Alliance against Speaker Nuquay

Two aspirants for the representative seat in Margibi County Electoral District #5 are reportedly in discussion to form a single force to unseat incumbent Representative J. Emmanuel Nuquay come October.

The current alliance against Representative Nuquay in the district includes the President of the Salala Agriculture Workers’ Union or SAWU Anthony Opa Moses and a former employee of the Salala Rubber Corporation (SRC) Clarence Gahr.
A total of four aspirants from the district had initially stood up against Rep. Nuquay, including Mr. Derrick Nyumah, Mr. Anthony Moses, Mr. Joseph Marshall and Mr. Clarence Gahr, but Mr. Nyumah subsequently conceded to the political fight and joined the Nuquay camp, which he believe is the winning side.

Speaker Nuquay made disclosure recently in district#5 when he described Mr. Nyumah as a good son of the district that people could work with to improve the constituency.
Currently, there is also information that Mr. Joseph Marshall is considering rejoining the Speaker’s camp where he came from before opting for the representative post.
But both Messers Gahr and Moses say this is a fight to the kill, so they are devising strategies, including a uniting front against Nuquay’s reelection bid.

The two aspirants spoke to reporters over the weekend in Weala, Margibi County, outlining plan to unite beginning with Mr. Gahr who said: “If we have the same platform, we need to reconcile our platforms and have a concession candidate. Let me tell you today, the possibility of having a coalition; let me say this to the opposition block that is possible. We are not opposition in destruction, we are opposition in progress, we have one common denominator – to get the incumbent out and in no way that we can form partnership with him.”

Meanwhile, Clarence Gahr is the CEO of the Clarence and Friends Association or CFA which started as a non-political group during the Ebola era, but later changed gear.
The CFA is one of the local groups that immensely contributed to curbing the spread of the deadly Ebola virus in Margibi District #5 and in Bong County, respectively.

For his part, Mr. Moses stated: “Collaboration, yes; we are open to collaboration and we respect Mr. Clarence Gahr in every way we can go and I think there are lots of issues being put forth when it comes to the national level and which we will not want to go into detail because of some confidentiality that is ongoing.”
He also said rumor that he has bowed out of the race is a lie, describing himself as a consistent and formidable contender in the October 10 polls, particularly in District #5.

However, Speaker Nuquay has always welcomed participation of everyone and that he sees no one amongst the spirants that can measure up with him.
Politically, there are divergent views about the Moses-Gahr alliance with some people saying they make a big force that could unseat Nuquay at the poll, while others think put together, they are no match for the incumbent in the district.

Notwithstanding, some Margibians say the two may not succeed in coming together because they would struggle in determining who should head the front, notably having earlier been at each other’s throats.
But Mr. Moses disagrees and clarifies that he and Mr. Gahr were not struggling over who should head the alliance against Nuquay.

By Ramsey N. Singbeh, Jr. in Margibi-Editing by Jonathan Browne