Monrovia – The National Campaign Manager of the ruling Unity Party (UP), Mr. Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan, has told opposition members and even some from his own party, who are spreading falsehood that he is no longer in charge of the campaign that they are “boldface liars” and that he remains the National Campaign Manager, who will ensure victory for UP on November 7.
On this date, Liberians head to the polls to elect the standard and vice standard bearers from either UP or the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), which go to the runoff.
One set of these two candidates—Vice President Joseph Nyuma Boakai and Hosue Speaker James Emmanuel Nuquay on one hand while Senators George Manneh Weah and Jewel Howard-Taylor on another—will be elected if the runoff election is allowed to go ahead by the Supreme Court. The highest court of the land is now looking in election complains filed in by the Liberty Party (LP) headed by Cllr. Charles Walker Brumskine.
Addressing newsmen’s concerns on the present political situations and internal party politics Friday, October 27, UP Campaign Manager Ngafuan told journalists, who had bumped into him around the home of his standard bearer, that he has been busied preparing and implementing strategies that will ensure his party win the runoff.
“We have been busied preparing and implementing our second round strategies and have got no time to follow rumors and some boldface lies. Look, I still serve as the Campaign Manager of the Unity Party Campaign Team.”
“I have pushed for beefing up of the campaign teams across the country as you know during the first round some of our strong supporters and partisans including Representative-elect Edwin Snowe, were all focused on their respective legislative races. Now that all of them have been freed up, they have been incorporated to beef up the mobilization and outreach under my direction and supervision,” Ngaf, as he is affectionately called by his peers, stated.
He further stated that the lies have been told in an attempt to cause disunity; adding: “We have no disunity here; we are working together; and implementing strategies that will definitely bring victory.”
Rumors have it that following the first round of the Presidential and Legislative Elections in which the UP came as first runner up to CDC, Mr. Ngafuan was removed as head of the party’s campaign team, nationally and was replaced with Mr. Snowe, who some referred to as “talk and do.”
Up to when Mr. Ngafuan, who formerly served as Foreign Minister of the country, addressed the concerns of journalists, UP had not issued any official press statement on the removal of their campaign manager and appointing another partisan.
Ngafuan further said that he and Mr. Snowe interact daily on a lot of things; adding, “That rumor that has been around for a while now has no truth and it is meant to create a sense of division, which does not exist. We are united as a team!”
Also responding to news about vote-rich Nimba County Senator Prince Y. Johnson’s endorsement of Mr. Weah’s runoff bid, he stated emphatically that their strategy to win the runoff election in Nimba remains intact and that Sen. Johnson is who he is.
“We are going to win Nimba and we are going to do it in a very big way,” he stressed.
Giving historical accounts as it relates to Nimba and the UP, he stated that his standard bearer has a long relationship with the county.
VP Boakai more than two decades ago did some works in Nimba through the Nimba County Agricultural Development Project (NCADP), when he headed the Liberia Produce and Marketing Corporation (LPMC).
“In 2005 in the runoff, Sen. Johnson was not with the UP, he supported the CDC in the runoff and our support in Nimba triple. We won hugely. We respect his decisions as we respect our partisans— chiefs, elders, etc, who, too, have decided to still vote for us in the runoff.”
Also touching on the party’s runoff strategy, the former Foreign Minister stated that unlike some of what were done in the first round, this time, they are not creating any “hype around things.” According to him, their foot soldiers, are now in the field moving from door to door. “You may not see big rallies, but you are going to see big results.”
He disclosed that because of the effective implementation of their new strategy, Liberians were gravitating towards UP in their droves.
“They are not coming because of UP but because they love Liberia and want us to remain on this path that will be progressive.”
Mr. Ngafuan also used the occasion to buttress what his standard bearer had said few days ago when he (VP Boakai) called on the National Elections Commission (NEC) to clean up the final voters roll before the runoff election is held.
“Obviously, there were many problems at the polls. Many persons showed up and their names weren’t on the voters roll and they had to do an addendum list. We want that voters roll to be cleaned up before any runoff election. We don’t want that confusion that technically disenfranchised many of our people to reoccur in the second round.”
He stated that if it’s not fixed, it could injure the integrity of the process as was seen following the first round.
He disclosed that his party’s national executive committee is seriously engaging with authorities of NEC. He further divulged that their legal team is also reviewing results of the first round of the elections and that at the end of the day, the legal team would advise appropriately.
He used the occasion to call on all UP partisans to remain focused and that everything is on course for the party to win the runoff.