A Political Economist and Former Presidential Candidate of the Liberia People’s Party (LPP), Dr. Togba-Nah Tipoteh, has responded to the 172nd oration by Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee; Dr. Tipoted said Madam Gbowee did not mention another segment of the population that is constitutes what he referred to as “People-oriented Action.” The all-time advocate for social justice and economic well-being of the people of Liberia said this group of people takes action to improve the living conditions of the people sustainably though, but does not get elected to State power due to other factors.
Dr. Tipoteh said the segment referred to by him is not elected to state power because it lacks the capacity to raise the level of mass consciousness to the point where the masses of voters can desist from being money-driven and take peaceful action to elect good leaders who have a record of working in the interest of at least the majority of Liberians.
The Liberia political economist also named the second factor that has deprived the People-oriented Action category of the people as the unconstitutional electoral system, as seen in the Chair of NEC being a citizen of the USA bearing naturalization number 30628201, having taken the Oath of Allegiance on December 21, 2007 and voted as a Democrat in the 2008 and 2016 elections in the USA.
Dr. Tipoteh maintained that the NEC Chairman was recorded by the Superintendent of Elections of the State of New Jersey, USA, and added that this is in addition to the UNDP giving faulty voter registration machines to NEC for the 2017 elections and the NEC Chair declaring publicly but wrongly and illegally that only voter registration cards are needed to hold elections, a declaration opposed publicly by only one NEC Commissioner, Mr. Jonathan Weedor.
“Then, of course, there is the July 29, 2019 By-election that has taken place with irregularities/illegalities involving discrepancies due to the divergence between the figures on the NEC voter registration role and the roll based on the mandate of the Supreme Court of Liberia,” Dr. Tipoteh added.
Commencing his reaction to Gbowee’s Independence Day Oration, the Liberian ace politician said he read The Observer’s July 31st Editorial and appreciated the commendation given the National Orator.
He however registered his observations, stating that The Observer mentioned that the most interesting part of the Oration has to do with the “No Position” segment among the other segments of Liberia’s population, which are: Position, referring to the government; and Opposition referring to the Political Parties seeking State Power.
Dr. Tipoteh, also the founder of the Movement for Justice in Africa (MOJA), asserted that The Observer mentioned that the No Position segment comprises 90% of the population without reference to any population survey or census; while the Opposition segment is empirically accounted for, as in the Parties recognized by the NEC.
This segment, he maintained, criticizes the Ruling Position but does not have relevance because it does not exhibit any record of what it has been doing and what it continues to do to make the lives of the People of Liberia better, given that longstanding and widespread poverty remains the main societal problem of Liberia.
Dr. Tipoteh noted, “…the Opposition segment is not fundamentally different from the Ruling Position; in effect, what is referred to as the Non Position is the segment of the population that does not exhibit publicly what its views are on national problems; objectively, this Non Position segment that has a stance because by not acting or publicly presenting views means that it is promotive of the actions of the Ruling Position that dominates the State/Country.