By: Wonderr K. Freeman, Attorney, CFCS

The idea of electing leaders to power is to improve the lives of citizens. On this score, Liberia’s fortunes have gone from bad to worse, and now to disastrous. What’s more, the people and parties that have led the nation down this road continue to dominate the political landscape. Many keen observers of the Liberian experience have come to the obvious conclusion that Liberia would be better off without the UP or CDC at the helm of power. A mere wish, however, is woefully insufficient. There must be a coherent strategy underpinning our good intentions, wishes, and aspirations. Only a common-sense coherent strategy can bring about significant change – ending the UP-CDC [malignant] dominance. So, toward this goal, and for those thinking likewise, here are top ten strategic considerations for toppling the decadent domination by the UP/CDC.

1. Admitting to the current reality: The election of 2023 lays bare a sad reality – the UP and the CDC, although detrimental to Liberia’s socio-economic and political fortunes, continue to dominate Liberian politics, and by extension, undermine Liberia’s capacity to overcome poverty, unemployment and destitution. As things stand, these two parties remain the favorites in Liberia, unfortunately.

2. Recognizing UP’s continuing grip: The Unity Party, as the current ruling party, is likely to maintain its dominance despite its current poor governing performance. The reason is clear: as the ruling party, they control the country’s resources and are the gatekeepers of jobs, business opportunities, and myriad other scarce resources. Much like the past, the current UP administration knows only one thing: to exchange government goodies for political loyalty. While this is arguably good for politics, it is bad news for development. This underscores the urgent need for a change of leadership in Liberia.

3. Recognizing that UP has failed, is failing, and will continue to fail: The UP has been in power for nearly a year and all indications are that they are failing, and they will continue along this path. This failure can be dichotomized in three perspectives:

1. The UP’s failure to improve the lives of Liberia – economically.
2. The UP’s failure to investigate, indict and prosecute past corruption.
3. The UP’s failure to “rescue” Liberia as promised; instead, it is multiplying the very corrupt practices that it came to power to “end”.

4. Recognizing that Unity Party’s failures are leading to CDC’s resurgence: The UP’s failure, as explained in count (3), is leading to the most unfortunate situation – a resurgence of the CDC. The CDC, which should by now be in disintegration mode and dying out, if all their “crimes” committed while in office were being systematically investigated and prosecuted. Instead, CDC is now experiencing a resurgence, as seen by the proactive and regular commentaries on national issues and their attempts to mobilize partisans by holding a series of well-attended rallies. If anyone doubts this reality, just look at the attendance of the recent “birthday bash” of Mr. George Weah, when thousands of CDCians converged on the party HQ to celebrate Mr. Weah; all this while, Weah was not even in Liberia. Mr. Weah’s status in Liberian politics is nearing cult-like proportions. It will be an abomination of historic proportions should he return to power. The only explanation for this is UP’s failure and an opposition-figurehead power vacuum that the CDC is brazenly trying to claim.

5. Recognizing the potential for a CDC vs. UP rematch: There has been only one by-election (i.e. the election for VP Koung’s vacant seat), and it was, sadly, another CDC-UP showdown. While this was not unexpected, coming on the heels of the [2023] election, continuing this dominance will portend disastrous consequences for Liberia’s body politic, prosperity, and development. Unfortunately, as things stand in Liberia, these two parties continue to dominate, with devasting consequences for Liberia’s development. All well-meaning Liberians should cringe at the potential for this status quo to continue.

6. Recognizing that the only logical option is “to forge a united front to end the UP-CDC [malignant] dominance: Liberia has other political voices, which, for now, are operating on the fringes. Frequently, they are derisively called the “one percenters” – a poignant reminder of the dismal performance of some well-regarded candidates in the 2023 elections when they failed to cross the one percent threshold. However, given that the “99 percenters” are actively destroying Liberia, it behooves the “one-percenters” to get their act together. If they don’t, this unfortunate reality will continue ad infinitum.   

7. Working in SILOS is politically suicidal: No amount of “good intentions” or “historical good deeds,” howbeit laudable, will be enough to dismantle the UP-CDC’s malignant dominance. If prior good deeds were a sufficient yardstick, neither the UP nor the CDC would be dominant today. Parties hoping to topple the UP-CDC dominance must now come to the definitive realization: they must form a united third force – a sort of non-UP/non-CDC coalition. A coalition along this line is probably the only logical and conceivable path to dislodging the UP/CDC’s disastrous hegemony.

8. Engaging the political process via a united voice: it’s good for political actors to speak on national issues. However, it is questionable how much of an impact these non-UP/non-CDC political actors are having. One may argue that their interventions are more of an interesting “side-attraction” instead of significantly chipping away at the UP-CDC’s malignant dominance. However, if these third-force actors unite and collaborate, they stand a better chance of achieving, jointly, what they are incapable of achieving individually.

9. Recognizing the need to secure a daily channel to air political views: The UP-CDC dominance is secured by their access to communications channels – local radio and TV networks. Historically, for example, Mr. Weah has his Clar TV and Kings FM, which have disseminated and amplified his every utterance. While the UP didn’t have one, per se, it successfully co-opted Henry Costa’s platform and the Spoon radio and TV networks, both of which [channels] did a tremendous job amplifying their views while demonizing their opponents. Right now, as the ruling party, the UP has LBS (the national broadcaster). Historically, the LBS has been the mouthpiece, not for the Liberian people, but for whatever government that is in power. So far, and collectively, these radio and TV networks continue to dominate the local airwaves – for good or ill – further cementing the UP/CDC dominance. It is only logical that those who wish to topple this double-headed beast (i.e., the UP-CDC hegemony) must have similar tools at their disposal, locally and internationally.

10. Working together can start informally and then grow from there: The pulling together of energies and resources of the individuals, organizations, and parties (i.e., those who want to see the demise of UP/CDC) can start small and grow. For example, while the merger of parties and other political actors may be ideal, one need NOT wait for this ideal to begin working together. This third force can start with informal cooperation – like making joint press releases and press conferences on national issues. It can go a step further to signing a “cooperation” agreement – and grow even further to a coalition arrangement to pursue power jointly. Such a “coalition” can “test” this strategy by fielding a single slate of candidates in by-elections. They can learn from these experiences and continue to perfect their collaboration up to 2029. However, forging a merger should be the immediate goal upon taking power. Only a merger governing arrangement can avoid the potential for political bickering and internal rivalry that could undermine the ultimate goal of wresting power from the UP/CDC. For too long Liberians have suffered from the UP-CDC kleptocratic rule. It’s time to end all this misrule!

Wonderr K. Freeman is a Liberian Investment Attorney, Political Economist, Accountant, and Certified Financial Crimes Specialist (CFCS) currently based in Minneapolis, USA. Mr. Freeman’s professional interests span the intersection of law and economics, including the political economy of development, economic justice, international trade/investment law, and financial crimes law. He can be reached at [email protected]. He blogs at https://wonderrfreeman.com