The race for the Liberian presidency is getting rockier, especially so for the opposition camp that is avowed to make President George Manneh Weah’s administration one-termed. With the country’s biggest opposition Collaboration of Political Parties (CPP) disintegrating on a daily basis, inter-party wrangling among current and former CPP constituent members continue to pose threats to their respective quests in fronting a leader that will convince voters to elect a viable alternative to the current political dispensation. Surprisingly, at the vortex of the opposition political sandstorm, the Musa Hassan Bility-backed Liberty Party is vowing to do everything within its power to put “sand” in the Unity Party’s “gari”, when it comes to the UP’s planned primary where former UP Executive Toga G. McIntosh will be going against former Vice President Joseph Nyumah Boakai for the standard bearer slot.
According to Liberty Party’s estranged Chairman Musa Hassan Bility, just as the UP took sides in the LP conflict, the LP will openly take sides in the upcoming UP leadership contests.
“It serves our interests now just as it served your interests then. You will get served in the same bowl you served us in. And mark my words: there will be massive changes within the UP. This is the only way the opposition will hold. Narcissism will be tamed. We will practice mutual respect and build a real coalition. And don’t even think about postponing the upcoming Convention. We have remedies for that through the legal system. You will be forced to respect your own Constitution. This is our commitment. Don’t say I didn’t tell you.
“You openly and callously supported dissent in our party, supported those who flaunted our Constitution, and refused to pay their dues; now you are talking about “must have been a due paying member”? Karma is a real MONSTER. Change is coming home. You have no control, chief. The law is the law,” Bility warned on his social media platform over the weekend.
Bility’s rant comes in the wake of news that former Unity Party executive Toga G. McIntosh, who in 2016 switched to the Liberia People’s Democratic Party (LPDP) of legislator Alex Tyler to help the CDC win the presidential elections in 2017, has now gone back to his Unity Party to contest the upcoming UP primaries for the standard bearer position against Ambassador Joseph N. Boakai.
But in an apparent objection to Dr. McIntosh’s UP quest, the party’s Secretary General Mo Ali over the weekend posted on his social media wall, insinuating that Dr. McIntosh’s quest was dead on arrival.
“In order to qualify to participate in the UP’s convention for Standard Bearer, one must have been a due paying member for three consecutive years immediately prior to the convention. Also, one cannot qualify for SB if you had left the party prior, joined another party and supported another candidate in a presidential election,” SG Ali stated categorically, noting that the rules governing the primaries are clear and concise.
Public backlash
The latest rigmarole with the opposition camp is now causing extreme trauma for their supporters and sympathizers.
Kulee Keculah is a diehard supporter of VP Boakai, who sees the current UP imbroglio as a machination of hidden hands.
“LP situation couldn’t be more different from that of the Unity Party. You are an imposter who has near zero support amongst the Liberty Partisans. Meanwhile, the only people in the UP against JNB is the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf ‘criminal empire’. The Partisans of the UP who are going to stand in long queues to vote are fully behind JNB,” Keculah said in a social media post over the weekend.
As for Vincent N. Sahn in a social media post, he is getting increasingly disappointed in Liberian politicians.
“You people are taking the Liberian people for a joke because the majority of the people are not sophisticated enough to know and understand the treachery of you Liberian politicians. In a serious country lead opposition actors who potential national leaders will not be acting so childish. Throwing petty jabs on Facebook instead of confronting issues that keep the people in perpetual poverty, backstabbing each other. Some people too who are called wisdom counselors are quiet and being led like a dog on rope. Liberia is sinking deep since real leadership in government fell to the floor five years ago,” Sahn lamented.
According to prime opposition figure Kaydor Saidy-Bah who expressed his views via social media over the weekend, “JNB is best suited to take Liberia forward. He has the experience, qualifications, and pedigree to do so. He will better transition Liberia from what is now to a merit based one. Am not a UP partisan but he has my honor in these turbulent times of our democracy. I uphold the views of Plato as expressed in his discussion of the Philosopher King.”
On the other hand, Massa Sambola of Brewerville is elated that the Unity Party primaries will be democratic.
“This is what UP has been preaching throughout their 12 years in power. So if they go to the primaries and Joe Boakai or Toga wins, no big deal. UP can’t be putting up roadblocks when the racing cars are on about to get on the track,” Ms. Sambola indicated.
“Mo Ali and others should stop crying wolf. If they cannot manage it, let them leave the people’s thing,” says James Selma of Gardnersville.
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