The ruling Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) on Saturday celebrated 17 years of existence as a unit fought together in unionism with a singular purpose of obtaining state power- its first political leader now President George Weah confessed that the struggle for state power is not an easy journey.
He said the struggle which was intended to rebuild Liberia; stabilize what was termed as messy economy and rebuild the ruined infrastructural system to a noble height yet, many heroes and heroines died along the way, but today, he said, “The economy has been stabilized with infrastructural reconstruction process ongoing.”
Delivering the anniversary message, President George Weah declared that the Congress for Democratic Change started in 2005 as the Liberia National Congress, and later became the Congress for Democratic Change, (CDC) which today forms a part of the Great Coalition for Democratic Change and has taken state power!!!
“As your Standard Bearer and Political leader, I want to give a hearty welcome to each and every one of you here today and to extend my personal congratulations to all of you for conducting yourselves in the mature, peaceful, and orderly manner that has become characteristic of this great Party and its Partisans,” Weah stated.
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President George Manneh Weah’s Remarks At CDC 17th Anniversary
Fellow Partisans; CDCians; Weahcians; Distinguished Guests; Ladies and Gentlemen: This is a great day in the history of our Party, the Mighty Congress for Democratic Change!! It has been SEVENTEEN years since we founded this dynamic organization as a MOVEMENT OF THE PEOPLE.
Starting out in 2005 as the Liberia National Congress, we then became the Congress for Democratic Change, and which today now forms a part of the Great Coalition for Democratic Change!!! As your Standard Bearer and Political Leader, I want to give a hearty welcome to each and every one of you here today, and to extend my personal congratulations to all of you for conducting yourselves in the mature, peaceful, and orderly manner that has become characteristic of this great Party and its Partisans.
It is these characteristics that have brought us from twelve years of disciplined struggle in the wilderness of opposition, to a clean victory that has now seen us through five years of leadership through our membership of the Grand Coalition that rules Liberia. Yes, it was not easy. The struggle for power is never easy. But from our humble beginnings in 2005, see how far we have come. We have come a very long way, Fellow Partisans. We have fought many battles, some of them unforseen and unexpected. But we fought peacefully through the ballot, and never through violence or bullets. We have always been a Party of Peace. People tested our resolve, when twice they took from us what belonged to us. But we never resorted to violence, and accepted our fate peacefully and calmly, because of love of country.
What people did not realize, is that we began our quest for leadership because of love of country. We could not touch Liberia’s peace, Liberia’s dignity, and Liberia’s honor, because we were hoping for this day to come, so that we would have the opportunity to lead this country to prosperity, and to bring hope for change. Fellow Partisans, CDCians, and Weahcians, according to the context, it has been said that we lost certain major battles. We were tried and tested, but through perseverance, through persistence, and with the courage of our convictions, we eventually won the war.
As has often been said, what God got for you will always see your face. How did the CDC get started. Well, let me share with you a bit of our history. Back in 2005, many Liberians asked me to participate in the coming elections. Based on that, we constituted a five-member committee, with every one of its members in an acting position, because we believed in the democratic principle that no one should hold a position unless elected by a convention. As we moved forward, we scouted young and dynamic brains, as well as older folks that would guide the process. We went to the United States, where we recruited our first founding chairman of the party in Diaspora, Samuel Tweh.
We then took our membership recruitment drive to other African countries. It was in Ghana, for example, that we recruited Mulbah Morlu, your current Chairman. And CDC began to be known not only in Liberia, but in the entire world. After we were fully formed and registered as a political party, we participated in our first elections, in 2005. According to published statistics, we won the first round with 28.22% of the vote, and went into the run-off as the leading party.
But in the second round, we who were first, were told that we had come second. How that happened, only God one knows. But, being a peace-loving people, we continued our quest for leadership. Now, it is the same God who has brought us here today, because He had a greater plan for us. What I see in this is our patriotism. We did not burn the country down. We kept the country peaceful. And so today, I want to say a big “Thank You!!” to all our founding members, and to all of our partisans across the world, wherever they are, CDCians, Weacians, Coalitians. Without you, we could not have reached this far, and it is because you kept the peace. FELLOW PARTISANS: I would now like to recognize and give thanks and appreciation to all of our previous Party Chairmen, whose collective and successive efforts and leadership have brought us to where we are today,
