Will the “Bad Blood” Heal Now for Liberia’s Sake

IPNEWS: According to the Office of Liberia’s President-elect, former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has sent a message of congratulations to her former number two, former Vice President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, for winning the Presidency ahead of incumbent President George Manneh Weah.

Mr. George Saah, the President-elect’s personal Communications Officer, said Mr. Boakai’s former boss, Madam Sirleaf, had among other words, specifically wished him well with these prayerful lyrics: “Joe, congratulations. May God guide you as you lead the Nation.” Saah didn’t say whether it was a phone call made to Ambassador Boakai or other mean, he (Saah), however, posted this release with the President-elect having a phone to his ear as if on the phone with someone.

President Sirleaf, who is an active X (formerly Twitter) user, usually posts on her X page things that are dear to her heart. She is yet to post this congratulatory message to her X page. A lookup on her twitter account to ascertain whether she has this message there among her recent posts proved futile. Her latest post was made on November 17, 2023 and the news of her congratulatory message was released on November 18, 2023.

It’s no secret that every Liberian who has followed their county’s politics since 2017, will know that it has been a very frosty political relationship between Ellen and Joe.

The former President appearing once on the late Mamadee Diakete’s Prime FM morning show, openly declared that her Vice President was the perfect person to replace her at the end of her tenure. But she only said it and did the opposite by not supporting him when he first contested against Weah in 2017.

It was expressly glaring that Madam Sirleaf, who most Liberians refer to as the “Iron Lady” of Liberian politics, threw her weight behind Mr. Weah in 2017. Some Liberians have always attributed Weah winning of the 2017 Presidential Runoff election between him and Boakai to Ellen handing it to him on a “sliver platter.”

Up to now, Liberians have been contemplating over what went wrong between Ellen and Joe as both arguably successfully led Liberia for 12 consecutive years. But rift began to show in the last year of her second term. They were once two “best friends.”

Some have attributed the source of the conflict between the pair to 2014 when President Sirleaf’s son, Robert Sirleaf, contested for the Senate seat of Montserrado County. The male Sirleaf had contested against now President George Weah and lost the senate race. Those who think the conflict started that year, said the former Vice President and the Unity Party didn’t pledge their support to Robert.

Again in 2023, the former President tried to work against her former number two’s interest. Montserrado County’s Senator Abraham Darius Dillon, who is one of the now President-elect’s loyal soldiers, is on record of saying that former President Sirleaf had called him and Grand Bassa Senator Nyonblee Karngar-Lawrence for them to switch their allegiance from Boakai to Mr. Alexander Benedict Cummings.

When Dillon promised to divulged what she had told him and Nyonblee, the former President tweeted on June 3, 2023: “I wish Senator Dillon the best in his political endeavors. I hope he will continue to espouse those democratic principles of freedom of expression and choice.” Some Liberians saw this as a threat on the Senator.

Both the former President and Vice President have done all they can to maturely handle their misunderstanding or policy difference outside of the media. In front of the press, one hardly tells that there is a bad blood between the pair as their camaraderie still looks spotless.

On Madam Sirleaf’s 85^th birthday, he presented her a bouquet of flowers. He even attended service with her on October 29, 2023 at her First United Methodist Church on Ashmun Street in Monrovia.

During their 12-year reign over Liberia, the pair resuscitated Liberia’s ailing and battered post-war economy, built infrastructure such as roads and bridges. The number of schools constructed was unprecedented in recent times. Power and water were restored to part of Monrovia; while the seaports and main highways were reconstructed including the Monrovia-Gbarnga highway and the Monrovia-Buchanan road.