-Bility Says After Opposition RoundTable
Citizens Movement for Change, CMC, political leader, Musa Hassan Bility, has reiterated his determination to contest the Liberian presidency in the pending 2029 elections and does not desire to go second to any fellow opposition politician in the elections.
“Nimba County deserves better and should not be confined only to the vice presidency in the Liberian governance process”, Mr. Bility told a local radio talk show early this week.
Representative of Nimba County District-7, Bility recalled that Nimba, one of Liberia’s vote-rich Counties, has always been subjected to the vice presidency and that the time has come to change the trajectory.
“Nimba deserves better and should not always be restricted to the vice presidency position in the Liberian governance process”, Bility noted.
Nimba County has produced three vice presidents, among them, Enoch Dogolea, 27th vice president of Liberia from 1997 until his death in 2000, Moses Zeh Blah, 28th vice president under Charles Taylor and became the 23rd president of Liberia on 11th August 2003 following Taylor’s resignation and currently Jeremiah Kuong, Vice President to President Joseph Boakai.
CMC political leader, Bility, said Nimba should also produce a president and that is one of the factors driving his ambition for the presidency.
His declaration of intent came less than forty eight hours after he attended the opposition parties’ roundtable conference presided over by former President, George Weah, at his Jamaica Resort.
Mr. Weah initiated the opposition roundtable to seek collaboration amongst opposition political parties and other major stakeholders ahead of Liberia’s next presidential and generation elections in 2029.
Amongst the participants were Alexander Cummings of the Alternative National Congress, ANC, Benoni Urey of the All Liberian Party, Simeon Freeman of the Movement for Progressive Change, MPC, and CMC’s Musa Bility, who had initially turned down the invitation to the roundtable, but later rescinded the decision.
Mr. Bility had warned that an opposition unity or collaboration should not only be about the removal from power of President Joseph Boakai and his Unity Party, but should be based on a well-defined agenda and the way forward for a responsible leadership in the best interest of Liberia.
Observers say with ambitions for the presidency high amongst members of the opposition, it is unlikely they will hold together even before the much anticipated elections.
In the meantime, a scramble has ensued amongst some members of the opposition over who becomes a running mate to former President Weah in the 2029 elections. Ironically, some of whom seeking to be his running mate had said he was inexperienced, incompetent and uneducated to have become president of Liberia. Weah, who only served one term in office, has declared his intention to seek a second term.
