Monrovia — The People's Liberation Party's (PLP) Vice Chairman for Press and Public Affairs, Kalifa Kromah, has told FrontPageAfrica that the party's merger with the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) met the consensus of the party's executive committee at its last convention.
His assertion comes in the wake of expressed disenchantment by the party's council of county chairpersons headed by Jerry Kollie who chairs the Bong County chapter.
Kollie who has been speaking on behalf County Chairpersons argued that the collaboration with the CDC did not meet the approval of the party's council of county chairpersons. According to him, the founder of the party, Dr. Daniel Cassell (deceased) would not have approved such a merger and he was firm in his stance against the leadership of the George Weah-led government.
However, speaking on the contrary, Mr. Kromah disclosed to FrontPageAfrica Dr. Cassell would not have even stopped such a merger once it was the will of the majority.
"If Dr. Cassell were still alive and the party agrees as a body and it meets the consensus of the majority of the party could not and wouldn't stop it," he said.
According to Kromah, the party does not belong to Dr. Cassell, rather it belongs to the Liberian people, he said. "We agree that he invested in the party but the party belongs to the Liberian people, so, we cannot allow a single individual to dictate to the party," Kromah said.
Kromah added, "In politics, what people fail to realize is that you don't have permanent friends, you don't have permanent enemies. You may disagree on policies and good governance but you can still reconcile to move the country forward," he said.
He further disclosed that when Dr. Cassell held two private discussions with President George Weah before his demise. Kromah, however, did not say what the discussions were about.
Kromah informed FrontPageAfrica that the decision to form a collaboration with the CDC was endorsed by all the county chairpersons including Jerry Kollie who is now leading the protest against the merger. According to Kromah, Kollie and his cohorts are now whisking because they expected some personal financial gains from the merger.
According to Kromah, after the death of Dr. Cassell, the Unity Party, CPP and the CDC approached them with an offer to form a collaboration, however, though they were in initial discussion with the UP, the UP began to renege in its negotiations. Therefore, at a special convention called to amend the party's constitution for the purpose of removing some veto powers ascribed to the standard bearer and political leader, it was also agreed that there was a need for the party to form a collaboration ahead of the October elections.
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"From the onset of all of the discussions Jerry Kollie was there and he told us that the county chairpersons designated him to attend these meetings on behalf of these counties and all the discussions that were held about negotiations and collaborations, he was a part of it and he agreed. Jerry Kollie even admitted that the best way for the party to go is to direct it towards the CDC," he said.
However, Kromah said, after it was agreed to shift the party toward the CDC for collaboration, Kollie grouped the county chairpersons and incited them to demand their share of the money the party authorities may have received from the ruling CDC for the collaboration.
Kromah: "The PL [Political Leader] and other executives from the party told them that we never received money from the CDC and that this is not about money. It's about working with the President to move the country forward and if at all we received money, we will not hide it from anybody, but Jerry Kollie said, 'No'. He said he has someone from within the CDC that told him that we received money."
