Liberia: Six Opposition Parties Chided for Endorsing Weah

 

— “They are hungry people,’ says MacDella Cooper

The Political leader of the Movement for One Liberia Party, MacDella Cooper, sees it as a complete contradiction to the recent endorsement of the reelection bid of President George Weah by six opposition political parties.

Cooper described as unfortunate, the decision of the political leaders of the six parties to affix their signatures to a document that champions a cause for Weah, who has performed dismally since taking the helm of power in 2018, to be given another term when citizens are living in abject poverty.

Cooper noted that the six opposition parties' decision to join the ruling Coalition for Democracy Change was driven by greed and self-aggrandizement, rather than the regime's genuine efforts to serve the best interests of the Liberian people.

“The six parties that recently joined the CDC are a bunch of hungry people or politicians,” she said at an event in Bong County.  “They are a group of belly-driven politicians who don't have a vision for Liberia’s development.”

The parties have however defended their position, noting that their endorsement of the ruling Coalition is a clear indication that Weah is leading the country in the right trajectory.

However, the six political parties that have expanded the Weah ruling Coalition to nine parties are not widely known to the public and have struggled in the past to attract supporters and gain votes, especially in a highly competitive and crowded political landscape. 

Out of the six political parties, only the United People's Party and the Movement for Economic Empowerment have participated in competitive elections.  Both parties' performance has been poor and it remains to be seen how much influence they will wield in the upcoming election.

The six parties that the President claims have strengthened his party are the lesser-known People's Liberation Party , Union for Liberia Democrat, Redemption Democratic Congress, and Change Democratic Action. 

The rests are the United People's Party and the Movement for Economic Empowerment, which is chaired by D. Maxwell Kemayah, Liberia’s current Minister of Foreign Affairs. 

The National Patriotic Party (NPP), Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), and Liberia People's Democratic Party (LPDP) are the three original parties of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change.  However, there is a crisis among the three parties as former Speaker Alex Tyler, political leader of the LPDP, and Senator James Biney, chairman of the National Patriotic Party, have not endorsed the framework document that holds the Coalition together for another six years.  

Both Tyler and Biney, claim that without their signatures on the document, anything to the contrary is invalid, suggesting that an approved and signed framework document has yet to be produced.

However, the ruling Coalition and its supporters insist that there are no issues with the framework documents.

Cooper, who contested in the 2017 elections as the only female candidate and was defeated, is calling the citizens to reject the CDC in the pending 2023 elections in the Country.

Meanwhile, Kemayah, who spoke on behalf of the parties at last week's event joining the ruling Coalition, said their decision to join was based on the infrastructure development that the regime has been undertaking.

Kemayah noted the decision was not only made by the political leaders of the six parties but by all partisans and officials as well.

“Mr. President, the step we have taken today is in the realization of the thought that in your next term as President, you need all the resources to continue your development agenda for this country. As a party, we will ensure that you have a one-round victory.”

To the contrary, Cooper has described the decision as erroneous, inaccurate, and counterproductive to the development of Liberia. 

“The Weah-led government has done nothing to improve the living conditions of the Liberian people, so I’m somehow shocked to see other political leaders joining a man who is bringing massive suffering upon our people,” she said.

Tags