By E. J. Nathaniel Daygbor in Monrovia
A stalwart of the former ruling Unity Party, Rep. Edwin M. Snowe, has uprightly disagreed with the party for expelling former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and others. Snowe said the decision of the executive committee to have expelled the former President, Senator Conmany Wesseh, Attorney Medina Wesseh and the National Secretary General Patrick Worzi was unconstitutional and it’s a gross violation of the Party’s rules and guidelines.
The Bomi County Representative Snowe claimed that “few of the executive members” that took the action did so as retaliation against Madam Sirleaf, who the executives believe did not candidature of former Vice President Joseph Boakai for President of Liberia. He said those who took the decision were bitter against Madam Sirleaf, who it was alleged supported President George Manneh Weah during the presidential elections.
Speaking on a local radio station March 12th in the city of Paynesville, outside of Monrovia, Snowe said that Unity Party lost the election due to lack of confidence in some people who had played vital roles in the campaign activities of the party.
He added that some people have so far benefitted from the Weah administration, as others have been appointed to key positions of the Coalition for Democratic Change led administration.
Currently, the former Vice Standard Bearer of UP Emmanuel James Nuquay is now the Director General of the Liberia Aviation Authority (LAA), while former Vice President Boakai received gift from Weah during the New Day holidays.
Unity Party expelled the country’s former female president, Madam Sirleaf, who was accused by party leaders of meddling in last year’s presidential elections in which the former ruling party’s candidate suffered a bruising defeat.
According to Snowe, Madam Sirleaf and the rest of the expelled officials of the party were not accorded due process as required by the 1986 Liberian Constitution and guidelines of the Unity Party.
Retrospecting on his removal from office as Speaker of the House, Snowe said a group of lawmakers dethroned him. He fell short of mentioning that he had accused President Sirleaf at the time that she was the main mastermind of the deal to remove him from office. In fact, Snowe at the time accused the former President of bribing his colleagues with amount between US$3,000 and US$5,000.
“We lost the election because of some of our party executives did not trust us. There were meetings that some of us were denied entry on grounds that we are closed to President Weah and undecided. That made many influential people to take the back seat during the crucial period of the election,” he said.
The Bomi County lawmaker noted that key officials of the party have had wrong perception about others thereby creating division during the electioneering period.
Meanwhile, Rep. Snowe pledge his unflinching support to President Weah’s administration on grounds that Weah is from the young generation which he’s part and he will not be a part of anything that would reduce the image and dream of President Weah.