Liberia: Ruling Party Chairman Threatens to Fight Non-Partisans

Monrovia – The issue of threatening Liberians to join the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC),  the ruling party, has taken another trend with the Chairman of the party sending out early warnings to non-CDCians to join the party if they want to succeed in the political arena of Liberia.

Report by Edwin G. Genoway, Jr., [email protected]

Unfortunately, politics controls everything in Liberia; such threats coming from one of the loudest political voices should claim the attention of all Liberians and its development partners.

In May of this year, Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor made similar threats against Liberians. She had gone to Gbarnga, Bong County, to install 13 commissioners of that county, which she represented in the Liberian Senate for 12 consecutive years before being elected to the post of Vice President in the 2017 Presidential and Representatives Elections.

It was during that installation program, that she made this very divisive statement.

She began: “Truthfully, all of the 13 Commissioners [here] might not be members of the Coalition; we have got one or two who might not be members. Y’all must join because other people joined the Unity Party, too. So, I am waiting for y’all to call me from your districts to tell me that you are joining the ruling Coalition those of you who are not members. The Bible says ‘How can two work together if they don’t agree?’ So, all ‘two’ of you must all be on the same side. So you see, if you can’t make it, you tell us so that we can find somebody else. Anybody who feels that they are not able to make it must say it now before we go far. When I call a meeting of the Coalition and someone [among you] is not part of the Coalition, the thing I want to talk, will I be able to talk it there? So you all just come on board with your whole hearts and minds.

“To show you all that some people who are sitting here are not members of the Coalition, you know we don’t have nothing in our hearts against you’ll because I would have said removed everybody. What would you have done to me? Nothing! This is my time. Nothing you will do to me. This is my time. We are not coming to give our birthrights to other people. This is our time to eat. We will eat but we are going to eat in a way that everybody will be able to eat, too.”

Following the VP’s threats, many local officials in the county lost their jobs and were replaced by stalwarts of the CDC.

Few months after the VP threatened the commissioners, CDC Chairman Mulbah Morlu has joined the struggle of the VP in recruiting members of the CDC for jobs or political relevance in Liberia.

Speaking over the weekend at his party headquarters, Morlu said the CDC will fight against non-CDCians who refuse to join the party.

“Those who will join the CDC will enjoy the party; but those who will not join the CDC, the party will fight you. Even if you are my brother, once you are not a member of this party, you are in the firing line; we will fight you. We will deconstruct your ability every day until you join the CDC,” he warned.

The CDC Chairman spoke when Grand Kru County Senator, Dr. Peter Coleman, rejoined the Coalition after leaving the party several months ago to join the former ruling Unity Party.

Chairman Morlu noted that the party will only support people who are members of CDC in the coming 2020 elections.

“For the coming race in 2020, CDC will not support candidates who are not members of the CDC. If you join early there is a possibility, but if you don’t join the party, the party will fight you; and when I say fight you, our standard bearer will be leading that fight against you,” he forewarned.

Political pundits have described the statement by the ruling party’s Chairman as worrisome and not good for Liberia’s democracy.