LIBERIA: CHANGES IN THE SENATE: ONE PARTY CHANGE AND ONE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MONROVIA 000914

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O.12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL SOCI PHUM LI
SUBJECT: LIBERIA: CHANGES IN THE SENATE: ONE PARTY CHANGE AND ONE
DEATH

REF: MONROVIA 817


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Disputed Acting Senate President Pro Tempore
Lahai Lasannah has resigned from the National Democratic Party of
Liberia (NDPL) and joined the Liberty Party of Charles Brumskine.
Suspended Pro Tempore Isaac Nyenabo is also a member of the NDPL.
The case of who is the legitimate leader of the Senate is now before
the Supreme Court, while both sides are trying to drag the U.S.
Embassy and UNMIL into the dispute. Meanwhile, Senator Isaac N.
Johnson, a supporter of Senate President Pro Tempore Isaac Nyenabo
in the ongoing leadership squabble at the Senate, died November 12
from complications of a surgery. A by-election will likely result
in an additional seat for President Sirleaf's Unity Party. END
SUMMARY.

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Senator Lasannah Joins Liberty Party
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2. (SBU) During a press conference at Liberty Party headquarters on
November 11, and flanked by 2005 Liberty Party Presidential
candidate Charles Brumskine, Lahai Lasannah explained that the
reason for his change of party was because the leadership of
National Democratic Party of Liberia (NDPL) has decided to take
sides in the current leadership squabble at the Senate. The
Chairman and other executives of NDPL recently filed a petition at
the Supreme Court calling for a reversal of the suspension of Senate
Pro Tempore Isaac Nyenabo. An associate justice ordered Nyenabo
reinstated, an order which the Senate leadership ignored (reftel).
The full court is now hearing the case.


3. (SBU) Lasannah was a founding youth member of the NDPL, and a
member since the late 1980s. Lasannah mentioned during his press
conference that the NDPL has become a "tribal" party. The NDPL was
founded by President Samuel Doe in 1984, ahead of the questionable
October 1985 Presidential elections, and remains dominated by
members of the Krahn ethnic group. Nyenabo, who represents Grand
Gedeh County, is Krahn while Lasannah, who represents Bomi County,
is a member of the Gola ethnic group.


4. (SBU) Liberty Party Chairman Israel Akinsanya told PolAsst that
Senator Lasannah's decision to join the Party was an indication that
"people were looking the party's way" and that "the party was
growing." Akinsanya said that his party's position has remained
unchanged; i.e., that the decision of the majority of the Senate to
suspend Nyenabo as Senate President Pro Tempore was legal and that
the party recognizes Lasannah as acting President Pro Tempore. The
party will shortly issue a statement to reiterate this view.


5. (SBU) Both sides have been trying in the press to draw both the
Embassy and UNMIL into the dispute. Senator Nyenabo used an Embassy
invitation to the Peace Corps swearing-in ceremony October 27 to
declare that the Embassy recognized him as the legitimate Senate
leader. In the end, he opted not to attend the ceremony to avoid
creating unwelcome publicity that would have taken away from the
event, but Nyenabo did attend the Embassy's Election Night reception
November 4. Lassanah, who was also invited, did not attend.
However, the Ambassador met with Lassanah and several other Senators
on November 3. The dispute with Nyenabo was not discussed. SRSG
Loej declined to meet with them, which has been reported in the
press.

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Senator Isaac Johnson Dies
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6. (U) River Gee County Junior Senator, Isaac N. Johnson, died at
the J.F.K. Medical Center in Monrovia during the early hours of
Wednesday, November 12, several days after undergoing a hernia
operation at a local clinic. He was a supporter of Senate President
Pro Tempore Isaac Nyenabo in the ongoing leadership squabble at the
Senate. He condemned the procedure used to suspend Nyenabo as
"arbitrary" and "unlawful."


7. (U) Born in 1957, Senator Isaac Johnson was a member of the
Liberia Action Party (LAP) which joined the Coalition for the
Transformation of Liberia (COTOL) in 2005. The death of Senator
Isaac Johnson brings to six the number of lawmakers (four
representatives and two senators) who have died in office since
January 2006. All the others died of natural causes. Johnson
served as Minister of State without Portfolio when Amos Sawyer was
Interim President of Liberia from 1990 to 1994.

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Geographically Challenging By-Election
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8. (SBU) A by-election is expected to be held to replace the late
Senator Isaac Johnson between January and February 2009. The
pending by-election will bring to seven the number of by-elections
held since the 2005 General and Presidential Elections. (Note: the

MONROVIA 00000914 002 OF 002


first by-election was the result of election fraud during the 2005
election. End note.) The remoteness of River Gee County and the
lack of roads make the pending by-election a logistical challenge.
President Sirleaf's Unity Party is expected to win the seat because
the county Superintendent, Khaku Sampson, a Unity Party stalwart,
has been consolidating the party in the county since his
inauguration as Superintendent in 2006.


9. (SBU) Comment: The death of Senator Isaac Johnson will affect
Nyenabo's ability to maintain his beleaguered position as President
Pro Tempore of the Liberian Senate, as Johnson was his most vocal
supporter on the Senate floor. The Unity Party has demonstrated its
organizational abilities in recent by-elections, and is slowly
building a potent political machine.

THOMAS-GREENFIELD