The presidential and legislative elections in Liberia may be over, but the results will have a lasting impact. During the campaign period many politicians switched sides, with the ruling Unity Party of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf benefiting the most.

By Kullie Cornelius, Monrovia

In the past couple of months key executives of Liberian opposition parties defected to the party of Nobel Laureate Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in what has been described as a betrayal of ideology.

According to political commentator Theophilus Geegbae this has mainly affected the main oppositional party Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) of former UN diplomat Winston Tubman and ex-soccer star George Weah. Among the turncoats are the CDC Secretary General Eugene Nagbe and a number of MP’s.

Critical of the president
At the same time MP Bhofal Chambers, a critical supporter of Johnson-Sirleaf, joined her political rivals of the CDC, a move that hasn’t surprised journalist Keith Morris.
“Lawmaker Chambers was bold enough to criticize President Sirleaf in the interest of his people. It didn’t come as a shock when his relationship with her went bitter in the end,” Morris says.

“Most cross-carpeting of politicians came from the CDC,” says Benson Wheigar of the Liberty Party of lawyer Charles Brumskine. “But two of our own party executives also betrayed us and declared their support for the re-election of the incumbent Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.”

Disgraceful and wicked
In yet another move, former interim Foreign Minister Lewis Brown and MP Edwin Snowe of the former ruling National Patriotic Party of ex-president and war crimes indictee Charles Taylor also defected to Johnson-Sirleaf ‘s side.

Both Brown and Snowe were in the past critical about the second term bid of President Johnson-Sirleaf, describing her as “too old to lead Liberia - a disgraceful and wicked president.” However, they have now declared their support for her re-election, stunning many in Liberia. As the cliché goes, politics creates ‘strange bedfellows’.

To Grace Bryant, who runs a small business, the opportunism of politicians is “appalling. It creates fear in my mind. I’m afraid that some big mouth politicians who previously supported the president will now attack her. That can’t be good for Liberia.”