By Seltue Robert Karweaye Sr.
Liberian Policy Analyst, Security Expert, Researcher, and Commentary Writer
Liberian politics has produced many contradictions, but few are as revealing as the political transformation of former Montserrado County District #10 Representative Yekeh Kolubah.
For years, the Unity Party (UP) and its supporters celebrated Kolubah as a fearless opposition politician when he verbally attacked former President George Manneh Weah, his family, and the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) administration. His confrontational political style became an asset to an opposition determined to remove Weah from power.
Today, the political tables have turned. The same Yekeh Kolubah who once directed his verbal attacks against Weah has turned his attention to President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, his family, and the Unity Party administration.
Suddenly, the political behavior that many opposition supporters previously celebrated has become unacceptable to those now occupying the Executive Mansion.
Meanwhile, elements of the CDC, whose leadership and supporters once condemned Kolubah’s verbal attacks against Weah, have embraced him as a political ally against Boakai.
The fundamental problem is not Yekeh Kolubah alone. It is the political culture that produced, rewarded, and continues to encourage his behavior.
How the Unity Party Helped Build the Yekeh Kolubah Political Brand
To understand the present controversy, we must revisit the political environment between 2018 and 2023.
During the Weah administration, Kolubah established himself as one of the government’s most outspoken and confrontational critics.
His political attacks frequently went beyond disagreements over governance, corruption, economic management, and public policy. They included personal insults and inflammatory statements directed at President Weah and his administration.
Rather than consistently condemning such conduct, many opposition supporters celebrated Kolubah as a political hero.
The Unity Party and other opposition groups recognized his ability to mobilize public frustration against the CDC government.
On April 14, 2019, Kolubah formally aligned himself with the Collaborating Political Parties at the Unity Party headquarters. The event attracted opposition leaders and supporters, including former Vice President Joseph Boakai.
It was a significant political moment. Kolubah was no longer simply an outspoken lawmaker. He had become a prominent figure in the broader opposition movement against Weah.
His confrontational political identity was increasingly associated with resistance to the CDC administration.
The Unity Party did not create Yekeh Kolubah’s personality, but its political alliance with him helped legitimize and amplify his confrontational style.
The party and its supporters were willing to overlook conduct they might otherwise have condemned because Kolubah’s political attacks served their immediate objective: weakening the Weah administration.
That decision would eventually expose a fundamental weakness in Liberia’s opposition politics.
When Unity Party Supporters Crossed District Lines to Support Kolubah
Perhaps one of the most revealing chapters in Kolubah’s political history was the extraordinary support he attracted from opposition sympathizers outside Montserrado County District #10.
Ahead of the 2023 elections, reports described supporters of opposition political parties moving from their respective electoral districts to register in District #10 to support Kolubah’s reelection.
At the same time, CDC supporters reportedly pursued the opposite strategy, seeking to register in District #10 to help defeat one of President Weah’s most aggressive critics.
This was no ordinary electoral contest.
District #10 had become a symbolic political battlefield between the CDC and its opponents.
For some opposition supporters, voting for Kolubah was not primarily about his legislative performance, the development of District #10, or the quality of his policy proposals.
It was about protecting a politician who had become a prominent voice against George Weah.
Supporters were willing to cross electoral district boundaries to strengthen his political position.
Although the precise number of voters who relocated for this purpose has not been independently established, contemporary reporting documented the political strategy.
This raises an important question:
Were these supporters rewarding effective legislative representation, or were they rewarding the political usefulness of a man whose verbal attacks embarrassed their opponents?
The distinction matters.
When political parties encourage citizens to support politicians primarily because they insult political opponents, they gradually replace responsible leadership with political entertainment.
The politician who can insult the loudest becomes more valuable than the politician who can legislate, investigate public expenditure, or propose solutions to national problems.
That is how political irresponsibility becomes politically profitable.
The Devil They Dressed but Could Not Control
The Unity Party’s political miscalculation was believing that Kolubah’s confrontational behavior would remain permanently directed against its opponents.
But political personalities are not necessarily loyal to the parties that temporarily benefit from them.
Kolubah’s political relationship with the Unity Party deteriorated after Boakai’s election.
The man who once attacked Weah began directing similarly confrontational criticism toward the new administration.
President Boakai, his family, and government officials became targets of Kolubah’s increasingly hostile political rhetoric.
The political weapon that had once been useful against the CDC was now being directed against the Unity Party itself.
The irony could hardly be greater.
Some of the same political actors who tolerated Kolubah’s insults when Weah was president began demanding accountability for his behavior under Boakai.
But what changed?
Was it Kolubah’s conduct, or merely the political identity of the person occupying the presidency?
If insulting President Weah and his family was unacceptable, it should have been condemned when it happened.
If insulting President Boakai and his family is unacceptable today, the same standard should apply.
Political morality cannot depend on whether the person being insulted belongs to the ruling party or the opposition.
A political party cannot consistently defend presidential dignity only when its own standard-bearer occupies the presidency.
The Expulsion That Exposed Liberia’s Political Hypocrisy
In April 2026, the House of Representatives expelled Yekeh Kolubah following proceedings concerning his remarks about the disputed Liberia-Guinea border territory.
The House cited concerns about national sovereignty and territorial integrity. According to the Liberia News Agency, 49 lawmakers endorsed his removal.
However, the expulsion also generated controversy over due process, political motivation, and the validity of some lawmakers’ reported endorsements.
An important distinction must be made: Kolubah’s expulsion was formally based on allegations concerning national sovereignty, not simply his insults against President Boakai.
