MONROVIA – Atty. Augustine Janga Kowo, National Chairman of the Congress for Democratic Change, delivered what may stand as the most comprehensive retrospective on the party’s 22-year political journey since its founding in 2004. Speaking at the Tubman Palace grounds in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County, on Saturday, June 27, 2026, Kowo traced the CDC’s historical roots, defended its democratic record, condemned the Unity Party government’s conduct since 2024, and issued a resounding call for organizational renewal ahead of 2029. He declared the CDC the bedrock of Liberia’s post-war democracy — a claim he argued the evidence of two decades supports. THE ANALYST reports.
Atty. Augustine Janga Kowo, National Chairman of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), delivered the main address at the party’s 22nd Anniversary celebration in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County, on Saturday, June 27, 2026, presenting a sweeping defense of the CDC’s democratic record and issuing a pointed condemnation of the Unity Party government’s conduct since assuming power in January 2024.
Speaking under the anniversary theme “Zwedru Rises,” Kowo addressed thousands of party faithful, invited dignitaries, and leaders of allied opposition political parties assembled at the Tubman Palace grounds. His speech, one of the longest and most detailed of the day, ranged across 22 years of CDC history, the party’s electoral journey from 2005 to 2023, its record in government, and its vision for political renewal.
Roots in Progressive Politics
Kowo began by tracing the ideological and personal origins of the CDC’s founding. He recalled that its standard bearer, former President George Manneh Weah, came of age politically by closely following the progressive activism of the Movement for Justice in Africa (MOJA), the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), and other reformist movements.
He witnessed the 1979 rice riots and the subsequent coup d’état of 1980, which culminated in the death of President William R. Tolbert and other government officials. Kowo argued that Weah took advantage of hindsight to combine “progressive activism with strategic tolerance and patience” in building the young CDC.
He noted that the CDC attracted the support of Gabriel Baccus Matthews, whom he described as the father of multiparty democracy and radical progressive activism in Liberia.
“Senior Comrade Gabriel Baccus Matthews saw in President Weah the same progressive fire, courage, and commitment to the masses that characterized the radical democratic struggle of the 1970s and 1980s,” Kowo stated.
The Long Electoral Road: 2005 to 2023
Kowo gave a detailed account of the CDC’s electoral history. He noted that the party organized the first major post-war political machinery and won the first round of the 2005 presidential election with 39 percent of the votes, though it fell short of the constitutional threshold of 50 percent plus one vote.
The runoff election was marred by allegations of irregularities, but Weah — guided by the violent history of Liberia and mindful of the fragility of the peace — opted for peaceful settlement and accepted the declared victory of Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
He described the 2011 election as tense, with allegations of rigging. The National Elections Commission announced the CDC as winner and later retracted the announcement as an error. The commission’s chairperson resigned, and there was heightened political tension.
The CDC boycotted the runoff, and on November 7, 2011, its headquarters were invaded and people were killed.
Ambassador Winston Tubman later resigned as standard bearer, leaving Weah with the challenge of managing a disillusioned and apparently cheated political institution. Yet the CDC under Weah again chose peaceful political engagement over disruptive confrontation.
Kowo noted that Weah even accepted appointment as National Peace Ambassador by President Sirleaf, helping consolidate democracy and peace.
Weah went on to contest and win the senatorial race of 2014, defeating Robert Sirleaf, son of the sitting president. “That victory was strategic and catapulted him to the National Legislature,” Kowo noted.
He said Weah was elected Head of the Liberian Legislative Delegation to the ECOWAS Parliament, a platform that enabled him to interact with regional leaders and appreciate the architecture of regional diplomacy.
The CDC reorganized, re-energized, and repositioned for the 2017 presidential and legislative elections. In 2017, the Liberian people overwhelmingly elected Weah as President of the Republic, a victory Kowo described as “a victory for democracy, a victory for peace, a victory for political tolerance.”
The Record in Government
Kowo defended the performance of the CDC-led government during its six years in office from 2018 to 2024.
