GOMPA, Nimba – The national vice chairman of the Movement for Economic Empowerment and the County Charter chair of the opposition Alternative National Congress have both denied speculations that their political leaders would not appear in the 2017 presidential lineup.

Appearing in separate interviews in Gompa, the men said their respective leaders are fully involved in the electoral process and would represent their parties as standard bearers in the upcoming elections.

The men were speaking in reaction to the developments surrounding the Code of Conduct law that is expected to ban the two presidential candidates, Mills Jones of MOVEE, and Alexander B. Cummings of ANC.

According to the law, appointed government officials wanting to contest for elected positions in government must have resigned two years prior to the date of the election; the requirement for tenured positions is three years.

Jones, who resigned his tenured post as Central Bank of Liberia governor in April 2016, does not meet that benchmark.

Cummings, on the other hand, is said to have been appointed by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to serve on the Board of Directors of the Booker Washington Institute in Kakata, Margibi.

“I want to tell the public that the information that our political leader will not be a part of this coming election is not true,” Dahn Sayeh, the national vice chairman of MOVEE said.

“We have come to reassure you that Dr. Jones has violated no part of the Code of Conduct, and neither has the recent Supreme Court ruling named Dr. Jones as a person who has violated the Code of Conduct,” he added. “The Movement of Economic Empowerment believes in intervening on your behalf to create an enabling environment to redeem you from the dungeon of poverty that you been in over the years. We want to assure that our standard bearer will be contesting in the forthcoming election.”

Sayeh alleged that the Code of Conduct was specifically crafted to have the former Central Bank governor “punished because he is closer to you, the ordinary people… and wants you to take your economy in your own hands.”

He maintained that Jones is the only person that threatens the chances of the “coward politicians,” and that the issue of the Code of Conduct is being brought up as an “illegal law” to stop Jones from entering the election.

As for Cummings, his Nimba County Charter’s Chairman Watson Yarnue said the information that was published in a local newspaper claiming that Cummings would no longer contest the elections is untrue.

“The information that was published in the print media about Mr. Cummings is not true,” Yarnue said. “He will be contesting the elections.”

Yarnue said if his political leader was asked by the president of Liberia to serve on the board of BWI, it’s because she wants him to serve his people and that can, in no way, deny the ANC political leader the opportunity to be a part of the elections process.

The Code of Conduct, which was introduced by the president in 2009 and signed into law in 2014, was ruled as constitutional in March 2017 by the Supreme Court.

Featured photo by the Coca-Cola Company