MONROVIA – Montserrado County District 8 Representative, Moses Acarous Gray, known to be one of the strong pillars of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) has confirmed to FrontPageAfrica his resignation as the party’s vice chairman for political affairs, but said his formal communication to the party’s hierarchy was leaked.
According to Rep. Gray, his letter of resignation which was sent to a group chat of the party’s hierarchy was done internally and wasn’t intended for public.
“I sent the letter internally, it was not intended to be placed in the public domain, but I think someone slipped it out of the group chat the communication went to. It wasn’t intended for public conversation,” he said.
In a telephone interview with FrontPageAfrica, he also said he had some apprehension about accepting the position as vice chairman for political affairs it was offered to him, but was convinced by some leaders to accept the post.
“Initially I had some apprehension about accepting the position but was convinced to hold the position. I accepted the position and have performed. Over the past months, I have had discussions with some senior members of the party that I want to quit. This is not a strange thing so, I thought it was necessary that with the huge task I have to perform as the country is about to open, and as chair on executive of the House of Representatives and as a member on one of the intentional parliamentary bodies, I decided to relinquish the position as vice chair for political affairs for others to ascend to the position.”
“I sent the letter internally, it was not intended to be placed in the public domain, but I think someone slipped it out of the group chat the communication went to. It wasn’t intended for public conversation.”
– Rep. Moses Acarous Gray (Mont. County District 8, CDC)
Asked whether he resigned because the party had earlier rejected his letter of intent to contest for the seat of the Montserrado County in the December 8 midterm senatorial election, he said, “I have demonstrated no ambition publicly, there is no application being presented because the primary committee has not come out with any guidelines, so there is no application
“I am a partisan of the CDC, my membership is not withdrawn and unquestionable. The role assigned to me for any election is what I execute. It is good to leave power when you know the time is right and I still believe I will continue to enjoy the confidence of the CDC partisans.”
“My letter to relinquish the position wasn’t sent to the public; it was circulated internally, someone may have slipped the information out to the media. I can guarantee to CDCians that I remain a partisan and will play every role I am asked to play.
“When you do things do it on the basis of your conscience not because of the emotion attached to it. At no time has the President indicated to anyone that he prefer one sitting lawmaker over the other; what has been the discussion in CDC that is popular in the hierarchy is that elected lawmakers contesting and creating a vacuum for by election.”
The tough talking CDC lawmaker also told this paper that he hasn’t communicated his decision to President Weah neither had they both spoken about it and denied claims that President George Weah had preferred his colleague lawmaker Representative Thomas Fallah to represent the Party in ensuing Montserrado County election over him.
“The President has at no point in time spoken to me about election but I know one of the names that has always surface is Commerce Minister Wilson Tarpeh but that doesn’t mean others cannot express interest but the name that has always surface outside of legislature is the Minister of commerce Wilson Tarpeh.
“There is no malice at the national executive committee level. I haven’t met the President, I haven’t spoken with him on this matter but I don’t want people creating a situation that there are issues especially between me and Fallah. Fallah is qualified under the Constitution to contest. Even if you don’t want a sitting lawmaker, we can only negotiate with him not to contest,” Rep. Gray said.
Asked whether he was concerned about the timeliness of his decision he said: “No matter what time I would have left. There was always going to be issues, what matters for me is that my conscience and to do the right thing. I am a blunt person who does things and do it the right way, I don’t runway from things I want.”
