Scrambling for Weah: As Tubman Makes His Move, Brumskine, UP Ponder Options
06/25/09 - Rodney D. Sieh, rsieh

CDC Caution as Weah Hits Monrovia

Monrovia - Four years after throwing his weight behind George Weah’s unsuccessful second round Presidential elections quest, Winston Tubman is still milking the cow, hoping that his political gamble pays off and Weah repays his loyalty with a partnership deal ahead of the 2011 presidential season in Liberia.

While Tubman appeared confident in a FrontPageAfrica interview recently that his deal with Weah is almost a reality, the political gods have not shut the door on the possibility that others, including the ruling Unity Party may also be aiming to cash in on Weah, who won the first round with 28.3 percent of the votes to Sirleaf’s 19.8 percent of the votes.

“All Weah has to do is agree and Sirleaf would have him as a Vice Presidential candidate in a heartbeat. And all Sirleaf has to do is ask,” said a senior Unity Party executive, who begged anonymity for this report. Political pundits are divided however over, whether Weah still possesses the strength to pull votes the way he managed in the first round in 2005.

Behind the scenes, senior executives of both CDC and Liberty Party appear unhappy that Tubman jumped the gun on the Weah issue and has put himself in pole position for a possible merger with Weah. Interestingly, executives of both CDC and Liberty – Lenn Eugene Nagbe and Israel Akinsanya - traveled with President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf during her visit to Nigeria this week for the ECOWAS summit. Sources privy to the discussion suggest that the two parties – Liberty and CDC are still talking. The trip, one Liberty Party executive disclosed to FPA, on condition of anonymity gave both camps a chance continue negotiations on the CDC/Liberty potential merger and the Tubman’s recent assertions that he is closing in on a merger with Weah.

FrontPageAfrica has not been privy to discussion held between Weah and Tubman in Ghana last weekend but executives from both CDC and Liberty Party say it was one of many meetings between the pair in recent months and Tubman believes he presents the best chance at the moment.

Tubman jabs Brumskine

“I don’t regret it but the main reason I went to CDC was not so much to go to George Weah. I wanted to identify with the young people of the country and I tell you, they received me with great rapture and now many people can see the wisdom of that move. There are some politicians who just sat on the fence and said well, in fact a lot of my people told me Chief don’t go in there, just stay, don’t do anything but I know what leadership is.  Leadership is to lead and not to follow and of course if you are leading well, other people will follow.”

Tubman’s allusion was an apparent jab at Liberty Party’s Charles Brumskine who did not endorse neither Weah nor Sirleaf after the first round of voting.

It is possible, according to executives from both CDC and Liberty Party that Tubman could still play some role in any eventual merger involving the opposition. In fact, recent talks between CDC and Liberty Party have centered on how Tubman can join the current talks between CDC and Liberty Party. However, Tubman, who was last week named the political leader of the Liberian National Union (LINU) party, has already made it clear that he has no intentions of going on the same ticket with Brumskine. “Some people have suggested that I add someone like Brumskine as a Vice President. But I have said, I will not want to be on such a ticket because our country has been stuck on the Congau- Native issues.”

The challenge, going forward for both CDC and Liberty Party remains, how would they be able to convince Tubman, to play along. Tubman has hinted that he does not have an ego problem in reference to the difficulties in talks about a potential Brumskine-Weah or Weah-Brumskine ticket and which candidate would settle for the top or the bottom of the ticket. “I am hoping to come up with the best we can produce for all. If that best we can agree on puts me on the top, or not, once we agree, that will be the point to go forward. I don’t have any particular ego problem,” says Tubman.

Weah, the Kingmaker? Possibilities abound

A senior CDC executive also confided to FPA that there still exist a possibility, that Weah may not be as tuned out to emerging as the top of any merger ticket as is being perceived by pundits. Weah, the executive noted may be comfortable playing the role of a kingmaker. Prior to his meeting with Tubman in Ghana Saturday, it appears Weah had not been abreast of the depth of the discussions between CDC and Liberty. FPA has also gathered that negotiations are underway for another meeting between Weah and Brumskine during Weah’s visit to Monrovia this week.   

Weah, who lost to Sirleaf in the second round 59%-41%, according to the National Electoral Commission’s final statistics, claimed in the aftermath of the elections that he voting was fraud and accused election officials of stuffing ballot boxes in Sirleaf’s favor, a claim Sirleaf campaign dismissed as “lies”.  On the contrary, election observers from the United Nations, the European Union and the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS declared the election clean and transparent. The Carter Center observed “minor irregularities” but no major problems. Weah dropped his protest on December 22, 2005.

