MONROVIA: As a way of rebranding itself and get over the hour of reckoning after the shock defeat from the just concluded general elections, President George Manneh Weah has urged members of the Coalition for Democratic Change(CDC) to embrace the “Theory of Succession”, where leaders emerge through the ranks just as he made reference to the ensuing leadership election in the national legislature where it appears that some CDC lawmakers will be squaring up against each other for the various positions up for contention.
President Weah gave the admonition on Sunday, November 26, 2023 at his Forkay Klon Jlaleh Family Fellowship when he addressed members and supporters of the CDC in what has been described as a post-mortem analysis of the just concluded general elections in which he used medium to first console them and then suggested a pathway through which the party can make a comeback including burying their differences and working together for the greater good of the party.
The president told them that why it was a difficult thing to accept losing power after just six years, the best option available to them was to accept the reality that they lost the race due to their own making because “we were working and fighting against ourselves and refusing for the common rules in decision making to take precedence in what we were doing”.
He said the partisans and supporters hold the key to when next they will return to power but could be possible based on how the party handles its defeat and exert seriousness in moving forward. President Weah identified the ensuing leadership election at the National legislature to begin the process of comeback as it would give the party the confidence to begin the rebuilding process.
He said the “Theory of Succession” could be a lead way if followed properly which will require that some of those who want to leapfrog the process will scale down their ambition and give chance to those in the prime position to vie for those leadership positions which include the Speakership, the Deputy Speaker and the President Protempore of the Senate.
President Weah lamented that despite several entreaties made to some of those lawmakers to see reasons to respect the theory, there was little being achieved as “we continue to do the same thing even in these critical times”, thus making it possible for the party to clinch the much needed victory that will stimulate the party.
“We are going to another election and the same scenario is playing out in this space. We are going for an election for the speaker, deputy speaker and the president pro temp but people are not willing to respect the theory of succession: Theory of succession tells you this is your time; I am behind you; if your time finishes, I will succeed you.”
“But everybody wants to be there at the same time anyhow, no matter what,” he continued.
The President said what was pulsating and frustrating in the whole scenario was that some of those who are being prevailed upon to let go their ambition and allow those who could deliver victory for the party are the very people who were brought out of obscurity by the party to places of prominent but are now refusing to listen because “they feel they have arrived”.
“It is a defeat in the offing again. I will say this that it is sad not to recognize people that helped you; someone that raised you; people that raised you when you were in the shackles, when you were in the ghettos; it is a danger if they advise you and you refuse.”
“If those people who became elevated by us cannot listen to us again, well we will say God will be the judge,” the President said.
The President’s confidence in the CDC clinching the principal positions, especially the Speakership, is anchored on the fact that the party has a commanding lead among all the political parties in the country in terms of elected members of the House of Representatives as per the results of the just concluded general elections. Out of 73 members, the party has 25 while the main opposition Unity Party has 10.
It was reported last week that Deputy Speaker Fonati J. Koffa, who seems to be the clear choice of the party, met with old and incoming members of the House of Representatives numbering about 40 persons and they assured him of their unflinching support in his bid to become the next Speaker.
CDC is more concerned about the Speakership than either the President Pro Tempore or the Deputy Speaker according to sources based on how the campaign and involvement of the party have been pursuing the project.
Political watchers are of the opinion that the CDC stands to get votes from most of those who were elected as independent candidates as most of them have strong links with the CDC just as the other parties such as the Collaborating Political Parties(CPP) that endorsed the CDC during the second round may likely go the CDC way compared to UP.
Political pundits are of the opinion that just as the election of Mr. Weah as a Senator for Montserrado County in 2014 fired up the strong urge for taking state power in 2017, the CDC would want to use the election of some of their lawmakers to key legislative positions, such as the speakership to energize its support and encourage them to push for the presidency in 2029.
Whatever is the case, the further fragmentation within the CDC, according to pundits may rob them and it may be a major setback to make a rebound to state power.
Your Excellency, your concern about infighting is absolutely reasonable and legitimately ethical. However, we must also gaze at the reality that like any other political institution, CDCIANS are bound to have different wants, divergent desires, opposing interests, rival opinions, competing needs, etc. etc. Hence, partisans in political parties, and especially coalitions battle for positions both within the party or coalition just as the party itself or the coalition itself war for power on the national stage, and as the state itself struggle for power on the geopolitical stage.
So, for example, what we are seeing at the Capitol with members of coalitions, collaborations, alliances, blocks, and parties vying for THE HEADSHIP OF THE PEOPLES BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT, what the CDC should ensure is that power comes to the CDC by doing everything possible to have Hon. Thomas Fallah wins the speakership.
