The People’s Unification Party (PUP) on April 10, 2019 responded to what the party calls “the to the Purported Expulsion of Senator Henry W. Yallah from the “National Democratic Coalition (NDC),” saying that it is impossible for the NDC to claim membership of Senator Yallah who is the founding chairman and head of the Governing Council of the People’s Unification Party.”
In a press statement, the PUP said every citizen of this country has the right to associate with and dissociate from the membership of any organization, whether social, political or otherwise.
Exclaiming that “This must end or we will act more severely,” the PUP wondered whether it isn’t laughable for an institution that does not exist and whose membership was since denounced in 2014 to expel someone who belongs to another political party.
Hear the People’s Unification Party: How is the NDC claiming to own Senator Yallah who is the founding chairman and head of the Governing Council of the People’s Unification Party? Where is the entitlement of the NDC over a PUP Senator?
The party maintained that one can now see that all this scam is an orchestration of a group of people trying to ride on the rising popularity of Senator Yallah and the PUP to gain some relevance across the landscape.
Commencing their statement, the People’s Unification Party said what appears to be a smear campaign against Senator Henry W. Yallah of the People’s Unification Party was hatched few days ago.
They PUP said it started as a Facebook campaign in which members of the party read a purported release announcing the expulsion of Senator Yallah from the National Democratic Coalition (NDC). “A day thereafter, we also read a publication in the National Era Newspaper re-echoing the Facebook announcement.”
As leaders of the People’s Unification Party, the executives of the PUP said they wondered who was behind this brazened orchestration until yesterday, when they heard Prof. Alaric Kormue Tokpah declaring Senator Yallah as personal nemesis to the National Democratic Coalition.
“The only reason provided by Prof. Tokpah and the NDC is that Senator Yallah was elected on the ticket of the NDC and that he acted against the interest of the NDC by executing his constitutional duty in relations to the impeachment of former Associate Justice Kabina Mohammed Jan’neh from the bench of Supreme Court.
Because, it is Prof. Alaric K. Tokpah who has vowed to malign the character of Senator Henry W. Yallah, the PUP said it is constrained to respond, noting that one would never have imagined that giving the shared history of struggle for the democratization of Liberia between the two, Prof. Alaric K. Tokpah would have crossed the path of Senator Yallah to the depth at which he has reached.
“It appears to us that the folks at the NDC may have forgotten that every citizen of this country has the right to associate with and dissociate from the membership of any organization, whether social, political or otherwise. Five years ago, Senator Yallah exercised this right when in 2014, he officially resigned from the leadership and withdrew his membership of the defunct New DEAL Movement and the National Democratic Coalition,” the PUP disclosed.
Since 2014, People’s Unification Party said in its statement, Senator Yallah seized being a member of the NDC, adding that since 2014, the NDC lost all rights and privileges on Henry W. Yallah as a person and as a senator.
“It is therefore totally irrational to act against a man on whom you have lost jurisdiction over, and over whom you’ve lost mandate as well.”
PUP executives argued that the mere fact remain that the Chief Justice presided over an impeachment process deemed bogus by many people legitimized the process and the choice as to which side to vote was simply an exercise of the constitutional responsibility of the senators.
The statement quoted a senior party executive, “I am yet to see anywhere in the world where jurors can be publicly influenced or tempered with to take a particular side in a case. More comically, I am yet to witness where jurors can be punished for independently rendering judgment in a case. What are we hearing—that lawmakers are no longer privileged on their decisions and utterances while executing their constitutional responsibility?”
PUP authorities said while their party still struggle to grapple with the action of Prof. Tokpah and his NDC, “the first thing we want to dismiss is that the NDC lacks the moral grounds and the logical reasonability to take any action of such against Senator Henry W. Yallah;” and added, “It appears to me that after its de-certification, the NDC sees Senator Yallah as a soothing condition to nurse their wounds for being delisted from the roster of political parties and coalitions within the Republic of Liberia.
“We must remind the professor and his defunct NDC that as you try to regain relevance within the body politics of Liberia, the first thing to do is to seek re-registration and regularize your status with the National Elections Commission. Otherwise, attempting to gain popularity at the expense of the character and great personality of Senator Henry W. Yallah is simply the wrong way to go,” the PUP said.
