Gabriel Baccus Matthews

Gabriel Bacchus Matthews (1948 – 7 September 2007) was a Liberian politician and pro-democracy activist. He was one of the leading figures in the movement that challenged the century-long dominance of the True Whig Party and helped introduce multi-party politics in Liberia. In 1975 he founded the Progressive Alliance of Liberia (PAL), one of the first major opposition movements to emerge in Liberia since the collapse of the Republican Party in the nineteenth century. He has been described by some commentators as the "father of multiparty democracy" in Liberia because of his role in organizing early opposition movements to the True Whig Party.

PAL was succeeded by the Progressive People Party (PPP) and later the United People's Party. Matthews twice served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Liberia, under Samuel K. Doe (1980–1981) and later under Amos Sawyer (1990–1993).

== Early political activity ==

During the 1970s Matthews became involved in political activism opposing the government of President William R. Tolbert. At the time, Liberia had effectively functioned as a one-party state under the True Whig Party for more than a century.

In 1975 Matthews and other activists, many from...