Monrovia — Several aggrieved members of the National Coordinating Committee (NEC) of the former ruling Unity Party have raised a red flag against what they termed as the "unconstitutional appointment of an Ad-hoc Committee on County Restructuring" by their Chairman Luther Tarpeh ahead of the voter registration exercise for the conduct of the much anticipated 2023 general and presidential elections in Liberia.
The NCC is the highest decision-making body of the UP.
Liberians are expected to go to the polls on October 10 next year to elect their new leaders, according to a timetable released by the National Elections Commission (NEC).
The aggrieved executives include: Dabah M. Varpilah (National Vice Chair for Administration), Ben A. Fofana (National Vice Chair for Governmental Affairs & International Relations), and Cornelia Kruah-Togba (National Vice Chair for Inter-Party Relations & NEC Affairs).
Others are: Whroway Bryant (National Vice Chair for Membership, Mobilization & Recruitment), Selena Polson Mappy (National Vice Chair for Women Affairs), and T. Melvin Cephas ( National Vice Chair for Youth Affairs).
The rest are: Edmund F. Forh (National Treasurer), Christian Cooper ( National Deputy Secretary General for Administration) and James Yolei (National Deputy Secretary General for Training & Research).
In a communication dated November 4, and addressed to Chairman, Luther Tarpeh, a copy which is in the possession of FrontPage Africa, the aggrieved executives expressed shock over the official appointment of several partisans to the Ad-Hoc Committee on the County Restructuring,, which sole responsibilities are to "develop guidelines and come up with suggested fees for the holding of counties restructuring exercise to be implemented before the start of voter registration process."
"Mr. Chairman, this comes as a surprise to us as at no time did we discuss the constitution of an ad-hoc committee to usurp the functions of the Standing Committee on Elections and Campaign. Article XIV Section 24 of the Unity Party's constitution gives the duty to supervise the conduct of County and District elections plus handle other elections and campaign activities, as designated, to the Standing Committee on Elections and Campaign."
They accused Chairman Tarpeh of allegedly violating the constitution by "firstly taking a decision, of such gravity unilaterally, without consulting the National Coordinating Committee which is currently the highest decision-making body of the Party."
"You have unconstitutionally established an Ad-hoc Committee to perform the functions of a Standing Committee without authority to do so. Our Constitution is very clear on how decisions in the Unity Party are made. It does not provide any of us the authority to unilaterally make decisions on behalf of the NCC and thus the Party."
Provisions within the UP Constitution that clearly state how decisions are made are stipulated in Article VIII Section 1(i), Article VIII Section 1(ii), and Article XI respectively.
Article VIII Section 1(i) states that: "The Unity Party shall be headed by the National Convention sitting in proper quorum of a simple majority of its full membership. The National Convention shall be the highest decision making body of the Party and its decisions shall bind the Party, its Officers and Members", while Article VIII Section 1(ii) notes that: "In the absence of the National Convention, the Party shall be run by the National Executive Committee, chaired by the National Chairman. The National core of officers, including elected and appointed officers, shall steer the affairs of the Party under the guidance of the National Executive Committee."
Article XI indicates that: "The National Coordinating Committee shall be the operational and management organ of the party responsible for all decisions and directions of the party during the recess of the National Executive Committee. The National Executive Committee may review the decisions of the National Coordinating Committee."
The aggrieved executives maintained that these provisions clearly show that the National Convention is the highest decision making body and when it is on recess, the National Executive Committee(NEC) is next, or when the NEC is on recess, the National Coordinating Committee becomes the highest decision making body.
"Article XI goes further to state that the NCC shall be responsible for "all decisions and directions of the party during the recess of the National Executive Committee". This does not limit the NCC to making some of the decisions and direction nor does it state that any one member of the NCC has the authority to unilaterally make decisions for the Party on behalf of the NCC."
They emphasized that the interest of all executives of the party should be to provide leadership for the party, collectively, in order to avoid unnecessary delays in executing their duties or bringing the party to public disrepute.
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While we are all aware of the herculean task of preparing the Party for the 2023 Presidential and Legislative elections, the aggrieved executive members noted, that it is in the best interest of all that the laws of the party are respected at all time in order to validate their actions and avoid backlash.
They, however, proposed the holding of a NCC immediately to conclude discussions around the formulation of the Standing Committees on Elections and Campaign, Religious Affairs and Grievance and Ethics as have been done for all other Standing Committees.
Meanwhile, the aggrieved executives of the UP have admonished all County Leaderships to not subject themselves to any illegal process by the Ad-hoc Committee that has been established by Chairman Tarpeh.
The Unity Party Chair is yet to officially respond to the concerns raised by the aggrieved executives.
When contacted via telephone, Chairman Tarpeh was unreachable up to press time.
