PHOTO: Alexander Cummings, ANC leader

By Our Reporter

A statement from the Alternative National Congress (ANC) of Liberia led by Alexander B. Cummings released today, Friday, shows that the crisis in the four-party group, Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) is going from bad to worse, with the ANC leader protesting against “repeated violations of the Framework Agreement”.

This agreement is between the ANC, the Liberty Party, the All Liberian Party and the former ruling party of ex-Vice President Joseph Boakai.

Confusion has gripped the CPP in recent months, ahead of their planned primaries to choose a Standard Bearer who should occupy the presidential ticket for the CPP in the 2023 elections.

Mr. Cummings is said to have walked out of a CPP meeting, amid the growing rife in the body.

Below is the full text of a press statement just released by the ANC’s Secretary General, Attorney Aloysius Toe:

ANC Press Statement

Monrovia, Liberia. September 10, 2021: Today, despite his best efforts to halt and reverse the repeated violations of the Framework Agreement by Political Leaders of the Collaboration of Political Parties (CPP), the Political Leader of the Alternative National Congress (ANC), Mr. Alexander B. Cummings, was forced to walk out of a meeting of Political Leaders. In spite of Mr. Cummings’ request for one, today’s meeting was convened without an agenda. 

The ANC is a constituent member-party of the CPP. The others include the Unity Party (UP), the Liberty Party (LP), and the All Liberian Party (ALP).

It can be recalled that the Political Leaders of the CPP have recently engaged in the usurpation of the functions of the various organs and functionaries of the CPP in violation of the Framework Agreement. No such powers is reserved in the Framework Agreement for the reported actions of the Political Leaders, especially its repeated actions to usurp the functions and authority of the National Advisory Committee (NAC), the National Executive Committee (NEC), and the CPP Secretariat. 

Through its Political Leader, and after a review of the legal implications of the continued actions of the Political Leaders, the ANC has sought to call attention to these transgressions of the Framework Agreement, and to urge Political Leaders to self-correct and abide by the constitution of the CPP. The internal efforts of the Political Leader of the ANC to get his colleagues to self-correct and reverse course is unsuccessful. Today, again, the Political Leaders sought to proceed to implement a “decision” illegally reached by them without any color of authority in the Framework Agreement to do so. 

 Therefore, the Political Leader of the ANC, having failed to advise his colleagues to abandon their continued violations, was compelled to walk out of a meeting to continue the transgressions. This is without prejudice to the continued membership of the ANC in the CPP. This is simply intended to clearly state that neither the ANC nor its Political Leader, or any organ to which it is a member in the CPP, will continue to be permitted to take actions in violations of any of the provisions of the Framework Agreement which binds the four parties.