MONROVIA – The Law of Liberia, as based on the Constitution of Liberia, directs only the National Election Commission (NEC) of Liberia to declare the dates for campaigning for any election. In this regard, the NEC recently published its updated electoral datelines for the 2023 Presidential and Legislative campaigning period, beginning August 5, 2023 and ending October 8, 2023, two days to the Election Day of October 10, 2023. But even before the NEC had officially declared Political Campaign dates in accordance with its own regulations, interested Liberians are becoming extremely jittery that political parties and politicians are openly flouting the laws as they have been engaged in political campaigns for over a year.
According to renowned Liberian economist and perennial presidential hopeful Dr. Tgoba-Nah Tipoteh, political institutions and politicians have been actively engaged in campaign activities for over a year, in complete violation of the electoral laws of the country, something that might undermine the transparency, freeness and fairness of the 2023 presidential and legislative elections.
“No State entity is doing anything to stop this illegality, yet the State Talk and the Political Parties Talk go on about FAIR elections and how the President of the United States of America and other partners are providing financial resources to NEC for the 2023 election,” Dr. Tipoteh lamented in one of his regular commentaries on Liberia’s socioeconomic and political conundrums, noting that the integrity of the upcoming national elections could be jeopardized.
“With all of the illegal actions going on about the 2023 election, it will be impossible for any FAIR election to be held on October 10, 2023!!! Yet nothing is being done by national religious, political, civil society and State leaders to prevent violence by acting according to the Law of Liberia,” Dr. Tipoteh insisted.
An Insecure State spurred by the 2023 elections?
Lamenting further, Dr. Tipoteh touched on the troubled state of insecurity in the country, exemplified by the rising spate of unexplained ritualistic killings.
“We are also getting reports of ritualistic killings related to elections but nothing is being done to stop these killings, as seen with the killing of the two years old child in Bomi County less than a week ago. Ritualistic killings in Liberia that are related to elections are nothing new but they must be stopped because they are bad. Only Ngala (God) gives and only Ngala has the right to take away. Our duty is to Save Lives rather than to take lives.
“While Lawmakers in Liberia are working as Lawbreakers, their foreign partners are busy supporting them and at the same time sanctioning them because they, the partners, are not getting the high profit levels that they expect from their transnational corporations. The partners are willing to go so far as to engage in violent regime change, in violation of their own Constitution as well as our Constitution. What a shame! What a travesty of Justice!!
“We can move from shame to blame by taking blame for the shame and working together to stop the shame. The people who love Liberia are the only ones who are working to take the blame to wipe away the shame. They are doing this work by using their knowledge to raise awareness to motivate people to work according to the Rule of Law to transform the UNFAIR electoral system into the FAIR electoral system. It is only through this transformation that persons with good records can be elected to bring in Justice, the indispensable ingredient for Peace and Progress in Liberia and in any other Country,” Tipoteh stated emphatically.
Comments are closed.