By Sidiki Fofana |Truth In In
From the brutal dragging and death of Liberia’s first dark-skinned President, Edward James Roye, in 1871, to the 1980 military coup led by Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe, and the devastating 1989 civil war, Liberia’s political ruptures have often been justified as revolts against corruption.
These moments of rupture did not merely punctuate our history; they shaped the national consciousness that demanded reform and renewal. From this collective frustration, the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) emerged, not just as a party seeking power, but as a movement driven by the ambition to cleanse the nation of corruption’s generational curse.
Unlike conventional parties, the CDC was founded on populist, reformist ideals. It was not simply about winning elections, it was about restoring dignity to public service and giving voice to those long ignored. “A phenomenon,” as CDC’s Organizing Chairman Orishall Gould once described it, the CDC was born to correct systemic wrongs, none more corrosive than corruption.
I write these things because I was there, not as an observer, a gate keeper, nor a militant shouting battle cries, but as a participant, an organizer offering ideas and inking the founding documents.
Today, I remain one of the only two (George Weah being the other) legal incorporators of the CDC , who has not left the party. So my presence to say these things is not forged by vacancy coincidence but by history.
It is from that historical perspective that I can say at the center of the CDC’s founding vision stood George M. Weah. He was not chosen merely for his fame but for the belief that he embodied moral clarity. As Isaac Vah Tukpah, former CDC-USA Chairman, once said:
“I knew Weah had weaknesses, but I was drawn to the party because I also knew he could fight corruption, he had earned his own money and spent most of his adult life in systems where discipline and accountability were enforced.”
Indeed, the CDC’s founding documents enshrine this very principle. Chapter 1, Rules 1–4 of the CDC By-Laws state:
“All members… must avoid debauchery, drunkenness, nuisance, theft, embezzlement, misuse and misapplication of public resources, other forms of corrupt practices and acts against the interest of the people of Liberia.”
CDC in Power: Flawed but Not Silent:
During its time in government, the CDC took key steps to institutionalize the anti-corruption agenda:
- strengthened the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) through new legislation granting it prosecutorial powers;
- Passed the Whistleblower and Witness Protection Acts, a significant move praised by international partners like the UNDP;
- Decriminalized libel laws, giving civil society and the press space to hold power accountable;
- Prosecuted members within its own ranks, including the Housing Authority’s management, who were eventually acquitted after judicial scrutiny.
This was not political theater. Even during its earliest days, the CDC applied scrutiny to its own founders. In 2004, George Weah disallowed Orishall Gould from contesting for chairman at the party’s first convention because of unresolved corruption allegations from the transitional Gyude Bryant government. Gould protested, claiming political persecution (witch-hunt) because of his role as the party’s organizing chairman, which put an obstacle in the path of Bryant’s party- LAP, led by Cllr. Varney Sherman , who had ambition for the Presidency . But the CDC, determined to distance itself from even the perception of corruption, stood firm. That decision spoke volumes about the moral compass of the party’s early direction.
A Legacy Bigger Than Partisanship
Liberia’s struggle with corruption predates all contemporary parties, but In every instance, the failure to deal with corruption did not just embarrass a government, it tore Liberia apart.
That is why the CDC must rise beyond party lines today. The anti-corruption effort now being led by President Joseph Boakai, however flawed or politically tinged, must not be met with total resistance.
The CDC has every right to demand fairness and reject witch-hunts. It must protect due process and stand against selective justice. But it must not project a stance that appears hostile to accountability.
A Nation Before a Party
Boakai wins nothing if this fight is seen as mere retribution. But the CDC loses everything, its founding credibility, if it appears to defend the corrupt simply because they wear the party’s colors.
The CDC has set this precedent before. In 2012, despite losing two members, Papie Solo (2005) and Kamara (2011), to police brutality under Sirleaf’s government, George Weah accepted a national role as Peace Ambassador. He chose country over grievance. Why can’t the CDC do the same again?
Today, it must position itself as a watchdog, not a roadblock; a guardian of the rule of law, not a shield for impunity. Let the CDC not be remembered as the party that fought for power but failed to fight for principle. Let it be the party that not only confront corruption while it was in power , but also opposed corruption when it was out of power.
The CDC , besides legality supported by its own laws and the Constitution of Liberia that demand the party to stand in support of any fight , regardless who leads it , against corruption , morality also requires the CDC to do so. The Liberia people oppose corruption and CDC is a party of the people of Liberia who continue to be the victims of corruption.
Liberia’s long night of corruption can only end if both ruling and opposition parties shine the light, together.
If the CDC is to remain a viable, visionary, and credible national institution, it must rise above partisanship in moments when the country needs collective leadership.
Corruption has robbed Liberia of generations of progress. No party, ruling or opposition, can afford to treat it as a tool of political warfare. The CDC’s founding vision demands that it lead or stand firm in any genuine national effort to uproot this cancer. Anything less would betray its past and endanger its future.
Sidiki Fofana is a columnist with Truth in Ink and an advocate for ethical governance, justice, and institutional accountability in Liberia. Watch out for Part III of Liberia’s Endless Fight With Corruption.
