The Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) has welcomed the April 21 ruling of the Hearing Officer of the National Elections Commission (NEC), which prohibits the Unity Party (UP) from fielding candidate for the Lofa County Senatorial By-election slated for May 10, 2022.
In a special statement, Mr. Cummings who said the ruling represents an important victory for the CPP stated,” Even at this level of consideration, and aware that the ruling is now a subject of an appeal.”
Cummings reiterated that “We cannot do the same things over and over and still hope to get a different result. It is time to change so that leaders are held to higher standards of public accountability, and we act to preserve the rule of law.”
“It was impossible to ignore the wholly false and deceptive representation to the NEC that the Unity Party (UP) and the All Liberian Party (ALP) “did not sign” the Framework Agreement of the CPP, cannot therefore be bound by its provisions, and that the framework document was a “product of fraud,” the CPP Presumptive Leader opined.
According to the statement, the CPP “silence and inaction would have represented this falsehood to be true, to both the NEC and the Liberian people, when not only do we know this to be misleading, but those who made such claims knew them to be false.”
“The Alternative National Congress (ANC) and the Liberty Party (LP) were therefore forced into a public challenge of the UP and the ALP, which ordinarily we would have decided against doing,” Cummings added.
The CPP said it is “mindful of not deepening the distrust and disunity in the opposition community, which will only benefit President Weah, whose administration has irredeemably failed the Liberian people.”
According to the Statement, Cummings is hopeful that the alternative to the failed leadership of President Weah, which the opposition seeks to provide the Liberian people, would be one of honesty, to be measured by truth-telling, however difficult it may be.
The Statement said the CPP remains “convinced that is how we will build the new future for our country that we seek a future of commitment to the rule of law away from the ongoing political corruption and thievery that have bedeviled our country for far too long.”
The statement welcomed the ruling of the Hearing Officer of the NEC and congratulated the efforts of the leaderships of the Liberty Party and the ANC for the uncommon courage to call out and challenge the falsehood of the UP and ALP.
“We do not fear contesting against anyone for a chance to lead our people. Liberians must freely and fairly decide who should lead them. That is how democracy ought to work. We will therefore fight untiringly to see that this happens,” the Statement indicated; adding: “But we also have a leadership duty, which cannot allow us to be an accomplice to deceiving the Liberian people either by falsehoods or by breaking promises, in the name of politics.”
“I, Alexander B. Cummings, do not need to acquire political power by dishonor or deception. Even more importantly, I do not need to lead our people if it will not be to significantly change our country by uniting all of our people, ending the stealing by public officials, providing opportunities so that all Liberians have a chance to succeed in their own country, and remaking our society into a more just, equitable, secure and prosperous one,” the CPP’s Presumptive Standard Bearer concluded.
