Monrovia — Liberia's National Elections Commission (NEC) has released a provisional list of 20 aspirants contesting for the presidency in the 2023 general election, promising a crowded race in October.
A circular released by the electoral body last week provided details of the aspirants and their details, including their county of origin, age, qualifications, as well as their running mates.
Incumbent president George Weah of the Coalition of Democratic Change (CDC), Amb. Joseph Boakai of the former ruling Unity Party (UP), Alexander Cummings of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP), and Cllr. Tiawan Gongloe of the Liberia's People's Party (LPP), Sara Beysolow Nyanti of the African Liberation League, Lusinee F. Kamara of the All Liberian Coalition Party (ALCOP), and Dr. Clarence K. Moniba, of LINU, are some of those presidential aspirants in the list.
Analyzing the aspirants on the list, FrontPage Africa understands that it gives a general idea of how the country's political landscape is and the different challenges and assumptions about politics.
For starters, of the 20 aspirants for president, there is only one woman -- Sara Beysolow Nyanti of the African Liberation League.
There isn't much reliable independent polling in Liberia, but of the 20 aspirants in this election, just three have a real chance to win - President Weah, Boakai and Cummings.
However, the race remains competitive and highly unpredictable. It's easy to be cynical when the national economic and security problems detailed above headlines the last several elections.
But three-quarters of those registered to vote in this election are between the ages of 18-49. That should worry the septuagenarian frontrunners and their establishment political parties. Yet, Gongloe, Moniba, Beysolow and other outsiders will have to prove they can inspire these younger voters to the polls.
THE OTHER CANDIDATES:
DR. CLARENCE K. MONIBA:
The 43-year-old is the son of the founding father of Liberia National Union (LINU) political party. The party was founded by Dr. Harry Moniba in 1997. Dr. Harry Moniba was the last vice president to slain President Samuel Doe.
Dr. Moniba is the 5th person to have occupied such the highest post within LINU, namely, Dr. Harry Moniba, Cllr. John Morlu, Winston Tubman, Dr. Nathaniel Blama and now Clarence Moniba.
Dr. Moniba said for the Liberian children who don't have access to education and have to sell between moving vehicles, for Liberian women who don't have access to healthcare, for the high unemployment rate and transformation of the country he accepts the role of political leader.
Clarence K. Moniba, Ph.D , is a former Liberian government official. He served as the youngest person in the country's history to be named Minister of State without Portfolio, as well as the Chairman of the Board of the Liberia Electricity Corporation. He was a Principal Advisor and Project Manager to the President of Liberia and a leading figure on infrastructure development in Liberia from 2014 - 2018.
Dr. Moniba at various times also headed the Diaspora Engagement Unit, the Philanthropy Secretariat and the President's Delivery Unit which oversaw the implementation of priority projects. Moniba in previous roles has worked with the African Development Bank's High-Level Panel on Post-Conflict & Fragile States, as well as the United Nations Post-2015 Development Agenda.
In his appeal to the younger generation, Dr. Moniba said that his age of 43 years was a powerful tool that will propel Liberia into the future. He claimed that the Liberian people should "use my age as proof that there is a new breed of Liberian leaders who will have the energy, the strength, the determination and vision to carry out the transformation of this country - knowing that my future is tied with the millions of other Liberians who are desperate for a better nation because Liberia and all our people deserve better."
The question now remains can Dr. Moniba change the dynamics of this year's presidential race, which up until now has seemed to be focused on three primary candidates. Will he be able to maintain the initial momentum and excitement that he has enjoyed over the last month in order to become a serious factor?
SARA BEYSOLOW NYANTI:
The former Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General to South Sudan and standard bearer of the African Liberation League (ALL) honorably retired and said she was glad to return home to serve her people.
"I am here because I want to serve you, the Liberian people. I served others around the world, I served women around the world, I served men and I served boys, and I want to serve you to the fullest of my ability," she said.
"I believe if I join my effort of the people around this table, and the network we have planted in this country, together we can reach you where you are, understand what you need, how you would like to be served and serve you in that way."
Madam Nyanti, once an official at the Liberian Ministry of Health, joined the UN System in 2003. By the time she retired 20 years later, she had worked her way through and served in some of the high-profile positions within the UN.
The last, perhaps, the tedious and highest-ranking position was in South Sudan where she spent 18 months serving as the Deputy Special Representative to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), UN Resident Coordinator in South Sudan and Humanitarian Coordinator in the East African nation.
Before her retirement recently, she frequently visited Liberia, launching several initiatives. Soon, she was touted as a force in the ensuing elections, with bookmarkers naming her as a possible vice standard bearer of any one of the largest opposition political parties.
However, by the time she retired from the UN and returned to Liberia, the top political parties had already chosen their standard bearer and vice standard bearer tickets. But she threw a hint about her political ambition in a remark delivered at an event organized to celebrate her early retirement from the UN under the theme: Sara 3.0, Opening a New Chapter.
She said: "Thank you all for being a part of my journey in so many ways. I have seen so much. I have been to so many places. You see the glory, but you do not know the story. I have been working as a Liberian doing the best I can for the people of the world. I have been helping women and girls around the world. I realized that I needed to come home to help women and girls in Liberia. I have spent time talking and building education and health systems around the world, it is time to talk about my own."
LUSINEE F. KAMARA:
The ALCOP Standard Bearer is a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, former Minister of Commerce, Finance, and now a senior businessman and politician. He served as Finance Minister during the National Transitional Government of Liberia, which was chaired by the late Charles Guyde Bryant.
Kamara became the political leader of ALCOP in 2020 after its founding father and political leader, Prof. Alhaji G. V. Kromah, became incapacitated and could no longer steer the affairs of the party.
He termed October 10 as a redemption day for Liberia, and therefore called on Liberians to support the election of the ALCOP team.
Allen Brown
The standard bearer of the Liberia Restoration Party (LRP) says he has a huge vision for Liberia.
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He wants to place Liberia on a trajectory that would lead to an unprecedented era in its history if given the mantle of authority to lead the country for the next six years in the ensuing 2023 presidential election. The LRP political leader, no doubt, has a huge social program or package for the country if given the opportunity.
But the question is whether Brown and his LRP can convince the Liberian electorate to look decisively in his direction, with barely seven months left until the polls. However, an upset in every political contest is possible. It could be out of this that Brown and his LRP's convictions grow.
For them, they already have an agenda. Brown said in a speech delivered in Bomi Hills last week that his victory at the polls will be the rebirth of a new Liberia, as the state will begin to move into an era of equality, unity, integrity, growth acceleration, transformation, and restoration.
This new and vibrant Liberia, Brown said, will be a microcosm of the best that "democracy in the Western Hemisphere has to offer."
He said the LRP presents the best choice for the Liberian people as the country now finds itself in a life or death situation.
"The redemption of Liberia is upon us," he said. "And the choice is clear, inclusion and coexistence or exclusion and nonexistence, that is the choice before us today if we want to build a nation."
But Brown says he is not here to pick fuss with anyone, given that others have built their political campaigns by dwelling on the shortcomings of other candidates. "I do not seek the nation's highest seat for the purpose of disparaging others," he said, opposing self-righteous indignation, but rather to address pertinent issues so as to improve the lives of each and every Liberian.
To ensure this, Brown and his LRP have a vision to make Liberia a bread basket, not only engaging in agriculture to feed the citizenry, but also to feed the world beyond its borders.
