MONROVIA – Former Senator of Maryland County and a member of the Unity Party has admonished Amb. Joseph Boakai to ensure the that the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) stays together as he, Boakai, will have more to lose if the opposition disintegrates.
Senator John Ballout, Jr. lamented that all the leaders of the CPP have decided to hand over their counterpart, Alexander Cummings of the ANC on silver platter to the very government whom they seek to remove.
In an interview with Julius Jeh of OK FM, a local FM station in Monrovia, Mr. Ballout said the disagreements that is leading to the breakdown of the opposition conglomeration is as a result of greed among the leaders. He called on them to seek the interest of the Liberian people, instead.
“The election we experienced with Montserrado with Darius Dillon twice, it’s not the Unity Party, it’s not the ANC, it’s not the Liberty Party, it’s not the ALP, it’s the CPP. It’s the CPP that converge people who were even no longer interested in politics in this country,” he said.
He recalled that from precedents, the Unity Party could not attain half of what the now governing CDC got in Montserrado County during elections.
“What is happening is that ego is fitting in; what is happening is that the quest for power is fitting; they’re forgetting to know that it’s not about it, it’s about the people,” he said.
He admonished the leaders of the CPP to realize that the CDC government has begun putting their acts together to regain the confidence of the Liberian people and have begun working towards the 2023 elections, therefore, winning the CDC will not be an easy ride for any political party.
“Each and every member of the CPP on their own cannot win any election in this country; including the very CDC, George Weah and this Congress for Democratic Change on their own cannot win election in this country. We have reached another level of our democratic process that we need to have collaboration – that collaboration, if is not protected and sustained, if you lose it, you’ll also lose the support that you have,” he said.
Mr. Ballout lamented that some of the leaders of the CPP believe they can only succeed by bringing their counterparts down, noting that they will not be unable to undo the harm and disgrace they may cause to each other as their supporters continue to insult and denigrate each other’s leaders.
“We see that Cummings is being presented to the government by the CPP itself and Cummings is going through all of this, as soon as Cummings gets the worst penalty, if Amb. Boakai goes for the runoff, can he count on Cummings to come and support him?”
Ballout added, “Joseph Boakai is the one who has everything to lose; the Unity Party Boakai has more to lose so he has to make sure that this CPP arrangement is indispensable for him – it’s untradable… If the Unity Party breaks away and goes on its own, where will it be going to? You’ll be going to exactly where you were when you lost the election in 2017… Nothing has changed, the only that has changed is a worsen situation because Amb. Boakai is no longer in power, he’s not an incumbent. He doesn’t have the facilities that he has at his disposal.”
The quarrel within the CPP emanated from an allegation from the political leader of the ALP, Mr. Benoni Urey, who alleged that he had received credible information that one of the leaders of the CPP had nefariously altered the Framework Document that was submitted to the National Elections Commission.
Mr. Alexander Cummings who chaired the CPP at the time the submission was made to the NEC vehemently debunked the allegation.
While an internal investigative committee reported that they observed subsutural changes in the Framework Document, the lawyers who worked on the document, upon review, admitted to make some structural changes as they deemed fit but failed to comment further on allegation of tampering, noting that the allegation has been made political.
Cummings has since described the legal action instituted against him by the ALP as a manipulation of the Weah-led administration and he continues to claim his innocence and said he is being persecuted because he has refused to be
However, it is expected the Mr. Boakai, Senator Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence of the Liberty Party and the Secretary General of the Unity Party, Mo Ali, will all be testifying against him in court.
Meanwhile, the Solicitor General, Cllr. Syrennius Cephus, has provided reasons for which he is neck-deep into the prosecution of the ANC political leader, Alexander Cummings. According to him, his action against the ANC is save the country’s multi-party democracy.
Cllr. Cephus attempted dispelling the widely believed notion that the State’s involvement in the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) saga and the prosecution of Mr. Cummings for forgery as alleged the Mr. Benoni Urey’s All Liberian Party is an attack on the rule of law and intended to silence and defame Mr. Cummings.
The Solicitor General who is the lead prosecutor further stated that the trial is a means of taming the “swollen ego” of Cummings who is bent on contesting the 2023 presidential elections.
According to Cllr. Cephus, other political leaders in the opposition sees Cummings’ alleged action and activities as a clever attempt to undermine Liberia’s multi-party democracy credentials.
“The office of the Solicitor-General has taken seized of this matter primarily not because the alleged fraudulent act complained of, involves Alexander Cummings and others from the Alternative National Congress(ANC) against the political interests of other Liberians in the CPP, but because it has the potential to gravely undermine and damage Liberia’s multi-party democracy and thereby plunge the CPP and the entire country into serious political crisis which will not augur well for the peace and security of the state,” stated the press release.