Addressing Dr. Tipoteh’s Fears and Concerns of a Partisan Bryant

9 May 04

Dr. Togbah Nah Tipoteh, the presidential aspirant of the Liberian People’s Party, says interim chair Charles Gyude Bryant has embarked on schemes and policies to promote a protégé, and therefore lead to a non-level playing field come October 20005 when the race for the big prize, the presidency, begins.

"The Chairman already has a candidate for the Presidency, the candidate is the Chairman's most senior and principal advisor," the long-time political activist declared, according to news report.

In his characteristic manner of always avoiding personalities in political discourse, Dr. Tipoteh avoided naming names even when the Bryant candidate in the not-so hidden closet  the lawyer Varney Sherman, is known. It is said that Mr. Sherman made Bryant the interim chair in the first place. Thus had Mr. Bryant won a national election, it would be foolish to accuse him of backing a party member after his term expires. But he did not win an election. He was chosen by a select few, rebels, on the principle that he would be neutral, and that he is conducting midnight meetings to clone his political self is a violation of this principle

Mr. Varney Sherman’s positions within the regime---as a key and powerful advisor to Bryant, as a leading member of the Liberian Action Party (LAP) already declaring victory in the words of one its members, Harry Greeves, Jr., and as a lawyer for the National Bank of Liberia---provide clear evidence of conflict of interest. What is interesting is that Dr. Tiopteh seems to be the only politician to raise the issue. What others fail to realise is that elections are not rigged on the day of the ballot counting. They are rigged during the preparatory stages. It seems Mr. Bryant, the much-hailed “neutral” politician, is bent on ensuring the continuity of his regime in different clothing come October 2005. He must not be allowed to get away with it after so much blood has been spilt for a transparent process free from manipulations.

This raises another issue—that of the use of state resources for political campaigns in backing the choice of those in power and therefore in charge of public money. One of the greatest causes of the violence that prevailed after Charles Taylor’s election was the complete endorsement of his theft of state resources for political project.  He sold the rainforest, mortgaged the Maritime Fund, and sold monopolies to Lebanese sharks, all to finance his campaign. Despite this glaring evidence of crude theft, the world declared the end result of this as free and fair. If Charles Taylor did it and got away, Bryant may be concluding, he, too, can and escape. He should not.  After all, it is business as usual, even if he promised upon his selection this would not be business as usual.   

The spirit of the Accra agreement that stopped the shells from falling on Monrovia was not to give a small clique of manipulators a long rope on which to prepare its political projects. But it seems this is now the impression. The Liberian Action Party has assumed the role of a ruling party, stuffing its foot soldiers in key positions to circumvent the role and influence of individuals occupying statutory political positions in the regime. This kitchen cabinet is now more preoccupied with schemes for its imagined longevity than any else.

LAP’s recent position, questioning and rejecting the credible head of the National Elections Commission, Francis Johnson-Morris, on her statement that the conduct of the elections will be a Liberian affair with international backing, indicates how this group believes it has the final say on events leading to the polls, and it is the arrogance that must be halted. After all, the 1997 elections were conducted in effect by the Nigerians and what transpired, such as Nigerian soldiers marking ballots for illiterate voters for Charles Taylor, remains vivid in the minds of many. Taylor’s own confession that Nigerians in Liberia voted for him to prove his magnanimity for Nigerians, dozens of them his rebels executed, is another reminder of the pitfall of clamouring for foreign conducted electoral process. This must a Liberian affair, whatever the self-appointed judges in LAP may want. Fortunately, key steps are already underway to ensure that it must be. A new police force, totally Liberian, is emerging to be in charge of the polls, no longer gun-totting ECOMOH soldiers whipping voters to line-up and mark ballot for their pre-determined choice. And above all, there is someone in charge with a credible record of ensuring justice. The issue of a credible team to conduct the polls has been settled, at least for now. Ms. Johnson was Supreme Court Chief Justice, and afterward head of the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission. She was arrested by Charles Taylor’s thugs and dumped amongst hardened male criminals on the excuse of Paul Mulbah, then Chief of police, that it was a case of mistaken identity for a lady who swore in Charles Taylor as president.  An individual with such encounter with injustice is unlikely to be intimidated to bend for manipulators.

In a surprising twist, the party that has come to Ms. Johnson’s defence in outlawing unauthorised campaigning is the National Patriotic Party, Charles Taylor’s makeshift political outfit emerging from his rebel National Patriotic Front of Liberia. Yet it was this brutal machine that threatened another elections commissioner in 1997, G. Henry Andrews, that he would not live if he postponed the polls.  It seems LAP, so imbued with the dream that this is its opportunity that must not be lost, has placed itself on a collision course, even before the whistle to start the game, to ensure that the process is built on its wishes for victory a la Charles Taylor, and before him, Samuel Doe.   

What is required to ensure a resounding defeat of such schemes is a campaign to ensure that Bryant remains what he is—an interim chair. In doing this, it is vital to insist that Mr. Sherman relinquishes his official positions in government if he is to contest the presidency. The same rule should apply to all to guarantee that state resources and connections are not used for personal political campaigns.

--Tom Kamara 
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