Monrovia – As the clock ticks towards the October 2017 Presidential and Legislative Elections, Liberia’s biggest opposition party, the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) continues to face the embarrassing reality of losing most its key members.
Report by Gerald C. Koinyeneh – [email protected]
The CDC is a conglomeration of three opposition political parties including the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), National Patriotic Party (NPP) and the Liberian People Democratic Party (LPDP) of former Speaker Alex Tyler.
Just days after the resignation of former Liberian Ambassador to the United States, Nathaniel Barnes from the Coalition, Menipakei Dumoe, National Secretary General of the LPDP and Deputy Secretary General, CDC has been the latest official to exit the party.
In his resignation letter addressed to the LPDP‘s Chairman, Moses Y. Kollie, Dumoe said his decision to leave the party was due to his lack of faith in the current political direction of the CDC.
“This letter is to formally resign my position of Secretary General of the Liberia People Democratic Party (LPDP), my membership of the party and by extension my membership and title of Deputy Secretary General for Press and Public Affairs of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC),” Dumoe wrote.
“This action is necessitated by my lack of faith in the current political direction that CDC is being led in and my inability to change same. I have finally surrounded to the hardliners within the Coalition.
“I am grateful for the opportunity given me by you and others in the party to serve at such high levels of leadership and will remain forever grateful to you for the benefits I gained from serving alongside you, the political leader who I consider a father and the rest of the wonderful partisans of the LPDP and the CDC. I wish you all well in your endeavors and the best of luck at the polls come October 10,” the CDC Ex- Official averred.
Is the merger a curse or blessing?
Following the formation of the coalition back in November 2016, many people including the party’s leadership, as well as supporters and political pundits believed that the merger would boost the party’s chances of winning the October elections.
Speaking at the signing of the merger at the CDC’s headquarters on Tubman Boulevard, an exuberant George Weah said the CDC was opting to unify the opposition bloc to ensure victory.
“The Congress for Democratic Change, the leading opposition political party, has always maintained that an effective collaboration with other political parties is necessary for a successfully victory come 2017,” he said.
“Our core intent is to unite all Liberians and build a country that caters to this entire country, while we gather here today to witness the birth of a true, sincere and genuine alliance between three political institutions, the CDC, NPP, and LPDP.”
Former Speaker Alex Tyler said the merger played directly in the vision of the LPDP.
“We believe Liberia is the only country we have and its development must be our highest priority. We have survived as people for over 168 years, mortgaging vital aspects or our nation’s resources to others.
“We believe the time has come to depart the direction and forge for the fulfilment of the dreams of our people to make maximum use of our nation natural and mineral wealth for the benefit of all Liberians to be an enviable international case study,” Tyler added.
For his part, John Gray, an executive of the NPP, who represented Senator Taylor at the signing ceremony, cautioned the three parties in the merger to remain focussed going forward.
“There will be lots of opposing forces trying to pull us aside we must be cohesive and move forward with determination. The burden is on us and we are not going to lose,” Gray said.
Now, with the unprecedented wave of resignations by key figures from the party, it appears that what Gray was wary of back then in November is now happening.
Apart from Dumoe and Ambassador Barnes, others who have exited the party include former CDC’s firebrand intellectual, Kanio Bai Gbala, former CDC USA Secretary General, Laraamand S. Nyonton, who later announced his membership to the All Liberian Party, Grand Kru Senator Peter Coleman who, in his resignation letter, claimed that the CDC has gradually departed from its initial principles on which it was founded and Jerry Gbardy.
In his resignation which took effect April 30 2017, the former Chairman of CDC USA, Jerry Gbardy, wrote:
“A few years ago, I made a conscious decision and signed up to be member of CDC because I subscribed to its core values, beliefs and principles which make it a grass root political party. I supported all its programs and projects financially and morally, firmly believing that it was the right thing to do.