MONROVIA- Liberia’s opposition has cracked before its coalition could even be launched. Musa Hassan Bility’s Citizens Movement for Change has walked away from the process former President George Weah convened at Jamaica Resort. Bility’s objection goes deeper than seats or personalities. He argues that a coalition built only to win elections would simply recycle the old order. His “third option” pitch targets voters tired of choosing between the Unity Party and a returning CDC. The move tests whether Weah can hold the remaining leaders together. It also tests whether a young party builds a national base alone. The road to a single opposition candidate in 2029 now looks longer and rougher, as THE ANALYST reports.
What political pundits had described as a bold initiative by former President George Manneh Weah to consolidate Liberia’s opposition forces into a unified coalition against the ruling establishment for the 2029 elections has suffered a major structural crack.
The Citizens Movement for Change (CMC), led by Musa Hassan Bility, has pulled out of the arrangement after declining to sign the draft communiqué and to participate further in the ongoing coalition-building process.
In a formal letter to Weah dated September 23, 2026, Bility, the CMC Political Leader, cited fundamental disagreements over governance reform. He declared that the movement will not be used to prop up the existing political order.
The refusal comes barely two weeks after Weah, serving as Convener of the Opposition Political Leaders Forum, hosted a high-level roundtable at his private Jamaica Resort in Thinker’s Village, Paynesville, on September 6, 2026.
That meeting, attended by key figures including Alexander B. Cummings of the Alternative National Congress (ANC), Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah of the Movement for Economic Empowerment (MOVEE), Simeon Freeman of the Movement for Progressive Change (MPC) and Jonathan Mason of the Union of Liberian Democrats (ULD), was heralded by organizers as the foundational step toward constructing a formidable opposition bloc ahead of the 2029 presidential contest. However, the momentum appears to have hit a wall.
Rejecting ‘Unity For Unity’s Sake’
In the letter addressed directly to the former President, a copy of which was sent to this paper yesterday, Bility made it clear that the party had consulted internally across the CMC’s Executive Committee, National Advisory Council and Diaspora Leadership. Following those consultations, the party overwhelmingly resolved that the proposed coalition format fails to align with its core purpose.
According to Bility, the CMC was not created to serve as an appendage to existing political structures. He argued that it was formed to dismantle a recurring cycle of governance that has yielded little progress over the last two decades.
“The CMC was not established merely to become another component of the existing political order,” Bility wrote in his letter to Weah. “It was founded to challenge, reform, and replace a system of governance that has shaped our country for much of the past two decades without delivering the fundamental change our people deserve.”
Bility argued that forging a political alliance strictly for the purpose of winning an election, without first securing a concrete, binding agreement on constitutional, legal, institutional and economic reform, is a disservice to the Liberian electorate.
“For the CMC, political unity cannot be an objective by itself. It must rest on a shared national vision, an agreed reform program, and a transparent system of governance that is fundamentally different from what Liberia has experienced,” Bility declared.
Framing The ‘Third Option’
The CMC’s sharpest critique was directed at Liberia’s traditional political divide. Bility framed the Liberian electorate as being trapped in a false binary between the current administration and the immediate past administration led by Weah’s Congress for Democratic Change (CDC).
“Our country needs another option to the present administration, but it also needs another option to the political practices of the immediate past. Liberians should not be forced to choose between continuing the present order and returning to the past,” Bility stated.
Rather than remaining tied to the Jamaica Resort process, the CMC announced that it will independently engage civil society organizations, political parties and national stakeholders.
The aim, it said, is to test whether Liberians are ready to champion a “genuine third option founded on integrity, competence, transparency, and a new system of national leadership.”
‘Not A Rejection Of Cooperation’
Aware of potential backlash from opposition loyalists who view any pushback as aiding the ruling party, Bility took steps to soften the stance. He emphasized that the decision was institutional rather than personal.
He stressed that the CMC remains open to issue-based collaboration on critical national priorities, such as electoral integrity, the rule of law and economic accountability. That openness, he said, depends on future engagements taking place among equal partners and being rooted in structural reform.
“This decision does not represent a rejection of opposition cooperation. The CMC remains prepared to collaborate with all opposition political parties on matters of common national concern, including electoral integrity, the rule of law, economic accountability and the protection of our democratic institutions. We will also remain open to future political cooperation where the process is conducted among equals, respects the independence of every participating party and is anchored in a clearly defined program of national reform,” Bility stated in the letter.
Background: The Jamaica Resort Summit
The CMC’s exit marks a setback for former President Weah’s broader political strategy. On September 6, 2026, Weah opened his Jamaica Resort residence to assemble various opposition leaders.
Coordinated largely by former Foreign Minister Kemayah, the roundtable was meant to demonstrate that the CDC, despite losing power in the 2023 elections, retained the gravity and authority to lead a consolidated front. The summit resulted in the creation of a Technical Committee charged with drafting a unified communiqué.
But as Bility’s letter demonstrates, translating polite dialogue at a resort into a binding multi-party agreement is proving far more complex than the convener anticipated.
By walking away from the draft communiqué, Bility and the CMC have effectively signaled that the road to a single, unified opposition candidate in 2029 will not run smoothly through the CDC’s headquarters, setting the stage for a fragmented, multipolar opposition struggle in the months ahead.
There has been no response from the CDC. Nor have Cummings, Freeman and Mason announced any decision on whether they will continue holding discussions with the CDC or follow Bility’s path.