiding — a situation that led to violent clashes and holding separate conventions later.

She presided over one group outside the hall, while Biney and Peters presided over the other. Biney was reelected Chairman from his end, and the VP later inducted herself as Standard Bearer for a third term and pronounced Cllr. Stanley Kparkillen as Chairman and Morris G. Paye as Secretary General for her faction of the party.

An enraged NPP Chairman Emeritus, Chief Cyril Allen, issued a public condemnation of Taylor’s action and termed it unconstitutional. Additionally, the Governing Council of the Coalition for Democratic Change released a statement affirming Biney’s leadership and rejecting Kparkillen.

The vice president stood her ground and called on the CDC not to interfere in the affairs of the NPP, an independent Party. She has since run parallel party structures in Monrovia and in counties where her actions are rejected by the NPP partisans.

This time, the CDC appears careful — tight-lipped — to air its views on the NPP’s internal strife, since the legitimacy of its vice-standard bearer hangs in the balance. A request for comment from the Daily Observer to a high ranking official of the ruling party was replied with a request “for 24 hours to consult.”

Will the Coalition have to choose between its institutional member (NPP) and its second-highest ranking partisan (VP Taylor), or can they sustain a unified front going into the October elections? A delicate balance, no doubt.

With such a crisis within the NPP, this could be the least that President George Weah and his ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) would want to face now as it prepares to focus on its reelection bid, come October, is any sort of distraction — be it an internal wrangling within the coalition or within any of the constituent parties.

In 2016 the NPP through Taylor formed a coalition with the Congress for Democratic Change of then-Senator George M. Weah.

It was through that collaboration that Taylor became the running mate of President George Weah. With this new development, it is not known if Taylor will still run on the ticket of the NPP to maintain her seat as the vice standard bearer in the 2023 elections.

But at the end of the October 7, 2022 convention, Chairman Biney appointed a 16-member coalition framework review committee to look at salient issues in the agreement that bound 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-Chairs, while Atty Allison Barco is the Secretary-General. Others on the committee are Samson Wiah, Albert Quenah, Charlyne A. Taylor, Dopoe Menkazon and other eminent partisans.

These members hold the future of the party and would decide whether it enters collaboration with another political institution.

With this looming uncertainty within the coalition as well as the public pronouncement from Senator Prince Y. Johnson that his ties with the CDC have come to an end, many are waiting to see how the ruling party would fare at the ensuing October elections.

The main political allies of the governing Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) seem to be abandoning it at the most crucial stage leading to the pending 2023 presidential end legislative elections.

But as for supporters of the governing CDC, there will be a resolution to whatever that is happening within the NPP, a constituent member of the Coalition and at the same time, Senator Prince Y. Johnson and his kinsmen’s quest for President Weah to name more Nimbaians into his cabinet can and will be handled maturely, where all parties concerned will be satisfied.

But at is stands, no one knows exactly what is going to unfold next in the wake of threats from Senator Johnson to halt support to the CDC, as well as former Bong County Senator Henry Yallah and Amb Jeremiah Sulonteh also reportedly vowing not to support Weah in 2023 elections if he fails the relevant political things in the interest of their county, Bong. As for the NPP saga, an unresolved crisis will definitely see more political allies of the CDC abandoning it just months leading to the October 2023 polls.

Bookmakers and political pundits, commenters and experts are watching keenly as to what will be the next political drama that could thwart the governing CDC’s re-election comes October 2023 if they fail to put their political house in order.