But What Is Former Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor’s Position On The Latest Move?
PHOTO: Former President Charles Ghankay Taylor, NPP founding political leader leaving Liberia for exile back in August 2003
By Our Staff Writer
The National Patriotic Party of Liberia (NPP) founded by the jailed former Liberian President Charles Ghankay Taylor has announced its withdrawal from the ex-ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) party of former President George Manneh Weah.
Mr. Taylor is currently serving a 50-year jail sentence in Britain, after being convicted of aiding and abetting the war in neigbouring Sierra Leone, after agreeing to resign and go into exile in Nigeria in August 2003, amid LURD rebels besieged the capital, Monrovia. On his way into exile, the former Liberian leader said: “God willing, I will be back”.
According to the NPP, their withdrawal from the CDC takes immediate effect. And the NPP’s move follows earlier reports that the third party in the three-party Coalition, the Liberia People’s Democratic Party (LPDP) of former Lawmaker Moses Kollie were contemplating pulling out of the CDC as well.
Bomi County Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe, a former son-in-law of ex-President Taylor and other influential original stalwarts of the NPP are leading the latest withdrawal of the part from the CDC.
Sen. Snowe told the local OK FM radio recently that the NPP has seen it necessary at this time to reposition itself for the 2029 general elections.
NPP’s National Chairman, Cllr. George Sylvester Mulbah officially announced the party’s withdrawal from the CDC today, Monday, June 10, 2024, severing a political alliance with Weah’s CDC that has lasted for over six years.
It is said that the NPP played a significant role in bringing the former ruling to power in 2017, being the second largest party in the three-party coalition.
Meanwhile, the NPP has announced that it will not engage in any political alliance until 2028.
Since the withdrawal, the political leader of the NPP, former Vice President Jewel Howard, a one-time First Lady of Liberia, has not made any public statement regarding the latest move.