MONROVIA — The Musa Bility faction of the opposition Liberty Party (LP) has called on the National Elections Commission (NEC) to desist from doing business with its embattled Political Leader Senator Nyonblee Karnga Lawrence on behalf of the party.
In a communication dated July 11 and addressed to the Chairman and Board of Commissioners of the NEC under the signatures of Mr. Bility and Martin Kollah as National Chairman and Secretary General respectively, the commission was informed that Senator Lawrence is just an ordinary member within the LP.
Bility-faction of the LP reminded the commission that on December 6, 2021, they informed the electoral body, through a written communication, that the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the LP had suspended several of its officers in line with Article IX of the LP Constitution.
Article IX of the LP Constitution states that: “Persons accepted as members of the Party shall pay a monthly membership fee as may from time to time be set by the NEC….Members in good standing are members whose…membership dues are fully current and up to date …Members who are not in good standing shall not be allowed to hold any office within the Party, and if such member holds a position in the Party, elected or appointed, he/she shall be suspended from the office by the NEC, until he/she shall have resumed the status of member in good standing. If after three (3) months, such member is still delinquent, he/she shall be permanently removed from the office, and may also be expelled from the office.”
They recalled that subsequently on March 5, 2022, due to their failure to remedy their delinquency, the NEC voted to expel these Officers from office, in line with Article IX of the LP Constitution.
Mr. Bility and his supporters claimed that all persons expelled from office were accorded full due process which included written notification of delinquency and a time period within which to respond and/or remedy the violations, written reminders of delinquency, and requisite vote by the NEC to expel, and written notification of Expulsion.
“Sen. Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence was among those expelled from the office Political Leader/Legislative Caucus Member. As such, she is not authorized to act on behalf of the LP with the Commission. Consequently, we, therefore, request that the Commission refrains from addressing correspondence directed to Sen. Karngar-Lawrence using her former LP positions of Political Leader or LP Legislative Caucus Member. The above notwithstanding, she still retains membership in the LP under the category of ordinary member”.
The latest decision taken by Mr. Bility and faction of the NEC to communicate to the NEC comes barely a day after the embattled political leader of the LP along with some of her followers gathered at the Boulevard Palace in Monrovia to sign the corrected version of the party’s constitution for onward submission to the National Elections Commission. This was, however, done in the absence of the party chairman, Secretary-General, and other Executive Committee members.