Liberia: The Opposition Curse Showing No Sign of Breaking – Any Time Soon

LIBERIA’S RUGGED HISTORY of opposition collaboration has offered faint hopes that anything good will ever come out of this latest attempt by the Collaborating Political Parties(CPP) to form a united front ahead of the crucial Senatorial Midterm elections in December.

FORMER PRESIDENT Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf once said in a FrontPageAfrica interview:  “No political party as I see it, based on my political experience will win this election without a coalition. I don’t think any political party can win on its own, given the number of parties. So, if you see people negotiating, dialoguing and all, it’s because they all realize that some coalition has to be made for a particular party or parties to be competitive.”

SADLY, IN RECENT years, collaborations have failed to hold because there are just too many egos running around and too many ambitions blinding politicians from seeing the big picture of what is really at stake.

THE SKEPTICISMS over the years have been valid because for much of Liberia’s most recent political history, several variations of collaborating forces have wilted just when many thought they would pull it off. In other instances, and against powerful incumbents like late President Samuel Doe and Charles Taylor, they simply failed to hold and eventually, went their separate ways, running on their own.

In 1985, Doe, was proclaimed the winner in an election he is widely believed to have lost to Jackson F. Doe of the Liberia Action Party.

THAT YEAR, Jackson Doe secured 137,270 votes for 26.45 percent, Gabriel Kpolleh, a school teacher, secured 59.965 votes for 11.55 percent while Edward Kesselly of the Unity Party secured 57,443 votes for 11.07 percent. The constitutional requirement requires an absolute majority or 50% plus one (1) to avoid a run-off but many political observers at the time believed that a united front against Doe may have made it tougher for the incumbent to steal the votes.

IN 1997, a similar scenario played out that saw Taylor win the presidency by a landslide, with 75.3% of the vote, despite campaigning on the slogan: “He killed my ma, he killed my pa, but I will vote for him.”  His closest competitor, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, collected only 10 percent of the vote. Eleven other candidates failed to crack more than five percent.

FAST-FORWARD TO THE current attempt, the Declaration of Intent to Collaborate signed at the headquarters of the Liberty Party in June of 2018 among the Alternative National Congress(ANC), Liberty Party(LP), All Liberia Party(ALP) and the former ruling Unity Party(UP), was greeted to much fanfare until egos began to set in.

IT IS NO SECRET that both Mr. Alexander Cummings of the ANC and Mr. Benoni Urey of the ALP have been going at each other’s throats.

IF THE CURRENT leadership of the CPP is really serious about making a difference and breaking the curse that many before them have failed, they can begin setting their various egos aside for the good of those who follow them; then maybe, then, the latest version of a marriage of convenience will have more meaning – and perhaps, be taken more seriously.

MR. UREY holds the view that Mr. Cummings is new to Liberian Politics and hence does not deserve the meteoric rise he is getting. Mr. Urey has always indicated to people within his inner circle that the thought of Mr. Cummings becoming the presidential candidate on the ticket of the CPP is unacceptable.

THE FOUR PARTIES have also been struggling to come to some kind of agreement regarding the selection of candidates to contest the upcoming Senatorial elections as well as the Voter Perception Survey(VPS) which is enshrined in the Framework Document of the CPP.

FOR WHATEVER REASON it seems, too many opposing forces, from the leaders, to the members and supporters, have different views about who should lead? Who should be first? Who should be second?

PRESENCE ON SOCIAL media are being grossly misused and abuse break each other down, when they should be striving to put each other up. Insults are flying everywhere and those hungry for power are becoming just as bad as those trying to get it.

LOST IN ALL of these is the fate of those languishing at the bottom of the economic ladder. How will the current opposition be any different from the current ruling party? How will the economy improve? How will lives be better for those craving a better tomorrow?

THE ONGOING fight going on within the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change government, on the one hand between, President George Weah and his Vice President, Jewel Howard Taylor, and the National Patriotic Party(NPP) and VP Taylor on the other, clearly shows that collaborations, perhaps are never meant to be.

MOST COLLABORATIONS are poor attempts at temporary toleration of enemies attempting marriages of convenience for a shot at power.

IF THIS IS THE CASE here, the CPP and its leaders should save Liberia and Liberians the headache of another boring political play likely to end, where many have faltered.

FORMER VICE PRESIDENT Joseph Nyumah Boakai, cautioned members of the Collaborating Political Parties(CPP) against making negative utterances that could hurt the group’s chances of holding together ahead of the upcoming Senatorial Midterm elections and the 2023 General and Presidential elections.

SPEAKING AT A FORMAL program held at the headquarters of the Alternative National Congress(ANC), commemorating the certification program, the former Vice President and ex-standard bearer of the former ruling Unity Party, called on Liberians and supporters of the CPP to hold leaders of the CPP to its framework agreement. Said Mr. Boakai: “The CPP will not work if you don’t encourage the leaders, the voices you utter, the divisive words that you utter will make or break this CPP. It is not how many cars individuals can have but what we can do to showcase our country.”

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, who served as the sixth President of the United States from 1825 to 1829,

Once said: “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

IF THE CURRENT leadership of the CPP is really serious about making a difference and breaking the curse that many before them have failed, they can begin setting their various egos aside for the good of those who follow them; then maybe, then, the latest version of a marriage of convenience will have more meaning – and perhaps, be taken more seriously.