Farmington, Margibi County – The political leader of the Liberty, Grand Bassa County Senator Nyonblee Karngar Lawrence says Liberia’s young democracy is being “threatened by the lack of democratic leadership currently on display by the Weah-led government.”
Report by Gerald C. Koinyeneh, [email protected]
Senator Karngar-Lawrenece, speaking at the signing ceremony of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) framework document in Farmington, Margibi County on Tuesday, May 19 said the CPP was ready to offer a better governance alternative build on competence and respect for the rule of law.
The signing of the framework documents affirmed the Collaboration’s commitment to rallying the opposition community to select a single presidential candidate against the CDC-led government in the 2023 presidential elections.
At the ceremony, each political leader spoke on behalf of their party, and pledged their commitment to put their differences aside and work in the interest of the CPP and the Liberian people.
However, Senator Karngar-Lawrence, the lone female political leader within the CPP, was more combative against the Weah’s administration, saying it lacks the pedigree to lead the Liberian people.
“Today we make history. Four of the leading political parties in our country are taking a leap of faith, trusting each other, counting on the best wishes of the Liberian people to stand together in gallant support and consolidation of our young democracy which is being threatened by the lack of democratic leadership currently on displayed in our country,” she said in a statement offered before affixing her party’s signature to the document.
She continues: “With our outstretched arms, we will continue to extend to other political parties to join us. Our honest support, we will continue to lean to our people and the government. But make no mistake, our resolve to offer the deserving people of Liberia a better governance alternative build on the unity of our people, selflessness, competence and respect for the rule of law and the rights of all our citizens will not be compromised.”
The CPP is a conglomeration of the four major opposition political parties including the ALL Liberian Party (ALP), Alternative National Congress (ANC), Liberty Party (LP) and the Unity Party (UP).
In recent times, it has been grappling with some forms of internal wrangling, mainly between the outgoing Chairman, Benoni Urey of the ALP and Alexander cummings of the ANC over the selection of a single presidential candidate to stand against the ruling party in the 2023 presidential election.
While Cummings’ ANC preferred a non-binding scientific Voter Perception Survey (VPS) to inform parties’ members in selecting electable candidates at the primary, Urey opted for a straight forward process where candidates will be selected based on nomination at a primary.
This led to the two heavy weights throwing pointed jibes at each other, something that drew criticisms from a segment of the public and raised doubts on whether the collaboration will hold.
However, at Tuesday’s signing ceremony, there was a show of unity as all four political leaders called for a united front to gain the confidence of Liberians as they tighten their muscles to take on President Weah and his party comes 2023, but first in November’s mid-term senatorial elections.
“Today we make history. Four of the leading political parties in our country are taking a leap of faith, trusting each other, counting on the best wishes of the Liberian people to stand together in gallant support and consolidation of our young democracy which is being threatened by the lack of democratic leadership currently on display in our country.”
– Senator Nyonblee Kangar-Lawrence, Political Leader, Liberty Party
Senator Karngar-Lawrence, speaking further, reminded her colleagues that “we cannot fight for the people against the creeping abuses and tyranny of this administration by fighting separately at times and against each other.”
“Democracy is never really strengthened by the numbers of political parties to register in an election. It is strengthen by the quality of the opposition to hold the government accountable and honest,” she noted.
She called on her colleagues to be cognizant of the heavy burdens placed on their heads to look beyond self, and for the people who has the rights but feel abandoned, and leaders-less as they suffered health crisis.
‘Enough is Enough’
Throwing pointed jibes at President Weah and his administration, the LP political leader said the CPP was ready to lead and take over the CDC-led government which continues to display gross incompetence and engulf in corruption and economic mismanagement in the midst of a deadly health crisis.
“Today we close the curtains on the honeymoon of unchallenged incompetence corruption, abuse of power, selective justice and carelessness. Our people deserve better, our country deserves better and we know that together we can do better. Enough is enough.”
She added that there was so much work to be done and the CPP needs to win the Liberian senate comes November and replace the “failed administration in 2023.”
According to her, the CPP is aware of the suffering of the Liberian people in the midst of economic hardship, while the President “plays low in his backyard,” adding, “We care that the strange virus is killing and hurting our people, depriving so many of livelihood, while the president hide away, has no plan to respond and has failed to lead.”
She blasted that Liberia has begun a “laughing stalk of the region and the world by a growing display of gross incompetence of the Government, and even when the international community wants to help, they cannot find a competent partners in our government with whom they can work to help our suffering people.”
She continues: “We care that our country is grossly mismanaged, and corruption at the highest level of the government rules the day, we care that women and children are being raped, abused and violently disregarded with impunity and young girls and young boys are falling more and more into being sexually molested and prey upon. We care that the so-called change for hope is now creating hopelessness among our people and it should have been rightly called hustle against the Liberian people because that is truly what it is.”
Also speaking, the CPP incoming Chairman, Alexander Cummings described the signing of the framework document as a milestone but reminded his colleagues that there is still lot to do.
“Let me remind us, however, that this is just the beginning of this journey. That these are mere words on paper. That it will be all about our actions, it will be about our intents, and it will be about showing good faiths towards each other,” he stated.
“We have to always assume good intents, we have to always speak as often as possible to find tradeoffs and compromises, because as Benoni [Urey] said, this is not about us but about our country and about the Liberian people.”
To achieve their goals, he called on them to work harder and change from the old ways of doing things.
And quoting his favorite words from Albert Einstein, he said: “If we keep doing the same things, we will get the same result. Doing the same thing and expecting different result is the definition of insanity. And we are not crazy people.”
He thanked outgoing Chairman Urey for his resilience and tenacity in leading the CPP to signing the framework.
For his part, the UP Political leader, former Vice President Joseph Boakai said the signing of the framework is a manifestation of the CPP’s commitment to forge ahead and putting forth a committed and credible candidate to face President Weah and his party in 2023.
The CPP must remain inclusive and replaced a leadership that will retreat into secretion and remain silence when our people face existential threats from a deadly global pandemic and a failed economy due to gross mismanagement, corruption and gross incompetence,” VP Boakai asserted.
The Liberian people are hurting and deserve much better, he intoned.
