By: Frank P. Martin
MONROVIA: The former Chairman of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), a constituent party of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), George Solo, has alarmed that CDCians are not happy with the incumbent Government.
Mr. Solo pointed out that the CDC led-government’s agenda to emancipate Liberians from under-development and extreme poverty has been overshadowed by acts of corruption by some public officials.
He added that this untrustworthiness ‘orchestrated’ by the President and his officials would hamper the re-election bid of President Weah in the October Polls.
According to Mr. Solo, in the October polls, several partisans of the CDC and Liberians will vent their anger and frustration against the CDC led government, headed by incumbent President Weah.
Weah, a former global soccer legend is seeking re-election against his toughest contender, former Vice President Joseph Boakai, Standard Bearer of the erstwhile ruling Unity Party (UP) in the October Polls.
Other key politicians who applied to the National Elections Commissions (NEC) for the Nation’s highest political seat are Alexander Benedict Cummings of the Collaborating Political Party, (CPP); Tiawan Saye Gongloe of the Liberian People’s Party (LPP), etc.
The Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) is one of the constituent political parties of the governing Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), which comprises nine (9) political parties.
Mr. Solo, who is also former Head of the governing CDC, and served as the CDC’s Deputy Campaign Manager in 2011, regretted that since the inception of CDC led-government of President George Manneh Weah, some Executives of the Party and officials of the government, have been undermining the “good intent” of the party aimed at improving the livelihood of its partisans and Liberians in general.
Solo wonders: “How can you change the living conditions of the People when your mind is corrupt with arrogance and desperation for power over the well-being of the ordinary masses that ushered you into power?”
He made these comments on Tuesday, August 1, 2023, when he spoke via a Night Time Talk Show on Truth FM 96.1 from an undisclosed destination.
The former CDC Chairman asserted that the pro-poor agenda, a flagship national development agenda of the governing party, proffered by the Weah-government was intended to help redeem the country and alleviate citizens from abject poverty.
On the contrary, he said, the agenda has only been able to enrich some public officials while the vast majority of the citizenry wallow in destitution.
“What we crafted when we were in the party has been misapplied. We never thought of inflicting suffering on the Liberian people. But, again, certain individuals within the Congress for Democratic Change know it all,” Solo added.
Solo: “From the origin of CDC and from my involvement, it was a revolution to emancipate our people. The real question is, what has that revolution transitioned to?; How do current or former CDCians see the party? I am not talking about me who left. I am talking about the people who were in the vanguard”?
“Liberia is in a very critical state. Economically, things are difficult. The agenda to emancipate the people and change the nation has been overshadowed by corruption and theft. Basically, it’s a deeper state of disappointment now when you continue to hear these things on a consistent basis. The conceptualization of the pro-poor ideology is in the reverse. The pro-poor agenda is supposed to be about the people and not officials accumulating wealth and living in luxury”.
Mr. Solo observed that the party’s revolution fought for by many partisans and supporters have been devalued as evidenced by the decision taken by President Weah to focus on his personal priorities, including the building of duplexes, condominiums, among others rather than focusing on the actualization of the ruling party’s agenda for the country and its citizens.
“During my recent visit to the Country, I spent roughly six (6) days in trenches where citizens live. What I could hear was things are very difficult on us, but George Weah and his government will learn hard lesson from us in October. This is not what we thought of during the struggle. And I wonder whether those who are saying all is rosy are listening to these many cries from partisans of the party and many Liberians who believe nothing much has been achieved under this government,” the former Chairman wondered.
He believes as the nation goes to elections in October, many frustrated and silent voters who don’t see positive impacts of this government in their lives might use the power of the ballot box against the President and the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change-led government.
“Many CDCians and Liberians out there don’t see the reflection of the Pro-Poor agenda. What you think they see things when say all is ok. Their decisions will not obviously go your way as a ruling party,” he noted.
Mr. Solo, who was a strong confidante and bedmate of Weah prior to his (Weah’s) presidency, became one of the fiercest critics of his one-time close friend after he was expelled as Chairman of the CDC on August 3, 2014 by the party’s National Executive Committee.
He was controversially removed as Chairman for what the party’s NEC termed as being a “a promoter, expediter, and lobbyist for the Robert Sirleaf-for-Senate campaigns, against the party standard-bearer, George Weah”.
Mr. Solo was also accused of “being after financial rewards at the expense of the party, a move that was totally against his function as administrative head of the party.”
“We, members of the National Executive Committee of the Congress for Democratic Change, meeting under a full quorum at its headquarters in Congo Town, Monrovia-Liberia, hereby vote to declare a vote-of-no-confidence in the Chairmanship of George G. Solo, thereby relieving him of his position with immediate effect.”
The CDC accused Mr. Solo, then, of being an operative within the party, where his mission of divisive propaganda, rancor, appetite for dissonance, unsettling policy misdirection, and engineered institutional collapse have come to reflect the disruptive agenda of his hirers.
However, Mr. Solo denied the accusations, and blamed his friend-President Weah who he alleged orchestrated the ploy after he allegedly received money given to him by Mr. Robert Alvin Sirleaf-the beloved son of ex-Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf- to back off from the Senatorial race for Montserrado County in 2014.
The happening stirred a sour relationship between Mr. Solo and President Weah at the time and brought a split within the CDC.
Mr. Solo departed Liberia for the United States shortly after his former best friend was inaugurated as President of Liberia.
He told Liberians on Tuesday that his new political destination will be announced in the soonest possible time.
