PHOTO: ANC leader Alexander Cummings
By Samuel G. Dweh, Freelance Journalist
+231886618906/776583266,samuelosophy@yahoo.com, samuelosophy1@gmail.com
Which of these two Liberians can fast-track the development of Mama Liberia: a person who had stayed longer time on the ‘business field’ (where residents are taught how to transform a Country’s natural resources and equitably share it with compatriots for fast-track beautification of the Country); or a person who had stayed on the ‘football field’ (where the business of the resident/player is managed by another person called ‘Manager’)?
The ‘alternative’ in the name of Mr. Alexander B. Cummings’s political party’—Alternative National Congress (ANC)—means he should apply ‘alternative method’ as his ‘presidential bait’ to attract the ‘electoral fishes’ (votes) of (majority) of other Liberians before and during the Country’s Presidential election (2023) It also means he should ‘change’ political opportunists (those who are drawn to him only for his money and only talk) and bring on board ‘political buddies’ (those who genuinely share his presidential vision and are sharing it, even though they are being rewarded now)
Mr. Simon Freeman, Political Leader of the Movement of Progressive Change (MPC), has indirectly shown the ANC Political Leader what should be his priority as long as his (Cummings’s) mission of defeating incumbent President George Manneh Weah in the Presidential Election (2023) is concern.
“We, leaders of opposition political parties, should discuss only the issues or the problems and show how they can be solved, rather than spending our resources and energies on always only criticizing President George Weah on his failures. When we only criticize, we make George Weah more popular and this will promote his chance for his re-election,” Mr. Freeman advised during his appearance on “Spoon Talk”, a prominent politicians-focused new Radio Station named Spoon FM, on its Sunday, August 7, 2022 edition, aired from 7:00pm. He has been repeating many of his solution methods on his personal Talk Show—“The Simon Freeman Show”—aired over more than three Liberians Radio Stations.
On this ‘advice’, any politically inclined Liberian would support his being Alexander B. Cunnings’s Running Mate (Vice President) Imagine two professional businessmen leading Liberia!
After serving at the top echelon of America-born global soft drink company, Coca-Cola, his patriotic instinct pricked him to ‘Presidentially develop’ his post-war Country (Liberia) through his vast corporate knowledge’ and nation-building ideas he had acquired at Coca-Cola’s Headquarter in America.
His ancestral root in Liberia is Maryland County—the region that produced Liberia’s most historically outstanding development-oriented President (William V.S. Tubman) There is no record on Liberia’s Presidency about any Liberia’s President—prior to or after Tubman’s Presidency—who had developed the Country equal to what this Marylander (William V.S.Tubman) did.
BRIEF ‘OUTSTANDING’ DEVELOPMENT-ORIENTED PRESIDENTIAL FOOTPRINTS OF WILLIAM V.S. TUBMAN
Through his ‘International Diplomacy Skill’, Liberia got a Ship from England (through Queen Elizabeth) Through his outstanding lobbying skill, Liberia got Sixteen million United States dollars (US$16,000,000) from the United States of America (through the Office of President John Fitzgerald Kenney) in 1965. This money, a product of the two Leaders’ meeting at President Kennedy’s U.S. Oval Office in 1961, was for construction of a “modern public hospital” (later named “John F. Kennedy Memorial Medical Center”), now situated at 20th and 23rd Streets, Sinkor, Monrovia, and three “High Schools”—“William V. S. Tubman High School” (now situated on 12th Street, Sinkor, Monrovia), “G. W. Gibson High School” (now standing at Capital Bye-Pass, Monrovia), and “New Port High School” (currently standing on New Port Street, Monrovia)
Another of President Tubman’s outstanding ‘national developmental footprints’ is creation of vehicular route connecting the central part of the Nation’s Capital to Liberia’s only standardized International Airport—named Robert International Airport. This route was named in memory of the whose Government constructed it: Tubman Boulevard.