He cited investments in education, including tuition-free policies at public universities; strengthened national health response, including during the COVID-19 pandemic; infrastructure expansion across roads, public buildings, and community development; and what he described as the preservation of democratic space, tolerance of dissent, and protection of constitutional order.
“We did not solve every problem. No honest leader can claim that all challenges were solved. But we moved the country forward,” Kowo stated.
He particularly highlighted the CDC government’s conduct around elections. He said the government supported the holding of the 2020 midterm senatorial elections and supported reforms at the National Elections Commission to ensure professionalism, neutrality, and independence.
In 2023, he said the CDC-led government supported the holding of presidential and legislative elections under conditions he described as among the most competitive in Liberia’s post-war history.
He paid tribute to CDC partisans who lost their lives in political violence during that period, naming Joshua and Tamba Momo among those remembered.
He described the narrow loss of the 2023 runoff — by less than one percent — and the decision by Weah to call President-elect Boakai and congratulate him before tension could rise as the CDC’s highest demonstration of democratic tolerance.
“That was not weakness. That was strength. That was not surrender. That was statesmanship,” Kowo declared. He argued that no political institution in post-war Liberia had sacrificed more for democratic stability than the CDC.
Sharp Indictment of the Unity Party Government
Kowo leveled a sweeping indictment of President Joseph Nyuma Boakai’s administration since assuming power following the CDC’s gracious concession.
He cited dismissals of civil servants, attempts to remove tenured officials, political pressure on institutions, the weaponization of prosecution against former officials, and silence in the face of allegations involving current government officials.
He referenced the controversial removal of Speaker Cllr. J. Fonati Koffa and the political crisis that followed in the National Legislature.
He described the prosecution of former government officials as malicious and contrasted it with what he said was the current administration’s minimization of credible concerns about corruption and mismanagement.
One of his sharpest passages concerned the demolition of the CDC’s national headquarters. Kowo described the action as more than the destruction of a building.
“It was an attack on the symbol of a people’s movement. It was an attempt to humiliate the largest grassroots political institution in Liberia,” he stated.
He declared, however, that those who demolished the building misunderstood the CDC. “CDC is not a building. The CDC is not concrete and zinc. The CDC is a movement. The CDC lives in the hearts of the Liberian people,” he declared, to sustained applause.
A New Headquarters, a Renewed Mission
Kowo announced that a brand-new national headquarters was under construction, describing it as a monument of resilience and a symbol of rebirth. He said the CDC was consulting with political actors, strengthening relationships, rebuilding structures, and consolidating the democratic opposition.
He called on party structures across all 15 counties to recommit to unity, discipline, grassroots mobilization, and democratic engagement.
“We must organize in every district. We must strengthen every county structure. We must rebuild every auxiliary. We must empower the Women’s League. We must energize the Youth League.
We must protect the elders. We must train our poll watchers. We must educate our first-time voters,” Kowo urged. He declared that the CDC was coming back — “not for revenge, but for rescue; not to persecute, but to restore fairness; not to divide Liberia, but to unite the country around peace, development, opportunity, and justice.”
Zwedru Rises, CDC Rises
Kowo closed his address with a series of declarations anchored in the anniversary’s theme, “Zwedru Rises.” He argued that Zwedru rose because Grand Gedeh had always been a land of courage, resilience, loyalty, and political consciousness.
He said democracy must not live only in Monrovia but in Zwedru, Harper, Fish Town, Greenville, Voinjama, Buchanan, Gbarnga, Robertsport, and every village and town across the Republic. He called on every partisan to hold the line, remain united, and resist distraction.
“Twenty-two years ago, they doubted us. Twenty-two years ago, they mocked us. Twenty-two years ago, they underestimated the power of ordinary people. But today, after twenty-two years of struggle, sacrifice, victory, service, and democratic endurance, the Congress for Democratic Change stands tall as the most consequential mass-based political institution in post-war Liberia,” he declared.