Liberia: Rufus Neufville Defends CPP’s Support Pres. Weah’s Re-Election Bid

Former Representative Rufus Neufville is trying hard to justify the Collaborating Political Parties’ decision to support the re-election bid of President George M. Weah in the pending November 14 run-off elections. 

Neufville who contested as a representative candidate in District #8 in the just-ended October 10 presidential and legislative elections, maintained that he stands 100% firmly behind the Collaborating Political Parties’ recent decision to support the re-election of President George Weah in the runoff election.

Recently, the standard bearer of the CPP, Mr. Alexander Benedict Cummings, set up a committee to decide the party’s next political move whether to support the incumbent or former Vice President Joseph Boakai, political leader of the opposition Unity Party.

Following thorough engagements with both the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change and the Unity Party and arrived at a conclusion, the committee, through its recommendations, preferred President Weah for his second term over the UP arrowhead.

Addressing a news conference over the weekend in Monrovia, Ambassador Neufville of the Liberty Party, one of the constituent parties of the CPP, stressed that he remains institution disciplined and as such, he will follow the CPP’s direction to ensure the Liberian leader is re-elected in the runoff election slated for November 14, 2023.

“A lot of you, my supporters and followers, have been asking whether I support the re-election of President Weah after you saw my political institution, CPP endorsing President and pledging to support him in his effort to get him re-elected. I am an institutional person. I do not hold any private view on this matter,” he said. “I do not hold any individual opinion on this matter. I want to say to the Liberian people, to all of my followers, people who believe in Rufus Neufville, and people who have followed me over the years as I championed the rule of law and democracy ‌that I stand 100 percent firmly behind the support of President Weah’s re-election consistent with the decision of the Collaborating Political Parties.”

He noted that his support for the President’s re-election is similarly predicated on his (President Weah’s) acceptance of the CPP’s conditions that, if re-elected, his government will value the rule of law.

Neufville, who also spoke on ELBC radio on Sunday, November 5, 2023 noted that the Liberian leader agreed with the special committee’s quests that he will champion democracy, improve the lives of civil servants, teachers, and health workers and fight corruption among others.

He stressed that he is not willing to compromise the level of confidence and courtesy he currently enjoys from the entire leadership of his political party — the Liberty Party and the CPP as a result of the decision to support the Liberian leader.

“I joined the Liberty Party a few months ago. Since I joined the Liberty Party, I have been highly respected and I have always been consulted by Chairman Musa Hassan Bility, by the Secretary of the party, and even the political leader Cllr. Charlyne Brumskine,” he added.

Reflecting on how the CPP, which comprises the Liberty Party and the Alternative National Congress of Mr. Alexander Cummings, endorsed President Weah, tough-talking Neufville, noted that the decision to support the Liberian leader was never made unilaterally.

“The decision to support President Weah’s re-election is not anything about the Chairman of the ANC or any individual; there was an administrative mechanism put into place to derive whether we support George Weah or Joe (Joseph) Boakai and the process was very tedious,” he stressed. “The process was very difficult because some people wanted Joe Boakai, but the overwhelming majority wanted George Weah,” Amb. Rufus Neufville justified.