PHOTO: (L-R) Veep Jeremiah Koung who is campaigning intensely for Rep. Samuel Korgar and Mrs. Edith Gongloe-Weh, the only female candidate in the by-election
By Joe Bartuah
All power is inherent in the people. All free governments are instituted by their authority and for their benefit…”
The highly anticipated senatorial by-election in Nimba County on April 22nd featuring former Nimba County Superintendent Edith Gongloe-Weh—the only female contestant in the race–and six male candidates, presents a grandiose opportunity for the Liberian people and the global community to closely monitor President Joseph Nyumah Boakai and his administration’s actual commitment to pluralistic democracy in post-conflict Liberia.
The Boakai administration’s commitment to democracy will be severely tested and scrupulously monitored, because the sitting Vice President of Liberia, Mr. Jeremiah Koung has immersed himself into the ongoing electoral process to the point of condescendingly propagating ethnocentric politics in the county.
Moreover, he has already thrown his political weight, which is much closer to the pinnacle of national power, behind one of the seven candidates, Representative Samuel G. Kogar of District 5. Several days ago, Vice President Koung was heard on the ubiquitous social media, basically insulting the basic intelligence of Nimbaians, especially potential voters of the Daan ethnic group, by claiming that any non-Kogar vote by any Daan voter will be a waste of ballots by such voters. In other words, the Vice President, who hails from Nimba County by virtue of his maternal connection, was telling the Great People of Nimba County that he best knows their choice, rather than allowing individual voter to freely and fairly exercise their sovereign will in accordance with the organic law of the land.
Rather than emulating the political prudence of other leaders and approaching the senatorial by-election with an open mind, so that he’ll be better positioned to work with whomever emerges victorious on April 22nd, Vice President Koung has politically trashed other candidates in the ongoing electoral process, because he superciliously feels that he best knows the ultimate choice of Nimba County. That is why I strongly believe, it is imperative for the Liberian people and the world at large to keenly monitor the by-election process in Nimba and its eventual outcome, because depending on how meticulously impartial, or otherwise this electoral process will be conducted, it will indicate whether the Boakai administration is desirous of further advancing the nation’s democratic process, or Liberia will again unfortunately revert to the “So-says-one-so-say-all” shenanigan of the decadent True Whig Party era. Accordingly to the Liberia National Election Commission (NEC), there are seven qualified candidates vying for the position; initially there were reports of eight candidates, but the one that is so notorious for uttering profanities on social media platforms, was disqualified by the commission.
The Nimba by-election will be the first major test for President Boakai and his administration, because usually when politicians are in opposition, when they are not yet exercising, wielding actual power and authority, they tend to be idealistic about their unquestionable commitment to democracy. At times they become critical of the government in power and often vow to do better, if voted into power. However, experience has shown on numerous occasions that when some of those same politicians, who had been fiercely critical of past administrations are voted into offices, their commitment to fundamental democratic principles tend to wane, dissipate or take a nose-dive. It is against this troubling backdrop that the Liberian people and the world at large are keenly watching to see whether the Boakai administration will either decisively take the high road to ensure the independence and integrity of the Liberia National Election Commission (NEC) in the April 22nd senatorial by-election, or go down the infamous valley of undue election interference and voters intimidation to ensure victory at all costs for its anointed candidate in Nimba County.
Such scrutiny is necessary, since Vice President Jeremiah Koung has now emerged as a sort of co-candidate in the Nimba senatorial by-election. One would have thought that a former senator from Nimba County and now Vice President who is demonstratively eager to occupy the presidential chair in 2029, Mr. Koung would act like the proverbial twins mother, or in this particular case, a septuplet father and position himself to work at the national level with whomever emerges victorious in the April 22nd by-election, but for him, there is nothing like magnanimity in the enormous power he so brazenly wields. As a result, he’s been all over the place, scheming, orchestrating and teleguiding in order to derive an outcome that satisfy his ego. Initially, he began with begging some prominent Nimbaians to run as spoiler candidates, even if they visibly had no desire nor suitability.
While some of them hesitated, despite the fabulous financial enticement, others yielded, because they couldn’t resist what they perceived as a lucrative enterprise, and now the all-powerful Vice President has publicly anointed his chief agent in the constitutional battle of attrition against Speaker J. Fonatee Koffa, Representative Samuel G. Kogar. Folks, remember that the ongoing Speaker saga that has now paralyzed the Liberian Legislature was interestingly preceded by (a) the Koffa-led Legislature’s passage of a resolution establishing the long overdue Liberian war crimes tribunal and (b) a pronouncement by Speaker Koffa that the Legislature will be audited. Vice President Koung as a former co-chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, couldn’t countenance what he contemptuously deemed as a “gross insubordination” by Speaker Koffa, not only to malign what reputation he (Koung) might have, but also to potentially imperil his glaring presidential ambition, hence Kogar was dispatched to the frontline to lead the tactical assault against Koffa.
Now back to the Nimba County senatorial by-election, Mr. Koung apparently believes that it’s time to politically compensate the guy who’s leading his battle against Koffa, especially so since the vice president’s opponent in the 2020 midterm election, former Superintendent Edith Gongloe-Weh is also in the race. Historically, scheming and orchestrating are some of the things the vice president does best in almost every electoral cycle. In the 2020 midterm senatorial election, for example, then Representative Koung made a fabulous promise to then incumbent President George Manneh Weah that because his(Koung’s) father had hailed from Sinoe County, if Weah helped him to become a senator in Nimba County, he’ll “protect” Weah’s interest to be re-elected in the 2023 election.
However, when the 2023 election was coming closer, Mr. Koung politically dribbled the master-dribbler and became a vice presidential candidate to now President Joseph Nyumah Boakai. It was on the basis of that crucial promise of Koung being Weah’s foremost protector in Nimba that Mrs. Edith Gongloe-Weah was brutally cheated and even the Supreme Court of Liberia acknowledged at the time that there was evidence of irregularities. The Weah government put its full power of incumbency behind then Representative Koung at the time, translating into whatever financial, logistical and even executive support for him at the time, but when the time came, he gave Weah “wah-way.” Perhaps being personally haunted by his memories of his political past as well as the Dillon Effect of 2019, during which Abraham Darius Dillon smashed the power of incumbency, Veep Koung is now having sleepless nights in Nimba, campaigning here and there.
Despite the fact that the vice president virtually resides in Nimba County nowadays; despite his dishing out of money; despite his condescending comments about Daan(Gio) people who don’t vote for Kogar will be trashing their votes, despite his arrogation of the constitutional power of the people to himself, despite his attempts transform the by-election into a spectacle of coronation of his anti-Koffa agent, if the Boakai administration can honestly allow the sovereign will of the majority of voters Nimba County to ultimately prevail, it will earn for itself a global credibility for upholding fundamental democratic tenets. If on the other hand, unnecessary arm-twisting is allowed to stymie, stunt, derail, or abort the sovereign will of the Great People of Nimba County, so that Vice President Koung can satisfy his ego that he possesses an unmatched political gravitas, it will definitely be an indelible, irredemptive blight on the Boakai administration. A hint the wise is quite sufficient.