MONROVIA – The daughter of the founder of the Liberty Party, whom the majority of the people of Bassa adored and honored so well, was well on her way to be elected a legislator this year until she detoured onto another political trajectory. During his long political career, the late Cllr. Charles Walker Brumskine benefitted from the Bassa vote, whether it was during legislative elections in 1997 or presidential elections after the war. His stewardship and love for Bassa was set to be the compost and catalyst upon which his daughter, Cllr Charlyne Brumskine, was set to be elected. But then there was a pressing hunt of her person to strive and aim higher. Initially, she was advised against taking the bait, not only because she is relatively young, at 47, and that the prospect to grab what was almost readily available—a legislative set–but also because of her lack of public service credential, however brilliant she is. But she turned down the advisements because there is something more urgent, demanding and burning hovering over the socioeconomic and political space of Liberia pushing her passionately into accepting to be a Vice Standard Bearer of the opposition Collaborating Political Parties (CPP). She unveiled that urgency in her Acceptance Speech Saturday, May 27, 2023 in Buchanan City after her pick by Standard Bearer Alexander Cummings. The Analyst reports.
Finally, the Standard Bearer of the Alternative National Congress and of the Collaborating Political Parties, Mr. Alexander Cummings, has picked his running mate. And she is Cllr. Charlyne Mnamah-mar Brumskine, daughter of one of Liberia’s accomplished jurists and politicians, fallen Charles Walker Brumskine.
Pestered over the last four months to do, the CPP Political Leader unveiled his political ticket-mate on Saturday, May 27, in Buchanan City during a rather colorful ceremony attended by hundreds of partisans and supporters and officials of the party.
Accepting her pick as Vice Standard Bearer, Cllr Brumskine alluded to expressed misgivings amongst politicians who had thought she is young, having more time to gradually climb the political ladder, as she was already aspiring to be representative, and that she has got no public service experience.
“My fellow Liberians there are many of you who have questioned whether it was the right time to accept a Vice Standard Bearer post in the nascent stage of my political sojourn,” she asserted in response to concerns about her abrupt change of course.
“Many of you expressed strong views about me staying with the representative bid and or as some of you put starting at the bottom. To you I say thano revolution was born out of perfect timing, history was never made by those who followed conventional formulas of how life should progress.”
According to her, societies in decline do not have the luxury to “wait your turn”, and she intimidated: “We must quickly grab the willing, best and the brightest. We must have an urgent sense of now!”
“I am not a career politician and never sought out to be one,” Charlyne, 47, admitted: “I came to the political discourse because I believe in a better Liberia. A Liberia of inclusivity. A Liberia led by honest, innovative, and courageous men and women. Leaders with a vision to transform our country coupled with the discipline and will to make the hard decisions to implement the vision.”
“Liberians I admit, I am not a traditional politician. I have never served in government. Yet, I have served my country. I have served through my law practice, I am the Founder and Managing Partner of CMB, a law firm that I established in 2018, which is one of the fastest growing and respected providers of legal services in Liberia. I have served as a professor at the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law ensuring that legal scholars are equipped with a solid foundation of legal research and writing skills so that they too may serve our nation through the law.”
To further convince detractors about her capability, the newly picked CPP Vice Standard Bearer noted that she served her country by providing educational assistance to scores of Liberians through financial aid; served by equipping the government hospital in Buchanan City with operational needs when the government itself had failed; and served by providing solar lights in the darkest communities in Buchanan so that we minimize rape and armed robbery; served by reviewing and drafting more Liberian laws and policies than most in government.”
“The Choice of Now Is Urgent”
The CPP VSB called on Liberians to be less concerned with her years of experience in government but to be more concerned about the urgency of Liberia’s current situation.
“We are yet at another crossroads,” she declared. “Another opportunity to decide what the next six years of our lives will be. The gravity of the fast deterioration of our nation’s political, economic and social structures requires that we act NOW! The CHOICE OF NOW is urgent!
