PHOTO: L-R CDC Chairman Mulbah Morlu and Sen Darius Dillon
By Moses D. Sandy,mds66.sandy@aol.com
The most eagerly anticipated midterm senatorial election in Montserrado County is finally here! That is Tuesday, December 8, 2020. In Liberia and abroad, many Liberians and friends of the country have already dubbed December 8th as the “Do or die” date. The Montserrado County senatorial race forms part of this year’s midterm parliamentary elections in Liberia. Over 100 candidates including incumbent senator Abraham Darius Dillion and Rep. Thomas P. Fallah are participating in the elections.
Many political pundits believe the midterm elections, especially in Montserrado County would be a referendum on the performance, future, and governance of Liberia’s President George Manneh Weah and his ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC). A win for the President and the CDC in the County would prove to Liberians at home and abroad that all is well in the tiny and oldest independent West African country. Liberia has a population of more than 5 million people. The country is 173 years old; and it gained independence on July 26, 1847.
However, if the CDC and President Weah fail to secure the much-needed win, such outcome would equate to a political suicide for him and the Party. A failure would indicate that the CDC and the President’s days in government are now numbered comes the 2023 general and presidential elections.
That is why the Party and Mr. Weah are leaving no stone unturned in doing what they called “Reclaim their seat”. To do so, they are taking advantage of all available resources in government including money and human to get at their main contender in the senatorial race, Abraham Darius Dillion.
On December 8th electorates in Montserrado will go to the poll and they will put the President and the CDC’s excesses: gross incompetence, insensitive to the plight of the people, unbridled corruption, misrule, failed political promises, the unexplained deaths of four government auditors, President Weah and his cronies’ overnight accumulated wealth, broken medical and educational systems, among other societal ills under the political microscope for analysis and informed decision making.
The people will choose to either vote yes for the CDC and its supported candidate, Rep. Thomas P. Fallah, or reject him. Rep. Fallah, simply referred to as T-Five, is going against Montserrado County incumbent senator Abraham Darius Dillion alias, “The Light”, of the opposition Liberty Party (LP). In the race, Senator Dillion also, represents the four Collaborating Political Parties (CPP). The CPP brings together the opposition All Liberian Party (ALP), Liberty Party (LP), Alternative National Congress (ANC), and Unity Party (UP). Additionally, he is heavily financed by ordinary Liberians at home and abroad, who strongly believe that he is the way forward for good governance and a better Liberia.
He and Rep. Fallah are among several hopefuls that are eyeing the coveted senatorial seat in Montserrado County, but they are the two foremost contenders. As Liberians prepare to go to the poll on Tuesday, the battle line between Senator Dillion, and the CDC and Liberian government backed Rep. Fallah has already been drawn. The Senator is running to retain his seat in the Liberian Senate. He has vowed publicly to “Decimate the CDC by more than 300 thousand votes” in achieving his desire. However, Rep. Fallah, the CDC, and President Weah are determined to politically dethrone the Montserrado County Junior Senator.
Senator Dillion and Representative Fallah
Senator Dillion, 50, entered the Liberian Senate in 2019. He clinched the Montserrado County senatorial seat from the CDC on July 29, 2019 after the National Election Commission (NEC) declared him winner of the County’s senatorial by-election. Then he politically crushed the CDC and its candidate Paulita C. Wie with an overwhelming margin in votes. He secured102, 549 votes representing more than 55 percent of the 166,520 votes cast while Ms. Wie earned 63,971 votes, which accounted for more 34 percent.
He replaced the late Montserrado County Junior Senator Geraldine Doe Sheriff formerly of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC). His term will expire in 2021. The late Senator Doe Sheriff was Chairman emeritus of the CDC. She won the seat on the CDC’s ticket in 2009 before severing ties with the Party to join the former ruling Unity Party (UP). In February 2019, she died in Accra, Ghana after months of nursing a cancer illness.
Since 2019 when Honorable Dillion made his debut in the Liberian Senate as a lawmaker, he has won the admirations of many Liberians for selflessness and social justice advocacy. He took a massive pay cut. He willingly sliced his monthly salary from US 15 thousand dollars to US 5 thousand dollars; and donated the remainder to a select committee for the undertaking of developmental projects in Montserrado County. Since then, he has reportedly donated more than US 36 thousand dollars to the County.
Also, he is on records for continuously chastising President Weah and the CDC for issues of bad governance including unbridled corruption in the public sector, and President Weah and his cronies’ nonadherence to the rule of law in Liberia. Additionally, he with the support of Liberians at home and abroad, is currently constructing a rehabilitation center in Monrovia for Liberians struggling with alcohol and drug addictions. As a result of his persistent stance against malfeasance in government, he has earned for himself names such as “The Light” and “The People’s Senator”.
For Rep. Fallah, he is an insider of the ruling CDC. His relationship with the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) reportedly goes back several years. He joined the CDC before the Party merger with the National Patriotic Party (NPP) and other political parties for the formation of the now Coalition of Democratic Change (CDC) in 2017.
He is a well-grounded businessman turned politician. He reportedly has significant investment in the educational sector. He currently represents District No. 5 in Montserrado County in the House of Representatives. District No. 5 comprises the Paynesville communities of 72nd, Police Academy, Bassa Town, Red Light, A.B. Tolbert Road and Town Hall, as well as the Congo Town communities of Swankamore and and Pagos Island. He is one of the longest serving member of the House of Representatives.
He was initially elected in 2005 and he has won re-election twice, 2011 and 2017. He currently chairs the House of Representatives’ Standing Committee on Ways, Means and Finance. Also, he is chairman of the Montserrado County legislative caucus. Despite the influential positions he holds in the legislature, Rep. Fallah rarely speaks about national matters that negatively affect the lives of Liberians. He is not knowing for condemning social ills as practice by the CDC.
Why Montserrado?
A win or defeat for either Senator Dillion or Rep. Fallah in Tuesday’s senatorial race in Montserrado County would mean a lot politically because the County is regarded as the microcosm of Liberia and it has always been dominated by the opposition. It is a strong hold of the CDC. In 2014, President Weah won the senatorial by-elections in the County. He won 78 percent of the votes. He beat Mr. Robert Sirleaf, the son of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Mr. Sirleaf obtained nearly 11 percent of the votes cast.
It is one of Liberia’s 15 counties and it is strategically situated. The County, especially Monrovia, Liberia’s capitol is very important politically. Monrovia is the seat of the national administration and most of the foreign embassies accredited to Liberia. Also, the City is the most populated. Currently, Monrovia has a population of over 1. 5 million people.
A CDC victory in Montserrado would prove to the Party’s many critics that irrespective of the many criticisms, the Weah administration is meeting the expectations of Liberians at home and away. However, if Senator Dillion wins, his victory would be portrayed as a triumphant over evil and bad governance in Weah’s Liberia.
About the Author: Mr. Moses D. Sandy, is a retired Liberian journalist. He currently resides in the US. He is the immediate past National President of the Association of Liberian Journalists in the Americas (ALJA). Also, he is former Editor-in-Chief of the News and Public Affairs Department of the Liberia Broadcasting System (LBS). He can be reached at mds66.sandy@aol.com.