It can now be said that the fight for supremacy in the Collaboration of Political Parties (CPP) has begun, with members of the Alternative National Congress (ANC) unleashing verbal attacks on the Political Leader of the Unity Party (UP), Ambassador Joseph N. Boakai, demanding that he stands up to his ugly past activities and affiliations when he served as Vice President during the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf administration, 2006 to 2018.
As the CPP convention draws nearer, the politics in the party has dramatically grown from the diplomatic stage to the intellectual warfare stage, which is expected to continue until the party comes up with its ticket for the 2023 presidential election. The battle for supremacy between Alexander B. Cummings and Ambassador Joseph N. Boakai and, by extension, the Alternative National Congress (ANC) and the Unity Party (UP), as to who heads the CPP is taking its political form—politicians going head to head and giving reasons why they are best suited to head the CPP come 2023.
But this intellectual warfare, which might either break or strengthen the CPP at the end, seems rocky from the beginning, with the ANC projecting itself as the alternative for a new Liberia and, at the same time, defaming the UP with its 12 years of “misrule”.
On the ANC Global platform, the administrators of the page, possibly members of Team Cummings, wrote, “Today, Liberia is a victim of a crisis of stunted national growth, lack of accountability and no new governance ideas because of the past actions and questionable judgment of some very major political players.
“The ANC and its supporters will no longer allow Liberians to sustain failed models of governance which have damaged the future of our people, especially in the more recent 40-plus years.
“To this end, some hard and direct questions must be asked about the judgment of former Vice President Joseph Boakai when he served as leader of the Liberian Senate in the Sirleaf Administration’s National Oil Company (NOCAL) bribery allegations.
“At issue is an international indictment by the watchdog group Global Witness which, in a 2011 report, ‘Curse or Cure’, noted that, ‘…between September 2006 and April 2008 NOCAL staff paid US$120,400 in lobbying fees to the members and staff of the Liberian Legislature so that the Legislature would ratify oil contracts. These payments were not made to lobbyists as compensation for advocacy before a policy maker. These payments were made directly to representatives and staff within the Liberian Legislature so that those representatives and staff would undertake an official function: the ratification of oil production sharing contracts. Liberia’s General Auditing Commission has taken the view that NOCAL’s lobbying fees amount to bribes. According to Liberia’s Penal Law, paying a public servant so that he or she will undertake an official act is bribery and is illegal. It is also bribery for a public servant to receive payment in exchange for an official act. As such, Global Witness and the LOGI coalition support the position that the lobbying fees are bribes…’
“Let’s be clear that no one is questioning, attacking or impugning the credibility or integrity of former VP Boakai in the NOCAL alleged bribery scheme of some members of the National Legislature between 2006—2011. As a public servant of over 40 years, his personal reputation is blameless.
“But as President of the Senate at the time, why didn’t VP Boakai publicly register his opposition and strong condemnation of the alleged bribery scheme, even after the General Auditing Commission described ‘lobbying fees’ to members of the National Legislature for passage of oil contracts as bribery?
“The lapse of judgment of anyone in this matter has injured the wellbeing of Liberians in unimaginable ways.
“Mr. Boakai had a big opportunity to speak forcefully then without fear of the consequences because he took an oath to defend the Constitution of Liberia and the interest of the state and all Liberians.
“Supporters of the ANC note that the unbridled system of corruption in past Liberian administrations is part of ‘doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.’
“This must and will change under an ANC/CPP Administration. ‘Liberians Deserve Better.’
“In the new Liberia we are building, corruption and poor judgment in the use of government resources, or attempts to corrupt public servants will not be tolerated and people will be held to account.
“Merit, Job performance, and competition which will benefit the ordinary Liberian will be the model of governance. New ideas and technology to fight corruption will not be spared.
“The ANC is leading irreversible change in Liberia and every Liberia needs to be a part to make this happen for the benefit of all of us.”
Political pundits are saying the ANC has just drawn the first blood, as the worst intellectual exchange between member-parties of the CPP is expected to go sky-high. They say it is only anticipated that they be mature enough in their exchanges or it might be difficult to heal the wounds that will be opened by the discourse.
They argue that the UP has more to defend while the ANC has more to project in terms of how they will govern the country, and that members of the Liberty Party (LP) and the All Liberian Party (ALP) may take side based on which side of the divides propagates their message well, and not by the mere pronouncements of their political leaders.