MONROVIA – Bomi County Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe, Jr., has lambasted the former ruling Unity Party (UP’s) newly endorsed standard bearer for the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) standard bearer post, ex-Vice President Joseph Nyuma Boakai.
Senator Snowe, a former partisan of the Unity Party, has called out ex-VP Boakai, for what the Bomi lawmaker among others, termed the UP political leader’s inability to trust partisans of his party to vote him as standard bearer for the CPP at it impending convention.
He accuses former VP Boakai of subjecting partisans of the UP to coercion and intimidation.
Referring to former Vice President Boakai, Senator Snowe, over the weekend, wrote on his official Facebook page: “I am still in shock that someone wanting to become president of a country wouldn’t trust the partisans or delegates of his own party to vote for him, but rather subject them to coercion and intimidation.
He inferred that former VP Boakai is embroiled into mischiefs, classifying such as the “CPP shenanigans.”
Snowe’s assertions come amid recent deepening woes within the CPP, with its leaders seemingly not fully collaborating in so many ways, evidenced by their public disagreements on several issues, resulting to heated exchanges, while supporters of constituent members of the collaboration most times resort to the public denigration of heads of one another’s party.
The CPP’s woes mainly centered on allegations of the violation of its Framework document, the alleged altercation of the same document, copy of which was sent to the National Elections Commission (NEC), as well as the process leading to the election of its standard bearer for the 2023 presidential election, among others.
Former Vice President Boakai and his Unity Party, allegedly with the backing of the leaders of two other constituent members of the collaboration, Liberty Party’s Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence and All Liberia Party’s Benoni Urey, are being accused by the political leader of the Alternative National Congress’ Alex Cummings, of maneuvering to circumvent the CPP’s Framework document, by recently pushing to introduce the bloc system of voting, instead of delegates vote casting, as enshrined in the Framework document.
Howbeit Snowe is of the opinion that those opting for the bloc system of voting have hidden agenda, indicating that “here is the plan; the Unity Party will have all its delegates sign the resolution and have it notarized. The ALP, though I am not sure have up to 310 members, will find just enough signatures and repeat what the Unity Party would do. The Liberty Party is split and the pro democrats in there wouldn’t allow that to happen. Therefore, they will vote independently during the process. As for the ANC, they are sure of what they want as a party and believe in the independence of their delegates. They wouldn’t even entertain such a process that they perceive as being undemocratic.”
Showe goes on to reveal what he predicts to be the outcome of such plan, by averring that Boakai’s Unity Party and the ALP would vote in bloc and lock 620 votes, adding, “The two factions in the Liberty Party will split their votes between Joseph Boakai of the UP and Alex Cummings of the ANC. With this formula, Boakai will need just one vote, just one person preferably from Liberty Party, to win the process.”
The Bomi Senator claims the rationale behind Boakai and his supporters’ intent to introduce a bloc form of voting for the election process of a standard bearer of the CPP, is to put ANC’s Cummings out of contention.
“It is so clear that this process in only intended to kick Cummings and the ANC out of contention. Once there is block vote, Cummings should consider himself out,” Snowe lamented.
He added: “It still beats my imagination that any democratic institution, in this day and age, could do that. I just listened to Cummings press conference and it seems to me that he still doesn’t understand the game.”
He concluded by expressing shock over the actions of Boakai and those backing him, indicating, “ I am still in shock that someone wanting to become president of a country wouldn’t trust the partisans or delegates of his own party to vote for him, but rather subject them to coercion and intimidation. CPP shenanigans…..”
