By By: Moses P Smith
Monrovia, Liberia – The National Patriotic Party has suspended three of its own partisans for endorsing former President George Weah’s planned opposition unity roundtable – a move critics say exposes the deep confusion and turf war inside Liberia’s opposition as the 2029 race quietly begins.
Those suspended are Emmanuel Goll, Neileh Daitouah, and Daoda Nesco, accused of using the NPP’s official letterhead to back Weah’s initiative without authorization.
The decision was taken by the NPP Executive Committee chaired by Chairman George Mulbah, which cited “violation of party protocol” and warned that “further acts of indiscipline will not be tolerated.”
But the suspension has raised eyebrows: How does a party claiming to be “open to collaboration with other opposition parties” punish its members for publicly supporting collaboration?
The roundtable, spearheaded by Weah, is aimed at uniting opposition parties and stakeholders ahead of the 2029 Presidential and Legislative Elections to challenge the ruling Unity Party.
Political observers say the NPP – once the dominant force under Charles Taylor and later a junior partner in Weah’s Coalition for Democratic Change government – is now caught between asserting its independence and riding on Weah’s political machine.
“It’s the classic Liberian opposition dilemma,” one Monrovia-based analyst noted. “Everyone wants unity, but everyone wants to be the one to negotiate it.”
The NPP insists engagements must be “coordinated through the party’s leadership structure,” but has not said whether it will officially join Weah’s roundtable.
The move comes as opposition blocs intensify behind-the-scenes talks on a united front against President Joseph Boakai’s Unity Party in 2029 – talks that now appear threatened as much by internal egos as by the ruling establishment.
