The Liberty Party Chairman, Musa Hassan Bility, who recently labeled himself as “Mr. UNMIL” due to his avowed interventions at brokering peace within Liberia’s biggest opposition party, has intimated his preparedness to end the CPP internal legal wrangling on a tit-for-tat basis. Appearing on the State-run ELBC Super Morning Talk show Tuesday, May 9, 2022, Bility said “Cummings does not belong in court and UP should take him from there before we talk”.
Bility’s solution to ending the CPP impasse is hinged on ALP Standard Bearer Benoni Urey and others dropping the CPP framework document tampering case, and in return, he (Bility) will negotiate withdrawal of the LP’s case filed at the National Elections Commission (NEC) barring the Unity Party to field a candidate in the upcoming Lofa County by-election.
It can be recalled that the ANC and the LP, the two remaining members of the Collaborating political parties, successfully challenged the Unity Party’s right to field a candidate in the upcoming by-election in Lofa County at the level of the NEC dispute hearing.
The ruling of the NEC hearing officer was upheld by the Board of Commissioners as the Unity Party failed to prove fraud which was their basis for arguing that the Framework Document was voided and that they, the Unity Party, had no article 8.5 (2) obligations or consequences. The Unity Party then announced an appeal to the Supreme Court when the BOC ruled on April 25, 2022.
Chairman Bility further revealed how he was referred to as “UNMIL” by his colleagues in the CPP leadership because of the constructive role he played in reconciling feuding parties in the CPP and encouraging executives from ALP and ANC that had publicly been feuding for months.
Reconciling Alex Cummings and Benoni Urey
Listeners were particularly touched by the moving account of how Musa Hassan Bility brought the two men together in a reconciliation effort at Benoni Urey’s Wulki Farms. Many insiders say it is no secret that the ALP political leader and his ANC counterpart had been at war politically from the get go, particularly over the idea of Voters Perception Survey or VPS.
Bility recounted his conversation with Cummings and Urey on the issue, stating: “I helped to solve that problem by taking both sides’ interests and fears into account.”
To get both sides on board, Bility said he proposed a candidate selection formula that would include both primary and VPS.
“The VPS will be conducted ahead of the elective primary which interestingly was being forcefully advocated for by Urey and other JNB allies. I told Mr. Urey that the VPS will not determine the candidate but it should be done to inform the delegates before they cast their ballots in the competitive Primary that he and others were insisting to be the means by which the CPP chooses its Standard Bearer,” Bility said.
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