Nimba Senator Kogar to Challenge MDR Expulsion in Court

- Nimba County Sen. Samuel G. Kogar lost his party membership Saturday for publicly attacking a government his own party helps run, a punishment he says the Unity Party-led administration engineered and that he intends to fight in court. The National Executive Committee of the Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction (MDR) voted at the party's Monrovia headquarters on Saturday, Aug. 29, to expel the senator. Thirty-three of the 37 executive committee members present voted to remove him. MDR Chairman and Labor Minister Cllr. Cooper Kruah said the party acted because Kogar had positioned himself against an administration the MDR is part of. "This party is in collaboration with the Unity Party. We are part of the government. You cannot be part of the government and sit and play opposition in the same government that you are a part of. Those are issues that we think were not in the best interest of our party," Kruah said. Follow us on WhatsApp | LinkedIn for the latest headlines Kogar rejected the decision as it was being taken, saying in a statement on his official Facebook page that the ruling party had orchestrated it. "I strongly believe that what is happening at the MDR Party Headquarters today is a government-backed effort to remove me from the party without due process," he said. The expulsion follows months of escalating criticism by Kogar of the government's handling of governance, the rule of law and, most recently, the investigation into the country's largest drug seizure, valued at more than US$317 million. Kogar has demanded that Liberia National Police Inspector General Gregory O.W. Coleman resign or be dismissed over allegations that police officers were involved in the case. "If the Police Director of the Republic of Liberia, under his domain, his lieutenants can be involved into drug activities under his watchful eyes as a security and he's being paid by the Liberian government, by the Liberian people to monitor every single activity in the police and nationwide to protect lives and properties and he cannot detect, he doesn't deserve to be a police director; he needs to resign," Kogar told an intellectual forum in Monrovia recently. He has also accused the administration of selective justice, saying it is pursuing figures tied to the former government while protecting its own. "This shows that the [UP] government is trying to shield those involved in the drug activities but rather trying to focus on the past regime because the past regime was dealing allegedly in drugs; it's unfair," he said. "Joseph Boakai, Jr. is not above the law and if he's accused of the same drugs, the police should invite the man and if he's invited, the public must know about it, a statement must be issued," Kogar said. Kruah said the party received a formal complaint against Kogar and gave him due process, including a copy of the complaint and an opportunity to take part in the investigation. According to Kruah, Kogar initially submitted himself to the process but then sought repeated excuses and failed to appear when the matter was scheduled for further hearing. His lawyer also failed to appear, Kruah said. "So, that was a waiver of their right to be heard," he said. "That's why, at the end of it, the committee deliberated and came up with recommendations. Part of that recommendation was that Samuel G. Kogar should be expelled from the MDR," Kruah said. "We went further to say that any asset or anything that has to do with the party in his possession should be returned to the party." Kruah said Kogar can no longer speak on behalf of the party. "Anybody who contravenes the Constitution and bylaws of the party, that person will be dealt with in keeping with what the law says," Kruah said. "Anything that tries to interfere with the relationship that we have with the Unity Party, if it contravenes our laws, we will not hesitate for the gavel to hit the table, just as it happened today." Immediately after the vote, Kruah ordered that Kogar's