Cllr. Charles W. Brumskine

One of the major contenders for the Liberian Presidency, Cllr. Charles Walker Brumskine, has announced his formal resignation from the Liberian Unification Party (LUP). The announcement was made over the weekend in Gbarnga, Bong County.

According to reports, Cllr Brumskine told the inhabitants of the Central Liberian city of Gbarnga, situated about 90 miles away from Monrovia, that his resignation comes in the wake of pronouncement by the National Elections Commission (NEC) that it wouldn't do any business with the party while a lawsuit involving factions of the party remains before the courts. Cllr Brumskine, the report said, is anticipating organizing a political party whose ticket he will head to contest the general elections in 2005.

For the past seven months, the Liberian Unification Party has been engulfed with leadership bickering and fussing, marked by accusations and counter- accusations by both parties to the conflict within LUP.

The chaos forced a major split within the party, with one group headed by Representative Isaac Manneh and Deputy Minister Cletus Sieh, running the party from its Camp Johnson Road headquarters while the other faction is headed by Mr. Mitchell, runs its affairs from a Randall Street location; the Mitchell group supports Brumskine. The “bad blood” erupted in the party when some members of the party held a convention. At the convention organized by loyalists of Cllr. Brumskine, the LUP leadership headed by Mr. Manneh, was dethroned and replaced with a new leadership headed by Mr. Mitchell.

The convention was protested by the leadership of Isaac Manneh and others - this was followed by a court injunction but despite the writ of “injunction”, they still went ahead and had the elections.

Mr. Manneh and other members of LUP have persistently accused Cllr. Brumskine of being the brain behind the disputed convention and reportedly used his “Friends of Brumskine” to take over the party in order to place Cllr. Brumskine in a comfortable seat to be elected as a standard-bearer during the Party's convention.

But the Friends of Brumskine has vehemently denounced and rejected the allegation against the organization. The Brumskine loyalists, meantime, accused Cllr. Varney Sherman and Chairman Charles Gyude Bryant of being responsible for the confusion within the party. The group also accused Mr. Manneh and Sieh of allegedly receiving cash and a vehicle from Chairman Bryant to enable the two former leaders to oppose Cllr. Brumskine from being elected the standard bearer.

But Mr. Sieh and Manneh told The Perspective that Cllr. Brumskine and his associates want to hijack LUP's leadership. Cllr. Sherman, in an interview with The Perspective in Monrovia, denied the allegation made against him. He challenged his accusers to produce evidence against him to sustain their claims.

Cllr. Brumskine once served in the Charles Taylor regime as President of the Liberian Senate and is also said to have rendered legal services to the former ruling National Patriotic Party (NPP) before resigning from the party and fleeing the country for personal reasons. He was said to be targeted by the former regime of Mr. Taylor.

Cllr. Brumskine is credited for braving the storm to return home and declare his intention for the presidency while Mr. Taylor was still in power. Cllr. Brumskine, who at the time was seen by some Liberians as their savior and redeemer, did receive a red carpet welcome and support in the presence of Mr. Taylor. But since the departure of the former regime, Cllr. Brumskine's popularity has considerately dropped.

Political observers believe that Cllr. Brumskine's resignation is likely to create a set back for his ambition for the nation's highest office. But associates of Cllr. Brumskine are said to be working over night to make sure that the dream becomes a reality.

Related Articles:
Cllr. Charles Brumskine's Liberia Unification Party In Confusion
Running For Public Office - A Test Of Character: The Brumskine Case
Brumskine Parts Company with LUP

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