ANC Threatens to Boycott CPP Turnover Ceremony

By staff writer

Monrovia – Liberia: The Alternative National Congress has threatened to boycott the planned turnover ceremony of the chairmanship of the Collaborating Political Parties scheduled for Friday, October 15, 2021. On October 15, 2021, Amb. Joseph Nyuma Boakai, former Vice President of Liberia, is expected to take over the CPP leadership from Grand Bassa Senator Nyonblee Karngar-Lawrence.

But according to the ANC, a constituent party within the CPP, their decision to boycott tomorrow’s event is predicated on the decision to exclude the ANC from the planning and organization of the Turnover Ceremony contrary to what has been the normal tradition of the CPP over the years.

” We can no longer continue to tolerate a systemic pattern of conduct that willfully violates the established practices in the CPP,” says Senator Daniel Naatehn, the National Chairman of the ANC.

The ANC further stressed that the planned event is characterized by wrongful processes, illegal profiteering, and sectarian politicization – practices that are found to be inconsistent with the treasured values of the CPP.

According to the statement issued October 14, 2021, the ANC warns that its Political Leader, Mr. Alexander B. Cummings, has said that the ANC will only participate in activities that are legalized within the Framework Document that binds all the four collaborating political parties together.

“The ANC hopes that unlike the outgoing Chair – Sen. Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence, the tenure of the incoming Chair will see the CPP reverse course and recommit to doing the right things the right way, as we promised the Liberian people,” the statement ended.

Some independent political pundits and commentators who spoke with Democracy Watch News accused the Unity Party and incoming chairman of the CPP, Amb. Joseph Nyuma Boakai, of using the planned turnover ceremony and the emblems of all the four political parties within the CPP to raise money for Amb. Boakai’s presidential ambition without the knowledge or approval of the other parties. They described such action by Amb. Boakai and the Unity Party as scandalous, disreputable, shady, and shameful.

“Why will the Unity Party unilaterally choose to use the emblems of other political parties within the CPP on t-shirts, caps, and another regalia they are printing for sale without the knowledge of the other constituent parties? To whom will the proceeds from the sale go and for what? This unilateral decision by the Unity Party I believe is disrespectful to their colleagues within the CPP,” a senior political analyst alarms.

For his part, a ranking member of the Unity Party, who preferred not to be named, said that it is sadly ridiculous that their once cherished institution is now being run by outsiders whose support to Amb. Boakai is embedded with ulterior motives – making decisions taken by the party these days to be anti-democratic and ill-reflective of the aspirations and views of the general structure of their party. He also cited the decision of the party to support bloc voting that takes away their rights as partisans to exercise their democratic franchise in the upcoming CPP primary.

See below the full press statement!