Ambassador Joseph Nyuma Boakai is stern on the Unity Party’s decision that there will be no elections in Lofa County without the party’s candidate on the ballot.
Received in audience on Tuesday, the UN Resident Coordinator in Liberia, Niels Scott, Amb. Boakai out rightly emphasized that the Unity Party will not accept a repeat of the Brownie Samukai scenario.
The meeting which was a courtesy call at his UP’s Headquarters in Monrovia, the political leader reiterated to his guests that residents of Lofa County will not be disenfranchised.
The former Vice President re-echoed what he said a fortnight ago and weightier this time that, “Let the word go forth that the Unity Party and the People of Lofa County had had enough and will no longer continue to be insulted, disrespected, and disenfranchised by the CDC Government of President Weah.”
“The Unity Party will demand for a new Voters Roll and the use of a Biometric system to ensure a level playing field that will guarantee free and fair national elections, the best guarantor of peace and national reconciliation,” Amb. Boakai said.
Formally welcoming Mr. Scott to his office, the UP standard bearer further informed him that the party is presently involved with the qualification hearings before the National Elections Commission (NEC) about the placement of the UP’s candidate on the ballot for the May 10 senatorial by-election scheduled for Lofa County, which is being unconstitutionally challenged by the Musa Bility-faction of the Liberty Party and the Alternative National Congress Party of Alexander B. Cummings.
Commenting on the state of affairs regarding the May 10 by-elections in Lofa,Boakai noted that the process before the National Elections Commission is flawed and a total miscarriage of Justice.
He also revealed that it was a pleasant coincidence that the UN Resident Coordinator had come to visit him a day before the Unity Party’s planned peaceful march to present petitions to the international community and assured him that UP will use the due process in pursuit of its political mission and goals.
The Vice President for 12 years praised the cordial working relationships with past UN Representatives in Liberia and said he looks forward working with Ambassador Scott.
However, the UN Resident Coordinator who has been in Liberia for over a year call on the UP Standard Bearer for the first time to get acquainted was to avail himself with political development and trending issues in the country from the UP’s perspectives.
The UN envoy assured that he is looking forward to the 2023 Presidential and General Elections.
In a related development, the former ruling party is also calling on the International community to swiftly intervene into the ongoing political maneuverings intended to eliminate competition in the 2023 General Elections by excluding viable political opposition parties.
The UP through its party’s Chairperson, Amin Modad stressed that the recent ruling by the NEC is a clear evidence of a plot by the Liberian government and others to deny them the opportunity of participating in Lofa County by-elections, and or the 2023 General Elections.
In its petition to the US Embassy, the United Nations (UN), the ECOWAS and the European Union (EU) yesterday in Monrovia, the UP chairperson also accused the NEC of increasingly lacking transparency in its dealings with the UP.
Recently, the Board of Commissioners of the NEC reaffirmed its Hearing Officer’s April 12, 2022 ruling which bars the Unity Party from fielding a candidate in the upcoming Lofa County Senatorial by-elections.
But the UP in its petition stressed, “This is not an isolated action by the NEC but a part of a well-planned enterprise to target and eliminate the Unity Party and its Standard Bearer from the 2023 elections.”
Chairman Moda further attributed the allegation plot against his party by the government through the NEC to the poor performance by the ruling CDC in the 2020 mid-term senatorial and other by-elections which he said proved that the Weah led-administration has become unpopular with Liberians.
He noted, “So, the NEC which is presided over by seven Commissioners, four of whom are evidently members of the ruling CDC, is working in every possible way to ensure the implementation of the plan mentioned above.”
According to him, what NEC and the Liberian government are trying to achieve equates to a ban of the UP and the All Liberian Party as a penalty for exercising their constitutional right to or not associate guaranteed by Article 17 of the 1986 Constitution of Liberia.
He added, “Assuming that this were to happen, it would mean that not only UP’s Standard Bearer, Joseph Baoaki, would be precluded from appearing on the ballot paper in 2023 on the party’s ticket, but that all the current lawmakers of both parties seeking re-election through their political institutions are also banned.”
Chairman Modad wondered, “How much more could the people of Lofa accept after the political witch-hunt and denial of Senator-elect Brownie Samukai from taking his seat and the ongoing denial of the rights of Mr. Galakpai Kortimai from participating in the ensuing Senatorial by-election?”
“If NEC is not quickly stopped from implementing its reckless and mischievous ploy, we are afraid of the resultant political convulsions and political uncertainties which can prove injurious to Liberia’s peace and security,” Modad averred.
“We submit to you that political exclusion and the denial of the rights of citizens to freely elect public officials of their choice on the tickets of parties they choose could lead to a reversal of the peace that we enjoy in this country.” he said.
Meanwhile, the UP has also stressed the need for the International community to take interest in its assertion and ensure that all the players do the right things intended to save the country’s democracy.