VZCZCXRO1103
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHMV #0914/01 3191211
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 141211Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY MONROVIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0505
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

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. 
 
------------------------------------ 
Senator Lasannah Joins Liberty Party 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶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. 
 
-------------------------- 
Senator Isaac Johnson Dies 
-------------------------- 
 
¶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. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
Geographically Challenging By-Election 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶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