Lofa, Bong chiefs endorse Boakai for 2017

Traditional leaders, chiefs and elders of Bong County have unanimously expressed support for Vice President Joseph Boakai’s bid for the Presidency in 2017.

They reached the unanimous decision on Sunday, 29 November in Gbarnga, Bong County after a team of traditional leaders and chiefs from Lofa County paid a courtesy visit to Bong and asked their Bong County counterparts to support their kinsman, Boakai.

Vice President Joseph Boakai hails from Foya District in Lofa County, western Liberia.  The Bong County chiefs and traditional leaders promised to work with their counterparts of Lofa to elect Boakai as the next President of Liberia.

They called on their colleagues in Lofa to mobilize every Liberian to ensure that the country does not leave its current path of development. The decision by the traditional leaders has raised questions as to whether chiefs and traditional leaders here can participate in active politics.

However, speaking at the meeting held at the Passion Hotel in Gbarnga, the head of the Lofa delegation, Paramount Chief Musa Kamara,described the visit to Bong asessential as they continue to rally support to ensure that Boakaiis elected President.

Chief Kamara commended the elders of Bong for accepting their appeal to support the Vice President, adding “He is the right person to replace President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.”

He used the meeting to recall the long standing relationship between the people of Bong and Lofa Counties, including common challenges.  Chief Kamara described Vice President Boakai as a true indigenous, who has worked and continues to work with impeccable records.

The Lofa-Bong meeting for Boakai was also attended by several personalities, including Margibi County representative Ballah Zaza, former Transport Minister Tornola Varpilah, the entire leadership of Bong, former Cuttington University President and senatorial candidate, Dr. Henrique Tokpa, amongst many others from the two counties.

The National Chairman of the Movement for the Election of Boakia has welcomed the decision of chiefs and elders of Bong to join their colleagues of Lofa in taking Boakai to the Executive Mansion in 2017 as good news.

Francis Sakila Nyumalin believes the commitment of Bong County Chiefs and traditional leaders to support VP Boakia will send a strong signal to the rest of Liberia that the Vice President is the only man, who can continue Liberia’s development agenda.

But critics say electing Boakai could be an extension of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s ideologies and policies, after already serving two terms under her administration characterized by lack of accountability and corruption, which Madam Sirleaf had previously described as public enemy No.1 and subsequently a vampire.

By Papa Morris from Bong-Edited by Jonathan Browne