His County, Maryland, still bears the features and aura of his ‘outstanding’ development-orientation. The County is the “most developed” of Liberia’s geopolitical entities constituting “Southeastern Liberia”. Many County-based members of the other Southeastern Counties—Grand Kru (the current most under-developed among the Counties, from 1991 to 2022), Grand Gedeh, Rivercess, Rivergee and Sinoe—depend on Maryland for ‘University education’ (at William V.S. Tubman University), for ‘Vacation’ (due to Maryland’s tarred and clean Streets, the A-Class status of the County’s Hotels, Guest Houses, Entertainment Centers, and clean beaches)
From available National Archival Records, the only President who came ‘closer’ to Tubman’s Presidential footprints of development (was) Only Samuel Kanyon Doe (Presidential tenure: 1980-1990) of Grand Gedeh County. One of Doe’s outstanding Presidential footprints is Liberia’s first International Sports Pitch (named in his memory), situated in Paynesville
Anybody with knowledge of Alexander B. Cummings’ ‘success stories’ in the ‘Business World’ (with Coca-Cola) will be aware of his having the “developmental gene” in his kinsman (William V.S. Tubman)
Back to Alexander B. Cummings…
Shortly after his arrival in Liberia, he founded a Political Party—Alternative National Congress (ANC)—and an educational empowerment not-for-profit organization named Cummings Africa Foundation. The major focus of this NGO is to promote scientific inventions in Liberia, beginning from High Schools—for the scientific development of Liberia. In the first quarter of this year (2022), the Foundation held an Exhibition Fair at one of its partner-High Schools. Guests were marveled by students’ scientific productions. If this project continues, Liberia will have her own kind of “Albert Einstein” (a German Physicist who developed measurement of speed) or have a “Medical Scientist” who will one day take over from Liberia’s current International Medical Scientist Dr. Dougbeh Chris Nyan (when he has migrated to the “Great Beyond”). Unfortunately, Dr. Nyan now prefers living outside of Liberia throughout George Manneh Weah’s Presidency, because of the ruling Political Party’s demonstrated lack of interest in “scientific education”, and its “political strangulation” of nation-building project by extremely educated non-partisans who ‘criticize’ the Government on ‘continual poor governance’.
Back to Alexander B. Cummings…
In spite of his ‘international connection’, and expansive home-based electoral community that can catapult him to Liberia’s Presidency in 2023, he did a depression-causing “political miscalculation” by pulling his Political Party (ANC) into a political merger, named “Collaborating Political Parties (CPP)”, to flush out ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC)—headed by George Manneh Weah—in the Presidential election in 2023.
I got information, from some of my media friends, that says the other political parties’ leaders ‘persuaded’ him—because of his towering financial status— to be used as the ‘major sponsor’ of all the CPP’s political undertakings prior to and during the Presidential elections. But they (other political parties’ leaders) resisted his being the CPP’s Flag bearer for the presidential election in 2023. This is similar to a family’s unanimously declaring a member as a “financier” of all—or majority of—the family’s development projects, but prevented by “majority” of the other family members on his “representation” of the entire family on “Township Issues”
“When the political leader of one of the merged political parties was sick, he raced to Cummings to sponsor his medical trip abroad. Cummings did it and settled his medical bills in the foreign country’s hospital he was treated in,” one of my media colleagues doing Public Relations work for a member-Party of the CPP had told me during the Court case between Cummings and other CPP officials over the Merger’s contentious “Framework document” before the National Elections Commission and the Supreme Court.
Unlike ANC’s Cummings whose nation-building empowerment projects are extended beyond his political entity (ANC), the ‘national development’ of each of Cummings’ colleagues was restricted in his or her ‘family’ or ‘political circle’. This is nothing less than ‘political selfishness’.
On the premise of Universal Human Rights, the ANC’s Political Leader has opened his arms to Liberians living with disabilities (blind, wheelchair-mobile, crutches-mobile, etc.) than each of the other leaders of political entities constituting the CPP. My proof: The ANC has a Disability Department. This Unit was created in 2020. Its first Director was Madam Daytowon Paybayee (living with disability), but she later migrated to the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) and now heading the National Commission on Disabilities (NCD) on President George Manneh Weah’s appointment.
None of the other opposition political parties had a ‘disabled people’s section’ before Mr. Cummings appeared on Liberia’s political terrain.
HOW ALEXANDER B. CUMMINGS CAN INDEPENDENTLY WIN THE PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST
Those below are few of my ideas. I couldn’t download all from my mental box, due to space limitation problems in each of the newspapers to publish the article.
The best way to defeat an opponent in a Presidential contest is to begin developing or supporting other people’s development of vital sectors of the Country the incumbent President is disregarding, ignoring or isn’t giving much attention to. It is similar to competition between two men courting a lady for romantic relationship: The man who is now making the lady “happy”, by providing her “needs”, will defeat his rival who isn’t providing most of the lady’s needs and always “complaining” about factors preventing his “romantic obligations”.
One issue being overlooked by the incumbent Head of State (George Manneh Weah) is students being out of school on no school fees. The ANC Political Leader should fill this educational gap by establishing free “Tutorial Centers” for High School students across Liberia’s 15 Counties. A Tutorial Center are learning halls for teaching of National Curriculum subjects (English, Mathematics, Chemistry, etc.) and are for school drop-outs whose parents/guardians can’t get school fees, caused by the current sagged (dry) national economic environment created by the ruling CDC. Educated members of ANC can serve as Tutors. Political benefit of such educational solution method to the ANC: Beneficiaries (students) and their parents/guardians will give their votes to ANC’s Presidential candidate and Legislative aspirants in the Presidential and Legislative elections in 2023.
