Gbarnga, Bong County – Ambassador Jeremiah Sulunteh, former vice standard bearer of the Alternative National Congress (ANC) in the 2017 presidential elections, has joined the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) of President George Weah.
Sulunteh was officially welcomed into the CDC by the chairman of the party, Mulbah Morlu, at an elaborate program in Gbarnga.
Speaking at the occasion, Sulunteh, who left Unity Party in 2016 having contested as running mate to former presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party of Liberia (NDPL), Ambassador Winston Tubman in the 2005 presidential elections, said he has found a political home in the CDC and there he shall remain.
“For too long we have been scouting for a political home in the Liberian body politics; and in CDC we have a political home,” he said.
Sulunteh said he had helped to build other political institutions but could no longer bear some of the consequences of his decisions due to what he termed as political imbalances and philosophical differences.
“We have dedicated all of our life in helping to build political institutions but have been left disappointed because of betrayal and other political indifferences,” he said.
Sulunteh said he is joining the CDC with no pre-conditions, stating that his defection to the CDC is in response to a clarion call to national patriotic call and it is not and it’s not about satisfying his personal interest.
“For it is more about meeting the challenges of a national renewal, than satisfying a personal ego,” he said.
Sulunteh added: “We are coming to the CDC at a time when all is not milk and honey in our country. We don’t profess to have the answers to the many problems in our country today, but with the call from our president for all Liberians to unite in the spirit of oneness for the forward march of our country, we have chosen to respond with compassion and commitment.”
The former Liberian Ambassador to the United States of America said Liberia under the CDC government, like other countries around the world, is faced with multiple challenges, but indicated that those challenges are not insurmountable.
“I join the call to all Liberians to join forces in changing our narratives and leadership in order to occasion a sense of development,” he said.
Sulunteh backs Yallah’s Bid
Sulunteh, who withdrew from the Senate race, also used the occasion to endorse the re-election ambition of CDC senator Henry Yallah.
“It is an old adage that when you plan to marry a woman who already has a child, you should and must consider that child as your child. Today, the case is with the CDC. As long I have decided to get married to the CDC, any child that the CDC nourishes becomes my child,” he said.
Additionally, Sulunteh said: “Mr. Chairman and partisans of the CDC, fellow Liberians, it is in this light that I now take his moment, on behalf of the Friends of Sulunteh, to officially endorse the candidature of Senator Henry Yallah, the CDC candidate for the Senate race in Bong County scheduled for December 8 elections.
Terming Yallah as “a lesser evil” among those vying for the Senate, Sulunteh called on his supporters to vote Yallah. “Yallah is the best candidate among those vying for the Senate. So, I am calling all my supporters to vote for him for the development of the county,” Sulunteh said.
In attendance at Saturday’s program was the chairman of the CDC, Morlu. Morlu described Sulunteh’s defection to the CDC as yet another boost to the party, particularly in its bid to strengthen its support base in Bong County.
Morlu said Sulunteh is a character worthy of public trust having “honestly” served as ministers to three positions under former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
“If you look at former government officials who diligently served under President Sirleaf you can’t leave out Ambassador Sulunteh. He’s one of those Liberians who is very honest as his records in the public have established,” he said.
The CDC chairman said Sulunteh will be rewarded in the future for joining the CDC. “Though you didn’t set any preconditions for joining the CDC, I want to assure you that the CDC will protect you and we will ensure that you will always make you smile again,” he said.
Speaking also, Senator Yallah hailed Sulunteh’s support to his candidacy as another boost to his re-election.