Africa-Press – Liberia. Liberia’s October 10 presidential election has yielded no outright winner so far and, with over 99 percent of the votes counted, a runoff is inevitable — without the National Elections Commission (NEC) having said as much yet. In the meantime, the two front runners, incumbent candidate President George M. Weah and his challenger, Former Vice President Joseph N. Boakai, are already back at the drawing board, recalibrating strategies and sourcing the alliances needed for victory.
It has been an arduous and bitter journey thus far for Boakai, however. He started the year off with several days hospitalized, sending his supporters in a tailspin about his age and health. After he defied the odds to avoid a major scheduled surgery around the middle of this year, he finally zeroed in on his choice for running mate — Senator Jeremiah K. Koung — a major feat in terms of solidifying his base for the race ahead.
The bold, but calculated announcement of a running mate earned him favor with the vote-rich Nimba County, from whence Koung hails, but created deep dissent among some of his key supporters.
Short story shorter, Boakai has managed to reach the high stakes round, neck-and-neck with Weah, giving supporters the impetus needed to stride to the finish.
“We have proven, in a resounding tone, that a people determined to achieve a noble goal can prevail,” Boakai said in his first statement since the October 10 election. “Despite using millions upon millions of dollars obtained from questionable sources and intimidating our supporters, President Weah and his CDC could were unable to break the ironclad resolve of our people.”
As far as he is concerned, the collective opposition has already won a moral victory over the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) by the impressive voter turnout in the first round polls and the unprecedented tally results. Though Boakai himself came a close second in the presidential race, he and other opposition candidates managed to deprive Weah of a one-round victory. Meanwhile, opposition candidates in the legislative bracket have had decisive victories over incumbent lawmakers, especially CDC heavyweights on whom President Weah leaned to secure his executive agenda.
But there’s one major hurdle for Boakai, and it’s not Weah. And the UP standard bearer knows this very well.
Encouraged by the decisive legislative overhaul and his own performance at the polls, Boakai’s speech on Thursday, October 19, appeared to set the parameters for the UP’s runoff campaign. His focus is less on chiding an opponent already in the throes of unpopularity and more on uniting the political opposition — and the entire nation, eventually.
That first part — uniting the opposition — might be his final hurdle in executing a successful runoff.
Over the last couple of years, Boakai’s decisions and actions have caused great distress to some individuals who supported him in no small measure, and whose capacity he may be constrained to call upon over the next few days. And in quite the overture ahead of the runoff campaign, he’s sending the message that — for those who are willing to look past the bad blood and discord — there is still room at the table under his leadership.
“My fellow Liberians, our country needs to be rescued and then we can embark on getting it fixed,” Boakai said. “Our country needs to be swept. Our country needs to be redeemed. Our country needs to be healed and reunited. Indeed, our country needs to be rescued. To achieve these lofty goals, as I have always urged, we need all hands on deck.
He did not call names, but certain terms branded by members of the opposition could not be mistaken — especially when uttered in sequence — “rescue” (Boakai himself, UP) “fix” (Alexander Cummings, CPP), “sweep” (Tiawan Gongloe, LPP), “redeem” (Sara Beysolow Nyanti, ALL).
The morning prior to Boakai’s speech, political commentator Henry P. Costa, one of the UP standard bearer’s strongest supporters up to a falling out they had just a few months ago, took to social media to vent about the hurt he said endured under Boakai and the Unity Party.
According to Costa, Boakai owes him an apology for acting on allegations by members of the party that Costa wanted to have the UP standard bearer assassinated — which he believes may be why, among other reasons, Boakai did not choose him as running mate.
A disappointed Costa eventually separated from Boakai, though he now admits that the UP standard bearer’s choice of Jeremiah Koung as running mate was a good choice, which has worked out incredibly well so far.
Recounting the breadth of resourcefulness Costa claims he brought to the Boakai campaign, he admits to having masterminded the dismantling of the four Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) which, at the time, included the Unity Party (UP), the Alternative National Congress (ANC), the Liberty Party (LP) and the All Liberian Party (ALP).
According to Costa, the plot to dismantle the CPP was out of fear that ANC standard bearer, Alexander B. Cummings, would have used his financial resources and wherewithal to gain an edge over the UP standard bearer when it came time to decide, through a primary, who would head the CPP ticket.
The seed of division was sown when Benoni Urey, political leader of the ALP, claimed that Cummings had tampered with the framework agreement that established the CPP. Though the claim was never proven, Urey ordered his party’s exit, followed by LP, and finally — albeit reluctantly — by Boakai’s UP.
Cummings managed to salvage the CPP through an alliance with a faction of the Liberty Party led by its chairman Musa Hassan Bility, and rebuilt the group from there, branding their campaign “The Fixers”. The salvaged CPP found itself running a dual political campaign — one against fellow opposition candidate Boakai, and another against incumbent candidate Weah.
Costa, a member of Urey’s ALP, formed an alliance with Boakai’s UP and their campaign was branded the “Rescue Mission”. Costa claims he came up with that moniker.
But Cummings’ woes did not end there. The ‘tampered framework agreement’ allegation landed him in court for many months, causing him tremendous financial, emotional and other expenses — an extent, pundits believe, was quite unnecessary, given that the CPP had already fallen apart.
The case was eventually dismissed — albeit with significant political damage to Cummings.
Now with the real potential of being elected president, Boakai has called on his former foes to help augment his standing in order to “rescue” Liberia from incumbent George Manneh Weah.
Perhaps the one thing they all agree on is that Weah has failed the country and must be voted out. This has been the mantra of all former and present constituent members of the CPP.
As the Chinese proverb goes: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Will Cummings, Costa, Gongloe and others amalgamate their forces with Boakai in their common desire to see Weah defeated in the runoff? The ball is in Boakai’s court — and a few servings of humble pie.
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