Gbarnga, Bong County – The National Patriotic Party (NPP) Bong County chapter says it is troubled by audios in the public believed to be the voice of the chairman of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), Mulbah Morlu, in which he mentioned that there is a plan to remove Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor, to be replaced by the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Nathaniel McGill.
In a leaked audio released this week by controversial talk-show Henry Costa, Morlu is heard saying that those plans could come from within, and the masterminds are Ministers McGill and Finance, Economic and Planning Minister, Samuel Tweah.
According to NPP’s Bong chapter chairman James Dorbor Sao the revelations in the recordings have serious implications to the peace and unity of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC). “This is not the first time such damaging revelation is coming out about our standard-bearer,” he said. “These revelations are scaring and have the propensity of bringing division within the Coalition for Democratic Change.”
In February this year, similar revelation was made by a senior member of the coalition, current Bong County Superintendent Esther Walker, who is the Women’s Wing chair about McGill and Tweah planning the strangulation and removal of Vice President Howard-Taylor.
A few weeks later, some of Madam Walker’s revelations including the removal of the Chief Moses Suakollie as Dakpannah of Liberia was implemented, seemingly because of his affiliation with VP Howard-Taylor.
Mr. Sao said it is disappointing to know that the vice president has been deprived of her amenities, claiming that she normally complains before allotments are made to her.
Sao said the constant revelations about threats on the person of the vice president, with no statement or action from the leadership of the Coalition for Democratic Change, is counter-productive to the progress of the coalition.”And the most scaring thing is no executive member of the Coalition for Democratic Change has ever said a word to condemn Morlu’s claims in the leaked audio about our standard-bearer,” he said.
“This is not the first time such damaging revelation is coming out about our standard-bearer. These revelations are scaring and have the propensity of bringing division within the Coalition for Democratic Change.”
James Dorbor Sao, NPP’s Bong chapter chairman
Sao said had the CDC not chosen VP Howard-Taylor it would have been difficult for the party to win the 2017 presidential and legislative elections.
According to him, the CDC had not won Bong – the third populated county in Liberia – until Howard-Taylor was selected as running mate to President Weah. “The vice president played an integral role for the CDC in helping the party win the 2017 presidential election,” he said. ” She said commands influence not just in Bong County but Liberia.”
The treatment, he said, against the vice president is not a reciprocal gesture for the overwhelming support received as a result of her selection as vice president on the ticket if the CDC.
The Vice Chairman for Administration of NPP in Bong County, Paul Wheeler, said the revelations expressed by Morlu in the leaked audio is a clear expression of the ill-treatment the vice president is enduring in the government. “This is not what we envisioned as partisans of the NPP,” he said.