What appeared to be a frustrated situation to supporters of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) seems to be overwhelming, as opposition bloc which was initially formed to battle the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) has reportedly clasped with the latest pull out coming from the former ruling Unity Party (UP).
The CPP which was early formed comprised of four opposition political parties, namely the Unity Party (UP), the All Liberian Party (ALP), the Liberty Party (LP), and the Alternative National Congress (ANC) has been in the midst of power struggle as to who becomes the presidential candidate come 2023.
Already three opposition political parties that are part of the coalition (ANC, LP, ALP) have relinquished their binding portion of their agreement to still together, with the latest to be the Unity Party (UP).
A well-placed, source within the Unity Party yesterday informed local media that the time has come to call it quits, knowing that the current ongoing internal conflict within the CPP may never be resolved.
“We at the Unity Party have the biggest to lose. We are being distracted, we are being stalled. The Unity Party has a potential President. The election in 2023 is going to be between JNB and George Weah. We cannot sit down, misuse the time we are supposed to be working and continue to go on making palaver with people who are supposed to be our allies,” the source who sought anonymity disclosed.
According to the source, the former ruling UP did not get into the collaboration to fight, but to work for the single important goal of proving to the Liberian people that the opposition bloc has the right alternative to unseat President George Weah through the ballot box in 2023.
“We conceived the idea; we birthed the idea of the collaboration. We did not form it to open a boxing ring to fight. We came together to prove to the Liberian people that we can provide a better alternative. If we realize that what we are into is a fighting club rather than being people of like minds, then we can no longer continue,” he added.
The rigmarole in the CPP came following an accusation from Benoni Wilfred Urey, political leader of the All Liberian Party (ALP), that Alexander Benedict Cummings, political leader of the Alternative National Congress (ANC) and former chairman of the CPP, altered the Framework document that brought them together and submitted same to the National Elections Commission (NEC).
“We have to pull out and we have to re-consolidate, restrategize and strengthen the Unity Party along with our partners of like minds,” the UP source said. “We believe that we can provide better leadership, but there are people who think that theirs is to fight. The UP is not afraid of a fight, but we cannot continue with this internal fight. It is a distraction.”
According to the UP source, since Joseph Nyumah Boakai assumed the chairmanship of the CPP, ANC executives have not attended executive committee meetings and those in the secretariat, from the ANC, have also done the same.
“Cummings is demanding that his counterparts apologize to him before he can sit on the same table with them to discuss anything but the question is that who determines who wronged him? It can’t be him. An investigation was conducted and the report from the investigation proves that he altered our Framework document. He brought about this entire noise. He should have been the one regretting his unorthodox action now and apologize to his colleagues instead of running around pretending to be good,” he said.
According to the UP source, the only executive meeting attended by the embattled chairman of the Liberty Party (LP), Musa Bility, under the leadership of Boakai, ended in confusion as Bility demanded that the CPP should be dissolved because it will not continue to hold together as a single, strong opposition bloc.
“He told his colleagues that CPP should be dissolved. That was sad, but all through he has insisted that the only way forward is for the CPP to be dissolved. He came on a mission and his wish is about to happen but not in his favor. We will re-galvanize our forces and come back even stronger,” the source boasted.
Meanwhile, Alexander Cummings has been contacted for response but we are yet to receive it.
When asked about the bloc voting introduced in the UP ahead of the CPP Primaries being also responsible too for the internal conflict, he said that is not an issue because each of the constituent political parties within the CPP was not robbed of its independence as an institution.
“All the ANC should have done was to campaign and gain votes from the Liberty Party and the All Liberian Party. They are the two parties who were not featuring any candidate each for the standard-bearer position. Crying wolf was just unnecessary because we did not violate any law,” our source bragged.
A highly placed source at the Liberty Party, who also asked to remain anonymous, said the George Weah government fears the CPP and, as such, the government-sponsored Musa Bility to infiltrate the opposition bloc and break it apart.
“The ruling establishment has succeeded in using Musa to cause distractions and subsequently the fall of the CPP. That plan has been effectively executed. We have received the intelligence letting us know of these things,” the Liberty Party source said.
“Mr. Cummings,” the source continued, “does not have the popular support of the people. He is relying on the support base of the CPP. The two biggest parties in the CPP are the Liberty Party and the Unity Party. The masses are gravitating towards the CPP because of the two political parties. It is because we are together.”
The source asserted that, because of the firm unity in the CPP, they won several seats in the 2020 Special Senatorial Election. “That is what President Weah is afraid of and thinks that letting them remain united will cost him the second term of the Presidency in 2023.”
The source further alleged that former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is also a mastermind behind the dissolution of the CPP.
“We are aware of all of their plans. Former President Sirleaf is another brain behind this deal. They are using Musa Bility but to avert their plan, we will leave the CPP, recalibrate, re-strategize, and reorganize ourselves into a more supportive opposition bloc that will unseat President Weah at the polls in 2023,” the source said.
“The first thing they did was to succeed stalling the CPP consensus process. The consensus process should have been concluded by December 2021. We didn’t do that. Since Ambassador Boakai took over the CPP, they are not even cooperating to make sure we succeed in keeping with the plan,” the source further alleged.
The source said the goal of former President Sirleaf and her supporters is to see Weah reelected to the Presidency in 2023.
“The next plan was that, even if the CPP primaries were to be held, we could end up in Court because Bility and Cummings were going to go to court. You know how the courts are already looking in Liberia. They were going to hold us hostage and we could not make any progress,” he said, adding “Being farsighted, and to avoid what they have already planned against us, is to leave the CPP and reorganize ourselves.”
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