Liberia: Kogar's MDR Expulsion Puts Koung, Unity Party's Nimba Base Under Scrutiny

MONROVIA, Sept. 1 -- The expulsion last week of Senator Samuel Gongben Kogar from the Movement for Reconstruction and Democracy (MDR) may have been decided inside a party meeting room, but its political implications could extend far beyond the walls of the party's headquarters in Monrovia.

By Selma Lomax, [e-mail]

For the MDR, the decision represents the enforcement of party discipline and a reaffirmation of its alliance with President Joseph Boakai and the governing Unity Party. For Kogar, however, the expulsion creates a new political reality for a senator who has built an electoral identity that predates his most recent association with the party.

For Vice President Jeremiah Kpan Koung, the development c...