KEN OFORI-ATTA AND SOME WEST AFRICAN LEADERS PLANS TO UNDERMINE OPPONG WEAH’S PRESIDENTIAL AMBITION – NEW DEVELOPMENT

Côte d’Ivoire and the African Union aim to interfere in Liberia’s election
Reliable sources inform us that Alpha Condé will be arriving in Liberia shortly to push George Weah, winner of the first round of Liberia’s elections and the favorite to succeed President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, to endorse an unconstitutional plan to annul the results of the 10 October elections and accept a two-year “transitional” government headed by current Vice President Joseph Boakai.

The information provided by these sources indicate that President Condé is being pushed to engage in this extraordinarily brazen outside interference by Alassane Ouattara in Côte d’Ivoire and Faure Gnassingbé in Togo. These unwelcome efforts by outside countries to subvert the will of the Liberian people and undo the results of the first round of the presidential vote are motivated by these leaders’ selfish financial interests.

All candidates must accept and recognize the results of the elections held on 10 October, which the European Union, the Carter Center, and the National Democratic Institute endorsed as free, fair, and legitimate. The Liberian people made clear in the first round of voting that they are perfectly capable of speaking for themselves. The ongoing attempts to undo the will of the Liberian people by denigrating the conduct of the vote constitute an unconscionable attack on the democratic institutions of Africa’s oldest republic.

George Weah and Vice President Boakai and the Unity Party must be prepared to submit themselves to the judgment of Liberian voters to determine the direction of the country’s political future. Any attempt to solicit interference from outside powers in the domestic political process does nothing less than rob the Liberian people of their electoral sovereignty.

In addition to respecting the outcomes of elections, the Liberian people expect candidates and political parties to respect the Constitution of the nation.

Any proposals to annul the results of the first round of the election or form an “interim” government fly in the face of our country’s constitutional provisions. President Sirleaf is arriving at the end of her constitutionally-mandated two terms as President, and Vice President Boakai’s term will end at precisely the same time. Any attempt by the Vice President to remain in office without an electoral mandate will represent nothing less than the Kabila-ization of Liberian politics.
Both candidates taking part in the second round of the election should steadfastly refuse to participate in any such political machination and stand in defense of the popular will of Liberians.

By: Festus Ankomah, Freelance Journalist, Monrovia- Liberia.