The Coalition for Democratic Change has officially written the Charge d’Affairs of the United States embassy in Monrovia, Catherine Rodriguez, requesting that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) cut off assistance to the Elections Coordinating Committee (ECC) based on evidence of Oscar Bloh’s proved support to the Unity Party (UP).
On Wednesday, November 8, 2023, the Secretary General of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), in a press conference, accused the head of the ECC, Cllr. Oscar Bloh, of being a card-carrying member of the Unity Party (UP) who is using his leverage as an election stakeholder to feed the UP “war room” with sensitive information from the National Elections Commission (NEC) which, if not halted, could plunge the nation into chaos.
Koijee accused Cllr. Bloh of securing nearly US$1 million of US citizens’ taxpayer money from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to play a neutral monitoring role in the 2023 election but, instead of serving such purpose, Bloh is allegedly using the opportunity to team up with former Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Amara Konneh, in the UP data room and formulate plans to steal the election.
He disclosed that, as a party in the run-off and a possible victim of Bloh’s calculated attempt to allegedly aid the UP in stealing the election or making “false” statement through the ECC that CDC rigged the election, the CDC has officially written the US government concerning Bloh’s compromised action.
The letter, copied to USAID, ECOWAS and UN, reads, “The National Executive Committee of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) writes to formally inform you of the compromised actions of Mr. Oscar Bloh, the Executive Director of the Elections Coordinating Committee (ECC), who was caught in partisan activities of the Unity Party in pursuit of the election of Joseph N. Boakai.
“By his partisan actions, which include the abuse of access to privileged information pertinent to the transparent conduct of the 2023 general and presidential elections, Mr. Bloh has extremely compromised the neutrality of the ECC.”
According to the letter, signed by CDC Chairman, Mulbah K. Morlue, Jr., “…Mr. Bloh’s unethical and compromised actions subject the integrity of the ECC to disrepute, raising serious concerns about the Director’s ability to maintain a fair and neutral stance befitting an election coordinating official.”
The letter noted, “Believing that the credibility and integrity of the election monitoring process must be preserved at all costs, the actions of Mr. Oscar Bloh indisputably undermine this vital element of the democratic process.
“Therefore, because Mr. Bloh’s actions run contrary to U.S. government’s policy pertaining to the misuse of its taxpayer’s money to advance personal political interest, we respectfully request the United States embassy to thoroughly investigate this grave matter and take the most appropriate action to ensure the impartiality of election monitoring in Liberia is restored.”
However, in a release issued Thursday, November 9, 2023, the ECC clarified that the video is fake and malicious, and that the person in the video is not Cllr. Oscar Bloh. “Cllr. Bloh has never visited the data center or ‘war room’ of any political party, including the UP, and he has never had any conversation or meeting with Mr. Konneh,” the ECC release observed.
“The ECC assures the Liberian people, its international development partners, including USAID and the Embassy of Ireland, and all political parties that it will never compromise its independence and will remain a non-partisan national domestic observation group. The ECC will continue to conduct its observation in a neutral and professional manner and update the Liberian public accordingly. We are committed to providing an independent assessment of the credibility of the conduct of elections in Liberia.
“In the meantime, the ECC has started its step-down training of election observers across the country to observe the run-off election on November 14, 2023 and will update the public about observation findings in the coming days,” the ECC release stated.
