Monrovia – Authorities’s transfer to evict the nation’s foremost opposition political social gathering, the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) on the ‘order of the courtroom’ has been greeted with large criticisms and condemnation by completely different political groupings and people.
By Emmanuel Weedee-Conway
Court docket sheriffs, backed by officers of the Liberia Nationwide Police (LNP), stormed the CDC headquarters early Saturday morning, August 23, 2025 to implement a court-ordered eviction.
Through the eviction train, a number of constructions together with a signature venture – the Munah Pelham Technical and Vocational Institute (Munah-Tech) have been all crushed to the bottom.
The demolition was triggered by a ruling by the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court docket which awarded the 4.23-acre property close to Bernard’s Seaside to the Property of Martha Stubblefield Bernard.
In his authorized determination, Choose George W. Smith dominated that the CDC had no authorized possession of the land after reviewing deeds and boundary strains, and instructed the Montserrado County Sheriff to execute the eviction.
In gentle of the ruling, Police Inspector Normal Gregory Coleman introduced that the police would offer help to the sheriffs in finishing up the courtroom’s mandate.
However whereas some imagine that the motion was predicated on a authorized foundation and wanted to be enforced by the Govt, a number of have additionally expressed critical opposition to what they suppose was a extra political motion that has the propensity to propel the nation into chaos that would undermine the already struggling financial system.
CMC Describes CDC Eviction as “A Unhappy Day for Liberian Politics”
For the Residents Motion for Change (CMC), the current eviction of the CDC from its nationwide headquarters was “a tragic day for Liberian politics and for democracy.”
CMC, one of many nation’s latest political events established by Nimba County District #7 Consultant Musa Hassan Bility, identified that the motion undermines the nation’s fragile political tradition.
In a press assertion issued over the weekend, the CMC acknowledged that whereas the eviction might have had authorized justification, its execution created the impression of humiliation, division, and triumphalism, an perspective the group considers harmful for Liberia’s democratic progress.
“The humiliation of any political social gathering just isn’t a victory for democracy. The one correct and bonafide technique to defeat a political social gathering is thru the poll field. To have a good time in any other case is to cheapen the very basis of multiparty democracy that Liberia has fought so onerous to construct. What occurred shouldn’t have occurred, and nobody ought to discover pleasure in it,” learn the assertion.
CMC additionally cautioned the ruling Unity Occasion (UP) towards viewing the eviction as a political win, because the UP itself confronted related accusations of political interference and humiliation when circumstances have been reversed.
In response to the political new child, the incident ought to function a sobering reminder that democracy can’t thrive on humiliation and revenge, however slightly on tolerance, civility, and real competitors of concepts.
The CMC additional urged the CDC to make use of the expertise as a possibility to restructure and strengthen its inner techniques, whereas calling on the ruling institution to mirror on the way it engages with political opponents.
“For the ruling institution, this ought to be a time of reflection on easy methods to have interaction opponents with civility and maturity. And for Liberia as a complete, let this function a reminder: humiliation just isn’t democracy, and democracy can’t survive with out respect, equity, and peace,” added the CMC.
Moriah Yeakula-Korkpor Believes It’s Political Vendetta
A stalwart of the Various Nationwide Congress (ANC), Cllr. Moriah Yeakula-Korkpor, in a Fb put up, coined the motion as political vendetta at play.
Nevertheless, the high-ranking member of the ANC, which has in current occasions slopped on the CDC, known as on CDCians to rise from the ashes and transfer on.
“Right now 1000’s of CDCians’ hearts are damaged. It’s clear your leaders fought legally to maintain your HQ however the regulation is the regulation and when political vendetta is at play, the worst occurs. Keep united. Rise out of the ashes, like a Phoenix. This too is Liberia.”
CDC Undeterred
Margibi County Senator and stalwart of the Occasion, Nathaniel F. McGill, in an encouraging message to fellows, says the social gathering stays sturdy and undeterred regardless of the eviction.
Sen. McGill, a former Minister of State for Presidential Affairs in President Weah’s regime, says the social gathering is constructed on the inspiration of individuals and never bodily constructions.
“The breaking of buildings doesn’t break the CDC. Our social gathering is constructed on the inspiration of individuals, not on constructions or areas. The CDC is a motion rooted within the hearts of the individuals. Right now’s demolition of the CDC Headquarters was a incorrect political transfer… 2029 shall be your reply. We at the moment are stronger and extra united than ever earlier than,” he wrote on his Fb timeline.
Weah’s Response to Eviction
In a press release delivered on Saturday night time, former President George Manneh Weah described the eviction as “partisan political mischief” by the Unity Occasion (UP)-led authorities underneath President Joseph Nyuma Boakai.
Former President Weah termed the destruction of the CDC compound as “unlucky and regrettable” however urged partisans and supporters to stay calm, law-abiding, and respectful of due course of.
“Fellow Liberians, particularly our supporters and sympathizers, I encourage you to remain calm, stay law-abiding, and respect due course of within the curiosity of our democracy, the rule of regulation, and peaceable coexistence amongst all Liberians,” the previous Liberian chief known as on partisans and supporters.
The previous president accused the Boakai administration of disregarding the rule of regulation and abusing energy, claiming the police acted on direct orders from the president regardless of the CDC’s pending appeals in courtroom.
“This was not a lawful eviction; it was a failed mission to destroy and erase the CDC in an try and fulfil the very want Boakai has repeatedly expressed to his lieutenants,” Weah charged.
However of all this, he let CDCians know that the sky stays blue for the social gathering with a brand new state-of-an-art nationwide headquarters that will be constructed within the soonest potential time.
The Legislation is the Legislation, President Boakai Protection Eviction Train
On the opposite aspect of the coin, President Joseph Nyuma Boakai has defended the demolition of the opposition CDC headquarters, insisting that the motion was the enforcement of a courtroom ruling and never a political determination.
“The regulation is the regulation. It isn’t the federal government; it’s the authorities’s implementation of the regulation,” President Boakai informed reporters upon his return from Japan. “The police have been ordered to hold out the motion, and so they did. That demolition was merely the elimination of individuals from premises that didn’t belong to them.”
