The lingering internal crisis that has been rocking the opposition Liberty Party (LP) which saw verbal clashes between the Political Leader senator Nyonblee Karngar Lawrence with support from Senator Abraham Darius Dillon on one hand, and Mr. Musa Hassan Bility, National Chairman, must have come to an end with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) where the two principal actors expressed their desire to deal with the substantive issues both in terms of contents and procedures.
The truce was initiated by the National Advisory Council (NAC) which met on Saturday, October 2, 2021 at the Farmington Hotel, Harbel Margibi County against the background of the public disrepute the crisis brought to the image of the party. According to the copy of the MOU in possession of The Analyst, the two senior partisans took along with them a resource person each to buttress their presentations as Senator Lawrence had Senator Dillon as resource person, while Madam Wadei Powell served for Billity.
According to the MOU, a proper definition of the roles of the political leader and the national chairman were laid out with reference to the constitution of the party and the ratifications of the constitution at the 2021 Special National Convention held in Gbarnga, Bong County.
With respect to the role of the political leader, the document stated that it was Mr. Bility who made the motion that the role of the political leader as stated in the draft constitution and approved at the Grand Bassa Executive Council meeting should remain and that the provision of “during election year” should be deleted.
“Section VI. 1: Officers and functions, paragraph 3 shall read as follows “The Standard bearer/ Political Leader, in consultation and collaboration with the EC, shall formulate policy and procedures to implement the decisions of the National Convention, call Special Conventions as provided for in Article VIII and take such actions and proper measures that he/she may deem as necessary to advance the best interest of the party”, the document said.
As regards the role of the National Chairman, the MOU said: “That the motion at the 2021 Special National Convention in Gbarnga was made by partisan Darius Dillon under Article VI. Section 2 and shall read as follows: “The National Chairperson shall be the Chief Administrative Officer of the Party. He /she shall serve or act as a Leader and Chief Representative/Spokesman of the Party in the absence or incapacitation of the Standard Bearer/Political Leader and he/she shall…”
The meeting also took decision on the procedural issues on constitution submission to the National Election Commission (NEC) and resolved that a committee comprising of the Political Leader, with one resource person, the National Chairman, with one resource person, and the National Advisory Council Chairman, with one resource person, approaches the National Elections Commission to seek clarification on the proper procedures on filing the Constitution by Monday, October 4, 2021.
On making public announcement from the party, the MOU said that both the Political Leader and National Chairman agree to jointly issue an internal memo effective immediately placing a moratorium on unauthorized public pronouncement by all executives of the party on issues related to the LP Constitution and Operations.
Officials and members of the National Advisory Council (NAC) present at last Saturday meeting included Debar W. Allen, Chairman; Camenia Abdallah, Vice Chair; Harrison Karnwea, Treasurer; Jacob Smith, Secretary; Carlos B.Z. Smith, Chaplain; Senator Clarice Alpha Jah, Member; and Hon. Hans Barchue. Nathaniel Barnes, Markind Randall Boayue, and Ben Sanvee all joined via zoom.
Comments are closed.