“We must understand that the CHOICE OF NOW cannot be relegated to a simple or mundane decision. It is a critical choice that must weigh heavily on each of us. It requires a deliberate to separates us from the current systems of today and forces to make political choices that we have never made before.”
Further emphasizing the urgency of her decision, the erudite lawyer continued: “The CHOICE OF NOW is vibrating in the despair of the market women who have felt the downturn of our economy and cannot sell enough of their “goods” to keep food on the table. The CHOICE OF NOW is heard in the cries of the women giving birth at the government hospital in Buchanan City, and the baby is breached requiring a c-section but the generator does not have fuel because the budgeted funds have not reached the county hospital.
“The CHOICE OF NOW is heard by the man in Sinoe County who must feed his family, but the roads are too bad in the rainy season and truck carrying the rice is stuck in the mud. The CHOICE OF NOW speaks to 14-year-old Jacob who spends all day standing outside a video club in New Kru Town, watching a European football league instead of being in school because his family cannot afford even the registration fees at the government school.”
According to her the ‘CHOICE OF NOW’ is heard in the silence of investors who have fled this country because of greed and corruption mixed with a sense of absolute complacency. We have foregone our economic opportunities.
She said: “They have landed in the lap of other countries that have a sense of now!
“The urgent CHOICE OF NOW is being heard in the cries of the Liberian family in the diaspora who want to return home to give back to their country, but the private sector is shrinking, and government jobs are only given to those who have the right connections.”
“Fix It, We Will”
The young astute Liberian lawyer called on Liberians to trust her and her political fortress, the CPP, that will fix the problems of Liberia.
Liberians are weary, they have a sense of hopelessness, she contended, adding, “Many believe that our choices are limited. We have been told for too long that you must be a man, that you must be elderly, that you must follow a certain path, that you must look a certain way, speak a certain way.”
“But today I tell you that your choices are not limited. Today, I tell you that your choices are not restricted to the political and societal construct Liberia finds itself in today or where Liberia was yesterday. Today I tell you that you have another choice. A choice of a man who has a proven record of fixing broken systems across this world and who has chosen a young Bassa woman to help him fix this country.”
“And fix it, we will. We must. Liberians are ready for a new day, Liberians are ready to fix this country. I am humbled to have been chosen to be “FIXER 2” and serve this great nation.”
She promise to work hard for Liberia and all its people.
She continued: “I will hit the ground running. Next week you will hear me on your radios, in the newspapers, in your churches, and in your communities. We will have conversations about what YOUR vision for a new Liberia is. We will roll out policy statements intended to turn the tide in this country. We will listen to you and we will be a partner to you. We will do campaigning and electioneering differently. This campaign is for the people by the people.”
“I Accept”
She affirmed her preparedness to stand by Mr. Cummings in the October polls, stating she has done so for everyone, including the silent votes, women and ordinary Liberians.
She said: “To all of the silent voters, those who wake up every morning thinking about how they will find a cup of rice to eat, or money to send their children to school. I ACCEPT THIS OFFER BECAUSE of YOU.
“To the youth of Liberia. To you with so much hope and potential. To you who simply need leaders that understand your burden of being a generation of brilliance without a system to support that brilliance, I promise to bridge the gap. I promise to make sure that each young Liberian has the opportunity to improve upon the generation before it. I ACCEPT THIS OFFER BECAUSE YOU.”
Adding, Madam Brumskine noted: “To all of the women and elders who have opened the door, walked through and then ushered me to this place in history, Her Excellency Madame Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Her Excellency Madame Jewel Howard Taylor, Cllr. Gloria Musu Scott, Madame Leymah Gbowee, Madame Angie Brooks and Madame Nye-sua coco, this moment would not have been possible without you. Thank you.”
She also paid tributes to the people of Bassa. “To Grand Bassa County, my people. To the land of my fathers. I love you! Dah yor did this to me oh!! We came to you one year ago and asked to serve you as a representative and the love you showed me catapulted us to the national spotlight. I say ‘Ni Zuo’”
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