Despite careful planning and the unprecedented monitoring of the polls of the 2011 presidential and legislative elections, the opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) claimed “massive fraud” and staged a partisan demonstration, which led to the death of one and the injuring of many – thanks to the belligerence of CDC’s 2011 deputy campaign manager George Solo. Many say Solo should be in Liberia making amends for the consequences of his actions and utterances, but he is not. Instead, he is not only proud of what he did or did not do he is also presenting himself as a crusader for generational change and political morality. The Analyst skims through the “Open Letter to the Liberian People” he sent to editors of PFA.
Sirleaf naming her first set of cabinet officials. (Photo Courtesy Abbas Dulleh/New Democrat)

CDC 2011 deputy campaign manager, George Solo, says now that the government and the opposition made relevant compromises, leading to the successful inauguration of President Sirleaf, it was time to tell the story, test commitment to the compromises, and purge the CDC leadership of excess political baggage.

Once Liberian stakeholders did that, he believes, they will realize that President Sirleaf is dishonest about political reconciliation – as he claims her cabinet appointment, to date, suggests – and that it was time the CDC leadership reverts to the founders and the young people.

Mr. Solo’s comments were contained in the “open letter to Liberians on all sides of the political equation”, which he sent this week to FPA.

The circumstance-saddened Solo described his role in the opposition as controversial, noting that while admirers praise him for his courage, critics “despise my very existence”.

He did not say why he thinks so, but the CDC campaign deputy, who traced his background to Grand Gedeh and Maryland counties, said it was time to tell the story of the 2011 elections in efforts to “clear up perceptions about what we did or said”.

According to Mr. Solo, the unproven allegations of massive vote rigging, the fatal pre-runoff protest,  the subsequent trumped-up mass death and funeral protest, and the threat of a month-long violent street protest to mar the January 16 inauguration, were all part of his “patriotic obligation”.

Critics would say that the actions and the outcomes simply glorified the vainness of the politics of “the ends justify the means”.

But in Solo’s view, the negative outcomes of such ‘rash’ actions were immaterial as long as he would tell his kids, “I put in a good effort to push an ideology that I and millions of others believe in and will continue to do so”.

One reason Solo believes he should have no regrets for his action or inaction is that the bases for his so-called “ideology” was fairness and the equal distribution of resources as envisioned by Liberia’s founding fathers.

He said CDC did not make the post-election compromises in concession that its policies or claims were not worth pursuing, but that because the shared goals of Liberians outweighed those things that would divide them.

“We swallowed the injustices we felt, we buckled up our pride, put on our smiles, reshape our thoughts and attended the inauguration of Madam Sirleaf...again for Liberia!” the CDC deputy campaign manager said.

He said while he would leave it to the Liberian people to judge President Sirleaf’s commitment to the compromises that paved the way for the inauguration, it was not difficult to tell that she would renege.

“Madam Sirleaf will demonstrate her own commitment to that process and I will let you be the judge as you see her cabinet, policies and implementations, stance on corruption etc,  because ultimately, She is dishonest and lacks the courage to address the ills in our society,” Solo said.

That aside, he said, the next challenges facing CDC, in view of recent historical circumstances and the current political imperatives, was to launch an internal adjustment that considers generational change and the shedding of extra political baggage.

“I spoke on generational change, something that is critical to the direction of the CDC (and we must start this change from within our party, especially considering the historical and current political imperative that imposes upon us the demand for Winston Tubman to make room for the CDC to move forward in its Teflon indigenous direction),” Solo said.

Whatever that means is opened to many interpretations, but observers believe that Solo was speaking to concerns within the party that CDC Standard-bearer Winston Tubman has lost his relevance to the party’s future.

In fact, some CDC militants have since blamed Mr. Tubman for the party’s dismal performance at the polls and for his failure to authorize the use violence to prevent or nullify the outcome of the November 8 presidential runoff or the January 16 inauguration.

CDC coopted Tubman, then standard-bearer of the opposition Liberia National Union (LINU) of former vice president Harry Moniba, to compensate for George Weah’s reported lack of political experience, international diplomatic credentials, and the relevant academic background to lead Liberia.

Tubman’s credentials – a US law school graduate, a counselor-at-law, a former justice minister of Liberia, and a former special representative of the UN secretary-general – convinced CDC at its Kakata pre-elections convention that he would match candidate Sirleaf experience for experience, qualification for qualification, and charisma for charisma.

Now that that did not help the party to get the power it needed badly, Solo believes it is time to shed the excess political baggage and the first to go must be Tubman.

How many in the party support his views, it is difficult to say, but Solo says the need for generational change was no lesser challenge for the party.

Solo said even though many, including certain compromised editors, often rubbish his views thereby pitting public opinions against his patriotic views for a progressive Liberia, that would not dissuade him because the truth would prevail.

The CDC strategist, who claimed to a regional executive for an unnamed bank in Uganda, cited some “lies” circulated in the media regarding his alleged involvement in the “black money business” and noted that it was time Liberians stopped peddling untruths about other Liberians.

He then thanked his supporters for standing by his side throughout the election ordeals and reminded them that it was time CDC partisans recognize and reward the “true patriotic nature of Ambassador George M. Weah”.

It was time also, he said, that the partisans recognize and reward the good works of the party’s secretary general Acarous Gray, and others, including Mulbah Morlu and Jefferson Koigee.

Moreover, he said, the partisans must give the CDC executives the support they need to think and act in the interest of their people through CDC, NDC, and the entire 2011 electoral coalition.

Meanwhile, Mr. Solo said with the support of his family, he has resolved to contribute to progress in Liberia and that no amount of lies “will deter my efforts to give the masses what is inherently theirs”.