By Lewis S. Teh
Supporters of defeated Sinoe County Senatorial and Representative Candidates J. Milton Teahjay and Attorney Maxwell Grigsby have endorsed the reelection bid of President George Weah above Unity Party Standard Bearer, Joseph Nyumah Boakai ahead of the November 14th runoff election.
Both Teahjay and Grigsby contested in the senatorial and legislative elections in Sinoe County on 10 October 2023, but they lost to the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change.
Recently, Teahjay pledged his support to UP Standard Bearer Boakai above incumbent President Weah, arguing that the CDC is ill-prepared to govern for second term.
However, addressing reporters in a news conference on Monday, November 6, senior executives of Teahjay and Grigsby said following series of consultations, it was prudent for them to lend their support to incumbent President Weah, instead.
Speaking on behalf of the supporters, former Speaker of the Mano River Union Youth Parliament (MRUYP) Liberia Chapter, Melvin Sarh, said they will rally the people of Sinoe in and outside the county to massively elect President Weah.
“I Melvin S. Sarh, Campaign Steering Committee Chairperson of Team Grigsby and a Senior Executive of Team Teahjay, endorse and will support President George Manneh Weah and the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) in the impending November 14, 2023, Runoff Presidential Elections”, he said.
Melvin adds, “I must make it emphatically clear that supporters of Teams Grigsby and Teahjay hold memberships in several political parties including the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) and Unity Party (UP) and so I don’t see my support to President Weah as a betrayal and it will not be a betrayal to either of the two leaders.”
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]
The former MRUYP Speaker calls on all members of Team Grigsby and Team Teahjay to put behind them their differences with executives of the CDC regardless of how the two teams were badly treated which he notes, “led to the kind of results we now have from the October 10, 2023 elections.”
He reminds them that they constitute a powerful bloc with a great deal of influence over the people of Sinoe County, and could be making a terrible mistake by allowing their differences to becloud their reasoning if they do not support the President, who he describes as their own son (ajue).
He narrates that both Atty. Teklo Maxwell Grigsby and Senator J. Milton Teahjay immensely supported President George Manneh Weah in the just-ended October 10, 2023, Presidential Elections; however, he reveals that some influential executives of the CDC at national and county levels deliberately ignored their immense support to President Weah during the first round of the elections, and conducted the affairs of the CDC in a manner that undermined the two candidates’ reelection in the county.
“I am of the greatest conviction that by taking this step of ensuring diversity in the Campaign Team for the Runoff Elections will rekindle the spirit of collectivism and ensure a unity of purpose in delivering a massive win in favor of President Weah in the three electoral districts and the county in its entirety.”
He adds that the people of Sinoe love President Weah, so they are going to re-elect him, vowing that they will continue to work with him in ensuring his desire for the construction of major highways leading to and within the southeast inclusive of Sinoe.
He names road construction and other infrastructural projects in Sinoe County, and the appointment of competent sons and daughters to transform the county and Liberia at large.
“My endorsement today is born out of the strongest conviction that His Excellency will return the people of Sinoe a great favor by recruiting some of the best and brightest Sinoeans to occupy local government as well as cabinet positions, develop roads within the county, unite the people of Sinoe, and bring together others who do not agree with him or support him during the November 14 2023 presidential runoff election”, he explains.
Melvin congratulates all political actors, including Independent Candidates Atty. Teklo Maxwell Grigsby, II, Senator J. Milton Teahjay, Representative Matthew G. Zarzar, Madam Grace Scotland Briama and others for what he terms as unanimously supporting President Weah in the first round of election on October 10, 2023, which he says contributed to President Weah obtaining 78% of the total votes during the Presidential Elections in Sinoe County. Meanwhile, he calls on executives of the CDC both national and local, to make adjustments in the Coalition Sinoe County Campaign Team for the inclusion of others who are non-partisans including women, people of disabilities, and other minorities. Editing by Jonathan Browne
