No sign of missing NEC staff yet, following herbalist arrest

Days following the arrest in Grand Gedeh of a female herbalist in whose care a senior staff of the National Elections Commission or NEC was seeking traditional treatment before his disappearance, authorities are yet to find his living body.

Mr. Alfred T. Dunner, a NEC Logistics Office in Grand Gedeh, southeastern Liberia was reported missing on Tuesday, May 3, in Janzon, Nia Clan where he had gone to seek traditional treatment. Janzon Nia Clan is in Grand Gedeh.

He said to have been combatting an undisclosed ailment and had gone to Janzon, Niao to seek traditional care when he got missing at about 2 am on the night of Tuesday.

Authorities at the NEC while calling for prayers for his family during a press briefing Friday, May 6, said the Liberian National Police had launched an investigation into the circumstances leading to their staff’s mysterious disappearance and his whereabouts.

The report of Mr. Dunner’s disappearance in the Janzaon Nia Clan provoked attack after his kinsmen from Ziah Town who had gone to Janzon to inquire about his whereabouts were reportedly attacked and chased from the area by a group of young people in Niao Clan.

The attack led to several persons sustaining various degrees of injuries as the two warring Clans took on each other in reverse revenge attacks.

On Monday, while appearing on local radio following a meeting with the two warring Clans, Superintendent Kai Garlo Fairley announced that a truce had been reached between the two Clans and both had agreed to jointly search for the missing NEC staff.

Meanwhile, Nia, the town in question is a suburb of Zwedru and is about 25 kilometers away from the City. It is a major hub for food production in Grand Gedeh County.

Mr. Dunner before his reported disappearance served as NEC Logistics Officer and subsequently acted as Election Magistrate for Grand Gedeh County.

Dunner in his capacity as acting Election Magistrate of Grand Gedeh conducted two uninterrupted elections including the 2020 mid-term senatorial election and the November 16, 2021 representative by-election in Tichen electoral District number one Grand Gedeh County.

His mysterious disappearance brings to two the number of individuals who have disappeared in Grand Gedeh in less than two years. It can be recalled a little child who was believed to be three years old mysteriously disappeared in Gbarzon Pola last year and his lifeless body was discovered.