Ballout to mobilize citizens for Boakai-Cummings merger

By Lewis S. Teh

Former Maryland County Senator John Ballout has repeated his call for a united opposition to unseat the Weah-led government in the pending October presidential and legislative elections.

“I will join the united opposition taskforce and we will march to the UP [Unity Party], and ANC [Alternative National Congress] headquarters … next Thursday to appeal to Ambassador Boakai and Cummings to unite and redeem this country,” Ballout said Saturday, 8 April 2023.

Speaking at a press conference at a local hotel in Sinkor, suburb of Monrovia, Mr. Ballout pledged his financial and moral support to the united opposition taskforce.

Addressing members of the united opposition taskforce, the former Maryland County Senator said Liberia is in a dying position. As such, hee suggested that there is a need for the opposition to reunite to provide hope for the citizens of the country.

“We need to pick up those broken pieces, a process that begun since the civil war,” said Mr. Morlu.

According to him, there has been countless efforts by well-meaning Liberians to see how the opposition bloc can reunite ahead of the October polls. Yet, Ballout said, the opposition bloc continues to put on a defying posture.

“We continue to see opposition arguing among themselves as to who is best suited, but they [are] forgetting to know that they are stabbing the country in the back with their actions,” he lamented.

“There’s a place and time to argue, debate, among others. There’s also a time and place to unite, but so far we [have] been seeing the opposite,” Mr. Ballout noted.

The former Senator stated that the citizens of Liberia are calling for unity within the opposition bloc with specific reference to Boakai and Cummings.

According to him, the vast majority of the citizens are calling on the opposition bloc to reunite and win the election in the first round.

He said this is the only ticket that can guarantee a first-round victory.

“The growth of Liberia isn’t about mere slogans or popularity contest, instead, the rightful people that have the technical know-how to steer the affairs,” said Ballout.

He noted that any forces that are opposing the call are dead wrong because there’s only one formula, which he said is the Amb. Boakai and Mr. Cummings ticket.

He described the Boakai-Cummings ticket as indispensable ticket that won the highest seats during the midterm election. He noted that it was the formula that disciplined the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) in Montserrado County.

“Today I want to announce that any ticket aside from the Boakai and Cummings ticket will be a complete disaster,” Mr. Ballout warned.

He further warned the opposition against threading a very dangerous path, saying it has to stop.

“You can’t call CDC government ineptitude while you refuse to come together as a united opposition in one accord to liberate this country that you claim to love,” Ballout blasted at the opposition.

“We been on a six-year recess, we had a president who mandated all officials to declare their assets but today we have another president who [is] hesitant to declare his asset. We must all wake up,” he noted.

Also speaking, Nuwoe C. Elliott, a representative of the Unity Party, called on Ambassador Boakai to see reason in collaborating with the ANC to move Liberia forward.

“I want to call on my political leader and party executives to … form a united opposition ticket for the redemption of Liberia,” said Nuwoe.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the United Opposition Task Force, Barti Nicholas Barti, said they will gather at the Unity Party headquarters on Broad Street in mass to appeal to Amb. Boakai to reunite with Cummings.

“We the citizens of this country who [are] desirous of the growth and development of Liberia have to come together and launch this passionate appeal to the opposition bloc,” he said.