Monrovia – The former chief of investigation for the United Nations Special Court for Sierra Leone, Alan White, says he has received information from credible sources that former President Charles Taylor is interfering with the 2017 election in Liberia.
Report by Lennart Dodoo – [email protected]
“He’s been in discussion with Senator George Weah who recently signed an agreement to join forces with Jewel Taylor – Taylor’s former wife – to support seeking the presidency and the vice presidency. George will be at the top of the ticket” – Allen White
White made the startling revelation during the VOA Nightline program last Sunday.
“The allegations and sourced information that I’m receiving is that Charles Taylor, the former President – indicted and convicted war criminal for his actions in Sierra Leone and the leader of the RUF – is interfering with the elections.
According to White, Weah has been having discussions with Charles Taylor on ensuring that there would never be a war crimes court established in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
“There are also other allegations that when he [Taylor] left, there were millions of dollars that were buried and left behind so whoever gets elected and they seek to get his sentenced reduced and to get him back in Liberia will be worth that while,” White added.
Referencing the 2008 Truth & Reconciliation Commission (TRC) recommendations which called for restorative and retributive justice, White said – there have been only two people who have been publicly in support of retributive and restorative justice and that has been the current vice President who is running for President and Benoni Urey. None of the others that I am aware have supported restorative and retributive justice.”
FrontPage Africa could not reach Senator Weah as he was said to be out of the country.
Weah’s Congress for Democratic Change evolved to Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) after a merger with the National Patriotic Party (NPP) – a party that was born out of the rebel faction National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) led by Charles Taylor.
The Liberian People’s Democratic Party (LPDP) was also part of the merger.
The NPFL took up arms against the regime of Samuel Doe on December 24, 1989. Most NPFL fighters were originally drawn from the Gio and Mano ethnic groups of northern Liberia who were persecuted under Doe’s regime.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf served as International Coordinator of the NPFL.
The NPP Tactics
The current chairman of the NPP, Nathaniel Barnes, in a recent interview with FrontPage expressed his desire to be at the top of the coalition’s ticket for the 2017 elections.
“One of the things that we need to do in the political dispensation in Liberia is to step out of the denial and be as realistic as we can,” Barnes said.
While George Weah leads the Coalition, the three parties reserve the sole right to nominate the standard bearer of the Coalition.
“It (agreement) does not say that the Congress for Democratic Change automatically has the standard bearer [slot]. It says it reserves the right to nominate a standard bearer,” Ambassador Barnes said.
“The issue about the nomination doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and the thing that I find interesting about this Coalition is that there is a lot of interaction, a lot of discussion and a lot of negotiations. I don’t think that none of those decisions will be made in a vacuum,” he added.
Howeve, FrontPage Africa gathered from sources close to Weah that the CDC would most likely field Weah at the top with Senator Jewel Howard Taylor (NPP-Bong), who described the coalition as “the dawn of a new day”.
The new bloc satisfies Weah and the CDC long-held view that its political leader must head any ticket.
The party’s Chairman Nathaniel McGill said on several occasions that it would not go second to another party.
Despite the assertions, developments in the past few months pointed toward a change of tune as Weah held separate discussions with other members of the opposition including Liberty Party’s Brumskine and Alternative National Congress’ Cummings.
The Congress for Democratic Change suddenly abandoned the Ganta Declaration for the new Coalition though the party was regarded as one of the largest constituents in the merger of the political parites.
The Ganta communiqué, among a bevy of other things, prohibits the relevant parties from criticizing each other in the open.
“Opposition political parties that were signatories to this declaration hereby make a seldom pledged not to castigate or denigrate each other in any manner and form.
In the event of disagreement among or between political parties the matter shall be referred to the joint technical committee for resolution,” the relevant portion of the document read.
Weah making remarks at the consultative meeting said there should be harmony between opposition politicians when he said “When you my friend, I should eat in your living room and you should also eat in mine”.
In 2011, a local daily reported that Weah and White signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to ignite conflict in Liberia should the 2011 elections go against the CDC.
But in reactions to the newspaper report, Weah categorically rejected the report, describing the report what he called the ruling Unity Party (UP) “dangerous game plan” in the 2011 elections to destroy and cheat the CDC in these elections.
However, the facts in the accusation could not be established by Liberia’s Ministry of Justice who launched an investigation into the matter.
