Cummings to Liberians: "Better Days Ahead "

The Standard Bearer of the CPP, Alexander Cummings


“So many families are struggling to make ends meet, with rising food prices, high unemployment, very low wages, and inconsistent salary payments for those who are employed. Rest assured that our country will not always be this way.

The political leader of the Collaborating Political Party (CPP), has admonished Liberians to keep hope alive, and that better days are ahead despite the tough "economic conditions they are enduring now."

Cummings, in his official Christmas message to the country yesterday, called on his compatriots to be optimistic about better days ahead despite the level of hopelessness that has befallen the country since the ascendency of President George Weah and his Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) government.

“As we observe the Christmas holiday this year, I wish you and your loved ones a joyous and blessed celebration,” Cummings said. “The holiday season provides us all an opportunity to rest, reflect and spend quality time with our family, friends, and the people that matter the most to us. It is also a time of caring and sharing.”

“So many families are struggling to make ends meet, with rising food prices, high unemployment, very low wages, and inconsistent salary payments for those who are employed. Rest assured that our country will not always be this way.

One embodiment of the Christmas spirit, which is about sharing, according to Cummings, is being stifled by the very difficult economic circumstances Liberians are living through.

However, Cummings added that all is not lost and that Liberians should look to the future with optimism because better days are ahead.

The quality of decisions in the 2023 legislative and presidential elections, he noted, will set the tone for the kind of changes that will translate into improved livelihoods for all Liberians.

“As we enter 2023, we remain resolute to deliver the change Liberia deserves. The kind of change that translates into improved livelihoods for ALL Liberians,” Cummings wrote. “Who you know or do not know should not have an impact on your ability to provide a decent life for your family.”

This year's Christmas celebration, like the past few others, has been tough, and this has been so for so many reasons including rising food prices, very low wages, inconsistent salary payments, and high unemployment, especially among the young people who make up a vast majority of the population.

All of these compounds diminish the expectations of people in the country of celebrating a merry Christmas.

Since December, the reading on the lips of many Liberians about the festive season is that there is nothing to celebrate because of the hardship they are faced with daily.

“Change is coming very soon,” the CPP political leader proclaimed in his Christmas message to Liberians Saturday night. “Our commitment is to transform the Liberian economy, to make it easier to do business, to empower Liberian entrepreneurs, and to invest substantially in education and skills training to o create the kinds of high-paying jobs that will ensure better livelihoods for all Liberians.”

The harsh economic realities recently led thousands to take to the streets in a protest that climaxed at the SKD Sports Complex on December 17.

The protest, organized under the “We Tiyah Suffering" tagline, was meant for Liberians to protest over economic hardships and Weah then prolonged absence from the country.

The rally was organized by the CPP, a coalition of the country’s four largest opposition parties, but an internal conflict left the coalition, with the Alternative National Congress and a fraction of the Liberty Party.

Since the CDC and its political leader’s ascendency, there have been sporadic protests, some of them larger, due to his government’s management of the economy—a situation that has led Liberians to grapple with rising food, fuel, and other essential commodities.

The nation’s staple, rice, recently experienced a surge in price from US$13.50 to US$17.50—a situation that Weah, upon his return from the prolonged trip abroad weeks ago, said was necessary to keep the commodity on the market. He had earlier promised the nation that the price of rice would never increase while he was president of the country.