Liberia:‘Moving Ahead, Rebuilding the CPP’

The leader of the Alternative National Congress, Alexander Cummings, says irrespective of the recent past attacks and slights even by friends and colleagues, he will continue to oppose and disagree with the government and politicians who view public service as an opportunity to steal and abuse the Liberian people’s trust.

Cummings said the failed attempt to destroy the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) and to weaken him through political persecution, has, on the contrary, strengthened his resolve to accelerate more real change for a better Liberia.

“Make no mistake, the lies and betrayals were hurtful, especially from people we respect and regard as friends, individuals we thought we knew well over the years,” Cummings said. “But our spirit is unbroken. Our resolve to change the country's direction and improve the lives of all Liberians remains unchanged.” 

“Without evidence of any wrongdoing, the real purpose of the conspiracy was to keep us entangled in court with bogus charges during the electioneering period, using the court to dishonor and smear our hard-earned reputation,” he added. 

On the Supreme Court of Liberia ruling to have declared a provision in a private agreement unconstitutional, the ANC leader said he is obligated to honor the decision of the high court and wished the Unity Party and All Liberian Party well in their future endeavors. 

He however noted that the unprecedented decision by the court will long be debated by lawyers and historians.

“Now, we must move ahead to continue the work of rebuilding the Collaborating Political Parties, with serious change partners, to be the vehicle for real change in our country,” Cummings said in a nationwide address on June 9.

The opposition politician added that throughout his six months of political witch-hunt and persecution, he observes the need for judicial reforms, stressing that any nation without a credible system of Justice is prone to lawlessness and conflict.

“There are vexing problems with the body of our country — inadequate roads, bridges, and electricity, the breakdown in the governance systems, as well as the absence of courage, especially at the national level, to do the right thing for the right reasons, with honor, integrity, honesty, and truthfulness,” he said.

Cummings noted that the duty falls on all Liberians to become better examples because, according to him, the peaceful and prosperous future we all seek depends on the values we will also adopt. “Our children need us to provide them with better examples, as our society needs us to become leaders of higher standards,” he said.

He said with the vast natural resources, “no family needs to go to bed hungry, no child needs to sit on a dirt floor or stand under leaking roofs to learn, no hospital needs not to have beds, medicine and modern equipment to give the best of health care, and no person working should earn wages not enough to minimally feed and care for their families.

Cummings said rich as our country, we should not be a beggar nation, constantly seeking handouts “for what we can and do for ourselves, noting that it's unacceptable that public officials can only be partisans and incompetent.”

The ANC leader stressed the road ahead is long and difficult, but said for the love of Liberia, we will have to travel that rugged road to meet the challenge for real change. 

“Millions of our citizens’ voices have been drowned, their hopes dashed but, with renewed faith and trust in God, we promised to travel that difficult road and stay focused on the objective while fighting for our country and our people and not for ourselves,” he pledged.

Cummings then added that his real change movement is not about party or returning to the past, or few to benefit,  rather, it is about realizing our deserved future and Liberians getting the maximum benefit of their God-given vast natural resources.

On the Lofa County Senatorial by-election slated for June 28, the ANC Political Leader said the CPP will not field any candidate, noting that the CPP stands with the people against the political maneuvers of the weah administration to have overturned the overwhelmed expression of the people’s democratic will for representation, when Lofa County Senator-elect, Brownie Samukai, a CPP candidate, was denied being seated.  

He said to participate in a subsequent election to replace Mr. Samukai, CPP will not only concede to his replacement but also participate in undermining and reversing the democratic will of the people of Lofa County.

Meanwhile, Cummings has expressed thanks to the Liberian people, his partisans, and the Musa Bility faction of the Liberty Party, who he said stood with him every step of the trial, assuring them that the ANC will certainly win the presidency in 2023.

He also expressed thanks to the two London-based firms, Amnia and Alaco, for their expert forensic investigation, which Cummings said the state was forced by the truth and lack of evidence to grudgingly surrender.

“It does not require international firms to unearth evidential truths in our country. Unfortunately, getting to the truth was never an objective for those whose interest was to politically persecute us and smear us,” the ANC Political Leader said.