Now four years later, Weah appears poised to remain a major player- perhaps a kingmaker - not for his political skills but more so, his popularity as a footballer and ability to mobilize the youths, expected to play a major role in deciding the cards in 2011. Prior to the election, the former World Footballer of the Year was viewed by many as the favorite, but this time around, critics say Weah’s influence may not be as massive as it was in 2005.

CDC’s Gray Urges Caution as Weah Hits Monrovia

Since the elections, Weah has been making efforts to repair some of the handicap and criticisms which dogged his quest for the presidency. Weah, who is nearing completion of his studies at the DeVry University in Florida, is due in Monrovia today but already his Congress for Democratic Change is cautioning partisans and political pundits to stop reading too much into his weekend meeting with Tubman.

Acarious Gray, Secretary General of Weah’s Party, says the meeting with Tubman is simply a continuation of the party’s objective since the end of the 2005 elections.

“CDC’s goal was to continue to engage our collaborators – Alhaji Kromah, Varney Sherman, Dr. Togba Nah Tipoteh and Winston Tubman – all who endorsed Ambassador Weah in the run-off in 2005. We felt that collaboration was crucial. Both Winston Tubman and Charles Brumskine have met with Weah in the U.S. but CDC as a party has not reached any agreement on an alliance.”

Gray explains that the decision about an alliance is a big decision and not one that can be taken overnight – and with a lot of caution, a similar point hit home recently by James Whitfield, Secretary General of the National Patriotic Party, who revealed to FPA recently, the possibility of a four-party – NPP-LP-CDC-Tubman merger. “We have to move with caution; we have to move with trust and confidence at a snail pace before any merger. This is a scenario being put to work that will take us very slowly but we hope will surely take us there because we do not want to go into those pitfalls that fundamental  history has observed”, the touch talking secretary-general said.

NPP Comes into fold: Four-party merger possible?

In confirming the four-party merger, Whitefield confirmed that there is ongoing dialogue that will yield an entirely different merger of his party (NPP) but said that unlike a hurriedly-arranged political marriage involving the UP, LAP and LUP.  “When I go into a coalition, I will go there as a coalition partner. I won’t say that my party is dissolved. We have absolutely no determination of putting our parties at permanent rest”, Whitefield told FrontPageAfrica.

Back in the camp of CDC, Weah, taking a break from school arrives in Monrovia Wednesday. Gray emphasizes that Weah coming to Liberia this week is part of his usual routine to use his end of the school year to ensure that the party is still intact. On the weekend meeting in Ghana between Weah and Tubman, Gray said the setting was not premeditated to time into any special pronouncement of a merger but was solely based on timing. “Mr. Weah arrives in Monrovia Wednesday and Ambassador Tubman would not have been in Monrovia when he arrived so Ghana was actually a transit point for both to meet and discuss which he will also be doing to other politicians when he arrives on Wednesday.

Brumskine ‘Friends’ with Weah – No Matter What

The clarification could bring relief for Brumskine, who is also believed to be courting Weah but appeared unbothered about the inroads being expressed by Tubman: “I heard that he (Weah) is coming to town but even if he and Tubman went to bed, Weah and I will remain friends. My main concern right now is to welcome both Mr. Weah and Mr. Tubman to the table and discuss how we can push for the National Elections Commission to be more representative of the opposition. That’s my main priority right now.”

FrontPageAfrica has learned that aides to Weah remain divided over which direction the football legend should lean – Brumskine vs. Tubman. Although, some readily admits that any final decision should be well calculated. “In the end someone will have to swallow the bitter pill and be left out of the show,” one party official said earlier this week.

Gray though remains baffled at the interest Weah is luring and for obvious reasons. “I don’t know why people are panicking. Weah has been silent and the party has been cautious in addressing it because we do not want to be misinterpreted and allow the wrong message to get out.  Any prudent politician or political leader will want to be part of CDC because of our numerical edge,” Gray says. “We are talking to people and people are also talking to us.”

Says Gray: “In a merger you lost your political edge, your political identity which includes your logo, your motto and you stance but in a coalition you do not. And CDC has no intentions of losing its identity. We cannot shy away from Ambassador Tubman because he endorsed us in the second round in 2005.”

Like CDC’s Gray, Whitfield hinted that their promised merger will not destroy the existences of the individual parities involved as is in the case of the UP/LAP/LUP while at the same time describing the merger as something that was hurriedly done.  The NPP Secretary General said since a four-party dialogue was presented, there are sensitive issues that are being deliberated extensively pending the much expected merger after concerned parties’ partisans have agreed overwhelmingly.

“We are not going to consummate a deal that will destroy the existence of our individual parties as was done in the case of the one just carried out by UP/LAP/LUP merger”, he asserted.  “When you merge a political party with another or other entity, there is only one that stands. When you merge a political party done under the law it ceases to exist after this is fully consolidated  unless you go through the entire process of establishing a new political party and we are not going to do that”, he added.

FPA