Buchanan, Grand Bassa County – Just as some aggrieved partisans from the youth wing of the ruling Unity Party criticized the party’s decision which restricts Presidential appointees from contesting counties’ convention or primaries, tension erupted at one of the of the party’s convention in the port city of Buchanan, Grand Bassa County.
“Our standard bearer is being misled and needs to get on his feet to follow up on some of this information that people are giving him. Once you have someone who is not the choice of the partisans and that person is being pushed on the partisans – definitely you will not have the partisans support” – Austin Spiller, UP Partisan Banned from Contesting Party’s convention
Supporters of Austin Spiller, Edina City Mayor, were furious over decision by the UP’s ad-hoc election commission to ban their man from contesting the county’s chairmanship position.
The committee claimed it was acting on a mandate that Presidential appointees must resign their positions before contesting for any party position, angering Mr. Spiller supporters who protest halted the process for more than an hour.
Spiller claimed he has not received an official letter of appointment from President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to serve as Mayor of the historic Edina City, which meant he was eligible to contest the party’s election.
As the tension heightened on Monday, delegates were seen fleeing the Buchanan City Hall as the aggrieved Spiller supporters vented their frustration.
They claimed that the party’s Grand Bassa chairman, William P. Davis, has always manipulated the activities of the party in the county.
The tension was at the brink of fist fight before Grand Bassa Superintendent, Levi Demmah intervened. And after the scuffle subsided, the incumbent Davis was again reelected as the chair of the ruling party in the vote rich Grand Bassa County.
Partisans Unsatisfied
Mr. Spiller told FrontPage Africa that “many partisans in the county were not satisfied by the decision and it will take the party time to heal the wounds.”
He feared that the decision could manipulate the election of party and officials that do not have the support of the partisans in the county will prompt dissatisfaction, while also calling on the UP standard bearer, Ambassador Joseph Boakai to act quickly.
“Our standard bearer is being misled and needs to get on his feet to follow up on some of these information that people are giving him,” he said.
He continued: “Once you have someone who is not the choice of the partisans and that person is being pushed on the partisans definitely you will not have the partisans’ support.”
‘Complete Malicious’
When contacted after the incident, re-elected UP Grand Bassa County chairman said the allegation against him is “completely malicious”, adding that the decision is part of the party’s guidelines that affects all of its chapters across the country.
“The party has a national executive committee who has oversight on certain guidelines for party elections, so they developed that guidelines. It has nothing to do with Grand Bassa in particular,” Davis said. “In fact when that decision was made I was not even in that meeting, so I got nothing to do with it.”
Unpopular Decision
Davis described the decision, which also prevented Mr. Spiller from competing against him, as a “very unpopular decision” but said once the majority of the UP’s national executive committee voted in favor; it is now a guideline for the party.
At a press conference in Monrovia on December 19, the Secretary of the party’s press and publicity committee warned that the decision as “counterproductive and one that disdain the party’s future, particularly its chances of winning the 2017 elections”.
Henry Yanquoi said the decision has no constitutional backing, while calling on the National Executive Committee to reverse the decision if the party must stand a better chance of winning the 2017 elections.
“If we make only political decisions without analyzing those technical issues that follow, trust us, UP will lose the 2017 elections,” Yanqoui asserted. “There will be no convention held in Montserrado if the decision is not reverted”.
‘UP Standard Bearer Misled’
Despite being banned from contesting the party’s highest position in the county, Austin Spiller told a local radio based in Buchanan Tuesday morning that he’s still committed to the party and will continue to work as a partisan “because he believes in working for the interest of the party.
But he described the decision as a “big error that will definitely hurt the party”, and said the party can only make head waves when the errors are corrected.
“I just think that if we have the achieved state power…, we need to be honest to him (Standard bearer Joseph Boakai) and give him the right advice and information,” he said.