When is it right to play anti-party?

Anti-party allegation: George Weah (Left) and Liberia’s out-going President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, at a church service in Monrovia yesterday. Credit/AFP

When is it right to play anti-party?

By Kelechi Okoronkwo, Abuja. If the anti-party allegation levelled against the former President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, by the Unity Party gets established, will that make Sirleaf a heroine or a villain?

The joy in Liberia on Monday morning was palpable and overflowing. President of the people, George Oppong Weah has been sworn-in and it was the first democratic transfer of power in Liberia in more than 70 years. The veil covering the feeling of joy and fulfilment in the face of the out-going President, Sirleaf, was very thin. And that was the body language that has severed her relationship with her political party.

Against the wish of her party members, Sirleaf had refused to play party politics where she was expected to support the Unity Party’s presidential candidate and her Vice President, Joseph Boakai; instead, she opted to “stayed indifferent in the political process”.  But the Unity Party accused her of not only staying indifferent but also of clandestine support for the opposition party’s candidate, George Weah of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC).

Sirleaf did not succeed in her attempts to clear her name of the anti-party accusation. She said he chose to steer clear of the electoral process to enable the electorate choose the best candidate to represent them. She denied having any meeting with the electoral body to facilitate Weah’s election. But her defense angered the Unity Party the more, given, especially, that Boakai eventually lost the election, with a wide margin, at the run-off election.

Last week, the Unity Party sacked Sirleaf, its former standard bearer and supposedly the biggest figure in the party after serving as the President of the West African country for twelve years.

There are three sides to this story. One, Sirleaf may have observed, alongside the popular side, that George Weah is the best candidate for Liberia at the moment. And she decided to support Weah secretly to help actualise the dream of the people. Second, Sirleaf may have chosen to remain politically neutral t allow the process go the way of the people. And this was her defense on the allegation of anti-party. In that case, whether Boakai or Weah election could not have meant any harm to her. Third, Sirleaf may have been playing the African politics where the Chief-in-Command never wanted the second in Command to succeed him or her for “safety reasons”. When a man who is not trusted takes over, he may dig into some suspicious transactions to nail his predecessor. It therefore becomes a payback time for the ex-boss who may have been seen to have eaten alone while he was in power.

Whichever way, conventionally, Sirleaf may have broken the rules. The principle of party politics is that every party member should be loyal to the decision of the leadership of the party. In that case, staying indifferent is not politically correct. So, Sirleaf erred by playing anti-party. But given the circumstances on her hands, can she be justified at any breath for “being indifferent” and allowing the political process to produce the wish of the people?

The Inauguration of the only international sport star to be elected president was a moment marking the troubled country’s first peaceful democratic transition since 1944.

Weah, 51, takes over from Nobel laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who spent 12 years at the helm steering the West African nation away from the trauma of a civil war.

The AFP painted an alluring imagery of the inauguration ceremony. “It began in Samuel Kanyon Doe stadium near the capital, Monrovia, with several African heads of state in attendance, along with friends and former colleagues from his football years. Crowds queued for kilometres (miles) to reach the stadium, singing, dancing and waving the Liberian flag as they waited. Inside the stadium, the cheers were deafening as well-known figures from Liberian public life filed in before the stands”, reported AFP.

“Today is one of the most exciting days of my life,” said Benjamin Bee, a 21-year-old student at the University of Liberia as he waited in line with thousands of others.

“The man I’m supporting now, President Weah, is an icon, he is my role model. Today is not just an inaugural programme for us Liberians, but signifies that Liberia has found itself”, he told the AFP.

George Oppong Weah, former AC Milan, Manchester City and Chelsea striker is officially the 25th president of Liberia.

Weah’s victory came after a protracted electoral battle from the first election in October through legal challenges to the run-off on December 26th, 2017.

The sequence of events has shown that Weah is on the mind of the people. Discover Africa News reports that Weah is not new to excellence. “He was a former 1995 – Ballon d’Or winner; 1996 – FIFA world player of the year; 2004 – Arthur Ashe Courage Award; 2008 – CAF Award for Best 10 Players and ultimately 2017 – President of Liberia.

Weah – the first African to win the Ballon D’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year – won comprehensively, clinching 12 of the 15 counties in the West African country”

His closest opponent, Boakai, who has been vice-president for the last 12 years, only had two counties vote for him.

Weah won the first round of voting in October but didn’t secure the 50 percent needed to win outright. The runoff was delayed twice after allegations of voting fraud and irregularities but Weah’s popularity won out in the end.

Kelechi Okoronkwo, a Writer and Public Relations Executive send in this piece from Abuja.