Internal Turmoil Threatens the survival of a political institution established by jailed ex-Liberian President and warlord Charles Taylor, 27 years ago in the aftermath of the country’s first civil war.
Taylor’s exit from power in 2003 drew curtains on the
National Patriotic Party (NPP) dominance in Liberia’s political landscape until a 2018 cameo following marriage with the Congress for Democratic Change that governed the country until January 2024.
The Party has devoiced George Weah’s CDC with unending dispute disabling it to meet the elections governing body guidelines seeming inviting existential threat.
Accustomed to being at war with itself, the party is currently facing a serious internal leadership crisis, raising concerns among its members about the party’s potential de-certification by the National Elections Commission (NEC).
The ongoing bickering between former Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor and Chairman Atty. George Mulbah has jeopardized the party’s ability to hold its seventh biennial convention, which is necessary to resolve the leadership dispute and ensure the party’s continued viability.
The conflict, which revolves around issues of leadership legitimacy, factionalism, and adherence to the party’s constitution, has prevented the party from functioning smoothly and meeting the NEC’s requirements, including maintaining a minimum bank balance of $10,000 and an indemnity bond of $100,000.
Concerned Partisans of the National Patriotic Party have now petitioned the NEC, urging the commission to intervene and resolve the crisis. The spokesperson, Daoda V. Metzger, suggested that the NEC should convene a hearing involving the two rival factions to find a common ground.
“As a result of not holding the pending 7th biennial convention to elect new corps of officers recognized by the elections commission, the NPP has been unable to smoothly function to meet the guidelines and regulations, for which the party runs the risk of being delisted for lack of good standing with the NEC,” Metzger explained.
The party’s National Advisory Board, led by Cyril Allen, has so far failed to take proactive steps to mediate between the two factions and organize the long-overdue biennial convention, further exacerbating the crisis.
The Concerned Partisans have expressed their determination to prevent the de-certification of the NPP, warning that they will not sit idly by and watch their party lose its legal status as a political institution in Liberia.
The ongoing leadership crisis within the National Patriotic Party has raised serious concerns about the party’s future and its ability to participate in future elections.
History of the crisis as captured in Wikipedia
 The party’s 2016 convention was held in Buchanan, Liberia. The main topic was the influence held by Jewel Howard-Taylor, who served in an official capacity as the party’s “Standard Bearer.” Prior to the convention she was able to negotiate a coalition with George Weah‘s CDC to see Taylor elected Vice President of Liberia during the 2017 Liberian general election.
Additionally, she also organized a meeting to change the party’s constitution, greatly enhancing her powers to basically rule the NPP by decree.
During the 2017 election it was found that Charles Taylor was continuing to guide the party via phone calls from prison. Weah and the NPP party structure denied this, stating that Charles Taylor has no influence over Weah, the NPP, or his ex-wife Jewel Howard-Taylor.
In 2018, party chairman James Biney, angered by Taylor’s meddling with the party, issued a resolution expelling Taylor, as well as John Gray, who she installed as chairman, from the party, and recommending to George Weah to remove her from the position of Vice President.
Biney has made it clear that his faction of the NPP is unhappy with their position in the CDC and the CDC’s continued support of Taylor and her faction of the NPP as opposed to the legitimate faction and leadership of the NPP and threatened the CDC with their withdrawal.
This has led to a split in many county affiliates, namely the Maryland County branch developing two rival leaderships, one supporting Taylor and another supporting Biney.
In 2019 the CDC seriously considered removing Taylor from the office of vice president, with Mulbah Morlu, chairman of the Congress for Democratic Change suggesting she be replaced with the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Nathaniel McGill, however, backed off following backlash from the pro-Taylor NPP, namely chairwoman of the NPP’s woman wing and Bong County superintendent Esther Walker, and the NPP Bong county chairman James Dorbor Sao and vice chairman for administration Paul Wheeler.
In 2020Â Agnes Reeves Taylor, ex-wife of Charles Taylor, returned to Liberia after the dismissal of her war crime charges. Biney’s NPP welcomed her return with a parade and a rally, championing her as the “true mother” of the NPP, and seeking to tap her for a leadership role to mitigate the influence of Jewel Howard-Taylor.
In 2021, following the sudden death of Emmanuel Barten Nyeswua, the Youth Council of the NPP, which are vocal and often militant supporters of Jewel-Taylor, petitioned George Weah to name a pro-Taylor member of the NPP, Clarence Williams, as chairman of the Internal Audit Agency to show unity between the NPP and CDC. Instead Weah named David A. Kemah, a non-partisan, as the new chairman.
2022 convention and split
In 2022 the NEC ruled that Chairman Biney’s term should have expired after his four year term in 2020, and that his tenure was without legitimacy. In response, Biney coordinated the party’s 7th party convention in October in Paynesville, Liberia. Despite calls from the NEC to have the Biney and Taylor factions put their differences aside Democratically at the convention, Taylor and her supporters instead organized a rival convention.
Inside the city hall Biney was re-elected as chairman, while the rival convention held outside by Jewel Howard-Taylor declared all seats in the party’s executive to be vacant and elected Stanley Kparkillen as the new party chairman. A fight would break out between the two convention goers with at least one death.
Taylor’s faction of the party argued that as standard bearer, Taylor is the sole authority to vet and approve members of the party to participate in the Weah government, and shortly after the convention declared that the NPP would be supporting the CDC with Taylor again as Weah’s running mate.
Chairman Emeritus of the party, Chief Cyril Allen, denounced the 7th party convention as “complete gangsterism” and accused Taylor of paying attendees to sign a resolution against Biney and the NPP party structure. In March of 2022 the Supreme Court of Liberia found in favor of Biney, that Jewel Howard-Taylor had no official powers to call a party convention, and that the 2016 party constitution was declared null and void and that Biney is the rightful leader of the party.
The CDC has largely supported the attempted takeover of the party by Taylor’s faction, with Weah’s advisor on communications, Gabriel Nyenkan, arguing that the NPP should be grateful to the CDC for allowing them to participate in the government, and that the NPP as a stand alone political party “had become a striped frame of a vehicle and could bring nothing to the table.” The Liberian government, despite the supreme court ruling, has recognized Taylor’s faction as the party leadership.
In 2023 Taylor named Joe Mulbah as “acting chairman” of her faction of the NPP who suspended chairman James Biney from the party, who, in turn, nullified his own suspension and suspended Taylor and Mulbah.
The cause of the renewed dispute is Biney’s refusal to sign a resolution to commit the party to the Coalition for Democratic Change against the wishes of the party’s executive committee, which Taylor argued is a violation of article 4 of the party’s 2004 Constitution.
However, Biney argued that Taylor had no authority to suspend the chairman, and that by attempting to do so violated article 5 of the party’s 2004 Constitution and that Taylor and Mulbah were “convening an illegal and unconstitutional gathering.” Biney has also gone on saying that the committee gathering to call for signing of the CDC resolution was illegitimate as meetings of the party’s executive committee can only be called and presided over by the party chairman.
Shortly after the “suspension” of Biney, Taylor organized members of the NPP Youth Council to protest for a war crimes trail for Prince Johnson while he was purportedly giving a sermon against Taylor which prompted the congregation to evacuate out of fear of a violent escalation.
In response Johnson began surrounding his church with armed supporters and threatened a violent response should Taylor continue to push for protests against him. Most opposition parties to the CDC used the event as an opportunity to criticize Taylor, Weah and the NPP as a whole.Â
