The National Patriotic Party (NPP) and the Liberia People’s Democratic Party (LPDP) have clarified that a recent joint statement signed by leaders of the three constituent political parties, including the Congress for Democratic Change that formed the Coalition for Democratic Change was a declaration of intent and not a final agreement.
The NPP and LPDP, two constituent parties of the Coalition, in a joint press statement said the reaffirmation document signed by the three constituent political parties is just an expression of their intent to work together in the 2023 presidential and legislative elections.
On September 8, 2022, the LPDP, NPP and the Congress for Democratic Change signed a joint statement, reaffirming their commitment to work together during next year’s presidential and legislative elections.
However, there has been widespread misinformation, indicating the recent reaffirmation document that their leaders signed is the final coalition agreement that will guide them to 2023.
According to the NPP and the LPDP, the reaffirmation set the basis for all three parties to, through their respective national conventions, as will be mandated by their respective national executive committees, draw up a formal framework document.
The joint statement said the framework document will, among other things, spell out interests of the parties in the governance process of the country and procedure for selecting legislative candidates.
Both parties added that the agreement defined by the framework document will be signed by at least two-thirds of members of their respective national executive committees in line with constitutions of their respective parties, and guidelines and regulations of the National Elections Commission governing formation of alliances, coalitions and mergers of political parties.
The NPP and LPDP joint press statement was signed by Andrew Peters and Eric Kpayea, Secretary Generals and approved by Senator James Biney and Mr. Moses Kollie, National Chairmen, respectively.
Five years since they took power after winning the presidency in 2017, all has not been rosy in the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change, as the NPP has suffered intra-party conflicts, while some members of the LPDP and CDC are dissatisfied about jobs distribution.
Recently, some members of the national youth congress and the constituent coordinators of the LPDP expressed dissatisfaction on the agreement that brought them into marriage, calling on their leaders, Moses Kollie and Alex Tyler to withdraw their signatures.
According to them, both Chairman Kollie and Political Leader Tyler should recall their signatures because they (youths and constituent coordinators) are not happy with the manner their party has been treated in terms of governance of the country.
They complained that there has been unfair distribution of jobs in the government especially, political appointments.
Besides, the leadership of the NPP has been locked in a legal battle between its embattled chairman Senator James Birney and political leader, Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor.
But the case was resolved by the Supreme Court and the lower court gave the James Biney leadership 45 days to take the party to national convention and elect new corps of leadership, which has been scheduled for October.
The Congress for Democratic Change has had its own share of internal strife with reports of dissatisfaction among some members because of alleged failure of leaders to offer them jobs.
Some aggrieved CDCians left the party because they have not benefitted from the revolution that they struggled for over the years.
The trio in 2017 signed an agreement that subsequently gave birth to the now ruling Coalition for Democratic Change.
The tripartite agreement was expected to be reviewed by all three constituent political parties ahead of the 2023 elections. Editing by Jonathan Browne