Monrovia – Former Foreign Minister Augustine Ngafuan’s ambition to contest the Presidency on the ticket of the Victory For Change (VFC) party may be thwarted as provisions in the constitution of the party bars him as a new member from being elected to any position.
Report by Mae Azango [email protected]
“Mr. Ngafuan is not even qualified under the Victory for Change constitution to be nominated at our next convention to contest any position, be it standard bearer, vice standard bearer or even chairmanship, because he has not spent the number of years as a member [to attain that right].
So, how can he announce himself as a Presidential hopeful for the party?
Therefore, I am denying that the Victory for Change Political Party has been sold to anybody, including Mr. Ngafuan,” Cllr. Jones said
Speaking during a press conference in Monrovia recently, the founder and current standard bearer of the party, Cllr. Marcus Jones, dispelled rumors that the party’s ticket had been sold to Ngafuan, noting that Ngafuan does not qualify to take on any elected position within the party, including the standard bearership.
“I have been receiving so many calls that I have sold my political party, the Victory for Change Party, to Augustine Ngafuan, but it is time I clear the air.
On October 22, Augustine Ngafuan made it known that he has joined the Victory for Change Political Party as a member, which is less than a month, and we welcomed him.
“Mr. Ngafuan is not even qualified under the Victory for Change constitution to be nominated at our next convention to contest any position, be it standard bearer, vice standard bearer or even chairmanship, because he has not spent the number of years as a member [to attain that right]. So how can he announce himself as a Presidential hopeful for the party? Therefore, I am denying that the Victory for Change Political Party has been sold to anybody, including Mr. Ngafuan,” Cllr. Jones said.
When contacted via Mobile, Mr. Ngafuan, who sounded rather astonished, admitted that he is a member of the Victory for change Party, but he did not join the party to buy it, according to rumors.
“If the party was for sale, I would not have joined it in the first place. So was I a member of the Unity Party, to buy it?
The news going around is false and misleading because I have never told anybody that I was going to be standard bearer for the Victory for Change Party. If I want to contest for the standard bearer ship, it will have to be done through a democratic means,” Said Ngafuan.
When asked as to whether Cllr. Jones was still the Standard Bearer of the party, Mr. Ngafuan replied: “Cllr Jones remains the standard Bearer of the party until we go to the party’s convention to vote for officials, so people should not be carrying this false news around.
Ngafuan, however, did not comment as to whether he qualifies to contest the standard bearer position of the party, taking into consideration constitutional provisions that prevent him from doing so.
However, sources close to the party have told FrontPage Africa that it is possible that the party amends its constitution during its upcoming convention which would see Ngafuan emerging as standard bearer of the party.
Augustine Ngafuan has never hidden his ambitions. Some say his unhidden desire for the highest office in the land is a slap in the face and in the views of many equivalents to biting the hands that has fed him over the past ten years.
The Former Minister of Foreign Affairs who publicly stated in a 2013 FrontPageAfrica interview that he has no desires of sitting on the fence for the 2017 Presidential elections, is finally making his intentions known this week that he intends to be a candidate for the Liberian presidency.
In an interview with FrontPageAfrica few months ago, Ngafuan offered some insight into why he is taking the leap of faith against insurmountable odds and abandoning the party and candidate for whom he blew the winning trumpet in two successive elections.
Ngafuan: “Well, it was late 2013 when you interviewed me and I said definitely that I did not intend to be inactive in 2017; and in October last year, I exited government in compliance with provisions of the Code of Conduct which requires ministers, deputy ministers, managing directors and superintendents who intend to vie for elected offices to quit government two years before elections. I had problems with the long lee time but as a law abiding citizen, I decided to respect the law and I said clearly then that I had decided to open my political options.
“Though I love the challenge of trying to help my country in the capacity of Foreign Minister, previous in that capacity, Finance Minister, 2017 is like a make or break moment for this country and so I could not allow myself not to play a role.
Since then I have been engaged in deep conversations, deep consultations with various stakeholders across Liberia including my own county, Lofa. I just over a month ago, I was in there, talking with some stakeholders and I have been engaged in regional and national consultations.
The net effect of these consultations is that I have now decided to run for the Presidency of the Republic of Liberia in 2017. And so as we do so, we will be marshaling all the forces, we will try to reach across political boundaries for the positive forces of this country to work together for the sake of progress.
Liberia is very important, that we need to give our people choices they desire as they go to the polls and we felt that it would be good for the Liberian people to have the choice of a Ngafuan in the process for 2017.”