- As ANC Swells, CDC Contracts
As political actors in Liberia begin to collaborate and reorganize themselves in preparation for the presidential and legislative elections in 2023, the dynamics of the country’s political landscape appear to be undergoing a sea change.
While the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) of President George Manneh Weah is facing what pundits call “political shrinkage,” the opposition Alternative National Congress (ANC) of Mr. Alexander Benedict Cummings has started to garner vital support and a mass-based movement.
Dr. Toga Gayewea McIntosh, a crucial member of the Governing Council of the CDC, recently defected from the group and gave his support to the presidential campaign of Alexander Cummings, a former executive at Coca-Cola who is now a political leader in the ANC.
In the declaration of support that Dr. McIntosh delivered at noon on Wednesday, August 3, 2022, he claimed that he is worried and very concerned about the road that Liberia is following, which he believes is in the wrong direction.
In addition to this, he has issued a directive that the LPDP remove him from his position on the Governing Council of the CDC and nominate another political appointee in his place.
He asserted that the leadership of the coalition, which he claimed included members of the Governing Council, did not or could not appropriately control the misdirection in which our dear Mama Liberia is heading.
According to Dr. McIntosh, the Liberian people demonstrated their intense yearning for change by voting in overwhelming numbers for the CDC in 2017, but their hopes have been dashed by the government as well as the leadership of the ruling coalition. He stated that the elections had long since passed, and the “promised hope” for our people had turned into a “lost cause.”
Dr. McIntosh, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs and one of the most accomplished economists in Liberia, argued that although faces and names might have changed in the landscape of governance, “the promised hope for our people has become a “illusory hope” to many.
In addition, on Thursday, August 4, 2023, a mass-based movement that goes by the name ABC Movement for Real Change gave its support to the presidential campaign of Alexander Cummings, who is the ANC Standard Bearer. According to the organization, their base of operations for the more than 82,000 people who are members of the group is in seven of Liberia’s fifteen counties.
The organization stated, as they were presenting their petition, that their goal is founded on three pillars: good governance, accountability, and transparency and integrity.
Meanwhile, the United People’s Party (UPP), which is one of the constituent parties in the Grand Coalition, has tendered its association with the Memorandum of Understanding with the Coalition for Democratic Change, which will take immediate effect.
According to the United People’s Party (UPP), the current leadership of President George Manneh Weah is not living up to the commitment contained in the MOU signed in October 2017 that brought Weah to power and, subsequently, the MOU signed in March 2022, which is geared toward re-electing him. Both MOUs were signed as part of the October 2017 and March 2022 MOUs. As a result, it is no longer possible for it to remain committed to the aforementioned document.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) inability to meet the expressly stated and generally accepted expectation of UPP as outlined in the collaboration document dated October 2017, as well as the CDC’s repeated failure to deliver on the promises it made in the Memorandum of Understanding dated March 2022, “according to a letter that was signed by Susanna Lorpu Mator-Seton, who is acting as the National Chairman of the UPP.
A resolution with five counts was passed on July 27 in Monrovia and contained the UPP matrix of the more than two-thirds votes of the Executive Committee in favor of it pulling out of the arrangement with the CDC.
The following is an excerpt from what it said: “The Executive Committee of the United People’s Party, with more than two-thirds majority in favor, does thus withdraw from every and all electoral partnership processes with the Congress for Democratic Change, with whatever nomenclature withstanding.”
Dr. McIntosh made these profound remarks during a powerful speech that he delivered at the national headquarters of the ANC. He said, “I concluded in my search for a realistic answer, that any needed result or outcome from a governance process depends heavily upon the demonstration of the leadership team that is possessed with a clear visionary path, uncompromising commitments, and a collective sense of purpose.”
“My evaluation of the presidential candidates indicates that Mr. Alexander B. Cummings (ABC) has most of all that it takes to serve adequately as captain of a well-prepared team to rescue our dear country, Liberia, out of the doldrums of the miseries and depression we are experiencing today.”
“It is against this conviction that I, Toga Gayewea McIntosh, do hereby, through this platform, publicly endorse the presidential bid of Candidate Alexander B. Cummings of the Alternative National Congress (ANC), and to pledge my support for the ABC Real Change Revolution,” McIntosh said. “It is against this conviction that I, Toga Gayewea McIntosh, do hereby, through this platform, publicly endorse the presidential bid of Candidate Alexander
He stated that his selection of Cummings as the candidate for president was not a whim but rather a planned decision that was made after a number of discussions and musings on the matter.
Given the current state of Liberia, Dr. McIntosh acknowledged that all Liberians of sound mind must look and act beyond party politics, family relations, and friendships in the interest of our motherland, as Liberians have no choice but to regroup and work more diligently and honestly to rescue the country from the current deep hole she finds herself in. This is because Liberians have no choice but to rescue the country from the current deep hole she finds herself in.
Dr. McIntosh is quoted as saying, “As a citizen, but also as someone who helped get the current leadership elected, I feel a moral duty to my fellow Liberians to call a spade a spade.” This statement was made in reference to the fact that Dr. McIntosh was involved in the election process. Things are not going well, and they are only going to get worse. Our dear mother Liberia is currently in a coma-like state. Therefore, saving our beloved Liberia should be the top priority on the agenda for the Liberian government. Putting Liberia’s interests first in everything that we do is the single most critical thing we can do for this cause. It is our responsibility to make the changes that are within our power right now in order to provide our nation the kind of future that we envision for it.”
Dr. McIntosh emphasized that Liberia needs “a new kind of thinking” in its approach to growth and development. In addition, the country needs to rewrite a new narrative to ensure its survival and continued development, and it also needs to redefine the political structures and economic directions of the nation state.
“I am not talking about merely switching party names and actors in order to repeat the same unsuccessful strategies of the past,” the speaker said. In order to establish a new Republic of Liberia, we have to make a clean break with the country’s history. This is an absolute necessity and a prerequisite if our beloved nation is to be rescued from the downward spiral of underdevelopment and if our people are to be rescued from the ignominy of abject poverty “.
The name Alexander Benedict Cummings. Dr. McIntosh noted that in order to bring about genuine change that would free Liberia and its people from the current strangling, he has displayed exceptional insight, amazing vision, and exemplary and purposeful leadership. He believes that these qualities have enabled him to be successful.
The following is what Dr. McIntosh claims, “ABC offers a lot of administrative and managerial expertise, as well as broad worldwide contacts, notably in the community of international businesspeople, which he brings to the table. He has a track record of being a diligent worker, a dedication to doing his duty, and a crystal clear vision on how to lead the march for Liberia to regain all of the lost years that our country has experienced.”
In the meantime, Dr. McIntosh has cautioned that 2023 presents another opportunity to rescue the country, which Liberians must accomplish because the country has “been brought down on its knees for the last four and a half years.”
“Liberia is technically bankrupt in the various sectors of our economy and society,” which means that higher levels of confidence in Liberia are required on both the international and domestic levels. This increased level of confidence will lead to renewed investments and respectability, which are necessary to start the process of revitalization, growth, and sustained development.
It has been said that Mr. Lewis Brown and Madam Medina Wesseh, two outstanding propagandists and political actors, are all in queued up to endorse Cummings’s campaign for the presidency. This is a rumor that has been passed about.
Because of this pattern of events, it is reasonable to assert that the support basis for the ANC is expanding while the support base for the CDC is contracting.
