MONROVIA — Senator Saah Joseph has broken his silence with startling revelations against former President George Weah and the former ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) -- the political institution through which he entered politics and won successive elections, first as a representative and later as a senator.
The CDC was an alliance of three political parties: the Congress for Democratic Change of former President Weah; the former ruling National Patriotic Party (NPP) of ex-President Charles Ghankay Taylor, headed at the time by his former wife and Bong County Senator Jewel Howard-Taylor; and the Liberia People's Democratic Party (LPDP) of former House Speaker Alex J. Tyler, now senator for Bomi County.
The coalition collapsed after its loss in the 2023 presidential elections.
It can be recalled that The Liberian Investigator on Aug. 6, 2025, published a front-page lead story titled, "Key CDC Figures Poised to Exit as Party Alliances Collapse and Crisis Deepens," quoting impeccable sources who revealed that Montserrado County Senator Saah Joseph planned not only to exit the CDC but to form his own political party -- a decisive move ahead of the 2029 legislative and presidential elections.
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Speaking on Spoon Talk, a late-night Liberian-owned radio and online TV show, Joseph said he sees no reason to continue with the Congress for Democratic Change because he has long been ostracized and targeted -- even to the point, he alleged, of fellow partisans plotting his death.
Joseph has served as chairman of the Senate Executive Committee throughout Weah's presidency.
According to him, the CDC-led government not only failed in its governance but also robbed the state of millions of U.S. dollars through alleged bribes from potential investors whose projects never materialized in Liberia.
"The former officials of former President Weah's administration destroyed Liberia. Bulgarian investors came to Liberia during Weah's regime to invest over US$500 million, and the Senate passed the concession. However, Weah and his team again requested that they pay US$10 million before the House of Representatives would act on the concession. The concession didn't pass in the House because the investors refused to pay the bribe," Joseph alleged.
Joseph distanced himself from allegations that he received US$1 million in kickbacks from the Bulgarian company -- claims made by Acarous Gray, former Montserrado County District 8 representative. Gray, now a panelist on Spoon Talk, once opposed the platform and vowed never to appear on it when he was still a lawmaker. Times have changed, and with his friendship with Stanton Witherspoon, owner of the Spoon Network, restored, Gray now uses the platform to air his views.
According to Gray, Joseph used money from the alleged bribe to build schools -- a claim Joseph flatly denied.
Gray described Joseph as "an ingrate and a political hypocrite" whose current loyalty to President Joseph Nyuma Boakai is driven by tribal sentiment, as both men hail from Lofa County and speak Kissi.
Gray said the CDC "made Joseph," just as it had elevated many others who were brought into politics by Weah.
Joseph rejected the suggestion that he owed his political viability to Weah.
"I was working with the Baptist Alliance Mission for years in Sierra Leone, where I built schools for the church organization. I was somebody when Weah and Gray met me. I did not come to the CDC as an empty man," he said, adding that he still heads the Baptist Alliance Mission in Africa.
Relationship with Weah
Joseph said he and Weah were longtime friends before Weah recruited him in 2005 to contest the Montserrado District 13 seat in the House of Representatives -- a race Joseph won, serving from 2006 until 2020, when he won the midterm senatorial election.
Although he chaired the Senate's Executive Committee, Joseph claimed Weah did not speak to him for more than four years of his six-year presidency.
Another explosive allegation: Joseph said the fire that gutted his home on Feb. 9, 2024, was the work of top CDC figures intent on killing him.
Neighbors and rescuers had blamed the blaze on an electrical fault, worsened by delays from the Liberia National Fire Service. Joseph insists it was arson.
"Members of the CDC burned my home right after the election because I got more votes in Montserrado than former President Weah in 2023. They tried to kill me on several occasions," he claimed.
He said his disclosures are meant to save the country from further political chaos ahead of the 2029 polls, when both legislative and presidential elections are due.
Joseph further alleged that Mulbah Morlu, the former CDC national chairman and now a civil society leader, was drugged, beaten, and targeted for assassination.
Morlu, appearing on Spoon Talk a day later, denied the claims outright.
"I was never drugged by CDCians; Sen. Saah Joseph lied," Morlu said.
Asked if Weah could return to the presidency, Morlu declined to speculate, saying his current focus is on holding President Boakai and his officials accountable.
Cracks in the CDC
Since its 2023 defeat to Boakai -- a reversal of Weah's 2017 win over him -- the CDC has been in decline. The party is currently fighting an eviction order from its Congo Town headquarters, with the property owners refusing both to sell or extend tenancy.
Some blame Weah's leadership style for the collapse, citing his failure to hold the party together and his alienation of key voices. The CDC lost every Senate seat in the 2020 midterms except the one Joseph won while still a representative.
Others, like Dr. Lester Tenny, have left the party over what they call an "eccentric" leadership model dominated by a few decision-makers, leaving rank-and-file members unheard and neglected.
Why now?
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Joseph has launched efforts to establish a new political party, the People's Action Party (PAP). He says now is the time to act and move people out of poverty instead of just talking.
While Joseph is now hailed by Boakai supporters, critics note he has long benefited from Liberia's political spoils -- from renting trucks and buses to concession companies to building and owning schools and colleges in his own name. Joseph argues that Montserrado residents attend his schools for free, unlike other private institutions, but detractors say the distinction is negligible.
Cllr. Varney Taylor, a Liberian lawyer based in the United States, posted on Facebook that Joseph's disclosures are "belated" and politically self-serving.
"Why is Senator Saah Joseph speaking now? Why didn't he speak then? You expect Liberians to see you as the clean guy?" Taylor wrote, adding, "Any reasonable person will know that Senator Saah Joseph is a typical politician going after his own interest."
Taylor also questioned Joseph's rapid rise in wealth, speculating that his new party could be a bid for the vice presidency in 2029.
Many share Taylor's skepticism, recalling that Joseph had few assets before entering politics under the CDC banner.
Joseph, meanwhile, is pressing ahead.
"Faith without works is dead (James 2:17). Let's put our faith in action. Join the People's Action Party and let's work together to build a brighter future for our children and Mama Liberia. Prayer plus preparation equals progress. Let's make it happen," he wrote on social media.
