Friday, November 11, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
Boycotting the Ballot Box
As the opposition party (CDC) here in Liberia continues to hurl allegations at the National Election Commission (NEC) around the issues of fraud, Liberian’s are growing weary of all the mud slinging and talk of boycotting. Especially, because the CDC, have repeatedly been unable to support these allegations with substantial evidence. Last week, a second attempt to hold presidential and vice-presidential debates failed once again when the opposition refused to attend. Earlier last week, Winston Tubman, the standard bearer for the CDC was requested by ECOWAS to attend a meeting in Nigeria with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan. Rumblings are that he agreed at the talks to call off the boycott, but no sooner had his plane tires hit the tarmac in Monrovia than he had re-pledge his support of the boycott and urged CDC supporters for follow suit.
Unfortunately, today on the eve of the run-off election a gathering at CDC headquarters this afternoon took a violent direction. Police used teargas and fired live rounds into the crowed leaving many people injured and several others dead. This tragic turn of events will surely impact the confidence Liberians have about going to the ballot boxes tomorrow, and it is sad for me to think the country will not wake on Oct 8, 2011 with the same level of enthusiasm and dedication for the democratic process as they did on October 11, 2011. One can only hope that as Liberians lay down to rest tonight they have one thing on their minds and that is peace, above all else.
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