‘WE’RE COMING BACK’ -Weah Vows, as CDC Launches Due Payment Scheme

MONROVIA – It was quite an electrifying, elections-campaign-nostalgia-invoking moment last Saturday when throngs of Coalition for Democratic Change members congregated at their headquarters in Congo Town, hooting slogans and battle cries, and making fiery, anti-establishment speeches. They met to launch their party’s monthly due payment initiative, which was also attended by the arrow-head of the party, former President George Manneh, embattled House Speaker Jonathan Koffa and several other opposition lawmakers and stalwarts who danced to campaign-time, jabs-pregnant songs, and yelled their hearts out in celebration of the event. Amid the ecstasy, the party flag bearer ended all suspicions over whether or not he would be on the 2029 ballot when, while delivering a powerfully prosaic oration, declared, “We are coming back”, sending the avalanche of partisans into a more frenzied emotional turbulence. The Analyst reports.  

The raw determination by the former ruling Coalition for Democratic Change to return to power soon was made known by standard bearer George Manneh Weah, who let the cat off the bag Saturday in a well-literarily-tailored speech Saturday, April 12, when partisans gathered at their headquarters to participate in the launch of their monthly due payment initiative.

“This rally today is a clear sign,” Weah told his hysterical partisans. “We are reorganizing. We are preparing. We are coming back.”

The CDC strongman, as well as top officials of his erstwhile government and thousands of ordinary partisans, had gathered at the party headquarters in Congo Town to launch their due payment campaign.

Despite biting economic times for ordinary Liberians, the monthly due payment exercise met CDC partisans, mostly ordinary members, in high spirits as they formed endless queues, scrambling to give their quotas, showing the voluntariness and love for party in provocative dances and singings, and sloganeering.

Then the standard bearer added fuel to the already exhilarating spirits in words, beginning with a quote by Nelson Mandela, as if he intended to address jabs thrown at him recently by vice president Jeremiah Koung who said he (Weah) was just a mere ordinary man.  

“Nelson Mandela once said and I quote ‘I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man, who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances,’” she asserted.

He said the CDC was coming back to power because “this rally today is a clear sign: We are reorganizing. We are preparing.”

He was however quick to say that in order to do that, the party needed to “build stronger together”.

“We must fortify the one institution that can correct the failures of the Boakai administration and that institution is the Mighty Coalition for Democratic Change!” he reminded supporters, and they responded thunderously.

“This is why I call on all of you today not just to believe, but to act. Not just to hope, but to build. Let us invest in the movement that has invested in you.”

He said partisans’ payment of their dues would make the party to remain “financially strong and politically prepared”.

“Your dues are more than money. They are a seed of commitment, a pledge of loyalty, and a symbol of hope,” Weah further rallied his followers. “I am so proud to launch this Due Payment Campaign today! Because it means that you the grassroots, you the real owners of this party are ready to step forward, take charge, and prepare for the future.”

He promised to play a more reliable leadership, adding, “We will not rest. We will not retreat. We will organize, mobilize, and energize until we reclaim what is rightfully ours, the leadership of Liberia!”

Weah called on his followers to “do it the CDC way: peacefully, lawfully, strategically, respectfully because, when our time comes – and it will come – we must be ready not just to win, but to govern better.”

He continued: “We must correct the wrongs, improve the system, and restore the dignity of the Liberian people. So let us unite. Let us rise. Let us believe. Let us build. And to all our young people, I say: Stay focused, stay clean, and stay strong. To our women: you are the backbone of this movement. Keep rising. To our elders: Your wisdom is still needed. Stay with us. And to our opponents: We see your failure – and we are coming to fix it!”

The former Liberian Chief Executive told partisans that the future is not behind them but is still ahead. “And together – we will get there. And so, I want to close with this advice: Wait well!!”

 He called on all CDCians far and near, who left the Might Party, for one reason or the other, to come back home and let’s complete the task.

“Return to the masses party and let us thrash out whatever differences and move forward,” he petted the estranged partisans.

He said the due payment initiative was not just a rally but a moment to renew a promise, to renew a vision and to reignite the flame that built the most powerful political movement in Liberian history.

Reflecting on his defeat in 2023, Weah said: “Almost two years ago, we lost an election by a razor-thin margin- than 20,000 votes. And yes, I conceded not because I was weak but because I was strong enough to put Liberia first. I chose peace over conflict. I chose the Constitution over chaos. I chose democracy over division. And in doing so, we proved to the world that the CDC is not just a political party we are a disciplined movement of patriots and peace-lovers.”

Hitting at Successor

“But what have seen?” Weah said in further reflection of how the country is governed after him.

“We have seen a government that rode to power on the back of false promises and deceptive slogans talking about rescue while sinking the country into poverty, fear and hopelessness. We have seen a systematic erosion of democracy: Executive overreach and open disregard for our constitution.

“Lawlessness in the Legislature, with the presidency turning a blind eye, even when the sacred halls of our democracy go up in flames. Security forces brutalizing peaceful citizens, while millions are being spent on so-called “operations” that offers no protection to ordinary Liberians.”

He added: “They said we were the problem. But now, the Liberian people can see for themselves – the real problem is the unity party that is now in power! The lime has come to speak the without fear. This government is failing. And Liberia is paying the price.”

Weah encouraged his partisans not to lose hope, stressing, “Even the longest night must give way to daylight; even the strongest storm must pass. We are still standing! And we are strong. We will not give up on Liberia. We will not give up on our people.”