–A 70 year-old rural woman, others inpatient with delay
Young partisans of the main opposition party, Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) and the ruling Unity Party (UP) in the northwestern Nimba County have called for calm and non-violence, in the wake of the political stalemate over the results of the October 10, 2017 national elections.
A 70-year-old woman said raised burning concerns about ongoing stalemate in the Liberian elections, as bipartisan youths presented their arguments for keeping the peace.
“Why are you Monrovia people delaying the elections, wasting our time and causing us, poor people uncertainty and hardship without any expectation,” the elderly woman said.
Many others in rural Liberia are expressing frustration over the delay in resolving the dispute over the October 10 elections.
The youths of the two parties made the call for peace in KPEIN TOWN during the latest trail of the LMDI youth sensitive elections DIALOGUE forums. Kpein Town is near Nimba’s main commercial city of Ganta, some 201 miles outside the Liberian capital, Monrovia.
According to a press release signed by LMDI’s Executive Director John Kollie, the Kpein forum is the latest edition and session of our People To People (P2P) flagship platform, “THE DIALOGUE”. This setting is rare for such public discourse, but for THE DIALOGUE, reaching out to the real people is normal.
“The aim general is to water down the anxiety and apparent impatience that is now brewing amongst local people, especially the youths as they await the outcome of the ongoing Liberty Party/NEC alleged fraud
investigations and the attending stay order or prohibition on the run-off presidential election that was due on November 7,” the release says.
Liberty Party (LP) of Charles Brumskine, who came third in the first round, is challenging the results of the October 10 polls claiming massive fraud and irregularities, a complaint that is now backed by the UP and three other parties.
As the National Elections Commission (NEC) probes the complaint, tension is in the air with fear of an outbreak of violence mainly coming from youths.
The stakes are high here amongst supporters of the CDC and the UP as Nimba County strong man and former warlord and Senator, Prince Y.
Johnson has declared open support for former World football legend George Weah in the now delayed run-off, but apparently not to the liking of many Nimba people.
This appears to have created some division and this is compounded by the glaring lack of any real knowledge on why the delay in holding a presidential run-off election that should have finished on November 7 and the people got on with their lives.
So Nimba County, a controversially vote rich setting with nearly 300,000 registered voters is hungry for knowledge on where the process is driving and our tour of Nimba on a trail of Elections conflict prevention DIALOGUE forums is necessitated by this gap, hence the KPEIN Town forum.
At Kpein, four guest panelists were invited, local youthful chairmen of the two main political parties, CDC and UP. NELSON KORKOI chairman of the Nimba County Chapter of the CDC and N. FEDESCO GBAHNSAYE his local chairman at KPEIN Town represented their party, whilst PHARAZE L. DERKPAH of UP-Nimba and his KPEIN Town local chairman, THOMAS GORTEI represented the UP.
The DIALOGUE at KPEIN opened with the explanation of the legal action and basis for the ongoing supreme court prohibition in favour of the Liberty Party against the National Elections Commission by our legal analyst, law student, Tonia A, Gibson.
Gibson presented that the ongoing situation is not largely political, but legal and that the prohibition is legal and normal in keeping with Liberian constitutional provisions on elections and redress procedures.
He explained and pleaded for patience from the KPEIN audience and all of Liberia, noting that the unfolding events need continuous patience.
His plea for patience was in apparent particular response to an 70 year old woman raising concerns that the delay in holding the run-off election was causing them, poor rural people unexplained, uncertainty, waste of time and hardship.
To this extent the bipartisan representatives took the floor with a debate style DIALOGUE about which one of the two political parties has the history and will to keep the peace during and after the political stalemate.
The COALITION FOR DEMOCRATIC CHANGE (CDC) led here by NELSON KORKOI took the podium first arguing that their party and standard bearer have the history of peace, because he said their leader, GEORGE WEAH is known to have peacefully sought his current standard in life through playing soccer, reaching the zenith and retiring to politics and keeping the peace in spite of the party’s two losses in Liberian elections.
For the UNITY PARTY, FARAZE L. DERKPAH, their Nimba Chapter chairman premised their stance for peace on the UP’s 12 year rule without war as the ground for his party’s preparedness for peace over the CDC.
DERKPAH contending that his party’s standard bearer, current vice president JOSEPH NYUMAH BOAKAI is a veteran government worker with the age, education and experience needed to keep the peace.
The both men, NELSON KORKOI of the CDC and FARAZE DERKPAH of the UP were buttressed by their KPEIN Town local chairmen, N. FEDESCO GBAHNSAYE THOMAS GORTEI, respective.
The audience of 156 people frankly interacted with the guest panelists with questions and suggestions mainly about keeping the peace amongst Nimba’s young people who are now on both sides of the current electoral divides, the CDC and UP.
With support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) under its Enhancing Youth Participation in the 2017 Legislative and Presidential Elections project (YEP) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the SWEDISH INTERNATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (SIDA) through CARTER CENTER Liberia and its funded PEACE ACTION NETWORK (PAN), the forums are a series of national elections youth sensitive peace mediation initiatives seeking to broker open dialogues mainly between losers and winners supporters of political sides who verge on notable violent outbursts during the 2017 elections.
As ever the deliberations from this forum and subsequent ones in the coming weeks and months are being broadcast on our partner network 45 National and Rural Community Radios around Liberia.
THE DIALOGUE at this time is generally in association with the PEACE ACTION NETWORK (PAN) funded by the UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (USAID), THE SWEDISH INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION (SIDA) THROUGH THE CARTER CENTER and the UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (UNDP) across Liberia.