There were storming political and legal clouds hovering over and threatening the successful holding of the Ganta Convention of Charles Walker Brumskine’s Liberty Party, but it was not long when all turned into a shining daybreak for smooth deliberations. Finally, the Convention was held and the party has resolved to embark upon a number of reformative actions, including finding a more robust place in the shaky Collaborating Political Party, of which it is a founding constituent. But that is not the only big news. The Convention has overwhelmingly endorsed the Political Leader of the Alternative National Congress, Mr. Alexander Cummings, as its choice for the CPP’s standard-bearer candidate in the pending primary of the Collaboration. The LP is also sending out a caveat that the Liberty Party will not allow the CPP to be micromanaged by a few individuals. The Analyst reports.
The Liberty Party hit the ground running on Saturday, December 18, 2021, as it kicked off its Ganta, Nimba County convention. It was a special national convention that brought together delegates drawn from the National Executive Committee, the National Advisory Council and county chairpersons from across the country.
The convention, which was initially scheduled to be a two-day affairs starting from Friday, December 17, suffered a slight setback when the Civil Law Court B in Monrovia issued an injunction based on a request by partisan Emmanuel Azango who objected to the event.
Azango objected on the ground that the January 22-24, 2021 convention that produced the leadership under Chairman Musa Hassan Bility and adopted the constitution in operation was not properly executed and asserted that action or the activities of the leadership under Chairman Bility such as holding the special National Convention were illegal.
It took the prompt response of the party’s legal team to undo the injunction and the convention got under way on Saturday, December 18, 2021, a day after it was previously scheduled to take place.
Welcoming the delegates to the convention, the former Vice Presidential running mate to the late Cllr. Charles W. Brumskine during the 2017 Presidential election, Mr. Harrison Karnwea, who spoke on behalf of the National Advisory Council described the occasion as “the defining moment” of the party which was the appropriate forum to decide the way forward.
He said after going through all the hurdles during the period under review, it was time that the partisans found a common ground.
“Our hope is others who think otherwise will see this event as a guidance going forward that we need to understand that this country is a country of laws,” he said, stressing that every political party is a government in waiting and must be able to respect what the institutions and agencies of the country say about respecting and honoring the laws of the land.
In his brief goodwill message at the occasion, the National Chairman of the Alternative National Congress, Daniel Naatehn, said he was happy to be invited at the program and praised the organizers for the orderly manner in which the convention was planned and executed as well as being appreciative of the decision taken by the Liberty Party to endorse his political leader, Alexander B. Cummings, as the choice of the party with respect to the standard bearer position of the Collaborating Political Parties(CPP).
“And I was happy to hear from the outside, but I have not heard from the inside of a decision to support our Standard Bearer. I want to say congratulations for that decision and promise that we have the best of the four political leaders to offer genuine leadership for the country. We will not disappoint, we take the decision as a serious responsibility to the people of this country, and I think it has added value to what we have been fighting for and we are going to be talking to the Liberian people that the CPP is on its way to taking leadership of this country in 2023”, he said.
In his closing remarks, the National Chairman/Acting Political Leader and Chief Presiding Officer of the convention, Mr. Musa Hassan Bility extended thanks and appreciation to members of the National Executive Committee, the National Advisory Council and the local leadership of the party for turning out for the convention as well as the media and others who made it possible for the successful hosting of the convention. He said the event was not only important to the Liberty Party, but it was bound to reshape the political paradigm of the country.
He told the gathering that for some many people, the occasion was an outcome of a jolly ride, but for the party was a process of thinking, going up and down, and that the group who had assembled at the convention represented the active membership of the party, stressing that there was never a change in the composition of the delegation, as the same people at the program were the same people who met in Gbarnga, Bong County during the special convention to elect the current leadership he heads and adopted the constitution in operation. He emphasized that the decision taken at the convention will be implemented to its fullest without fear or favor.
“Mr. Chairman (ANC), our decision today was not for the ANC, and it was not for Mr. Cummings. It was not in response to any pressure or to any popularity contest. It was a decision for Liberia. We took the decision that as the Liberty Party, we are prepared to stand up and fight for whatever we believe in. We want to say thank you and your party for allowing the Liberty Party to grill you, to appreciate to grill you for eight hours and Mr. Cummings convinced us that he is up to the task, and that formed the basis of our decision”, Mr. Bility said.
He said the party will make use of its own structure and within the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) to ensure that Mr. Cummings becomes the Standard Bearer of the CPP.
“I say again CPP will not be a club where four people will go and make a decision for the four political parties. We are committed to the process, we are committed to a primary that will take 315 or 320 of our partisans to go out there and vote and choose the standard bearer”, he said
Mr. Bility was however quick to state that the endorsement of Cummings was not a blanket endeavor as there was some bargaining and trading across the board and both parties accepted the terms and conditions.
“Liberty Party’s decision is not without preconditions, meaning that it is based on the fact that we want Mr. Cummings to be President of this country. We have laid out conditions and the ANC has pondered over them and formally and officially responded to us and accepted all those conditions laid down by LP. So we have to do some trading and at the end of the day, Liberia was first and foremost, we are proud of discussion, our negotiation and hopefully in a very short time, a formal ceremony and the content of the MOU will be shared with the public which will be signed on that day”, he said.
He cautioned his partisans that having made the decision, it is now their responsibility to go and promote the decision of the party and the task can be achieved without insulting, casting aspersion or denigrating anybody but going all out there to civilly engage the citizens to buy into the Cummings project.
He said henceforth all partisans of the Liberty Party can now go all out to campaign for Mr. Cummings, using the structure and everything within their reach to ensure that come 2023, Mr. Cummings will be elected as President of Liberia.
During deliberations, the Liberty Party made some far reaching decisions in the interest of the party with the signing of three resolutions which addressed the issue of whether the party should feature or not any Presidential Candidate in the ensuing 2023 Presidential and General elections; to empower the National Executive Committee to review and make amendments to the party’s constitution and endorsing the Standard Bearer of the Alternative National Congress (ANC).
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