WSR and LCC want a probe into country devil’s election interference

By Lincoln G. Peters 

The Women’s Situation Room (WSR) in collaboration with the Liberian Council of Churches (LCC) has called for an investigation into Country Devil’s interference with elections.

The organizations have called on the National Elections Commission (NEC) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to ensure the unleashing of country devil in Nimba and Maryland Counties is investigated.

Ballot boxes were reported to have gone missing during the incidents.

Reading the statement at a joint press conference Monday, 16 October 2023 at the WSR’s head office in Sinkor, Cllr. Yvette Chesson-Wureh, Establishment Coordinator of Angie Brooks International Centre (ABIC) appealed to political parties and individuals to use the law as their voice. 

“The Women’s Situation Room and the Liberian Council of Churches call on the citizens of Liberia to remain calm and non-violent as we go to the announcement of the final vote tally by NEC,” she pleaded. 

“If you are dissatisfied with the tally or the procedure, then there is a way provided by Liberian law by which you can challenge the process and even the final vote itself once you have evidence,” Cllr. Cheeson-Wureh stated. 

The press conference was graced by LCC president Dr. Samuel Reeves, Swedish Ambassador to Liberia, former Chief Justice Cllr. Francis Johnson-Allison, former Foreign Minister, Amb. Olubanke King-Akerele and the president of Rural Women, Madam Korpo Howard. 

WSR and the LCC have urged political parties and individuals to use the law as their voice in addressing their dissatisfaction during these election periods. 

Chesson-Wureh, ABIC Establishment Coordinator and WSR Initiator said they are calling on the NEC to continue the tallying process transparently. 

“We call on the NEC to continue the process in a transparent manner and to ensure that incidents like the incident in Nimba where the country devil came out and ballot boxes were missing …[are] investigated by the NEC and the results are expeditiously reported to the public,” said Cllr. Cheeson-Wureh. According to her, one box was still reported missing after some were retrieved.

She believes that to leave incidents of such without the NEC publicly and expediently addressing them has the propensity to undermine the confidence of the public in the NEC. 

At the same time, the WSR and the LCC called on the Minister of Internal Affairs, Varney Sirleaf, to investigate the coming out of the country devil and report his findings to the public. 

“It’s our request that the Minister of Internal Affairs ensure that our National Symbols like the Country Devil are not used during elections to disrupt the election process,” she admonished.