Former Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor has dismissed rumors of a fractured coalition, with the CDC and NPP. Speaking at the Congress for Democratic Change’s groundbreaking ceremony for its new national headquarters on Saturday, October 18, 2025, she affirmed her party’s unwavering allegiance to its long-time political partner (CDC).
“You will hear plenty of rumors that the NPP is here; the NPP is there,” Taylor stated before a crowd of thousands. “We are part and parcel of this process and will make our full contribution.” The National Patriotic Party (NPP) is a founding member of the Coalition for Democratic Change. This alliance, formed in 2017 alongside the CDC and the National People’s Democratic Party (NPDP), successfully elected George Manneh Weah to the presidency.
Taylor served as his vice president. However, the coalition’s defeat in the 2023 presidential election led to intense scrutiny. Political observers had speculated that the NPP was distancing itself from the CDC. Internal disagreements and shifting loyalties were cited as potential causes for a split. Taylor’s public remarks and presence at the CDC event are seen as a significant political maneuver.
Taylor framed her support as both philosophical and financial. She announced an initial personal contribution of US$5,000 toward the headquarters’ construction. The gesture drew loud cheers and sustained applause from partisans, executives, and guests. “For me, today is more than just a groundbreaking — it is a renewal of friendships,” she declared.
She described the event as a critical step toward unifying the opposition ahead of the 2029 general elections. Taylor pledged the NPP’s ongoing support until the project is completed. She characterized the new building as a symbol of collective resilience and a commitment to people-centered politics. Addressing former President Weah directly, she said, “Mr. President, we’re honored to be part of this occasion — and congratulations to you. This new home will stand as the people’s house.”
The ceremony’s keynote moment came from Weah himself. The CDC’s political leader officially performed the ground-breaking ritual. He framed the event as a testament to the party’s enduring spirit, which he argued exists beyond physical structures. “The CDC is not in the walls of the structure. The CDC lives in our hearts and minds!” Weah proclaimed. The crowd, clad in the party’s signature blue, erupted in agreement. “So you can break the bricks; you can break the walls; but we remain standing, steadfast in our love and commitment to the ideals of our dear institution.”
The party’s previous headquarters was lost following a court-ordered eviction related to a lease dispute. Weah, however, positioned the event within a broader political narrative. He framed it as a conflict between his party and the administration of President Joseph Boakai. “Despite the evil and constant disregard and abuse of the rule of law by the Unity Party government, the vast majority of the Liberians have shown their empathy, love, and support to us,” Weah stated.
“Our nation has experienced too many breakdowns… Ours is a commitment to rebuild, because we are builders and not destroyers,” he said. “They break, we build. We lead, they follow.” Weah sought to reassure his supporters, reminding them of a promise he made after leaving office. “I urged you to be hopeful, pleading that I would build our new party headquarters in record time. This is my promise and my gift to you.”
He expressed full confidence in the construction team, led by Professor Nidan L. Hage, to complete the project swiftly. Weah also extended an olive branch to their new neighbors in Congo Town, promising the CDC would be “a good neighbor.” He concluded with a fiery call to action. “Let us remain resilient. Let us recalibrate. Let us work hard because the people of Liberia depend on us to deliver them from the claws of these charlatans and mountebanks.”
Another prominent voice echoed the theme of political resurrection. Former Speaker Cllr. J. Fonati Koffa described the new headquarters as a powerful symbol of Weah’s anticipated return to power in 2029. Koffa chairs the CDC Headquarters Construction Committee.
He said the new complex will stand as a monument to resilience. He referred to the “unprecedented eviction and demolition” of the party’s previous headquarters by the Unity Party-led government.
“This is a sophisticated edifice that will emerge as a symbol that truth crushed to the ground will rise again,” Koffa declared. “It is our vision that by the time we reach 2029, this entire area will be a CDC complex. It is from this complex that will rise the new mantle of leadership that the Liberian people will give to President Weah in 2029.”
Koffa accused the government of a deliberate attempt to erase the CDC from Liberia’s political history. “In an unprecedented eviction move, the government of Liberia went to the headquarters of the CDC and destroyed it,” he said. “They intended to erase this noble party from the annals of history. But they got the opposite effect.”
He launched a critique of the Unity Party-led administration. Koffa accused the government of failing the Liberian people and of weaponizing state security forces for political ends. He recounted a recent conversation with a UP supporter who boasted that “the UP knows how to use power.”
Koffa said his reply was unequivocal. “If knowing how to use power means turning the police that should protect protesters into a shoot-and-kill death squad,” he stated, “we don’t want to know that kind of power.”
The ground-breaking ceremony has firmly re-established the CDC coalition’s public unity. It has also set a defiant and optimistic tone for the party’s rebuilding efforts as it positions itself for the next electoral contest.
