Just a few days following the endorsement of the presidential bid of former Vice President Joseph Nyuma Boakai by the embattled Political Leader of the Liberty Party (LP), Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence, that decision by the LP’s head has been hugely challenged by an auxiliary group of the party.
The group, under the banner, “Staunch Members of Liberty Party”, Grand Bassa Chapter, through its Chairman, Emmanuel Suprise Whea, indicated that Senator Karnga-Lawrence acted without consultation and approval in the midst of internal conflict within the party, which does not augur well for the party.
It can be recalled that Senator Karnga-Lawrence at the weekend in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, endorsed the candidacy of former Vice President Boakai on ground that she rejected Benedict B. Cummings of the Alternative National Congress (ANC) because joining him would be falling into a political trap.
Karngar-Lawrence’s faction of the LP has been embroiled in a series of legal and political issues with Chairman Musa Bility’s faction, which had on the other side of the coin been in support of Cummings.
The Grand Bassa County Senator indicated that it would have been a deviation and a betrayal of the trust and confidence of partisans to go as running mate to Cummings in the light of his unending support to Bility, whom she said desire is to render LP politically paralyzed and divided.
“As a matter of fact, Bility is recalcitrant that he does not recognize the authority of the political leadership of the Liberty Party, which the ANC, through its actions and inactions, has supported and concretized all along, thereby rendering his attempt to change course belated and of limited effect,” she said.
But despite those reasons provided by Senator Karnga-Lawrence, the group maintained that her “unilateral decision” was self-seeking, evil, disrespectful and insensitive to the survivability of the party, which has strived for many years but denied opportunities by the ruling establishment.
“Furthermore, we believe strongly that the Senator’s action is only intended to create more confusion within the party and deepen the already existing internal problems within the party when, in fact, she is one of those charged with the responsibility to resolve these conflicts, in keeping with reconciliation which is one of the 4Rs/ pillows of the party,” asserted Whea at a news conference in Buchanan on May 17, 2023.
“Fellow Liberians, members of the press, ladies and gentlemen, it is an established fact that for over a decade the Liberty Party under the able leadership of Cllr. Charles Walker Brumskine, the late, has been one of Liberia’s most organized, peaceful and an institution of integrity established on the foundation of reconciliation, reconstruction, reform and rebuilding (4Rs). Today, it’s so unfortunate that we, the members of Liberty Party, are watching the continued retrogression of our party due to the lack of leadership capability of Madam Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence, evident by the continued destruction of the party under her leadership.
“Finally, we want to again state categorically clearly to you fellow Liberians that the recent sorrowful endorsement of Joseph Nyuma Boakai by Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence only reflects the decision of Senator Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence, her friends and family members, and not the Liberty Party. We’re therefore calling on the Senator to desist from such endeavors and focus on resolving the on-going internal conflict within the party,” he further stated.
Among other things, Whea added that the Staunch Members of the Liberty Party, Grand Bassa Chapter, have begun consultation with partisans across Grand Bassa County on which direction or aspirant to support in the up-coming presidential and legislative elections.