The Joe Boakai-Alex Cummings Failed Accra Meeting in Retrospect

The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia
January23, 2022

Cummings, Boakai and the Ghana surreptitious Meeting

Many key supporters of the Unity Party, according to sources, were shocked when news emerged of the recent UP political leader Joseph Boakai’s trip to Ghana accompanied by his son and nephew allegedly for a reconciliation meeting with Alternative National Congress (ANC) leader, Alexander Cummings.

It is not known exactly who organized the meeting but informed sources suggest that it was former College of West Africa(CWA) students that organized the meeting intended to bring together Cummings and Boakai both being political adversaries and graduates of CWA.

One individual said to be strongly linked to the organization of the meeting is former deputy foreign minister, Sylvester Grigsby a close friend and CWA classmate of Joseph Boakai.

For the record, Grigsby currently heads an organization known and styled as the Liberia Renaissance Office(LIRO). This is an organization allegedly put together for the sole purpose of identifying a suitable presidential candidate who it can sell to US opinion leaders including even US President Joe Biden.

Former President Ellen Sirleaf, also a CWA graduate, is said to be closely linked to the LIRO including her PR consultant Reva Levinson. She reportedly has close business connections with Ghanaian Finance Minister Ofori Attah.

As to whether she played a role in organizing the meeting is unclear but sources suggest the choice of Accra as the venue of the meeting was not by accident as her presence in Accra at the time appeared to suggest.

But the meeting according to sources ended in a deadlock because former Vice President Joseph Boakai allegedly rejected a US$6m bribe offer to back down and instead endorse Cummings’ candidacy.

According to a report aired on Power FM on Wednesday, December 22, 2021, the ANC leader walked unannounced into a meeting between Allan White and VP Boakai and began pleading with the former Vice President to accept the US$6m offer.

It was at this point according to the report that the former Vice President allegedly walked out of the meeting claiming the bribe offer was an insult to his character.

But spin doctors of the former Vice President have dismissed such claims. They maintain that he(VP Boakai) had actually traveled to Nigeria and was on his way back to Liberia when he made a brief stop-over in Accra, Ghana.

They maintain that it was by coincidence following arrival in Ghana that the former Vice President received an invitation to attend the meeting which he eventually walked out of.

But such claims have left many questions unanswered. Critics contend that the former VP cannot in good conscience claim ignorance of arrangements that culminated in the Accra meeting.

In the first place, who organized the trip including logistics associated with it? Were party officials contacted and did they give it their blessings? Assuming for the sake of the argument that party officials did give their blessings to the trip, why was no party official involved?

For all what it seemed, it was intended to be a convivial affair involving former school and classmates, a convergence of CWA “FOXES” especially Cummings and Boakai, to “jaw-jaw” and then reconcile.

Informed sources have confirmed that former President Sirleaf(the Mother Fox) was also present in Accra This may have been the appealing factor leading to his decision to attend.

But if the rather sour and strained relationship between two old “FOXES” Ellen and Joe was anything to go by, then there was little chance that the recent convergence of former FOXES at a reconciliation meeting between Cummings and Boakai would have achieved anything of substance especially given reports that Ellen is an avowed supporter of Cummings who appears bent on becoming the chosen one of the CPP.

But the troubling question that remains unanswered is what justification can the former VP provide for not including party officials on his delegation when he was fully aware that the visit was political and not social or health-related.

That he instead opted to constitute a delegation composed of his son, Jojo Boakai, and nephew Jake Kabakole to discuss important political matters affecting the future of his party and country defies reason even if the visit was intended to be a low key affair.

Now, it appears that the former VP, by that surreptitious visit to Accra, has seemingly endangered his moral standing in the party and raised questions to which answers have not been as readily forthcoming as expected.

This has not only conveyed a distinct impression that he had personal but unworthy motives for attending the meeting, it is also, according to insider UP sources, provoking a split in the UP leadership which party officials appear to be desperately trying to paper over.

According to some party loyalists, they feel angry and deeply disappointed by former VP Boakai’s decision to travel without informing them about the purpose of the visit to Ghana.

In their opinion, his decision to attend a political meeting dubbed a “reconciliation meeting” accompanied by his son and nephew rather than by party officials was out of place.

More to that critics say that his failure to have united the CPP under his leadership and secured its nomination has greatly endangered his chances of nailing down the requisite resources, financial and otherwise, necessary to clinch victory at the 2023 polls.

And now with the UP and ALP openly declared the decision to leave the CPP, there are questions about the ability of the former VP, given health concerns, to organize and muster the financial and political strength to lead a robust and credible campaign capable of attracting mass support to outweigh the ruling CDC at the 2023 polls.

At this point, it is safe to conclude that the CPP is for all purposes dead. The political masterstroke which embattled Liberty Party Chairman Musa Bility had sought to achieve by having the Liberty Party declare its support for ANC leader, Alexander Cummings has apparently failed.

Cummings is now left holding on to mere shreds of a now factionalized Liberty Party. Analysts suggest that Bility’s flawed move has drawn ethnic sentiments into play here. 

This is because Bility, an ethnic Mandingo, may prove incapable of swaying the popular support in Bassa away from Nyonblee Karnga Lawrence, an ethnic Bassa.

This leaves Mr. Cummings in a quandary. Because he lacks an identifiable political base, he desperately needs the support and backing of a unified CPP, something which he has proved incapable of mustering in view of the UP and ALP declared intention to leave the CPP.

The recent criminal conspiracy lawsuit filed by ALP leader Benoni Urey against ANC leader Alexander Cummings has without question placed the issue of reconciliation between both individuals beyond reach at least for now.

Whatever the case, popular predictions about a death knell hanging over the CPP appear to have been fulfilled. Slowly but surely, the national discourse centered on Cummings, Boakai, and Weah appears to be shifting.

This is because the grueling fight between Cummings and Boakai over the CPP nomination has created strong feelings of disappointment in the public and left the people searching for options.

But lest it is forgotten, ethnicity, as well as regionalism, will more likely than not feature heavily in decision making when it comes to choosing a president but, may not be the final or most weighted determinant.

From all indications, the Liberian people are longing for honest, decisive, accountable, inclusive, and transparent leadership to manage the affairs of the country. And this is regardless of ethnic, regional, or religious considerations.

But there is an urgency of time attached to this. The Voters’ Registry(VR) is yet to be cleaned up since the Supreme Court’s mandate to do so before the presidential runoff election in 2017.

Constituencies are yet to be developed as the National Census on which basis Constituencies can be demarcated is yet to be held.

Of key importance, also, is the very composition of the National Electoral Body(NEC). Its Chairperson is currently facing criminal charges including money laundering while serious questions of character remain hovering over the rest.

With just a year remaining to elections, it appears unlikely that these matters will be resolved before the elections in October next year.

Rather than focusing on such an all-important matter as the creation of a level playing field for elections, several of the leading political parties have been locked in bruising ego clashes which have only tended to hurt rather than enhance their prospects for victory against the CDC.

In many ways than one, the CPP’s internecine battles have served to seriously undermine overall chances for electoral reform well before the conduct of elections in 2023. 

What had once appeared to be a formidable CPP partnership has turned to be what in local parlance is called O.Y.O (On Your Own) friendship a meaning akin to the story of the “Three Musketeers” all for none and none for all.