MONROVIA – Mr. Alexander Cummings says the criminal case against him by a colleague in the opposition is a conspiracy intended to taint his hard-earned character taint his character as they are.
The ALP on Monday complained Mr. Cummings and the ANC to the Monrovia City Court alleging that Cummings had illegally attached the signatures of its leaders to an alleged altered Framework Document filed with the National Elections Commission.
Though the CPP Framework Document was crafted when the ALP political leader was Chair, it was submitted to the National Elections Commission under the Cummings’ administration following some revisions after a public backlash at some provisions in the original document.
Appearing on the OK Afternoon Drive on Wednesday, Mr. Cummings said, “That is the objective. They are trying to make me like them. They want me look like a criminal.”
Cummings denied altering the Framework Document which forms the basis of the legal action brought against him.
He said, there is nothing in the current Framework Document of the Collaborating Political Parties that gives him advantage over other members of the CPP.
Responding to questions about whether he still intends to remain in the collaboration, he answered in the affirmative but said, he would consider going alone to make his case to the Liberian people if it comes to a point where the parties in the CPP are not willing to work together.
“I will run for president in 2023 if the CPP stays together as the standard bearer of the CPP ticket. I will run for president if the CPP doesn’t stay together,” he said.
I don’t pay to play
In response to claims that he (Cummings) had organized a meeting in Accra, Ghana with a plan to offer money to former Vice President Joseph Boakai of the UP to step aside and give him smooth ride to the CPP standard position, he said, “When you earn your money legitimately as I have, you don’t spend your money stupidly. I don’t pay to play.”
Mr. Cummings is in a head-to-head fight with former Vice President Joseph Boakai to head the alliance’s ticket to face off against President Weah.
While Mr. Urey accused Cummings on the VOA of tearing apart the CPP, Cummings said he is determined to build an opposition coalition that may likely not include the ALP to take on President Weah in the 2023 presidential elections and make him a one-term president.
It can be recalled that after an investigation into the alleged tampering of the Framework Document, the investigative committee’s report were submitted to the CPP lawyers who crafted the Framework Document and revised same for review.
In their response the lawyers stated that they made a number of revisions both in substance and structure and the Framework Document as revised was presented at a meeting convened for that purpose and attended by the leadership of the four political parties.
Their revision, according to them, was based on an invitation from the four parties to review the Framework Document as concluded by the four political parties.
The CPP, at the time, according to the lawyers, had stated that the Framework Document reflected the will of the four parties to form a collaboration but wanted to ensure the Framework complied with full legal prescriptions both in terms of substance and structure.
The lawyers, however, stated that they at the time voluntarily agreed to support the process as part of their patriotic commitment to Liberia. “We did so knowing that our contribution will assist in reconciling and engendering an environment for better collaboration and coordination.”
They asserted in a communication addressed to the CPP chairman at the time, Senator Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence, “We note with concern, however, that the issues raised in your letter of October 12, 2021 and upon which we are requested to opine have become the subject or intense internal and external discussions over the past several weeks. This has rendered the process overwhelmingly political thereby marginalizing the efficacy and effect of the Framework Document. Under these circumstances, we find it extremely difficult to advice on the issues presented to us.