Former ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) Secretary General Jefferson Tamba Koijee has descended on the ruling Unity Party, saying the UP has turned the country into a plantation.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, July 4, Mr. Koijee said Liberia has become a plantation since the UP returned to power on January 18, 2024.
The CDC ceded power to the Unity Party in the 2023 Presidential election, a rerun of the 2017 elections that brought it to power.
Koijee, a former Mayor of the City of Monrovia, despite repeated claims by Information Minister Jerolinmek Matthew Piah against the former ruling CDC concerning the death of four auditors, Mr. Piah has failed to acknowledge a travesty of present-day reality that every move of state security apparatuses would lead to the death of ordinary citizens.
"You succeeded in lying your way to power that four auditors were killed here. We will not do the same because we are not desperate for power -evident by the fact that we peacefully turned power over to you. But the evidence of how you have turned this country into a plantation and massacre is taking place everywhere remain irrefutable," Koijee said.
The CDC Chief Scribe's comments were in direct response to Minister Piah's recent outburst against former President George Weah, in which he said, "Former President Weah should conduct himself properly, or we will go after him."
Koijee pointed out that despite claims by the present government that civil servants under the CDC-led administration were made to be beggars, civil servants are today slaves and their "slave masters are depriving them of livelihoods while some are being killed in some instances for standing up for their rights.
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"You said we made civil servants beggars during the CDC-led government. Granted that your characterization of those Liberians is true, at least beggars had freedom, and they were not killed. Today, motorcyclists are being deprived of the freedom to fend for their families. Ordinary Liberians are being killed for no reason. Workers are losing their lives at the hands of state security officers solely because they stood up for their just benefits. Liberians are being treated like slaves because they have arrogated the status of slave masters, and Liberia is their plantation. You have turned the country into a plantation where people are being slaughtered and killed," he maintained.
He then said the CDC will not sit idly to allow "political desperadoes" to continue to rain terror on the people of Liberia. "The Unity Party signed a social contract with the people of Liberia. We will ensure that they live up to the dictates of that contract. On the contrary, anything will not be countenanced," the CDC Secretary-General stressed.
Commenting on the just-concluded "militant day" event, SG Koijee said the CDC will continue to appreciate the resilience of its partisans, who continue to endure the challenges that come with choosing a political side like the CDC.
He disclosed plans to observe a "national martyr day" to remember partisans of CDC who lost their lives over the years, adding, "The June 28-30, 2024, event was a resounding success and lauded the involvement of every ordinary member of the party. He emphasized that the event demonstrated that the CDC is not resting in rewriting, recalibrating, and reinforcing its base to transform setbacks into a great comeback.
