The office of the Solicitor-General says its attention has been drawn to a campaign of misinformation and blatant lies being perpetrated by certain individuals in the Liberian society and abroad, describing the arrest and prosecution of Alexander B. Cummings and others as an attack on democracy and the rule of law.
The accusers are alleging that the Cummings trial is an attempt to silence him and ensure nonresistance to the rule of the George Weah government.
However, responding to the accusation, the office of the Solicitor-General termed the allegations as baseless, and described them as nothing but mere diversionary tactics employed by detractors to divert the attention of the public from the shameful conduct of the ANC leader in altering and forging the CPP framework document to further his political ambition, at the expense of other CPP political leaders.
In a release issued Tuesday, February 8, 2022, the office of the Solicitor General claimed that the trial of Alexander Cummings and others on charges of forgery and criminal conspiracy is the most audacious way to judiciously combat and contain his alleged “swollen ego” complained of by the All Liberian Party (ALP) and other political leaders in the opposition, who have viewed his actions and activities as clever attempts to undermine Liberia’s multi-party democracy credentials and the freedom of association for his own selfish gain.
Rather than spreading lies and misinformation about the trial, the release added, the alleged fraudulent conduct of defendant Cummings and others must be openly condemned as counterproductive to Liberia’s new democratic dispensation, and must be viewed as an attempt to introduce a True Whig Party-style of autocratic and dictatorial politics in the ranks of the CPP and the larger Liberian society—at the detriment of other political leaders.
The release called on the public “to see the forgery and criminal conspiracy trial against Alexander Cummings and others as a great opportunity to expose the alleged autocratic politics of Alexander Cummings and his gangs, who seem quite unremorseful and utterly determined not only to hijack the CPP and impose himself as its leader but also to falsely present himself in the eyes of the Liberian people and the international community as the only alternative voice in the CPP, at the expense of others.
“Defendant Cummings is on trial because he has been accused, along with other Liberians, of fraudulently altering, forging and resolving for his own benefit the critical issues of when and how a party shall exit the CPP, the determining health standards by which a presidential candidate may be selected, among others, which were never resolved in the initial framework document signed on May 19, 2020.
“The fact that Alexander Cummings appears totally unrepentant, callous and defiant, and lives under the illusion of being ‘innocent’ at the behest of his lawyers, and has the audacity of employing all sorts of judicial shenanigans in the face of compelling evidence, clearly demonstrates his inordinate desire to falsely impose on the CPP as its leader and thereby create chaos and civil disobedience in the Liberian society.
“The office of the Solicitor-General has taken seized of this matter primarily not because the alleged fraudulent act complained of involves Alexander Cummings and others from the Alternative National Congress(ANC) against the political interests of other Liberians in the CPP, but because it has the potential to gravely undermine and damage Liberia’s multi-party democracy and thereby plunge the CPP and the entire country into serious political crisis, which will not augur well for the peace and security of the state,” the press release maintained.
The release continued, “Cummings should be seen and treated as nothing more than a mere criminal defendant, and deserves no special treatment, and as such he is being processed and drilled through the Liberian judicial process to answer for his crimes like any other defendant, and shall remain so up to the end of the trial.
“Meanwhile, the office of the Solicitor-General is emboldened by the resolved of the Ministry of Justice vis-à-vis the Liberian government to stay the course in protecting the rule of law, freedom of association, and multi-party democracy amid the litany of distractions and lies being perpetrated both from within and outside of Liberia to politicize the prosecution of Cummings for forgery and criminal conspiracy.”