ANC clears Cummings

Presidential hopeful and ex-corporate executive Alexander Cummings has been elected standard bearer of the Alternative National Congress, one of the newest parties here to vie in the October elections.

The ANC is an offspring of George Weah’s Congress for Democratic Change or CDC party, which has now formed a marriage with war crimes convict Charles Taylor’s former ruling National Patriotic Party or NPP. It was established by CDC former chairman Orashall Gould.

ANC partisans in their numbers gathered Thursday, March 30, at their national headquarters along Airfield Shortcut opposite 24th Street in the Monrovia suburb of Sinkor in jubilation with women dancing as traditional choir from the Grebo tribe – ethnic group of standard bearer Cummings sang and performed traditional rituals supported by battle cries from party youths.

The ex-Coca-Cola executive said 170 years of independence is too long a time for Liberians to continue making wrong choices at the polls, electing people, who he claimed, continue to fail them with lofty promises and poor and ineffective deliverables.

The colorful event saw Cummings, who returned to Liberia last year, winning on white ballot as the party’s first standard bearer. Considered by many here as a newcomer on the political landscape, he made big promises as usual.

According to him, Liberia has been in a poor state for too long, and the country deserves better especially, with the over willingness of the people to work to change the current poor economic status and him in the driver’s seat as President, Liberia is bound to move speedily in its economic drive.

He named jobs, education, good health care delivery system and providing social needs of the people as hallmark of an ANC-led administration if elected in October.
“Liberia is for all Liberians, and we’ve moved past that time in our country. We are proud of tradition, but it shouldn’t get in the way of progress, it should not get in the way of creating a better and prosperous Liberia, for every Liberian,” the presidential hopeful said.

For his part, party chairman Orashell Gould warned his partisans that electing Mr. Cumming as standard bearer is not enough for the already crowded presidential field, but every partisan should go to campaign by encouraging others to come on board to ensure overwhelming victory at the ballot box.

“An Alexander Cummings Presidency will strengthen the president’s proposed special anti-corruption court and establish the enforcement mechanisms to hold corrupt officials to account. Fraud, abuse of office and playing by your own rules will not be tolerated,” Gould promised, but he himself battled a corruption trial after the transitional administration of the late Chairman Charles Gyude Bryant and was eventually exonerated due to lack of evidence.

Meanwhile, the party’s primary is expected to end over the weekend in Kakata Margibi County, where Mr. Cummings will be formally presented to partisans as the standard bearer.

By Samuel Kamara -Editing by Jonathan Browne