…The Movers And Shakers

The ruling party, Congress for Democratic Change-CDC, long stay in political ‘wilderness’ for 12 years strengthened many of its partisans, especially those whom some refer to as the ‘big five to stand out.
A number of people this paper spoke with said the agenda for running the country isheavily operated by some citizens of Lofa who are considered as the ‘big five’ at the highest level.
The party is dubbed the grassroots political party for the ‘commoners’, but it is becoming clear that key operatives of the party are from northern Liberia, specifically Lofa County.
Although it is the right of the party to structure its leadership, however, political pundits believe that Lofaians are gradually dominating the highest portion of the party.
“If you see the way things are proceeding in the country, five or six persons are in command and control most of the decisions taken,” Titus M. Davies, a student of political science of the University of Liberia said.
“For me, I see that those key people who run this country behind the scene come from Lofa. Politically, it is not good. This can lead to ethic politics; as done in the case of the former president Samuel Doe. See what he did when he brought his tribal people,” he added.
Other pundits think that this is due to the defeat of the party in the 2017 general and presidential elections and as such; it is doing everything possible to gain the trust of the people ahead of 2023.
The governing party was defeated in 2017 in Lofa County after winning fourteen of the fifteen counties in an overwhelming manner.
Lofa County is the home of the then Vice President and now political leader of the opposition Unity Party, who defeated the party with 91,324 or 78.5% to 8,194 or 7.0%.
Lofa Connection:
The current Chairman of the CDC, Mulbah Morlu, Chairman of the Revolutionary National Youth League, Jefferson TambaKoijee, The Minister of State for Presidential Affairs and former chairman, Nathaniel McGill is from lower Lofa, now Gbarpolu County; the current Chief of Protocol to President George Weah, FindaBundo is from Lofa County. The Secretary General of the party, Janga Kowo is from Lofa as well.
Besides, the Vice President, Jewel Howard-Taylor has a root from Sanoyea District in Lofa County. The current Montserrado County Senator, Saah Joseph is from the county and if elected, Representative Thomas Fallah will join his Lofa brother in the Liberian Senate.
“So, if they decide in the future to get anything done, they will ensure it is done. See, they are pushing for the construction of the Bong, LofaMenikonma highway project. And see the project from Ganta, Grand Gedeh county is still on hold,” Robert S. Marshall, a citizen of Maryland said.
The Big Five
Liberians and political pundits believe that Mulbah Morlu, Jefferson Koijee, Nathaniel McGill, FindaBundo and Representative Thomas Fallah are the ‘big five’ of the governing CDC.
According to some Liberians, they are seen as the runners of the Weah’s administration for the past three years.
“As a common person, this kind of politics is not good. Even though we have been saying that this is a South Eastern government, but clearly, the Lofians are dominating than those from the South East. The way those from the north are dominating, is not compared to the rest,” Sylvester S. Chea, a political commentator said.
He added; “we are calling on the president to think twice. They are getting very powerful. Who knows tomorrow? In any political establishment where few tribal people are very powerful, there are some semblance of in house fighting or some form of hatred. We love our president and we think he should look at these most powerful people he has surrounded himself with,”
But when contacted, there was no response from Mr. Morlu.
Comments are closed.