Liberia’s Unity Party expels Johnson-Sirleaf

By : NAN

Date: 14 January 2018 12:23pm WAT

(FILES) This file photo taken on May 31, 2016 shows Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf attending the launch of a book about by K. Riva Levinson, president and CEO of KRL International LLC, a Washington communications and government relations firm that serves as the consultancy of record for Liberia, at the Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington, DC. Liberia's outgoing President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf says she will actively campaign for the handful of female candidates contesting elections in October, while her male vice-president seeks to replace her. There is just a single female candidate among 20 contenders running for president this year in Liberia, as Sirleaf steps down as Africa's first female head of state following more than a decade in power / AFP PHOTO / NICHOLAS KAMM

Liberian former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf / AFP PHOTO / NICHOLAS KAMM

Liberia’s outgoing ruling Unity Party(UP) has expelled President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf for alleged breach of the party’s constitution.

The party conveyed the decision in a statement issued by its Assistant Secretary General for Public Outreach, Mohammed Ali, on Sunday.

Ali said the president was ousted on Saturday evening following several violations of the party’s constitution and other “acts inimical to the existence and reputation of the party”.

Specifically, Johnson-Sirleaf whose 12-year tenure will end on Jan. 22, was accused of breaching rules that require her to support the party’s candidates in elections.

The outgoing president never campaigned for her Vice, the UP’s presidential candidate, Joseph Boakai, during the last general elections in Liberia.

This fueled speculation of a rift between her and Boakai, who has been Vice President for 12 years.

There were also rumours that she secretly supported the candidacy of the President-elect, George Weah, who ran on the platform of the opposition Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC).

Weah defeated Boakai in the delayed presidential run-off election on Dec. 26.