Reminiscing Lofa's by-election amid Entrenched Disjointed Opposition – In Whose Interest?

The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia
June 30, 2022

In 2019, when Nobel Laureate, Leymah Gbowee was conferred the national honor to serve as National Orator for Liberia's 172nd Independence Anniversary, she astoundingly thrilled and mesmerized many a revolutionary cum patriotically hungry Liberians who had gone through some of the worst and harshest experiences of bad governance and misrule amid hopelessness and despair.

Leymah Gbowee appealingly cajoled Liberians about the three distinct political colorations amid competing interests in Liberia namely - “Position – Opposition and No Position.” What was the point? The Nobel laureate had done a forensically holistic postmortem of the new government that had been in office for barely 18 months amid the brouhaha and socioeconomic cluelessness on every front.

Gbowee sought to remind Liberians that although the duly elected had become a bundle of frustration and saddled with euphoric fatigue, the imperative was for all Liberians to recognize that whether they are of the school of thought of a recognized or unrecognized 'Position – official Opposition or simply of No Position' – our country had become beleaguered by a dent of thieves and economic vampires so desperate to indiscriminately loot even the little left of office supplies in their own offices.

Leymah Gbowee then made a clarion call on all patriotic and peace-loving Liberians – to stand towering in the midst of the current adversities – to wear the armor that demands accountability, transparency, and respect for the rule of law in pursuit of the greater good. She thought the opposition needed to do enough in terms of commitment if a change was seen as compelling. She reminded her compatriots that only a united opposition has the audacity to unequivocally speak with one resolute voice with valor unpretending.

Months later, Gbowee's firm urge to a seemingly 'collaborating opposition' bloc seemed to have unceremoniously faded away – thus losing the very essence of why they had come together to target a so-called common political enemy. In spite of the looming opposition fragility, some Liberians have remained hopeful, though. The hope of these Liberians has been enveloped in the trend analysis of a flooded political contest as it were – in which two parties would obviously head for runner-up. Is that good enough? Perhaps not!

The Lofa County special senatorial by-election – many had hoped would become another somewhat 'loose opposition rallying point' in an aggressive attempt to defeat the CDC amid the opposition's particularly massive showing during the 2020 special senatorial elections. Well, well, well! Ironically, the Unity Party (UP), became obscurely a lone wolf panting under its own canopy.

It is sickeningly just incomprehensible how some elements within the opposition sought to turn the Kortimai-Jallah's tightly contested race into some kind of 'laughing gas' of the sort. Whose interest are they advancing? Do they wish the CDC's victory in a crucial election when we are a heartbeat away from the 2023 general and presidential elections? Are these opposition folks contemplating CDC's 2017 redux? Sad indeed! It would make sense to openly join ranks with a failed regime than pretend to be the 'opposition' they sheepishly are perceived to be, folks.

Should we have reasons to believe that as we gradually move towards 2023, we should anticipate a 'free-for-all' political battle? If that's what will make the opposition viable, so be it. So then who is the opposition – the position or perhaps no position if you may?

If the clueless regime must be seen as a common enemy; only a united opposition can undo it in an election. But the trappings of unclear cum worrying signs of the by-election's outcome amid the furor of disjointed opposition's craze is so mind-boggling.