MONROVIA – The Nimba County primary for the opposition Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) was very crucial to the opposition bloc as it presented itself as the first test of the solidification of collaboration since the pact was consummated. Unfortunately, the Nimba County primary for the selection a senatorial candidate for that county which ended in a bloodbath tend to expose the latent divisions in the conglomeration.
Though the CPP comprise four leading opposition political parties, the Nimba County primary was intended to be a two-horse race with Taa Wongbe of the Alternative National Congress and Ms. Edith Gongloe Weh of the Liberty Party going to neck-to-neck for the senatorial candidate slot on the CPP ticket.
The winner of the primary will face the incumbent Thomas Grupee, former senator Saye-Tayor Adolphus Dolo, former superintendent David Dorr Cooper, and former Representative Garrison Yealue and Representative Jeremiah Koung on December 8.
Signs of possible disruption of the process and perhaps commotion among member parties became glaring 12 hours ahead of the initial voting time as the All Liberian Party (ALP) headed by businessman Benoni Urey suspended all members of its Nimba County leadership.
The Liberty Party (LP), the Unity Party (UP) and the ALP all failed to meet up with the deadline for the submission of its delegates listings to the CPP Secretariat for the facilitation of the process.
Why ALP Suspended Its County Leadership
For the ALP, the suspension of its entire county structure was, according to the suspension letter, due to their failure as a leadership to support the party’s interest and continuously bringing the party to public disrepute.
The ALP national leadership also announced that there will be a comprehensive investigative restructuring exercise that will facilitate the reconfirming of the Nimba County’s branch to the vision, loyalty and goals of party.
The ALP further blamed the county leadership for poorly managing Radio Sletorwah which was established as a community radio station in the county for propagating the programs, vision, policies and aspiration of the ALP.
“Unfortunately, your collective supervision and administration of the station leaves much to desire as evidenced by the fact that your leadership has failed and deliberately refused to carry out the mandate upon which the ALP established the radio station. To the contrary also, the station has been used against the party’s interest and goals,” the communication further alleged.
FrontPageAfrica gathered from sources within the suspended leadership of the ALP who asked for anonymity that the party’s political leader, Mr. Benoni Urey, appears to be a supporter of Madam Edith Gongloe Weh against Taa Wongbe and he is of the belief that the county leadership rather backs Wongbe.
As a result, he is trying to manipulate the process by appointing new confidants who would cast their votes for Madam Weh.
The suspended official wondered why the party did not act on their differences in the county until hours to the primary.
However, the CPP primary guidelines clearly stipulate only members of constituent party leadership are qualified to be delegates.
Same Move in Liberty Party
In a complaint to the CPP Primary Committee, the Liberty Party District structure in Nimba stated that despite being abandoned by Madam Weh in the past but embraced by them upon her return, they were shocked to realized that on the eve of the primary, had refused to work with them as delegates.
The compliant letter, a copy of which FrontPageAfrica has obtained stated:
“We, the District Leadership, have worked tirelessly to ensure the success of the Liberty Party in 2017 while Madam Edith Gongloe-Weh abandoned us. However, she came back and we opened our hearts and welcomed her back. Unfortunately, on the eve of the biggest primary in the history of Nimba, we got frustrating news that Madam Edith Gongloe Weh has refused to work with us as delegates for the upcoming primary.
“The CPP primary guidelines states that each party should submit five partisans of their county structure within each electoral district delegates, however, Madam Edith Gongloe Weh has gone contrary to this provision and has chosen to work with people from within her movement and leave out legitimate leadership of the districts.
“Hence, we are asking for the primaries to be postponed until this matter is resolved. Any attempt to conduct primary without the legitimate district primary will be met with stiff resistance.”
The Liberty Party Nimba Districts Structure complaint was signed by Jacob B. Gonwoe, Albert G. Yeanamie, Alicial Paye, Alphonso Nuah and Abraham Guanke.
FrontPageAfrica further gathered that the ANC also filed a complaint about the flawed process but opted to challenge the primary at the National Elections Commission.
Earlier Signs on Non-Collaboration
On Saturday, the head of the CPP Secretariat, Mr. Aloysius Toe served a second reminder to all members of the CPP, requesting them to submit their delegate listings to the Nimba County primaries before 1PM on Saturday.
The memo stated: “So far, only the ANC has complied and submitted delegate listings consistent with the September 3, 2020 at 5:00pm deadline. The ALP, LP and UP have failed to meet this deadline without providing any reasons. The Primaries Committee is gravely concerned about this delay as it is impeding the work and progress of the committee.
“It is important that you submit your delegate listing on September 5, 2020 no later than 1:00pm to enable the Primary Committee conduct verifications and ID checks, prepare and post delegate listings for public view; and also allow candidates to interact and campaign among delegates. This practice is consistent with democratic traditions throughout world.
“Parties flagrantly flouting these rules will have their delegates face penalties either by paying US$1,000 in fines before their delegates are allowed to vote, or will be disqualified from voting.”
How Violence Sparked
The primary process was expected to start at 7AM but delayed. As the CPP Primary Committee headed to the Nimba County Community College where voting was to take place, unconfirmed news began filtering in that most of the delegates were trucked from Monrovia to vote in favor of Gongloe Weh.
To make matter worse, the primary committee deviated from the use of voter’s ID cards to identify the delegates, rather party and national IDs.
This flawed the process, leaving a faction of supporters disenchanted as the delegates could be from anywhere.
As the Ms. Weh was the first to be invited into hall. He was accompanied by her supporters who were all in a very jubilant mood, singing and dancing in the hall upon their entry.
According to reports, as Wongbe and his supporters also tried entering the hall upon being called in, Weh’s supporters tried creating a blockade. In retaliation, Wongbe’s supporters attempted tearing up her banner which resulted into a commotion between the opposing sides that later escalated into violence as they beat each other with chairs, thereby, leading to bloodshed.
A lady who got wounded was rushed to the G. W. Harly Hospital in Sanniquellie.
Wongbe managed to escape but his vehicle got damaged in the process.
Efforts applied by FrontPageAfrica to get comments from the leadership of the CPP did not materialize up to press time.
Franklin Doloquee Contributed to this story.