Unpacking The Collapse of Unity Party In Lofa

As a result of the legal disability of former Defense Minister Brownie J. Samukai, who was elected Senator in 2020 midterm by-elections, the National Elections Commission on Tuesday, June 28, 2022 conducted a by-election in Lofa county to fill the gap created by convict Samukai.

The election had six contenders: Momo Cyrus, Mariamu Fofana, Joseph Jallah Galakpai Kortaimai, George Samah and Sumo Kupee.

A Synopsis of Unity Party's Origin

In 1985, Unity Party (UP) became a full flesh registered political party in Liberia. Edward B. Kesselly, a son of Lofa county was the founding father and also its first Standard Bearer.

Since the establishment of UP, the great people of Lofa have been altruistic in serving as a 'vote bank' for the party in every election. UP finished 3rd in the 1985 legislative and presidential elections and leaped a step forward to the second place in 1997 elections. In 2005, the party won its first presidential elections with huge support from Lofa. The party regained the presidency in 2011 with a mammoth support from vote rich Lofa. Pundits continue to argue that whilst it's true that Lofa votes have been on autopilot for UP but the massive support in 2005 and 2011 was greatly attributed to their son Joseph Boakai who was on the ticket as vice running mate to TRC indictee Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

The collapse of UP

In 2017, it was a walk in the park for the septuagenarian Joseph Boakai in Lofa where he pocketed nearly 80% of the valid votes cast in the legislative and presidential elections. Despite cruising the votes of Lofa, the Unity Party headed by Boakai was eventually defeated by iconic and people's driven George Manneh Weah of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC).

Immediately after the 2017 defeat, UP was heavily hit by mass exodus of influential and vision packed partisans citing structural collapse and undemocratic tenets as reasons for their exit. A year later, UP begun to experience exponential decline of its potency. Desperate to regain some level of strength, UP aligned with the All Liberian Party (ALP) headed by notorious Benoni Urey, the Alternative National Congress (ANC) headed by Alexander Cummings and the Liberty Party headed by Nyonblee Kangar Lawrence in what was styled Collaborating Political Parties (CPP).

When it was glaring that the ANC and LP were bent on having a free, fair and transparent primaries to elect a Standard Bearer that would have led the CPP to the pending 2023 legislative and presidential elections - Joseph Boakai and his den of power greed allies walked away from the CPP in haste.

Unlike the UP under Ellen Johnson Sirleaf who sought a merger in 2009 to consolidate her grips on raw power, Boakai ignorantly and for selfish reason flew from what was supposed to be a formidable collaboration at the verge of elections.

This colossal failure on the part of Boakai set the irreversible pace for self-destruct and a rapid collapse of a party that was predominantly loved by the hardworking people of Lofa.

As expected, the inevitable defeat of UP in Lofa by an Independent candidate, Cllr. Joseph Jallah backed by the Coalition for Democratic Change became an offspring of Boakai's blunder.

It is important to note that there are few immediate factors that contributed to the electoral collapse of UP in Lofa.

a. Tribal and regional interplay: The insensitivity of UP to pick a Lorma candidate from upper Lofa when the county already had already elected a Lorma Senator from the very upper Lofa.

b. The Neglect of the County by Boakai: Many Lofians continue to express dissatisfaction of the lack of interest and love for county Boakai has exhibited over the last four decades of his political participation in national politics. They continue to argue that Boakai is more interested in squeezing votes out of Lofa than advocating for development for the county. Boakai visits the county only during campaign periods.

Clearly, there is no footprint of Boakai's contribution to development or human resource capacity building during his "squandered" 12 years as Vice President. The great people of Lofa took to the streets early morning of June 29, 2022 and sang "No More Sell Pay" a cliché which literally means, 'we are tired voting UP on broken promises'.

c. CDC Development In Lofa

The unprecedented development in Lofa by the Coalition for Democratic Change led government is rapidly paying off. The construction of roads, the electrification of cities towns and villages, the improved equality of education, the availability of micro finance loan, and the improvement in health care are among other reasons for a switch of allegiance.

Moving forward

The resilient people of Lofa are on an irreversible path to unravel the unprofitable label as UP 'vote bank' to embrace a fresh air of development and catch up on the 21st century reality.