Expulsion hangs over Ellen?

Executives of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s governing Unity Party remain tightlipped here on what seems to be an ongoing attempt to expel the standard bearer from the party.

UP executives and partisans were locked up last Thursday in a night meeting at their national headquarters in Congo Town outside Monrovia on matters neither partisans or executive members are willing to disclose the press.

However, information gathered by this paper from sources indicates heads of the 15 chapters of the ruling Unity Party within the 15political sub-divisions of Liberia have petitioned the national executive committee to expel the standard bearer, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on grounds that the President has persistently violated the constitution and guiding principles of the party.

The 15 chapters through a written petition to the National Executive Committee said it makes no sense for the UP to have a standard bearer who heads the country and the party’s impact is not being felt in national decision making or through presidential appointments and having influence on national policy.

According to the chapters since the party accepted Madam Sirleaf as its leader, senior UP officials’ views have never been respected as required by the constitution, so the only option to rescue the party from further public ridicule is to expel the standard bearer.

At the national headquarters in Congo Town Thursday, partisans and stalwarts were engulfed in serious commotion when some members of the executive committee rejected names of delegates to attend the impending national convention scheduled for July in Gbarnga, Bong County.

The executive committee claims list bearing delegates are individuals who are fronting for the expulsion of Madam Sirleaf and if they were to remain on the listing for convention, it could spark trouble in Gbarnga.
Executive Committee members, who are very influential when comes to decision-making, attempted removing names of delegates, but the headquarters sank in complete turmoil as partisans with militancy resisted the action.

It is not yet clear who are those partisans being considered as radicals and therefore, removed from the list of delegates for the Gbarnga convention. UP officials, including national secretary general, Mr. Wilmot Paye are tight-lipped, despite several attempts by reporters to get his comment.

The apparent attempt to eject the formidable standard bearer Ellen Johnson Sirlear, who crossed over from her own Liberia Action Party (LAP) in 1997 to the UP is unfolding at a time when the party’s extrange chairman, Senator Varney Sherman has been indicted along with several other officials for alleged bribery.

Liberia’s Vice President Joseph Nyumah Boakai and the former Vice President of ECOWAS, Dr. Toga Gaywea McIntosh, are vying for the UP’s standard bearship to contest the Presidency. Some keen observers in the party believe President Sirleaf is pulling the string in favor of Dr. McIntosh much at the dislike of VP Boakai.

By E. J. Nathaniel Daygbor -Editing by Jonathan Browne