The political leader and standard bearer of the Alternative National Congress(ANC), Mr. Alexander Benedict Cummings has said there should be no hope to genuinely reconcile within the Collaborating Political Parties(CPP) if as leaders, they are unwilling to truthfully confront and conclusively resolve the real causes underlying the deepening disunity and distrust and called on the leadership of the CPP to set up an independent probe to investigate the allegation of alteration of the framework document leveled against him by the political leader of the All Liberia Party (ALP), Mr. Benoni Urey as a way of resolving the lingering crisis in the collaboration once and for all.
In a letter addressed to Mr. Joseph Nyuma Boikai, Chairman of CPP dated November 10, 2021, copy of which was leaked to the Analyst, Mr. Cummings stated that the problems of the CPP are not with the membership and those who are sympathetic to the CPP but the deepening disunity and distrust are engineered by the political leadership of the CPP, some of whom are manifesting interests in pursuing ambitions outside the agreed rules of engagement.
He noted that the expressions of commitments to reconcile the CPP, is commendable, but must prioritize an affirmation of the legal framework through which the leaders agreed to be bonded and to pursue their shared objectives if intended reconciliation is to be successfully realized.
“Genuine reconciliation as needed in the CPP and our country must be about upholding and preserving the law especially in the pursuit of individual ambitions. In the CPP, as it must also be in the country commitments to and enforcements of laws by leaders cannot be sporadically determined or measured by whether or not the enforcement advantages of individual ambitions”, Mr. Cummings said.
He further stated: “Accordingly, the Alternative National Congress and I agree with an earlier position of the UP and others that the prerequisite to any and all other activities and actions of the CPP is a comprehensive conclusion of investigation into the allegation made by the ALP that the framework which binds and governs the four parties of the CPP was altered with “nefarious” into ostensibly to benefit me and the ANC. As all parties are in agreement with this position, it befalls your chairmanship to act with the required urgently in pursuit thereof”.
Mr. Cummings then advanced two suggestions as the real pathway to achieving permanent solution to the controversy of document alteration which has been going on for some time now. He said the first suggestion is to set up an independent committee of at least 5 persons to be drawn from credible national organizations and respected individuals to complete the investigation into the allegation surrounding the framework by answering the central question of whether or not there are amendments made to the agreeable amended version of the framework agreement of the lawyers, which was approved by the parties and filed with NEC for the registration of the CPP and if so, what are the details of those amendments and the second suggestion is to set a timeframe of two weeks for the independent committee to return its findings to the National Advisory Committee for its conclusive resolutions.
“There is now understandable public interest in the allegation of the All Liberia Party (ALP) and particularly in how the CPP resolves it. Until the allegation is comprehensively resolved, a cloud of legitimacy will continue to overhang the CPP. This is further compounded by understandable public concerns about the continued commitments of constituent-parties to the objectives of the political partnership, when as yet, after nearly three months of internal wrangling with spillage in the public space , it is still publicly unclear what version of legal instrument will continue to determine the boundaries of our collective actions and interactions as well as the governing mechanisms for the pursuit of individual ambitions and the aspirations of member-parties”, Mr. Cummings pointed out.
Mr. Cummings said that the ANC does not believe it will help for the CPP or to any effort of reconciliation to attempt to resolve those matters behind closed doors, and without the needed openness and transparency required to return the CPP to public confidence and trust and that this consideration lies at the heart of the suggestion he made in the letter addressed to former Vice President Joseph Nyuma Boakai who now chairs the collaboration.
This latest communication coming after an earlier press release last week from the party and signed by Mr. Mulbah Yorgbor Jr, Director of Communications, in which it said Mr. Boakai is not being straightforward in resolving the crisis, and is making the situation escalating for the worse. ANC in that release said Mr. Boakai was playing double game as at one point he will call for reconciliation and resolution of the issues at hand and on another occasion giving credence to the allegation that has polarized the party.
Further the two assertions from the party seems to place doubt on an earlier declaration of Mr. Cummings upon his return from the United States that he has put behind the wrangling within the CPP and will now focus his time to working with his colleagues in the CPP to make President Weah a one term President come 2023. As it stands right now, it seems that the crisis is far from being over.
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