IPNEWS-Monrovia: The former ruling National Patriotic Party (NPP) of Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor, a constituent member of the governing Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), has finally settled the longstanding wrangling that almost disintegrated the CDC and was on the verge of creating wedge on the Coalition’s chances to retain state power in October 2023.
The NPP had been embroiled in a legal battle of supremacy for a very long time, where it came to a point the party split into two factions – Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor’s faction as the Political leader and Senator James Biney’s faction as National Chairman of the NPP.
Flashback: NPP political leader & standard bearer VP Jewel Howard Taylor and National Chairman Sen. James Biney exchange copies of NPP revised constitution
As so, after a heated hullabaloo within the former ruling NPP following the parallel conventions that produced two factions within the party, peace finally returned to NPP on Wednesday, January 12, 2023 when Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor, Political leader and standard bearer of the party publicly acknowledged and recognized Senator James Biney as National Chairman of the party.
Speaking Wednesday at the National Headquarters of the party in Congo Town outside Monrovia, Political leader and standard bearer Howard-Taylor said her recognition of Biney for the portfolio was predicated on the outcome of the peace and reconciliation meeting held with President George Weah in which the Liberian leader urged the NPP, VP Taylor and Senator Biney to resolve the contending issues, return to “status quo ante” and redirect their energies to the 2023 election where the President is seeking re-election on the ticket of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), in which the NPP is a major constituent member.
The settling of the impasse that engulfed the NPP for a very long time has now paved the way for the NPP to maintain its running mate slot within the CDC
The recognition took place at the meeting where some contending issues concerning the review of the collaboration agreement that the party had signed with the Congress for Democratic Change and the Liberia People’s Democratic Party, which led to the formation of the CDC.
There was a mild drama that nearly marred the meeting after Senator Biney had refused to recognize the Vice President officially as the Standard bearer of the party until she likewise recognized him as the national chairman. It took the intervention and persuasion of the Chairman Emeritus, Cyril Allen, to restore normalcy and order for the meeting to proceed. He told the gathering that it was not proper for the partisans to be engaged in bickering when major issues of concern to the party are unattended to.
“The position of the Vice President and Standard Bearer is not under dispute. She is the leader of this party. She is qualified and an outstanding character who has no record of being tried and found guilty of any crime in this country. So, I don’t expect anyone to raise that as an issue. She deserves the respect and honor just as we have our national Chairman, Senator Biney. What we should be discussing here right now is the framework document which we need to look at and rectify and focus on the election,” Allen said.
Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor and President George Weah back in January 2018 during their inauguration. The resolution of the crisis within the party has created another avenue for the CDC to vie for reelection in peace from within
Vice President Taylor who also spoke later on said that she respected the outcome of the peace meeting with President Weah, and although she had belonged to a faction of the party, she had decided to recognize Senator Biney as the national chairman and not Cllr. Stanley Kparkillen whom she had supported during the two parallel conventions held last October, 2022.
Meanwhile, Samuel Jackson, a long-time member of the progressives, Thursday reaffirmed his membership of the NPP and vowed to work towards strengthening the party and the CDC for the 2023 election and beyond.
“I lost myself but I have come back home. So, I want you all not to see me as a prodigal son but a close colleague because together we have a lot to accomplish in 2023 to strengthen the coalition and beyond to make this country a business country in Africa because we have a lot,” Jackson said.
The political wrangling that engulfed the NPP and almost brought to its brink, was described by political pundits as a ‘cancer’ that was bent on eroding the NPP as well as creating a stumbling block in its quest to maintain its constituent membership within the CDC. But with the dust now settled, the NPP is well on course to maintain its running mate slot within the CDC, which also comprises former House Speaker Alex Tyler’s Liberian People Democratic Party (LPDP).
