By Amos Harris
The Liberty Party (LP) has formally boycotted the Unity Party’s (UP) December 6 homecoming celebration, a move that publicly signals a widening rift within the political alliance that helped bring President Joseph Nyuma Boakai to power.
The decision was reached late Thursday during a closed-door meeting at the home of LP Political Leader and President Pro Tempore of the Liberian Senate, Senator Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence. Senator Karnga-Lawrence is the first woman to hold the Senate’s highest leadership post.
The meeting brought together the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC), National Advisory Council (NAC), and National Stakeholders Committee (NSC). After what sources described as “hour-long, tense deliberations,” the three leadership bodies unanimously resolved that no LP executive, lawmaker, or official serving in the Boakai administration should attend the UP event.
LP leaders cited persistent patterns of disrespect and exclusion by the ruling party as the reason for their decision.
Senior LP figures say their decision stems from months of unresolved grievances, including:
LP senators and representatives have reportedly been excluded from key coalition strategy meetings, Internal UP officials allegedly referred to coalition partners as mere “helping verbs,” a remark the LP views as highly insulting and dismissive, and a recent incident saw the UP Chairman reportedly order LP representatives out of a strategy session, allegedly insisting the 2023 election victory “belonged solely to the Unity Party.”
“These actions have gone far enough,” a high-ranking LP official told this paper. “The Unity Party must understand that we are partners, not subordinates or spectators.”
Another senior figure added, “We supported the Unity Party because of Joseph Boakai, not because we intended to become an auxiliary unit of the UP. No one is foolish here—we are a political institution and we demand respect.
LP leaders were quick to clarify that the boycott does not signal a withdrawal of political support for President Boakai himself. Instead, they argued, the decision is a warning to the Unity Party leadership to correct what they describe as “a creeping culture of dominance.”
Sources emphasized that the LP remains committed to the alliance but expects a more equitable partnership moving forward.
The boycott was dramatically underscored on Saturday when Senator Karnga-Lawrence was notably absent from the UP homecoming event. Her non-attendance confirmed the party’s hardline stance and hinted at deeper fractures within the governing coalition.
As of press time, the Unity Party had issued no formal response to the boycott or to the allegations of marginalization, leaving political observers to speculate on the potential impact on governance and coalition stability.
With the Boakai administration entering a critical phase of policy implementation and political consolidation, the standoff raises new questions about whether the alliance that secured victory in 2023 can survive growing internal discontent.
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