Cllr. Cephus Sends Celebratory Message to CDC Partisans with Caution -Calls for Space to Embrace Dissent towards Institutional Harmony

MONROVIA – As calm is returning to the nation’s capital following thunderous three-day celebration of “Militant Month” by the former ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), now the biggest opposition political party, voices are being raised to help the party employ the needful adjustments that might have caused its defeat last year in order to ensuring a political comeback which, amongst other things, was a key object of the celebration. One of those who have raised a voice in that direction is former Solicitor General Sayma Syrenius Cephus. In a short statement, the former CDC member implored fellow partisans to convert internal dissents into a mantra for political potency and harmony. The Analyst reports.

As echoes from the three-day celebration of “Militant Month” by the former ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) are still vibrating in the ears of the nation, one of the party’s former members, Cllr. Sayma Syrenius Cephus has sent out his salutations to partisans for a well-deserved, successful program, but not without a caveat.

“On the auspicious occasion of the celebrations of militants Month of the CDC, I salute the men and women who have garnered the courage and braved the heavy downpour of rains on Friday, 28 June, 2024 to converge at the Party Headquarters,” he wrote in a brief post. “This is quite awesome and I salute all those who midwifed this great vision.”

He exalted the CDC as “a party of letters, ideas and great visions, and with all of the social and economic imbalances, harassment and denial, that the CDC is still there with its vociferous voices after a rather turbulent fall from power amid all of the excesses and the litany of accusations of bad governance compounded by internal revolt leading to the breakup of the Coalition, is something to celebrate”.

“Take it or leave it,” he warned critics of the party. “The CDC is down politically but it is not out of Liberia’s progressive democratic equation yet.”

But Cllr. Cephus also asserted that as Democracy calls for varied voices and the competition of ideas and as “militants” devoted to the cause of the party, “I urge you to listen to other voices of dissent and translate them into national cohesion.”

The CDC, he noted, cannot be a replica of George Orwell’s proverbial “Animal Farm”, where a gang of egocentric skunks hijacked and seized an animal revolution and became lord and gospel unto themselves and demanded blind loyalty from other animals.

As it stands, he opined, the CDC is at the crossroads between further setbacks and greater comebacks, but the   real challenge is not its ability to rally thousands of partisans at any time.

He said the real challenge of the CDC is its seeming inability to transform dissenting voices into a political mantra that promotes national cohesion and thereby limits the avowal influence and dominance of those whose blatant lack of vision has landed the CDC where it is today.

The Liberian legal luminary continued: “Nobody should be celebrated for favoring his friends over party faithfuls that obviously led to the defeat of the CDC. While recounting these mishaps may seem like a spilled-milk politically, we should not forget that history is written by the victors—the living, and not the vanquished or the dead, and the best way to put the past behind is not to repeat the mistakes of the past.”

He therefore called urged CDCians to reflect on what has happened, why and how it has become a sordid religion that demands blind faith and loyalty and forbids criticizing the “political demagogue” within the party.

Turning setbacks into comeback, the lawyer said, requires a flare of new thinking, new actions, and alternative voices, and above all, frank and open debate in addressing all of the pitfalls and disasters that have landed the party into the realms of opposition.

He added: “Finally, a frightened regime that is driven on the edge, or that is failing in many of its promises has a way of springing back in ferocious style and form. I urge you to remain civil and respectful in debating issues and your arguments should be directed at the issues and not at the men and women in government, some of whom are unrepentant Cdcians and might one day return to the   party.

“I suspect that they are on holiday! Your celebrations have sparked concerns, fears in many quarters, and debates and the more you beat the drums of turning political setbacks into progressive democratic comebacks, the more stir your gathering will cause.”

Cephus expressed fear to say the many onlookers and bystanders who came out in their thousands to witness CDCians demonstrating love for party are themselves victims of denial, rejection and unemployment,  and are looking for a place of hope and opportunity.

“I urge you to  open your arms towards them,” he counseled is partisans. As the next government in waiting, it is now time to create a “shadow government” and give party “faithfuls” positions to work in, although without pay, so that when they finally grab power at the polls, come 2029, “you will not have to stretch your heads looking for qualified people”.

In critical times like these when people are making sacrifices, and their sweats, tears and blood are forming rivers of hope for governance in our country, Cllr. Cephus said “we hardly ever hear anything like ‘this country say this or that country says it does not want this person’”.

“These political ‘yabies’ can only raise their divisive voices only when power is grabbed, but once out of office, they don’t care who works for us,” he continued. “We need to look at how our friends value us; how they treat us; and how much space we can allow them to occupy into our national politics.

“What we must understand is that why we do not meddle into whoever they want to appoint to public offices in their country, they should also respect our decision to appoint whoever we want once the appointee is qualified. I stop here and say well done my dear brothers and sisters. Again, Congrats!”