–A Viewpoint Analysis
IPNEWS-Monrovia: The 2014 New Elections Law of Liberia Chapter 5A Review of Party Results, Section 5A.1 states: “A Political Party of Candidate shall be suspended if the candidate/s nominated in an election for the presidency or a seat in the Legislature receives insufficient support in that election there by resulting into:
- None of the Party’s candidates is elected and (b) the total of all valid votes cast for all candidates in the party is less than two percent (2%) of the total of all valid votes cast for all candidates in the Constituencies in which the party contested, the Commission shall suspend the Party’s rights to nominate candidates for the next (2) two years for the same office.
(2) If and independent has contested an election for president or a seat in the Legislative and in that election
(a) the candidate is not elected, and (b) the total of all valid votes cast for all candidates in the party is less than two percent (2%) of the total of all valid votes cast for all candidates in the Constituencies in which the party contested, the Commission shall suspend the candidate’s rights to nominate candidates for the next (2) two years for the same office.
(2) Paragraph 5A (1) does not apply to a political party at the time of the election had a member continuing to hold office as President or as a member of the Legislature.
Section 5A.2: Appeal
A decision to suspend the right of a Political Party or a Candidate to contest elections may be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Section 5A.3: De-registration
A Political Party shall be de-registered only upon the judicial determination of a court of competent jurisdiction in accordance with due process of law.”
The crafters of the 2014 New Elections Law of Liberia in my mind derived the above Section with the intent to prevent mushrooming of political parties for selfish reasons other than seeking the interests of the people they say they represent.
MacDella Cooper Laments Political Crossovers, Terms It ‘Sheer Selfishness and Greed’
Recently, the political leader of the Movement for One Liberia Party, MacDella Cooper, lamented that it is a complete contradiction to the recent endorsement for the reelection bid of President George Weah by six opposition political parties.
MacDella Cooper of the Movement for One Liberia Party – She laments political crossovers for selfish gains
Madam Cooper who in 2011 said she was a good friend to former international football icon, George Weah, described as unfortunate, the decision of the political leaders of the six parties to affix their signatures to a document that champions a cause for President Weah, who according to her, has performed dismally since taking the helm of power in 2018, to be given another term when citizens are living in abject poverty.
Cooper noted that the six opposition parties’ decision to join the ruling Coalition for Democracy Change was driven by ‘greed and self-aggrandizement’, rather than the regime’s genuine efforts to serve the best interests of the Liberian people.
“The six parties that recently joined the CDC are a bunch of hungry people or politicians,” she said at an event in Bong County recently. “They are a group of belly-driven politicians who don’t have a vision for Liberia’s development.”
But the parties have however defended their position, noting that their endorsement of the ruling Coalition is a clear indication that Weah is leading the country in the right trajectory.
However, the six political parties that have expanded the Weah ruling Coalition to nine parties are not widely known to the public and have struggled in the past to attract supporters and gain votes, especially in a highly competitive and crowded political landscape.
Out of the six political parties, only the United People’s Party and the Movement for Economic Empowerment have participated in competitive elections. Both parties’ performance has been poor and it remains to be seen how much influence they will wield in the upcoming election.
The six parties that the President claims have strengthened his party are the lesser-known People’s Liberation Party, Union for Liberia Democrat, Redemption Democratic Congress, and Change Democratic Action.
The rests are the United People’s Party and the Movement for Economic Empowerment, which is chaired by D. Maxwell Kemayah, Liberia’s current Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The National Patriotic Party (NPP), Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), and Liberia People’s Democratic Party (LPDP) are the three original parties of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change.
However, the ruling Coalition and its supporters insist that there are no issues with the framework documents as being reported in the media based on concerns raised by constituent parties of the CDC.
Ms. Cooper, who contested in the 2017 elections as the only female candidate and was defeated, has called on the citizens to reject the CDC in the pending 2023 elections in the Country.
On his part, MOVEE political leader Dee-Maxwell Kemayah, who spoke on behalf of the parties who recently joined the ruling Coalition’s campaign to seek reelection, said their decision to join was based on the infrastructure development that the regime has been undertaking.
Kemayah noted the decision was not only made by the political leaders of the six parties but by all partisans and officials as well.
“Mr. President, the step we have taken today is in the realization of the thought that in your next term as President, you need all the resources to continue your development agenda for this country. As a party, we will ensure that you have a one-round victory.”
To the contrary, Ms. Cooper has described the decision as erroneous, inaccurate, and counterproductive to the development of Liberia.
“The Weah-led government has done nothing to improve the living conditions of the Liberian people, so I’m somehow shocked to see other political leaders joining a man who is bringing massive suffering upon our people,” she intoned.
Cracks in PLP Endorsement of CDC Reelection Bid
It can be recalled some officials and partisans of the opposition People’s Liberation Party (PLP)-USA Chapter opposed PLP political leader Mr. Tapple Doe’s decision for the party to join the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), saying the decision was against the party’s interest.
In a glaring crack of its support to the CDC, PLP-USA Chapter Secretary General Mr. Edwin Y. Bemah said Mr. Doe’s decision is not in the best interest of the people they have been fighting to liberate from abject poverty and unimaginable hardship.
Speaking via an online platform, Bemah argued that the decision is also against PLP’s constitution and policy which the party’s founding father the late Dr. Daniel E. Cassell advocated for even up to his death.
