The New Dawn (Monrovia)
30 November 2011
Congress for Democratic Change appears to have embraced fully the government’s call for national reconciliation following the October 11, 2011 general and presidential elections with the party putting forward names of its representatives for pending talks with the governing Unity Party in finding a way to move the country ahead with peace and unity.
The CDC called off its 30-day planned protest Monday to allow ample time to go into discussion with the government after the November 7, 2011 bloody clash with the police near its headquarters that left at least one person dead.
CDC standard bearer Winston Tubman had called for the month-long street protests for he said is an attempt to get the government’s attention drawn to the concerns of the party.
But the New Dawn has authoritatively obtained names of five prominent CDCians, including the party’s campaign manager George Solo, Nathaniel Mcgill, Mark Morgan, Alaric Tokpa and Jefferson Kojee as the official delegation to meet with its counterparts in the Unity Party.
Efforts by this paper last evening to get comments from the UP about the names of its delegates to the planned talks proved unsuccessful as the phone of party Secretary-General Wilmot Paye rang endlessly without any response.
The date, time and venue of the talks are still unknown, but one thing is certain: both the main opposition party and the ruling UP appear determined to trash out all political differences through dialogue.
Speaking at her certification ceremony Monday, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf called on all stakeholders, including opposition politicians to constructively engage her government rather than staging street protests and violence that could undermine peace.
The government seems to be exerting every effort aimed at making overtures to all citizens, particularly following very tensed and sometimes acrimonious electoral process, which final round was boycotted by the CDC.
The main opposition party claimed the October 11, 2011 elections were marred by flaw, demanding the resignation of the National Elections Commission Chair James Fromayan, and a reconstitution of the entire Commission.
However, international observers from ECOWAS, the AU, Carter Center and the United States described the polls as free, fair and transparent. A State Department statement issued here on the eve of the November 8 runoff Presidential election said the CDC’s claims of flaw were unsubstantiated.
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