PHOTO: LP’s offices besieged
By Augustine Octavius, augustineoctavius@gmail.com
The internal confusion within the opposition Liberty Party (LP), founded by the late Cllr. Charles Brumskine, does not seem to be going away any time soon over allegations of tampering with the party’s constitution.
The divided forces are the LP’s political leader, Grand Bassa County Senator Nyonblee Karnga on one hand and Chairman Musa Bility on the other, with the latter vehemently denying that he altered the party’s constitution.
Over the weekend, the rift in the party scaled up with a group of youths under the “majority bloc” of the LP Youth League briefly held the party’s National Chairman and other members of the executive committee hostage at the LP headquarters in Monrovia’s Sinkor suburb.
The youths’ spokesman, Walter Blamo claimed that Chairman Bility and party’s Secretary General, Martin Kollah have clandestinely made changes in the constitution of the Liberty Party without the knowledge of the political leader.
Mr. Blamo maintained that they are determined to ensure that these officials will be arrested by the LP partisans and handed over to the Liberia national Police for further investigation.
After a while, the protesters were dispread by officers of the anti-riot unit of the Liberia National Police who came to the rescue of the LP executive committee.
Meanwhile, Liberty Party’s Secretary General, Martin Kollah has indirectly accused his political leader, Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence of being the brain behind the protest at the Party’s headquarters.
Secretary Kollah on Sunday morning (September 12, 2021) posted on his official social media account (Facebook) highlighting the amount of time Senator Nyonblee Karnga Lawrence had visited the National Elections Commission regarding the current constitutional crisis within LP.
According to him, the political leader went to the National Elections Commission three times but rejected by the commission.
“Technically,” he went on, “this is over and the legal path to finding your way doesn’t look good; now you have resulted to violence”.
Recently, Senator Lawrence wrote the National Elections Commission of Liberia, requesting for the return of Liberty Party’s constitution because of alleged alteration by Chairman Musa Bility and the Secretary General, Martin Kollah.
Mr. Kollah has also reminded his political leader of how the constitutional crisis is over within their political institution and at the same time warned her against the violent path she is following.
For some time now, confusion has been rocking the Liberty Party over claims and counter claims on alteration of the party’s constitution
Some political analyst say the crisis within the Liberty Party is a damaging coincidence, amid the growing crisis within the four-party Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) in which LP is a part; in the run up to the exercise to pick the CPP’s Standard Bearer for the 2023 presidential election.