Monrovia – Buoyed by recent election results in The Gambia and election of Donald Trump, Senator George Weah, and the political leader of the newly-minted Coalition for Democratic Change is unlikely to encourage further discussions about running second to another one of his political rival, sources closed to the football legend have confided to FrontPageAfrica.
Africa was taken by surprise this week when strongman Yahya Jammeh, The Gambia’s authoritarian president of 22 years, suffered a surprise defeat in the country’s presidential elections when he lost to property developer Adama Barrow, who won more than 45% of the vote. After his win, Mr Barrow hailed a “new Gambia”.
In the US, businessman Donald Trump defied the odds, polls, and projections to edge his democratic rival, Hilary Rodham Clinton for the US presidency.
Now many around Mr. Weah feels, that momentum could rub off in Liberia.
“The likes of Jewel(Senator Howard-Taylor-Bong) are of no help as they are now lining up to be his vice president,” a source with knowledge of the developing situation confirmed to FrontPageAfrica Wednesday.
Menipakei Dumoe, Secretary General of the CDC coalition when contacted by FPA Wednesday appear to be leaning toward that thinking, when asked about the report.
“I cannot confirm that claim but I can indicate to you that based on what I seen within in the coalition, it is highly unlikely that Weah would go second to anyone.
His partisans won’t accept it and many in the coalition won’t support such an arrangement. Ambassador Weah is seen as the most appropriate person to lead the coalition to victory in 2017.”
The opposition in Liberia has been under immense pressure in recent weeks to form a colossal force that would end the hegemony of the ruling Unity Party but many have been of the view that Weah, whose Congress for Democratic Change finished second in the last two elections may not be the best option for a second round scenario against vice president Boakai or another of his opposition political rival.
The CDC rode on Weah’s back in October 2005, to a first round victory, winning 28.3% of the vote but fell short to Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of the Unity Party in the second round run-off on November 8. Sirleaf won 59.4% to Weah’s 40.6%.
In October 2011 elections, Weah settled for second, running as vice president to veteran diplomat Ambassador Winston Tubman.
This time around, CDC again came up short losing to the UP in the first round. UP won 43.9% of the vote, while CDC with Tubman at the helm, tallied 32.7%.
In the run-off, on November 8, 2011. Tubman alleged that the first round had been rigged in Sirleaf’s favor and called on his supporters to boycott the run-off. CDC’s furore over the results led to a drop in second-round attendance.
In recent months, several efforts aimed at forming a formidable coalition failed to lead to anything serious.
A gathering called by Senator Prince Y. Johnson in Nimba during the year fell short of a major announcement of a coalition.
That meeting held in Ganta, Nimba County brought together Senator Johnson (organizer of the meeting) of the Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction (MDR), Liberty Party’s Cllr. Charles Brumskine, Benoni Urey of the All Liberian Party ALP and Alexander Cummings of Alternative National Congress (ANC).
More recently, Weah’s Congress for Democratic Change announced that it had come into a coalition with what’s left of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Party (NPP) and former Speaker Alex Tyler’s Liberia People Democratic Party (LPDP).
Weah, during a recent gathering in Nimba appeared adamant that capturing state power in 2017 requires a “shared vision” that will bring together the best minds from the Liberian political arena to successfully counter the Unity Party’s quest for an uninterrupted 12 years of governance.
“We are very mindful that the unfolding political equation towards 2017 speaks about cooperation and collaboration among political parties and politicians with shared vision.
When we speak of political collaboration we speak not solely of increased numerical strength but essentially of consensus building on key national issues.
The CDC is therefore open to dialogue and will in fact encourage cooperation and collaboration with other political parties and politicians.
However, we will certainly not sacrifice our values and shared vision on the altar of numerical strength.”