For anything different from Hon. Fallah winning that seat is absolutely giving power to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Joseph Boakai, since Musa Bility is a notorious stooge for Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, as is the case of Fonati Kofa a zombie for Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, while of course Koon of the Unity Party is against the interests of the CDC.
So, the way to go is to have Hon. Thomas Fallah as The Speaker of the House!!!
President Weah, be not deceived that Fonati Kofa is 100 percent for the CDC. He Is not. In fact, the main reason why Fonati Kofa is stuck with the CDC is because of your own personal popularity, especially in the Southeast where he Kofa has been warned by the people that if he dares leave the CDC, he should consider himself jobless.
It is this same Fonati Kofa who in his traitorously treacherous manipulations orchestrated the through his owner Ellen in imposing those flimsy sanctions against Prince Johnson with the intent to weaken the influential senator and thereby cause you to not see that the MDR was one of your most strategic allies if not the most strategic in retaining power.
This is why they Fonati, Ellen, LIRO, etc did not stop at you etc , but went all the way to your vice standard bearer and created an unnecessary strife between Prince and Jewel …all to break the strategic ties between the CDC and the MDR, which they wanted to align with unpopular and unknown Cummings and his ANC, but the MDR refused knowing that Cummings and his ANC were a mere wishful thinking and a waste of time.
And once Elen and Fonati and their LIRO gang realized their plot against your second term was doomed for failure, they turned to the very Boakai whom they Ellen and LIRO had months back attempted to bribe to have Boakai step aside for Cummings.
So, get it straight and realistic that should the CDC support Kofa, the CDC would be UNINTENTIONALLY MAKING THE SAME MISTAKE AGAIN … A MISTAKE WHICH REALISTICALLY COST YOU YOUR REELECTION. SUPPORT FALLAH!!! FOR THE COALITION COMES FIRST, AND CONFORMITY IS THE ORDER.
Your Excellency, I hope your alluding to the “Theory of Succession” IS ABOUT HON. THOMAS FALLAH BECOMING THE SPEAKER, AND IS NOT AN indication of your support for Jonathan Kofa. As Mr. Garsuah Gborvlehn has eloquently articulated here, supporting Kofa is empowering Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Joseph Boakai and the Unity Party in toto, and depowering the CDC! For Jonathan Kofa is a zombie for Ellen. And as you have now assimilated, this Boakai Unity Party government is A REINCARNATION OF THE CORRUPT 2006 TO 2012 ELLEN JOHNSON SIRLEAFS GOVERNMENT.
I see with Garsuah Gborvlehn and Jake Doe. It would be a political negligence and a seriously reckless intelligence mis calculation on the part of the CDC to at this juncture empower their arch rivals — the Unity Party TYRANNY ACTUALLY CONTROLLED AND OWNED BY ELLEN JOHNSON SIRLEAF by making Jonathan Fonati Kofa Speaker when even a two year old child knows that Jonathan Kofa, though a member of the CDC is clearly an undercover agent and a stooge for Ellen whose 2006-2017 Unity Party has resurfaced using Joseph Boakai as a mere figurehead.
With CDC being the dominant party both within the House and the Senate, despite the fact she did not attain the Executive Branch again, she remains the most powerful and the most promising on Capitol Hill as compared to Unity Party which shall be overtaken by events with its new UNNATURAL ALLY MDR being at the top and bound to RE-ALIGN with its NATURAL ALLY the CDC.
So the CDC having a patriot and stalwart as Thomas Fallah as Speaker boosts the power, popularity, and expansion of the CDC within the political arena viz party politics on Capitol Hill AND A VERY NECESSARY COUNTER TO A BOAKAI PRESIDENCY in the interest of the nation and the CDC. Fonati Kofa as Speaker automatically dismantles and incinerates any chances of the CDC taking back its rightful place …a scenario which is in effect giving absolute power to Boakai, Ellen, and THE TYRANNY OF THE UNITY PARTY.
This abrupt call for the application of succession theory is far from reality and it is bound to alienate many within the very CDC and of course those who are supporters of the CDC.
That is because this call for the succession theory being emphasized here by the Standard Bearer seems to clearly favor Jonathan Fonati Kofa for the position of speaker. President Weah, you say here you are a practical person, but you must realize that sometimes being practical is being opposed to reality.
The reality here is that Jonathan Kofa is not what you think he is as far as concerns the interest of the CDC. Thomas Fallah is the right man for the job. Kofa and Bility serve the vain interests of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf whom you wrongly think is your ally but is actually a foe of the CDC. Besides, your succession theory here clearly connotes tribalism which is alien to the CDC.