NPP chairman in US$14,000 hullabaloo

Some disgruntled partisans of the former ruling National Patriotic Party (NPP) of jailed ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor are accusing the party Chairman, Maryland County Representative James P. Biney of allegedly receiving US$14,000 on behalf of the party.

Efforts to contact Rep. Biney for comment proved futile has his mobile number given to this writer by his staff could not go thru. However, the partisans, who asked for anonymity, claim Chairman Biney received the money from the Alternative National Congress (ANC) of Alexander B. Cummings and some foreign partners, but there has been no direct impact of the amount on the party.

They also alleged that the refusal of Chairman Biney to account for the fund resulted to mass exodus of senior party executives. The row in the NPP over the alleged money has reportedly caused the party Standard Bearer, Bong County Senator Jewel Howard-Taylor and few other senior officials to form a Coalition with the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) of Senator George Mannah Weah, where she was picked as running to Weah.

The partisans note that the Coalition has rendered the NPP weak and ineffective thus, becoming a serious political liability to the CDC, as several senior NPP executives, who, according to the, were expected to boost the Coalition, have all exited the party thereby, leaving Senator Jewel Howard-Taylor in the cold.

They explain that among those who quitted the NPP due to the misunderstanding include its Vice Chairman, Bong County Representative George Mulbah, Secretary-General Andrew Peters and Assistant Secretary-General for Social Services, Amanda Garnett, among others.

The aggrieved NPP partisans also name the party Vice Chairman for Planning, Research and Policy, Kollie Kamara and several county officials, who also jump the boat. It may be recalled that former Vice Chairman Representative George Mulbah told a local radio talk show recently that he and other officials of the party were constrained to leave because its Standard Bearer, Sen. Jewel Howard-Taylor and Chairman James Biney were taking unilateral decisions.