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| Charles Walker Brumskine Written by Nat Bayjay Source: Front Page Africa |
Brumskine’s support for the incumbent, according to the reports, was the fruit of a late Wednesday evening meeting held between the pair but serious dissatisfaction is said to be setting in among the executives of the party over being “abandoned”.
Liberia was awarded the post during ECOWAS recent extra-ordinary Summit of Heads of States in Abuja, Nigeria which the report is indicating has been offered as an appeasement for the man who many are predicting might most likely adopt his similar ’05 ‘on the fence’ posture regarding which way he could go for the second round of the presidential elections.
The ECOWAS vice presidency which is one of the rotational mandates of the regional body runs for four years before being turned over to another country.
Brumskine’s second successive efforts to ascend to the presidency have been dismal with the former pro-tempore under former President Charles Taylor’s administration finishing at a disappointing fourth place in the recent October 11, 2011 elections.
Though Brumskine showed little strength in the just ended elections with just 5.5% of over 96% of the national votes and had a slight 34% lead over Sirleaf’s 32% in his stronghold of Grand Bassa County, many observers predict his influence to sweep majority of his kinsmen’s votes in favor of the President’s ruling Unity Party in the second round.
Brumskine’s reported Sirleaf’s endorsement and subsequently promised vice presidential post of the regional body has already begun to spur uproars among senior executives of the Liberty Party and those of its auxiliary ‘Friends of Brumskine’ (FOB) - a group that brought Brumskine’s political ambition to the limelight.
Most of the executives of the party and other strong support groups that have been supporting Brumksine’s presidential ambitions for more than half a dozen years now blame him of being ‘insensitive’ to them as he failed to make no further negotiations on behalf of them.
“That guy, from day one, has just been selfish. He doesn’t care for some of us who have been there for him”, said a founding member of the FOB who chose not to be named.
Brumskine’s reported endorsement of the incumbent could significantly increase the UP’s second round chances in a few weeks. Prince Johnson of the National Union for Democratic Progress (NUDP) had declared support for the President’s second round ballot.
Both Johnson and Brumskine finished third and fourth places respectively during first round ballot that saw key opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) finishing second behind Sirleaf’s first place.
Sirleaf, in a recent interview with FrontPageAfrica said if elected for a second term she would work to bring in many of her political opponents into her government as she aims to mend fences and foster reconciliation.
Said Sirleaf: “Absolutely, as a matter of fact I will try to negotiate with all of them. I mean some of them made some wild, unfair statements against me and accused me of all kinds of things but if somebody is willing, I believe in redemption."
"If somebody is willing to be a part of a team, if somebody is willing to follow the agenda and they have the skills and the talents to help their country, quite frankly I am that kind of person. "
"Look at Boimah Fahnbulleh, what didn’t he say against me a few years ago. He sits a few doors down from my office as my security advisor, we work well together because now he feels we work well together, we’re working on the national agenda together, we’re working on the development agenda together.”
