Wilmot Paye Replaced in PLP

Wilmot Paye with PLP leader Dr.Cassell.

-- As party names ‘acting chairman’ 

Wilmot Paye, who insisted that he remains the chairman of the People’s Liberation Party (PLP) and claimed he was unilaterally sacked by the party’s political leader, Daniel Cassel, has been replaced by the decision-making body of the political institution.

A statement from the General Policy Commission (GPC), the decision-making body of the party, says Mr. Tapple E. Doe has been voted to serve as acting chairman of the PLP until its national convention, which is slated for December.

“The General Policy Commission (GPC) of the People’s Liberation Party (PLP) has voted Mr. Tapple E. Doe as National Chairman replacing Mr. Paye, who, along with two other executive members, was relieved of their positions. Congratulations Mr. Doe for your preferment,” the statement, which is in the possession of the Daily Observer, said.

Doe is a confidant of Dr. Daniel E. Cassell, the founder, chief financier, and political leader of the People’s Liberation Party (PLP), and is a member of the first group of men and women said to have begun the political struggle with Cassell. In response to a text to Mr. Paye late yesterday evening, he said in a WhatsApp message:  “Voted to replace me? Isn’t Tapple Doe Daniel Cassell’s brother-in-law as I just learned last week?  So it’s no big deal at all.”

It can be recalled that recently, the PLP announced the dismissal of Paye and a few other members in leadership, including Henry Sackie, acting vice chairman for political affairs and Kansualism Kansuah, former Secretary-general of the party, for what the party termed as breach of trust and organic laws and order of the institution.

Paye, for one case, was accused of arbitrarily suspending other party officials in Montserrado and elsewhere without the knowledge of the political leader or the General Policy Commission (GPC).

Another accusation levied against the former PLP chairman was that he ordered Carlos Edinson Tingba, the youth chairman of PLP to recruit young men and women for a brigade, which is said to have gone against the wish of Dr. Cassell and subsequently brought a stalemate between him (Paye) and Cassell. But, Paye denied any wrongdoing. He said the action by Dr. Cassell and others was illegal and completely against the party’s constitution. He alleged that the mind of Dr. Cassell has been poisoned.

According to Paye, Cassell had no legal backing to dismiss him and that he (Paye) remains the acting chairman of the newest political party until its convention is held in December to decide the next corps of leaders. It is not known what might happen in the coming days but, if it remains as it is now, the political fate of Paye could be going down the drain.

Mr. Paye has been in the political environment since the Unity Party-led government took the helm of national leadership in 2006.  A staunch member of the former ruling Unity Party (UP) of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, he ascended to the position of Secretary-General of the UP and later elected national chairman, a position he held till 2020 when he was again kicked out ahead of the completion of his tenure.

While holding the chairmanship of the UP, Mr. Paye and former President Sirleaf were at loggerheads much of the time.  It began when he disassociated the former President’s son, Robert Sirleaf, from the party during the 2014 midterm senatorial election.  At that time, Mr. Paye said the UP had no association with an individual who throughout his life could not afford a house but, within nine years of his mother’s regime, had accumulated millions of dollars.

Many times party members and political spectators accused Mr. Paye of badmouthing the former President, an act that others said former Vice President Joseph Boakai, who became a standard-bearer for the UP in the 2017 presidential election, failed to condemn and might have caused the former President not to support the party during that election.

Mr. Paye’s departure from the UP came early 2020 when he warned partisans to shun the planned January 6 protest organized by Liberian political commentator Henry Costa.  With the expectation that opposition political parties and other pressure groups would combine to stage the nationwide protest as was done on June 7, 2019, Paye warned the partisans not to participate and they should blame themselves if they refuse to heed his advice. 

When he was deposed, Paye sued the party. He later surfaced in the echelons of the People’s Liberation Party, as acting chairman. With barely 24 months until the general and presidential elections in 2023, the question is whether the controversial Paye will hang his hat in yet another political party, go solo and run for elected office, or retire as a private citizen.