The incumbent Head of State or the ruling CDC hasn’t shown demonstrated interest in promotion of Liberia’s Talents (writing, music, painting, wood carving, etc.) and the Country’s Arts & Tourism sectors—two fast income-generating sectors identified by Presidents and ruling parties of other Countries. My suggested intervention strategies for ANC’s Political leader: Organize talent-promotion programs in Counties and rewards for all participants. For the Tourism and Arts sectors, organize “County Tourism & Arts Awards” programs, and create a body of special writers to produce Feature Articles on the program. Political benefits for ANC from these activities: Participants’ votes during national elections in 2023.
President George M. Weah or his ruling CDC is less interested (practically) in “attitudinal transformation” of young Liberians hooked on drugs (consumption of narcotic substances) Rather, he is supporting ‘militarization’ of them (giving berets to them) Point: Members of the ruling party’s unit—Council of Patriots (CoP) that brutalized protesting members of the Students Unification Party (SUP)—against ‘continual governmental failures’ on Liberia’s 175th Independence Day anniversary (July 26), 2022, in front of the U.S. Embassy were under the influence of narcotic substances (consumed)
How ANC’s Political Leader can ‘attitudinally transform’ the drugged youths: Organize Talent-Hunt or Talents-Exhibition Shows at various Headquarters of drugged youths, and offer little ‘participation fee’ to each person who did ‘personally produced song’ or ‘new dance’, and set a regular interactive meetings with them at a Field in each Community. My suggestion in this area is based on my personal knowledge of how Nigerian leaders transform ‘lawless’ citizens to ‘law-abiding’ and ‘developmentally productive’ citizens. Example: A now nationally popular Nigerian musician—stage name ‘Daddy ShowKey’—was once a professional armed robbers. His real name is John Odafe Asiemo, a product of one of Nigeria’s slum communities, and ghettos dotted area, named Ajegunle. Another Nigerian empathetically helped him on discovering his “musical talent” and paid for the recording of his debut songs at a musical studio. “Daddy Showkey” has performed at Presidential programs in his Country, travelled around the World, attitudinally transforming his compatriots into what he was doing, a and has created jobs for thousands of jobs for his hitherto financially disadvantaged compatriots.
Political benefits for ANC from this ‘attitudinal transformation’ wisdom: electoral votes, in general elections (2023) from many Liberians on such ingenious actions.
The incumbent Head of State or his ruling Political Party (CDC) isn’t interested in Liberia’s Professional Organizations (Writers’ Association, Music Union, etc.)—training nation builders. CDC’s Political Leader is a “musician”, for example, but Liberia’s independent music industry is financially crippled and majority of musicians are impoverished. How the ANC Political Leader should intervene: Financially support a national project (like production of a movie, hosting of a National Book Fair by the Writers’ Association, etc.) by any of them. Political benefits for ANC from this support: Votes during the Presidential and Legislative elections (2023) from (majority of) members of each professional body. Imagine Liberia’s creativity communities—constituting more than half of the Country’s population—casting their votes for ANC’s Presidential candidate because he pulled them out of poverty!
You can turn the love from somebody—supporter of your Presidential rival—towards you in a minute. The ‘strategies’ above can make that possible, especially during a time many of the incumbent President’s loyalists have jumped out of the ‘die-hard’ mental mode due to several heart failure-related deaths (on extreme financial hardship), “life-threatening” hunger, sickness, and insecurity (due mass drug addiction among the Country’s youth population)
The CDC’s loss of Senatorial elections (in the Sentorial By-Elections in 2020) in many of its “Strongholds” (example: Montserrado County) is a political hand writing on Liberia’s Presidential Wall. What is being written is this: “We, many of pro-President George Manneh Weah’s political loyalists, are grossly disappointed, we need a replacement.”
I, a professional writer, am available to work in the ANC’s Camp just for fast-track development of our Country—being practically ignored by my kinsman (President George Manneh Weah) or his ruling Coalition for Democratic Change.
However, I do not have a University degree, even though I’m a grammar tutor to university degree holder— including two Presidents’ speechwriters in 2011 and 2020, and the Ministry of Education (2022) on grammatical errors (over 49) in the Ministry’s Magazine.
About the Author:
Samuel G. Dweh is a member of the Wedabo ethnic group of Grand Kru County, situated in the South-Eastern part of Liberia. He’s a member of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL), and former president of the Liberia Association of Writers (LAW) He can be reached via: —+231 (0)886618906/776583266/samuelosophy@yahoo.com/samuelosophy1@gmail.com