Liberia: CDC Losing Grip On Nimba?

Nimba County — Cry by Senator Prince Yormie Johnson and other key leaders of Nimba County, including former county superintendent David Dorr Cooper that the Weah administration has done very little for the people of Nimba regarding development, and should not get a second term, is getting louder here, with poor attendance at a weekend ceremony for the re-election bid of President Weah in Saclepea, Nimba.

The situation led the ruling CDC to truck people from outside the county for the re-election rally of the President.

Report from Nimba says currently, huge number of people that were trucked from outside, are stranded in Saclepea due to lack of fund to transport them back to their various destinations.

This paper gathers that since Friday's program, supporters of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change are still in Saclepea, awaiting to be brought back to their respective districts and towns.

President Weah, who was expected to have graced the forum in Seclepea, was instead, represented by CDC secretary general, Mayor Jefferson Koijee.

The Saclepea program was meant to turn over Nimba to the CDC, but Senators Prince Johnson and Jeremiah Koung, former superintendent David Dorr Cooper, including other aggrieved CDCians boycotted the occasion.

Addressing the gathering in Saclepea, former county inspector now county chairman for the ruling Coalition, Reginald Mehn, said the decision to present Nimba to the CDC is based on the level of ongoing development in the country, which he said, Nimba is mostly benefiting from.

He named road network in several parts of the county, free public schools and fees being paid for 12th graders, including university students to ease financial burdens faced by parents.

According to Mr. Mehn, more Nimbaians are currently employed in government than during the regime of Ex-president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

But Senator PYJ disagreed. Instead, he said the Weah administration that he fully supported and helped brought to power, has employed less Nimbaians.

Senator Johnson, who supported the election of Mr. Weah in 2018, announced last year that he was withdrawing his support because the government has failed to employ his people.

Besides, former superintendent David Dorr Cooper accused President George Weah of delaying in commissioning Judge Yamie Quiqui Gbeisay after he was nominated to the Supreme Court Bench despite going thru senate confirmation.

Mr. Cooper, who announced on Monday, 16 January that he has resigned from the ruling Coalition, said more Southeasterners are employed in government than qualified Liberians from other regions of the country.

He accused President Weah of stabbing him in the back by abandoning all agreements reached with the President.

However, CDC Secretary General, Mayor Jefferson Koijee thanked the people of Nimba for their continuous support for President George Weah and the ruling CDC.

Mayor Koijee pledged government's support to ongoing developmental activities in the county.

He said support from the county toward the CDC indicates that the people of Nimba love the President and the government, so CDCians will do all to make sure all projects in the county are completed.

Meanwhile, Koijee called on Nimbaians not to support people, who have been in leadership from the county for the past 18 years and are seeking re-election, in apparent reference to Senator PYJ, who is ending two nine-year terms and wants to vie again in October.

The CDC Chair, who did not mention names, urged Nimbaians not to allow division in the midst, but rather things that will bring unity among them.

With the second largest voting population next to Montserrado county, Nimba is strategic politically, and all those wanting to vie for the Presidency in October, have their eyes fixed on the county. Editing by Jonathan Browne

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