Flashback: Ruling CDC chairman Mulbah Morlu receives six opposition parties leaders who joined the CDC for President Weah’s reelection bid in October 2023
Recently, the PLP formed part of six political parties that joined the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change to support incumbent President George Weah’s second-term bid ahead of the 2023 presidential and legislative elections.
The other five political parties are the Union for Liberia Democrat (ULD), United People’s Party (UPP), Redemption Democratic Congress (RDC), Change Democratic Action (CDA), and the Movement for Economic Empowerment (MOVEE).
PLP political leader Mr. Tapple Doe presented the six political parties’ joint resolution to CDC Chairman Mulbah Morlu, describing the signing ceremony of the framework document as historical, and approval of President Weah’s one-round victory.
But Bemah claimed that Mr. Doe, PLP National Chairman, and others acted on their own.
He insisted that he and others will resist the decision of taking the PLP to the ruling CDC because it is not in the best interest of the people.
He argued that the PLP has been fighting to liberate the people from abject poverty and unimaginable hardship under a regime that doesn’t understand the value of human life.
He further said the late Dr. Cassell established the PLP and it was officially certificated as a full-fledged political party in Liberia by the National Elections Commission (NEC) on December 21, 2020.
Mr. Bemah believes that it would have been practical for the PLP to join forces with other parties with similar ideologies of rescuing Liberians from economic calamity.
Political Alignment and Realignment
While it is true that in all political landscapes there will always be alignments and realignments, the case of Liberia is quite different in line with the meaning and objectives of politicians crisscrossing and jumping from one boat to other.
And it is also quite true that ‘politics is interest’ and that ‘politicians do not have permanent friends but rather interests in a particular person or group’ giving the political situation that is unfolding or unfolds at a given time.
Political crossovers and crisscrossing are not new in Liberian political landscape as in the past there were lots of movements of politicians from one party to the other once they had ideological differences with the political leader of a give party or when they knew that their party lacked any real chance of winning state power.
Flashback: A cross section of Liberian political leaders, as well as former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and incumbent president George Weah at the Farmington River Declaration Peace Agreement signing ceremony
While it is their constitutional given rights to associate and dissociate, some politicians or people who ascribe unto themselves as politicians in Liberia, have the tendencies ‘to hang their coats where the sun shines’ for selfish reasons instead of pushing for a system that will be inclusive for the better of every Liberian.
The recent withdrawal of Nimba County Senator Prince Y. Johnson’s Movement for Development and Reconstruction (MDR) party from the ruling Coalition of Democratic Change (CDC) of incumbent president George Weah, over lack of fulfilling promises made to provide MDR certain top jobs in government is a classic example that these politicians only care for themselves and not the people they say they represent in government.
The MDR had disclosed that the ruling CDC failed to live up to the agreement signed in 2017 that made the party to endorse it in the presidential election but rather President Weah only gave the MDR junior ministerial jobs in government, and therefore, the MDR was not prepared to support the CDC for its reelection bid.
And true to its words, the MDR has given its support to the former ruling Unity Party of Joseph Boakai comes the October 2023 elections. It is not however known whether the MDR and the UP have entered into an agreement that if former Vice Joseph Boakai wins the presidency against any of his opponents, the MDR will be given top jobs in government. But at the moment, MDR political leader, Senator Jeremiah K. Koung of Nimba County was named as the running mate to the UP standard bearer and political leader for the October polls.
While it true that politics is interest, but in the end it is the MDR, and not the Liberian people, that is going to benefit whatever dividends they agreed in their political arrangement if UP is elected to state power.
In the case of former House Speaker Alex Tyler’s People’s Democratic Party of Liberia (LPDP), a constituent member of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), he refused to affix his signature to the new arrangement with the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) of Pres. George Weah because the CDC failed to live up to the 2017 framework. The LPDP, apparently were promised certain top jobs in government but that never came to fruition so this time around for 2023 elections the party wanted a clearer line of demarcation as what it will reap if it endorses the CDC for reelection in October.
Again, one can clearly deduce that whatever noise that came up from within the ruling CDC, is clearly rooted to personal gains of politicians in those parties rather than the Liberian people’s interests they pretend to represent.
Liberians Must Make Decisions for their Future and Not For Politicians’ Greed
There are lots of political maneuvering of politicians as political atmosphere in Liberian heats up leading to the October 2023 polls. Political parties that failed to gain the 2% of total votes cast in the past elections, who should not be accredited are again mushrooming and forming alliances, coalitions and collaborations for the sole purpose of taking state power.
Flashback: some supporters of the six opposition political parties that recently endorsed the CDC reelection bid in October 2023
Meanwhile, political experts have called on Liberians to refuse to be fooled all of the time by politicians who mean nothing for their country but only for self-aggrandizement, and that is why in October 2023, they have to make decisions that will lay a foundation for a better future for their country and its people, rather than giving state power to ‘greedy politicians’ as one former presidential candidate puts it.
Concluding, the pundits alludes that “self-interests above the people’s interests which is a result of mushrooming of Liberian political parties and politicians must be resented through the ballot box in October 2023 as Liberians once again will endeavor to choose new leaders for their common patrimony – The Republic of Liberia.”
