MONROVIA – The Gongloe Global Movement (GGM) is strongly warning President George Manneh Weah and his CDC regime not to grossly abuse or squander the goodwill and patience of the Liberian People by resorting to manipulative tactics that will unnecessarily plunge the country into a constitutional crisis, if the highly anticipated general and presidential elections of October 2023 are not held consistent with the constitution.
In an urgent press release issued Sunday, December 25, 2022 in Boston, Massachusetts, the Movement says the Liberian People will fiercely resist any attempt by the Weah regime to cunningly manipulate the country’s electoral process, in order to derive favorable outcomes for President Weah’s inept and failed regime.
The GGM press release states that its warning comes against the backdrop of the perennial delays and postponement by the National Election Commission (NEC) of the National Census and Voters Registration, which are mandatory pre-requisites to the conduct of a transparent electoral process.
“Earlier this year, the National Election Commission (NEC) postponed Voters Registration to December 15, 2022, a date that has again been pushed to March 20, 2023, a new timeline that the Movement observed, would make it very difficult for the People to verify the Voters Roll,” the GGM release stated.
The Movement, which supports the candidacy of eminent human rights lawyer and the Standard-Bearer of the Liberian People’s Party (LPP), Counselor Tiawan Saye Gongloe, noted that in spite of frequently rehearsed claims by President Weah about his desire to conduct “free and fair elections”, his regime is yet to convincingly demonstrate its commitment to the nation’s electoral process, given the inexplicable postponements and delays of the national census and voters registration which are some of the crucial pre-requisites to the 2023 ballot casting process.
The release further noted that contrary to President Weah’s apparent imagination, carrying out a national census, conducting voters registration and scrupulously ensuring an impartial conduct of free and fair elections are a constitutional mandate for any incumbent administration, in keeping with all the relevant provisions of the organic law of Liberia, such as articles 39, 50 and 77, among others, and not discretionary gestures that are necessitated by political expediency.
“Having been in power for the past five years now, President Weah and his officials should have known from the onset that their tenure is limited by the Constitution and they as the incumbent government, have an inescapable responsibility to make all the necessary budgetary allotments for the nation’s constitutionally-sanctioned electoral process, rather than the ad hoc, or “trial-and-error” approach they’re currently applying,” the release noted.
The release further maintained that the unnecessary delays and egregious postponements of the voters registration process have the propensity to torrentially erode the transparency and credibility of such constitutional process, adding that the Liberian People will not accept any foggy and opaque electoral process deliberately designed to perpetuate the failed George Weah regime in power to the utter detriment of our compatriots, who are already groaning in abject destitution, due to the regime’s multiple failures.
“If President Weah cannot delay or postpone any of his numerous foreign trips, which have now become an enormous drain on the Liberian economy, there is no reason why he should be unnecessarily delaying or postponing his election-related constitutional obligations.
Rather than reciting claims of his commitment to free and fair elections as a rhetorical pitching to entice the governments of donor countries, the release went on, President Weah should demonstrate his commitment by formally asking the Governments of the United States and the European Union, as well as Great Britain to assist Liberia in conducting transparent and credible election in 2023.
“Despite his shenanigan, we herewith remind President Weah that due to a litany of failures and the rampant corruption of his regime, the Liberian People have overwhelmingly resolved that George Manneh Weah will be a one-term president, a poignant reality that he can’t dribble his way from”, the release concluded.
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