Foya District, Lofa County – Citizens of all of Foya’s seven clans said they have endorsed former Defense Minister Brownie Samukai as their candidate for the 2020 senatorial election in Lofa County.
They included market women, motorcyclists, paramount chiefs, town chiefs and youth groups.
The chiefs’ endorsement came at the expense of the incumbent senator, George Tengbeh, Julie Fartorma Wiah, lawmaker of Lofa’s second district, and a former representative candidate of district one in the 2017 representative election, William Ketter, all of whom are native of Foya District.
The heads of a group of citizens of the seven clans, paramount chief Momo Taylor and youth president of Foya Statutory District Moses Sahr Tartoe announced this in a statement on Saturday in Foya District.
Tartoe said that Samukai emerged from a consensus and that the decision was arrived at after several meetings by citizens including women, the elders, youths and motorcyclists.
According to him, after rigorous scrutiny of the numerous candidates for the pending senatorial position, Samukai came top as the best aspirant from the district for the top job.
He said citizens’ endorsement of Samukai was borne out of the need to present a formidable candidate from the district in the 2020 senatorial election.
Tartoe said that presentation of multiple candidates could lead to the district losing the seat.
“We’ve been meeting regularly for the past weeks and our mission is to educate, inform and mobilize the people ahead of 2020 senatorial election,’’ Tartoe said.
Tartoe said that the citizens’ consideration was not on party platform but on individual that had the capacity to win the election in the county.
He added citizens of the district were not in enmity with the three other aspirants “Our consideration is the candidate who is calm, calculated and has capacity to withstand the storm in running for the 2020 senatorial election.
“We are like the vehicle to get to the destination while the `passenger’ is the candidate. We are more interested in the candidate getting to the destination, which is victory,” he added.
‘’We don’t want to support a candidate for the sake of printing posters and mounting billboards. We want to win to maintain the seat currently occupied by Senator Tengbeh’’
Paramount Chief Taylor described Samukai as an experienced and national figure with the capacity to win the 2020 senatorial poll in the county.
“Samukai stands tall as a consensus candidate in Foya District. He will be the bridge between the Foya citizens and the rest of Lofa County.
Citizens of Foya had in June set up a committee to interact with all the senatorial aspirants from the district and pick a consensus candidate that has the reach and acceptance of the youth, women and the elderly.
The committee was directed to interact with all known aspirants in the district, irrespective of their party affiliations.
It also had the mandate not to limit its search to one political party, “as the desire of Foya people was to have a less controversial, experienced and a capable candidate.’’
Citizens of the seven clans in Foya District have never endorsed a candidate and lost in any election year.
In 2005, they seven clans united to support Eugene Fallah Kpakar as lawmaker and he won by 65 percent of the votes.
In 2011, the same group petitioned Kpakar for re-election and he won the district with the second highest votes in the country -65 percent, second behind former District Three lawmaker in Bong County, George Mulbah.
Also in 2011, the incumbent senator Tengbeh benefited from similar endorsement at the expense of the secretary general of the Makona River Organization, Sahr Philip Joe and former representative of District One in the 2017 election, Philip Tallah and he went on to win as senator of Lofa County.
So, will it be Samukai in 2020? Only time will tell.