MRU Parliament certificates 24

The Mano River Union Youth Parliament Liberian Chapter has officially conducted elections across Liberia, climaxing with certification of 24 newly elected officers to steer the affairs of the Parliament.

Speaking over the weekend at the certification ceremony in Monrovia, the co-chair of the MRU Independent Election Commission, Mr. Saidu Vasco Nyei, described the newly elected parliamentarians as people who proved themselves as the best from their respective counties.

“Those people we certificated here today are products of the recent election that was conducted by the parliament, so no one should say that there was no election conducted in certain parts of the country”, he said.
Mr. Nyei said the MRU would never certificate individuals who did not participate in the electoral process, adding that would be undemocratic and uncharacteristic of the Parliament as the constitution promotes democracy and participation.”

According to the co-chair, the MRU had always elected its members since 2007, adding that election was conducted in Gbarpolu County by the youth coordinator at the Ministry of Youth and Sports along with other stakeholders.

He said the MRU leadership will not revoke the certification of any of the newly elected officers unless it is done on legal grounds, stressing that those individuals calling for revocation of candidates’ certificates should do so legally as anything outside of the law is null and void.

According to the Speaker of the MRU Parliament Liberian Chapter, Melvin Sarh, the electoral process started in December 2015 and has been fair and transparent.

He said the parliament is one organization that is there to make democracy is fulfilled, adding “And today we have fulfilled the principles of democracy; 24 persons from 12 counties were certificated here today. As far as I’m concern, we don’t have an official complaint from Gbarpolu that there was no election held; all we can say is that election was conducted in Gbarpolu, and reports were submitted to our office.”

Speaker Sarh insists that there is no complaint from anyone to prove the recent election was fraudulent. He said even when there was complaint, people will still be certificated as it is only plenary that has the final decision.

He urged those with complaint to officially write plenary, which will in return channel those grievances to the investigative committee, adding the complainants are in error to have written the Ministry of Youth and Sports. “Under the administrative law, you don’t do that; the parliament has a leadership; the leadership gives instructions to an election commission to conduct election across the country.”

“Now, if you have problem with the election, you write the election commission; when they can’t address your problem, you write the parliament; Youth and Sports does its work; we do ours; you cannot bye pass protocol”, he stressed.

By Lewis S. Teh-Edited by Jonathan Browne