CDC lawmaker declares victory

Congress for Democratic Change Montserrado County electoral district # 13 Representative Saah Joseph says the May2018 senatorial by-election in Montserrado is over, because he has already won the senatorial seat.

“To all of you that wanting to contest the Montserrado Senatorial by-election I say to you don’t waste your money or your energy to run campaign because the election is over; we will dismantle any opposition candidate intellectually”, he brags.

Liberia’s Minister of Finance and Development Planning Samuel Tweah, who is a member of Rep. Saah Joseph’s CDC party recently went on television and told the nation that elections are not important in frantic attempt to justify why he cut a US$3.9 million budget submitted by the National Elections Commission to US$1.2 million for two pending senatorial by-elections in Montserrado and Bong Counties, respectively.

But the statement was heavily criticized by both the press and the public, coming from a very key member of the ruling Coalition government whose leader won the presidency thru popular votes in 2017.

Rep. Joseph declares victory here late Monday, 26 March at the headquarters of the Coalition for Democratic Change in Oldest Congo Town, outside Monrovia at program marking his official endorsement by fellow CDC lawmaker Acarous Moses Gray of the Montserrado County Electoral District#8.

According to him, history has repeated itself, recalling that in 2011 he received the full support of Rep. Gray’s, something he describes as worth commending, and vows to reciprocate by supporting Gray in whichever way he chooses to go.

“By you supporting me doesn’t mean you are weak, I know your capabilities at the Legislature even to my ascendency as chairman on health on the House standing committee, it was you that recommended me, that which I am grateful for, and to the partisan this is a sign that we are together as a party”, Rep. Saah Joseph expresses.

The two CDC lawmakers received huge petition from supporters to contest for the vacant seat in the Liberia Senate to replace President George M. Weah who emerged as the 24th President of the Republic of Liberia during the 2017 run-off presidential election.

Making his endorsement statement at the CDC headquarters before senior officials of the party, sympathizers, and supporters, Rep. Gray notes that his decision to pull out of the race is to give his colleague the opportunity as they both come from the same political institution.

Gray: Today, I want to retreat and not to surrender, because a real soldier is someone that retreats and gets prepare to go back, so my retreating is to give my brother and friend the chance to contest. We at the CDC believe in one ideology and that is to be your brother’s keepers. We have a single baby which is the CDC, we cannot compromise the supreme interest of the party, and we cannot surrender to opposing forces that’s why in close consultation with stakeholders in the flag bearer, the party chairman among others we thought to give our support to a brother and colleague.”

He recalls that as far back as in Egypt when that country was divided, the people join forces to form a united Egypt, analogizing that in the CDC there is one leadership and in the party’s quest to win the senatorial seat of Montserrado, only him or Rep. Saah Joseph has the capacity to bring victory.

Rep. Gray discloses that he has taken an oath not to allow any stranger to contest on the party’s ticket, saying, “Today, the battle is not about me, but it is a battle for the CDC, our decision here today is not about personal aggrandizement but the supreme interest of our beloved party.”

The pending senatorial by-elections in the two counties followed the election of the CDC Standard Bearer George Weah and Vice Standard Bearer Jewel Howard Taylor, who both earlier represented Montserrado and Bong Counties respectively in the Liberian Senate.

By Lewis S. Teh-Editing by Jonathan Browne