CDC-USA Convention: Eugene Nagbe Urged CDCians To Provide Clear Alternatives

Participants of the just ended 2nd National CDC-USA Convention have been urged to unite and put away division, internal squabbles and focus on the task of giving Liberians clear alternatives to the current “failed policies and programs of the ruling Unity Party”.

Delivering the key note address at the Brookdale Covenant Church in Brooklyn Park, MN Friday, Mr. Eugene Lenn Nagbe, secretary of the party, told a gathering of sympathizers that as a, “government-in-waiting, the Liberian people…must know now our plans for tackling corruption, reforming the judiciary, alleviating poverty and building a strong economy.”

Mr. Nagbe challenged CDCians not to just say, “what we are going to do, but also say how we intend to achieve what we set out to achieve with a detailed national blueprint which can stand up to scrutiny.”
He spoke on the theme, “Looking Towards 2011 & Beyond: Challenges For A Renewed CDC.”
Amid cheers, he said, “This convention therefore provides the platform for us to re-launch the CDC, one which will shuns mediocrity of the past.”

He said party has come a very long way, “from its embryonic days of 2005, after surmounting stiff opposition from reactionary forces,” and gained accreditation from the National Elections Commission with barely two months to the general and presidential elections and was deprived of a win by the machinations of anti-democratic forces.”

Mr. Nagbe reminded the gathering that, “The party was constrained to drop its contestation of the results, results which the National Election Commission itself admitted was “partially fraudulent” as protests threatened to return our country to the dark days of violence.

He said, "Since 2005, the CDC has scored several successes, winning several crucial by-elections and establishing itself as a strong force in the body politic of Liberia. However, the CDC is still faced with numerous challenges which have hindered the party’s drive to establish itself as an institutionalized option to the failed politics that has not brought salvation to the people of Liberia."

It is these challenges, he said, “that we must focus on at this gathering; we must carry on the required soul searching and self-introspection that is pre-conditional for us to chart a new course for a new, renewed and reinvigorated Congress for Democratic Change.”

Mr. Nagbe urged all the members to answer the crucial questions of governance and present clear alternative solutions to the cardinal issues affecting our country today.

A renewed CDC, he said, will garner support and tap into the resources of non-political professionals in various areas of expertise for the ultimate good of Liberia as a whole.

He noted that the convention must present needed opportunities and, “We must grasp it. As we must… deliberate on various topics, and begin to think out of the box and step out of the conventional mode of clinging to failed ideals, policies and practices.”

Mr. Nagbe meanwhile commended the Minnesota Chapter, and reminded all CDCians that asPresidential and General elections loom in the horizon, the gathering is the biggest and most important Diaspora auxiliary and will be the pace-setter for the mother party’s upcoming National Congress.

The important role that Liberians in the Diaspora play, he said in the social, political and economic life of the country cannot be over-emphasized.

Mr. Nagbe hoped that resolutions to be drawn out of the convention will address the core issues afflicting, “Our nation today by presenting viable alternatives to the policies of the current regime.”

The three-day convention--June 4--6---brought partisans from across the United States and Liberia.