The Ganta Declaration: Let’s Still Wait and See

Since the September 17 Ganta declaration made by more than15-Liberian opposition political parties for collaborative effortsduring the 2017 Presidential and Representative Elections in Liberia, skepticisms continue to characterize its progress.

From the look of things – hot public exchanges and souring relationsbetween and among some of the political leaders, the reinvigoratedpolitical spirit which greeted and followed the ‘Ganta Declaration’may not experience the desired soft-landing.

We had anticipated from the general public an opportunity for thepolitical leaders and parties to work out the technical details of theaspiration, through the Joint Technical Committee set up by the ‘GantaDeclaration’, before jumping into conclusion as being done currently.

At the moment, the JTC is currently detailing the Ganta Talks for theway forward come 2017 at which time Presidential and RepresentativeElections will take place in Liberia. The JTC is expected to report after 60 days as of the signing of the‘Ganta Declaration’ on September 17.

More than 15 Liberian opposition political parties, on September 17,2016, met and signed a communiqué in Ganta, Nimba County in northernLiberia for a collaborative front against the ruling Unity Party in next year’s elections.

Even though we share the concerns of many of those who continue tobelieve that the current effort by the opposition is unachievablebecause past efforts by Liberian politicians failed, it doesn’t alsomean that because it did not happen in the past there is no possibilityof success.

Even if all of the parties involved in the Ganta Talks do not agree toform any major coalition or merger, most of them will – we trust thatthe major and strategic ones would.  Our support for this collaborative drive by the opposition is becauseof the reduction of the number of political parties, as well as anopportunity for Liberian voters not to be confused in determiningtheir choices during next year’s elections.

And we can only admonish the parties and political leaders involved inthe Gnata Talks to exercise the highest degree of sincerity andpatriotism in consonance with the ‘Ganta Declaration’ and interest ofthe Liberian people for whom they are aspiring.

Let’s wait and see how they (opposition politicians) go about theanticipated collaboration for which they are currently striving.