By Olando Testimony Zeongar
BUCHANAN, GRAND BASSA CO. – The embattled Political Leader of the leadership crisis-prone Liberty Party (LP), Grand Bassa County Senator Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence, has apologized to all stakeholders of the LP, taking the blame for the ‘woes Liberty Party’s chair Musa Hassan Bility has brought the party’.
For over two years now, the LP has been embroiled in a crippling leadership crisis that has segmented the Party into two factions, with each being headed by Mr. Bility and Senator Karnga-Lawrence respectively.
The internal wrangling within the LP eventually landed at the Supreme Court, which recently ruled that the Bility faction is legally in charge of the Party, a decision the Karnga-Lawrence faction has since taken exception to, with the Bassa senator terming the same as a recipe for chaos and disturbances in Liberia.
Following the Supreme Court ruling, Karnga-Lawrence, in a statement released to the press Wednesday, said she takes responsibility for Bility being elected LP’s chairman, a decision she said is now considered one of the biggest mistakes they’ve ever made.
Aimed at fostering genuine internal democracy and selfless leadership within the LP, Karnga-Lawrence recalled that she consented to the amendment of the Party’s Constitution to diminish what she termed perceived excess powers of the Political Leader, indicating that in January of 2021, at a Special National Convention, having amended the LP’s Constitution resulting from two separate retreats held in Grand Bassa County in 2020, fresh elections were eventually held at another Special National Convention in Gbarnga, Bong County, at which a new National Executive Committee was elected with Musa Bility as Chairman.
Karnga-Lawrence, who intoned that the LP is a party that opens its doors for any member to excel and be given the opportunity and necessary support to serve in the interest of the Party in particular, and the country in general, averred that there were concerns and apprehensions from most partisans and supporters who expressed their displeasure about Bility’s election as Chairman of the Party owing to his either real, perceived and or imagined not-so-good character and public reputation.
She asserted that although LP is a party that opens its doors for any member to excel and be given the opportunity and necessary support to serve in the interest of the Party in particular, and the country in general, this has not been the case with Bility, who she accused of proving to have different motives.
She inferred that with Bility as chair of the LP, the Party has been through so much unwarranted misunderstanding, confusion and chaos, stating, “We have had sleepless nights as a team strategizing, blaming one another at some point, and even shutting down for days to reflect.”
“Our executives, partisans, well-wishers, supporters, family and friends have gone through so much political trauma and pain for a decision we thought would have been best for our institution,” Karnga-Lawrence added.
She continued: “As the Leader of our beloved party, I stand here today, humbled, and sad and want to say sorry; sorry for putting you all through all this trauma, frustration and sleepless nights. I take all the responsibility!!!”
To all LP partisans, especially women who have fasted and prayed since the commencement of the Party’s legal battle that spanned a little over two years, and the entire women wing and its new leaders, who took charge and stood by the Karnga-Lawrence’s faction of the segmented Liberty Party, the Bassa senator stated, “I take the blame and say sorry.”
She recalled instances where the women, under the sun and rain and sometimes walking because there was no transportation, had to at times use their personal resources to accompany the Kargan-Lawrence’s faction to the National Elections Commission, the courts, at press conferences, protests, and among others.
“I appreciate you. I value your loyalty and commitment shown to me and love for our Party,” she hailed the women.
Karnga-Lawrence continued her expression of gratitude then turned to the Youth Wing of the faction under her control, recounting how members of the Youth Wing sat in meetings with those she described as big hands, who she claimed promised the youth pickups and huge money to have had a press conference against the Karnga-Lawrence’s faction and abandon it, but decided that integrity matters and their future would have been compromised, so they rejected those offers including monthly salaries when they have no means of survival.
“I appreciate and value you,” she told the youth, who she disclosed, are still running behind the Karnga-Lawrence’s faction of the LP, with nothing.
“To our youth wing again who stood against the division of the party and resisted the opening of another party headquarters causing division of our party in Grand Bassa County, and said to me, “This is off your hands, and we can no longer agree to calm down”, some of them went to jail, I appreciate and value you,” she added.
She then hailed others including the media; six out of 15 County Chairpersons; LP’s former Chairman, Lofa Senator Steve Zargo; Executive Committee and Advisory Council Members; inner teams; and those she called diaspora leadership and members, who she said have also had sleepless nights on zoom calls, organized programs to accommodate her, and continue to raise money to help with every activity.
“You were told that we sold the party; you were told that we were selfish; you were told that we cannot be trusted; you were told that we have no integrity; you stood by us because our character outweighs all lies told about us. You have shown to the world that if no one knows us you know us. For this, we have come to say thank you,” Karnga-Lawrence stated.
She asserted that together with the others, they all have fought the hardest, stood together, supported the process in many ways, adding that they are neither discouraged nor tired of fighting because according to her, they know that they are on the right side.
However, she informed those standing with her that the fight is not against only them, but the entire country, adding that the fight is as well not just about Musa Bility and his team fighting them, but every other power against the growth of Liberia.
She bragged that the fight is being channeled in such a way because according to her, they lead the base that will influence the 2023 elections.
“We have a team and base that do not compromise, we have a team and base that have integrity, we have a team [and] a base that will never take money against the future of our people, we have a team and base that mean well for Liberia,” said Karnga-Lawrence, who pointed out that they have all of these, going against those she said will never think beyond themselves, who she accused of compromising the survival of Liberia out of greed, and that only her with those supporting her standing firmly behind her, can stop such people, whose names she fell short of disclosing.
Meanwhile, in the wake of the recent ruling of the Supreme Court in the LP court case, Liberty Party’s recognized Chairman, Bility, has among others announced the expulsion of Karnga-Lawrence, as Political Leader of the Party.
He has written the NEC, political stakeholders in the country, and scores of Liberia’s international partners, not to do business with the Bassa senator in the name of the Liberty Party.
