Philadelphia – Mr. Varfley Dorley, a founding member and former Vice Chair of the opposition Congress for Democratic Change’s National Executive Committee, and Mr. Peter Dahn, a senior member of the United People’s Party have crossed over the Liberty Party of Cllr. Charles Walker Brumskine.
Report by Rodney D. Sieh, [email protected]
The pair made their public declaration at a Town Hall gathering held in the edifice of the Victory Harvest Church in the City of Brotherly Love Sunday.
Welcoming the defectors from the CDC and UPP to his party, Cllr. Brumskine describes the crossover as a major coup for his political organization.
“I came to Philadelphia to see if I could spend a few minutes with Liberians here to explain our platform, hear your concerns, listen to your questions, see how we could best address some of them but I’m leaving with more than I expected,” the LP leader averred.
“Varfley Dorley and Peter Dahn – their coming into Liberty Party today, made my trip to the great United States worth all the while. If I accomplished nothing else on this trip, Liberty Party has done well, my friends, welcome on board.”
Cllr. Brumskine said Liberia is grateful to the pair and their defections have sent a message loud and clear that Liberians are ready for a change.
“As a result of which we will be able to say, like Liberty Party say, together we can do it. Our party has a platform that is based on core, strategic principles: We call them the four Rs- Reconciliation, Reform, Recovery and Rebuilding. Whatever we wish to do for our country will fall in one of those four Rs.”
Dorley who described himself as a close friend to Senator George Weah, the standard bearer of the CDC said while he had no intentions of dwelling on his past, his heart was heavy.
“I stand here today with a heavy heart, the reason being that I am not here to denounce my past. I have been in the opposition for the past twelve consecutive years. I’m the founding member of the CDC, the Congress for Democratic Change.
George Weah is my best friend, we went to the Muslim Congress together in fact, we facilitated his scholarship when he went to that school. The name CDC, I did it, it is my making, and Jerome Verdier was presiding as an organizing committee member at the time. But for twelve years, there have been unfolding developments and as a political actor, it reaches a point when we need to act.”
Dorley told the gathering that CDCians and Weah will always remain his friends but he has no regrets over his decision to cross over.
“CDCians remain my friend, George Weah remains my friend. I’m saying it openly, Charles Walker Brumskine, I’ve not supported you but I respect for you. We should be able to draw the dichotomy being afraid of somebody and having respect for that person.”
Added Dorley: “I do not want to denounce my past but when you see people infusing ethnicity in a party, when you see divisiveness, when you see then you tend to be afraid.
With that said, Cllr. Charles Walker Brumskine has not given me a dime; we have not spoken for fifteen years. The last time I spoke with him was when I was in the legislature and I had some folks from China and we went see him. So, I’m not joining this party for money, they have not given me anything.”
Mr. Dorley said Cllr. Brumskine possesses all the qualities of a good leader and he was proud to be in his corner.
“What are the qualities of a leader. A leader must be handsome, Cllr. Charles Brumskine, you are handsome, a leader must have a moral, he has the moral rectitude, a leader must be a unifier, a leader must be able to mend fences as the arbiter of peace.
But there is something unique, I’m from the Mandingo tribe, my critics have asked me why are you leaving CDC. You are a founding CDC member, how can you become ungrateful to your own leader, I say no.
Politics is about preserving interests, building the economic and social base, that is what it is all about. If you can deliver, trust me, I will support you. With that said, having consulted my family, having consulted my wife, and having spoken to him(Brumskine) about whether he will be able to defend the sanctity of Article 14 of the constitution, with respect to Liberia, those are issues that the Mandingo community are concerned about, the Muslims are concerned about.
With all fairness at this time, Cllr. Brumskine and for this election, I will vote for you and I will vote for the Liberty Party. I’m with you today and I will vote for you tomorrow.”
For his part, Mr. Dahn, one of the disciples of the late Gabriel Baccus Matthews, the father of multi-party democracy, said his decision is geared toward what he described as correcting an error made in 2005 with the election of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and the Unity Party government.
“Twelve years ago, Liberians and the international community made an error in the choice we made. You know as a public servant, your job and responsibility is equivalent to a doctor because it affects life directly.”
Dahn added: “The decisions you make, the decisions you take, they affect life. It may be positive or may be negative.
To observe for so many times, so many years and in my own person, let me confess because I did not think there was a need, I said to my wife, sweetheart, this is what I am about to do, I seek your indulgence because she was already in the forefront of where I wanted to go, so I must follow.
So as a member of the United People’s Party and a functioning member indeed, I am here to do something that I thought I would never do. Why, because I respect consistency when you say that you are behind someone for support, when that person looks back they must be able to find you there.
So I stuck with it over twelve years, when I thought it was time to make that decision, now it’s the time to make that decision and I am happy to make that decision here in your presence because I know, it is important that we do not repeat the error of 2005.”
Mr. Dahn said he was privy to be in position where actual decisions that brought the current president to power were made. “I was privileged in person, didn’t support it, so we became enemy of the state. We had no fear of it, we had no fear because we thought and believed we were representing the interest against other people.
So I appear in this public manner to announce myself as a member of Liberty Party. I am a support you can depend on, that you can count on, that is prepared to work to make sure that the dream you and I have had for over one hundred years, we will bring that dream to a reality.”
In remarks, Mr. Wilmot Kunney, Head of the Union of Liberians in the United States of America said it is important Diaspora Liberians bring those vying for the presidency to the highest level of scrutiny to make sure that previous errors are not made.
For us in the Diaspora, we also have an agenda. Our constituency have been advocating for participation in the political process, we’ve been advocating for out of country voting, we’ve been advocating for dual citizenship. It is our responsibility as leaders of the Diaspora to make it known for our political leaders to see what part of their vision can be retained.
The Diaspora that contributes so much to our country by World Bank statistics, Liberians in the Diaspora contribute one third, twenty percent of the GDP, almost twenty percent, almost 460 million a year, we cannot just be the ATM of the Republic of Liberia, we need to have a voice.”
Liberia, he said needs to run while the rest of the country runs in order for us to catch up.
“I implore you to conduct the kind of examination that is warranted from those eyeing the highest office in the land. We can all ask question, we can all speak to the vision. The fact that we ask for dual citizenship and out-of-country voting, it is not just a two-agenda issue. There are other issues.”
The defections are not without controversy. Dorley was ousted from the National Social Security and Welfare Corporation (NASSCORP) under a cloud of controversy. He also previously served as Advisor on International Affairs for the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), one of the warring factions formed to help oust former President Charles Taylor from office.