Monrovia – Former Liberian Ambassador to the United Nations Dr. Nathaniel Barnes might be the Vice Chairman of the Governing Council of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC); however, there is still a high possibility that he emerges the standard bearer of the recently crafted coalition.
“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” – Nathaniel Barnes
Last week, the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) formed a coalition with the National Patriotic Party (NPP) and the Liberian People Democratic Party (LPDP) called the Congress for Democratic Change or the National Coalition (coincidentally CDC).
Senator George Weah’s CDC, the three parties agreed, reserves the sole right to nominate the standard bearer of the Coalition. Senator Weah is currently the Chair of the Governing Council.
But speaking in an interview with FrontPage Africa Tuesday, Ambassador Barnes did not rule out the possibility of becoming that standard bearer of the Coalition to be determined by unilaterally by Weah’s CDC.
“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 said.
Ambassador Barnes unsuccessfully vied for the presidency in the 2005 elections on the ticket of the Liberia Destiny Party. In 2005 he joined the NPP in whose government he served as Minister of Finance.
“Someone would say ‘Barnes, you want to be president, why did you have to concede something like this?’ It is because I know that everything is open to negotiation,” he told FrontPage Africa.
“My own take on this is that my own personal ambition has to be transcended by what’s best for Liberia. The leadership of Liberia is more important than the presidency of Liberia.”
‘Step out of denial’
Ambassador Barnes disagree with critics and pundits who say that the other two parties in the Coalition mortgaged their political right to Senator Weah’s CDC, adding that both the NPP and the LPDP were approaching the merger with open minds.
“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,” he said.
“The Congress for Democratic Change is a very strong political brand.
He said Senator Weah’s CDC had a lot of following, especially in the vote-rich Montserrado County and its suburbs, something he said had to play in the formation of the coalition.
“There is this old adage in Liberia that says all of our fingers are not equal, and we need to approach our solutions keeping these things in mind,” he continued, forming an allusion with the United Nations Security Council.
“Why are those five permanent members and why do they have special privileges as veto and other things?” The former Liberian envoy to the UN asked rhetorically.
“It is because they are strong; they have the strongest brands.”
‘More cohesive’ Coalition
Since its formation, the Coalition for Democratic Change has come in for tense criticism for breaking a merger of more than a dozen political parties, including the very Congress for Democratic Change of Senator Weah.
Weah’s CDC and the other parties in the merger talks—the Alternative National Congress, the Liberty Party and the All Liberian Party, to name just a few—signed a pact, the Ganta Declaration.
Though necessitated by the generally agreed principle that only a merger would do in 2017, the Ganta Declaration, however, began falling apart seemingly as the parties’ leaders began returning to Monrovia. Less than two days there trading of allegations and raining of insults.
However, Ambassador Barnes does not see it that the Coalition is torpedoing the highly tagged Ganta Declaration.
He sees it at an attempt to patch loopholes and mend broken pieces within the opposition that could prove essential for the ruling Unity Party. .
“There were certain things that were rather loose.”
“If you read the protocol of the National Coalition, it is a lot more cohesive; it is a lot more focused and is based on developing a winning strategy.”
“So, we look at the National Coalition as a continuation of the Ganta Declaration but more solid, without undermining it.
“We don’t have much time. We have a very narrow window.”
“The Ganta Declaration was a tide too slow in moving towards some sort of rapid organized institution that will be able to…remove the ruling Unity Party.
Report by Lennart Dodoo|777 788 805/886 334065|[email protected]
