Liberia: Former Speaker Tyler Resigns from His Own Party

The Liberia People Democratic Party (LPDP) is one of the three constituent political parties that make up the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change, but the founder of the LPDP has walked away from not just the coalition, but his own party.

The decision by former speaker of the House of Representatives, Alex Tyler, to resign from a party he founded in 2017, along with other lawmakers, appears to have been triggered by intense pressure from the Executive Committee of the LPDP, especially its Chairman, former Lofa County Lawmaker, Moses Kollie.

The LPDP, along with the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), and the National Patriotic Party (NPP), entered a political collaboration in 2017, which subsequently propelled its standard bearer, George Weah, to the presidency.

 But the renewal of the agreement early this year has not been smooth, with the LPDP and a faction of the NPP decrying extreme marginalization. Things have gotten sour since with Tyler, as the political leader, refusing to recommit his party to the coalition, though chairman Kollie reportedly did.

However, Tyler on Thursday June 1, tendered his resignation, citing lack of faith in the current coalition framework document that the constituent parties recently signed.

This decision, he said, was reached after sober reflection and in consultation with his family and friends.

“This painful step is intended to not allow the prevailing political situation in the party, including my lack of faith in the current Coalition Framework signed among the NPP, LPDP, and the CDC, to derail the progress and forward movement of the party and its position within the Coalition,” he said in his letter of resignation.

It is not clear as to what the specific details were that prompted Tyler’s unceremonious departure from his own political party, which he organized along with some trusted fellow former legislators, but signs appear to indicate that things have certainly fallen apart.

Many believe that it is not a good sign that President Weah, who is gearing up for reelection, is gradually losing allies who were once very close to him.

Weah had Tyler and his LPDP by his side in 2017 following the latter’s breakup with former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. 

Like the former ruling NPP, Tyler’s LPDP has over the years complained about not being fairly treated by Weah's Congress for Democratic Change (CDC).

Both have complained over time that even though their constituent parties make up the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), Weah’s distribution of jobs ignored most of them, leaving them to ponder the significance of being part of the political marriage.

It was the same issue of marginalization that led Maryland County Senator and embattled NPP chairman, James Biney, to withdraw his support for the coalition. Biney has since endorsed the presidential bid of Joseph Nyumah Boakai of the forming Unity Party.

In his resignation letter addressed to chairman Kollie, Tyler said, “As a founding member of this great party, an institution I love, nurture, and cherish, this is and has been a painful and agonizing decision, but I must do so for the survival, interest, and longevity of our beloved LPDP.”

He called on Kollie, a former lawmaker from Lofa, to convey to the executive leadership and the rest of the partisans his compliments and gratitude over the fond memories shared, noting that it is his prayer that the LPDP takes its rightful place among political parties in Liberia.

He conveyed the same letter of his resignation and dissolution of membership with the LPDP to the National Elections Commission.

Tyler did not get a job in Weah’s government and barely attracted admiration from the Congress for Democratic Change’s executives, stalwarts, and other diehard supporters of Weah. He contested for the Senate seat in his home county of Bomi in 2020 but was defeated by Edwin Melvin Snowe, the shortest lived Speaker of the House of Representatives, who served Montserrado County District #5 and later moved to Bomi and initially served as Representative in Bomi District #1 before ascending to the House of Senate for that county.

Meanwhile, while it is not yet known what Tyler’s next political destination is, Amos Tweh, Unity Party secretary general, posted on his Facebook account extending an olive branch to Tyler.