“No Due Process”

-Senator Accuses UP Over His Suspension

By Esau J. Farr

Nimba County Senator, Thomas Grupee has officially resigned from the former ruling Unity Party (UP).

He made the disclosure Tuesday, April 9, 2019 when he appeared on a local radio station (OK FM) in Monrovia.

According to him, his decision to tender in his resignation as member of the opposition UP was triggered by his suspension from the party by its Executive Committee in a Facebook press release.

The Nimba County Senator argued that he was not given due process leading to his suspension by the Executive Committee of the party and therefore there was no need for him to be a part of a ‘marriage that was no longer compatible’.

“I was not given due process leading to my suspension; I was a part of the Executive Committee meeting that decided our suspension as senators of the former ruling Unity Party, but I left the meeting before the decision to suspend our membership with the party was taken,” Senator Grupee told OK FM 99.5 in Monrovia.

Commenting on the document used to suspend him along with seven other senators of the party, Senator Grupee alleged that he did not receive any official communication from the UP in relation to his suspension, but a Facebook press release on the private Facebook page of UP’s Assistant Secretary General, Mohammed Ali (Mo Ali).

“I did not receive any official communication to my suspension; I only saw a Facebook post on the private page of Mo Ali suspending us and at the same time ordering us to appear for investigation,” he told journalists.

Recently, the former ruling Unity Party suspended eight (8) of its senators at the Legislature for reportedly not respecting the mandate of the party not to vote for the impeachment of former Associate Justice, Kabineh Ja’neh.

Other collaborating parties including those of the opposition parties in Liberia, like the Liberty Party and the National Democratic Coalition have also followed suit and immediately suspended their senators who were reportedly involved with the impeachment of the immediate former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Bench. TNR