Monrovia – Polls have opened in Liberia and outgoing President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, is one of the first to cast her vote in Bomi County, Western Liberia.
Report by Henry Karmo, [email protected]
Upon voting, President Sirleaf told reporters she was glad that she had finally voted someone to replace her, jokingly saying “At least the talk shows will stop”.
She boasted of guiding the transition process and cautioned Liberians to vote someone who will work and build on her legacy.
“I feel good because I managed the process to get to this day so I have to feel good about today; but don’t forget that I have three more months,” she said with light laughter.
President Sirleaf shied away from telling reporters who she voted for but urged Liberians to not vote based on tribalism or religion.
“Vote someone who you think will do something for you, someone who will build on what we have started.
President Sirleaf leaves office in January 2018 having served for 12 year and her vice president seeks to replace her.
Though President Sirleaf has on several occasions openly declared her support for Vice President Joseph Boakai, she had been often criticized by members of her party for not doing much to support his presidential bid.
She failed to attend the launching of the political campaign of Vice President Boakai on ground that she had a ground breaking ceremony for a clinic in Bomi County scheduled on the scheduled on the same date.
“Thousands of people go rally, thousands of partisans go to rallies, not many people spend their time going way to a rural village to break ground for a clinic for a community that has never had it.”
“If that’s a wrong priority in the views of some, I accept their view, I respect their view,” Pres. Sirleaf said in an interview with the Cyrus/Pat Fame Show on the eve of the campaign launch in September.
She added: “They have been coming to my farm, working with my farmers to plant rice, to cut rice and all of that.”
“They’ve been asking me about this clinic and I promised them we’ll start this clinic before my administration ends, so I committed that I will come there to break ground.”