Ex-NPP official advises Weah

Former National Patriotic Party (NPP) stalwart Sen. Dan Morais is cautioning Liberia’s President – elect Mr. George Manneh Weah and his Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) to make good of the opportunity they have now to leave a concrete legacy, after 12 years of being opposition.

Before winning the December 26, 2017 presidential runoff election against ruling Unity Party (UP’s) Vice President Joseph Nyumah Boakai, Mr. Weah and the CDC were defeated in 2005 and 2011 by outgoing President Ellen Johnson – Sirleaf and the UP.

Sen. Morais, a Maryland County lawmaker recalled recently that the CDC and George Weah cried twice in 2005 and 2011 when others were rejoicing. He cautions that as Mr. Weah’s administration comes in, those who have not worked for 12 years and waited for this time will have to make good of it, instead of simply seizing the occasion to say “this is our time.”

“So if this is the opportunity for them to laugh, then life must be appreciated. One family shouldn’t cry all of the time. But then it shouldn’t just be about laughing…, It should be about making your contribution, leaving your mark so that you can have a concrete legacy for the Republic of Liberia,” Sen. Morais says.

He argues that sometimes people rejoice when new government comes to power because of the corporate nature of the former government.

“Let me say this also, sometimes some people rejoice when new governments come in because of the corporate nature of the former government. You know, let me [be] honest with you, in Liberia… some people think that Liberia is a corporation. When you’re not member of that corporation you are not supposed to be a leader. I think they’re wrong,” he says.

The former stalwart of NPP says it is “our responsibility” to support the government to break the corporate nature of the country to bring in an all-inclusive government that all Liberians will feel a part of.

He believes that Mr. Weah needs the strength of “all of us,” and “we” need to hammer home some of these things without being selfish “that look, now you’re representing that class of Liberians who felt marginalized, that have not been able to rule Liberia.”

Sen. Morais indicates that the Liberians who felt marginalized had an opportunity once with slain President Samuel Kanyon Doe, “but then Samuel Kanyon Doe came in the uniform.”

“Today, we have one of our kinds, democratically elected. It behooves all of us to rally around… one of us to ensure that our country be comprehensively, holistically governed so that our legacy or what is left after the first six years or 12 years or whatever the case is can be something … that we can be proud of and we can use that as a stepping stone to… finally and completely break the corporate nature of Liberia,” Sen. Morais says.

He insists that Liberia belongs to all, noting that the nature of thinking that if you are not from this corporation, this class or that group of people, you can’t rule Liberia successfully is wrong.

“It will be a test case and this is when we need to stand up. We’ve complained that certain group of Liberians has not been given an opportunity to rule Liberia. Today from that group that had not been given an opportunity over the years, over a hundred and fifty years, over a hundred and seventy years have been given opportunity to rule, to break the corporate nature of our country,” says Sen. Morais.

He further advises Mr. Weah that during the entire crisis here, people got really hurt and “we” need to find a way to reconcile in the form of restorative justice instead of retributive justice. Sen. Morais says “we” have no time looking back at all that has happened, though he acknowledges that some of these wrongs have to be visited.

By Winston W. Parley-Edited by Othello B. Garblah