Nevertheless, the broader political environment surrounding his removal cannot be ignored.
His increasingly hostile relationship with the Unity Party administration had already transformed him from a former political ally into a fierce government critic.
Ironically, the expulsion also exposed contradictions within the opposition.
Reporting indicated that at least 18 lawmakers affiliated with opposition parties were among those who endorsed the resolution removing Kolubah.
This included lawmakers from parties associated with the broader opposition, including the CDC.
Consequently, it would be inaccurate to portray the expulsion as an action carried out exclusively by Unity Party lawmakers.
The political contradictions were more complicated.
While some opposition figures publicly defended Kolubah, lawmakers from opposition parties also participated in the process that removed him.
This demonstrates how inconsistent Liberia’s political alliances have become.
The CDC Is Now Embracing the Man It Once Condemned
Perhaps the greatest political irony is the changing relationship between Yekeh Kolubah and the Congress for Democratic Change.
During Weah’s presidency, CDC lawmakers repeatedly complained about Kolubah’s verbal attacks against the president.
In March 2021, the House voted to suspend Kolubah for 30 sitting days without pay over his conduct toward President Weah, although the decision was subsequently subjected to a motion for reconsideration.
CDC Representative Thomas Fallah was among those who pushed for disciplinary action.
At the time, CDC officials argued that Kolubah’s behavior undermined the dignity of the presidency and the Legislature.
Today, Kolubah has aligned himself with the opposition CDC, and political figures who once opposed his conduct have found common cause with him against the Boakai administration.
The question is unavoidable:
If Yekeh Kolubah’s verbal attacks were disrespectful when directed against George Weah, why should similar attacks become acceptable when directed against Joseph Boakai?
Does the dignity of the presidency change when the occupant changes?
Does political decency depend on party membership?
Or have Liberia’s two dominant political parties concluded that personal insults are unacceptable only when their own leaders become the victims?
The CDC cannot credibly condemn political insults under Weah while celebrating similar behavior under Boakai.
Likewise, the Unity Party cannot claim moral superiority after benefiting politically from the same confrontational tactics it now condemns.
Both parties must confront their inconsistencies.
Liberia Needs Political Accountability, Not Political Entertainment
There is an important difference between political criticism and personal insults.
Every Liberian citizen, including Yekeh Kolubah, has the constitutional right to criticize President Boakai, question his policies, expose suspected corruption, and demand accountability.
Those rights must be protected regardless of who occupies the presidency.
President Boakai is not above criticism, just as President Weah was not above criticism.
However, freedom of expression should not be confused with an obligation to applaud vulgarity, personal humiliation, or attacks against politicians’ families.
A serious opposition politician should be judged by the quality of his arguments, the credibility of his evidence, and the alternatives he proposes.
Liberia faces enormous national challenges.
Our public debt continues to constrain fiscal policy. Recurrent expenditure consumes resources that could otherwise support infrastructure and essential services. Young people struggle to find meaningful employment, while many communities lack reliable healthcare, quality education, electricity, and safe drinking water.
These problems cannot be solved through political insults.
The Liberian people deserve an opposition that examines the national budget, challenges questionable concession agreements, investigates public expenditure, and proposes credible economic reforms.
They deserve a government that responds to criticism with evidence and performance rather than political retaliation.
Unfortunately, both the Unity Party and CDC have too often treated political confrontation as a substitute for substantive national debate.
The Lesson for Liberia’s Political Parties
The political evolution of Yekeh Kolubah offers a warning to every political party in Liberia.
Never celebrate behavior simply because it benefits your political interests today.
The politician who insults your opponent today may insult your leader tomorrow.
The conduct you defend while in opposition may become the conduct you condemn when you enter government.
And the political personality you help elevate may eventually become impossible to control.
This is precisely the contradiction confronting the Unity Party.
Its supporters helped elevate Kolubah as an important opposition voice against George Weah. Today, the party must confront the political consequences of that earlier alliance.
The CDC, meanwhile, appears willing to benefit from the same political style it once denounced.
Neither party can claim consistency without acknowledging its past behavior.
Liberia cannot continue this endless cycle in which yesterday’s political villain becomes today’s political hero simply because he has changed targets.
Conclusion: The Real Problem Is Bigger Than Yekeh Kolubah
The making of Yekeh Kolubah is not merely the story of one controversial politician.
It is the story of a political system that rewards confrontation over competence, insults over ideas, and partisan loyalty over principle.
The Unity Party helped dress the political devil it could not control. The CDC, having once condemned that same political figure, now finds political value in his opposition to Boakai.
But neither party should mistake political usefulness for responsible leadership.
Let us also be clear: regardless of Kolubah’s behavior, his constitutional rights, political freedoms, and entitlement to due process must be respected. Disagreement with his rhetoric does not justify arbitrary punishment or politically motivated persecution.
The lesson is not that controversial politicians should be silenced.
The lesson is that political parties must stop rewarding irresponsible behavior when it serves their interests and condemning it only when it becomes inconvenient.
As Liberia approaches the 2029 elections, citizens must demand something better than the familiar political exchanges between the Unity Party and CDC.
Liberia needs leaders who can disagree without descending into personal abuse, criticize without abandoning facts, and exercise political power without applying double standards.
If insulting George Weah was wrong yesterday, insulting Joseph Boakai is equally wrong today. And if political parties refuse to uphold that principle, they have no moral authority to lecture Liberians about political decency.
Ultimately, the most troubling question is not who Yekeh Kolubah will insult next.
It is whether Liberia’s political parties will ever stop creating, protecting, and celebrating the very political behavior they later pretend to condemn.
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