Ellen Will Run for Second Term

MONROVIA – President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's political advisers have removed the lid on her bid to run for a second term in the 2011 presidential election, ending speculations about her political future.

At a news conference yesterday, the Chairman of the ruling Unity Party (UP), Dr. Charles Clark, said the UP had resolved that President Sirleaf should seek a second four-year term.

“Unity Party is a matured and disciplined Party; it is not indiscipline, so President Sirleaf will contest the 2011 elections; it is our decision and this decision is unanimous,” he declared.

Sirleaf, by all accounts, is the most suitable candidate to represent the UP for the Liberian presidency come 2011, Clark said.

“Among all of the presidents this country has had in our time, Ellen is the best. This is why we have decided for her to contest. We know that she will win,” the UP national chairman asserted.

Clark said, plans are underway for UP’s national convention in preparation for the 2011 general and presidential elections.

He also used the occasion to clarify that he has no intention to seek the ruling party’s chairmanship. He underscored the need for a new breed of UP stalwarts to ascend to the party’s leadership.

“Our merger with Liberian Action Party (LAP), Liberian Unification Party (LUP), is very good. We at the party level strongly believe that good things will happen come January. I don’t have any intention to contest for the position of UP Chairman, come January,” he said.

The UP Chair also refuted media reports that he and Sirleaf are on a collision course on key issues in the party.

Clark contended that he and President Sirleaf are best of friends who meet regularly.

“At no point in time did I and the President have differences; we remain best of friends, she remains standard bearer of our party up to 2011,” the UP Chairman said.

Asked whether it was possible for President Sirleaf to win the 2011 elections, taking into account the alarming reports of corruption associated with several key officials of her government, Clark retorted, “We are confident of winning any democratic elections owing to the fact that government has begun taking actions against those accused of corruption.”

“We at the level of the party are confident that this party will win come 2011 elections, for the fact that this party has the passion to take this country of ours to another advance level,” Clark added.

At yesterday’s conference, the ruling UP has also vehemently condemned recent publication of an article in a local daily, alleging that the Sirleaf government was supplying arms and ammunition to dissidents of the Guinean military junta.

Clark said the article lacked any iota of truth. He said the publication has the propensity to create fear among citizens of both Liberia and Guinea.

“The UP-led government of President Sirleaf is not interested in war, and we will not support war,” Chairman Clark emphasized.

The declaration of the ruling UP that Madam Sirleaf will contest the 2011 presidential election appears to be at variance with recent recommendations of Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that Sirleaf and others should, for 30 years, face public sanction including lustration and debarment from holding public office for their alleged roles in the Liberian armed conflict.

Naming Sirleaf and about 49 others, the TRC, in its recommendations, said: “All those associated with former warring factions, their leaders, political decision-makers, financiers, organizers, commanders, foot soldiers shall be subject to public sanction in one form or another.”