Monrovia – Bolstered by the ruling party factor and riding on a wave of recent endorsements across Monrovia, Rep. Thomas Fallah (CDC, District No. 5) harbors no fears about losing to the incumbent Senator Abraham Darius Dillon(CPP) in the upcoming Senatorial Midterm Elections.
Report by Rodney D. Sieh, [email protected]
In fact, the lawmaker, who has won his district in the last three legislative elections, is so confident about scoring an upset victory, that he says he will change the dynamics and the narrative that the vote-rich county is opposition territory.
The party is riding on the recent exception of Senator Saah Joseph(CDC) who won the Senate seat previously held by football legend George Manneh Weah after he ascended to the Presidency after his victory in the 2017 presidential elections.
For Rep. Fallah, the story is about to change. “ I can tell you for a fact that outside of Saah Joseph, we have support from the opposition community – that story would be changed. That fact that people believe that Montserrado is for the opposition, we have a support base in the opposition, they’re not CDCians but because our working relationship.”
The lawmaker says his experience in the lower house of the national legislature is his trump card to pulling off an upset against the incumbent Senator Dillon. “Once it comes to the governance of country I’ve managed to build that relationship, so outside Saah Joseph we’re going to make that history and I think our party didn’t make any mistake in selecting someone that would go into the opposition community and speak to into the minds of the opposition.”
No Fears for Incumbent Dillon
While acknowledging the strength of his main opponent, Rep. Fallah says his experience could prove pivotal with voters familiar with his contributions to his district over the last decade. “Montserrado County, normally people say is a place for the opposition – we respect their opinion. This individual that is in question is not only limited to the ruling party, I have built beyond the ruling party or my own party, I have managed to even cultivate in the opposition because during our days, we worked with the former ruling party.”
While apparently unwilling to reveal his strategy, Rep. Fallah says he has an edge over Senator Dillon with the communities. “Strategies are not meant to be disclosed but I think I would just speak a little on that because I think he, too, has a strategy to deny us from winning. But the first thing is hard work. Hard work is one of our tools. For the last two, three weeks, I’ve been totally involved in community engagements because you know sometimes we’re not involved in public appearance, we that’s the background of our understanding so we move in the communities.”
The lawmaker adds: “With my experience in the Legislature, I said to myself in 2005 with a little experience at the time from school, from the plank field, a lot of people said can Fallah make it? A lot of people believed that I could not made it given my background. But the first thing I did was to do community assessment. The community assessment was to define and know the needs of our people. I realized at the time that District 5, the issue at the time was roads, the issue of water, the issue of electricity. So, what I said to myself was how do I achieve this? That was the question I asked myself. When I got to work, at the end of the day the people saw some dividends. Today, the Pipeline Road you see, it was under my leadership; so, there were a lot of things we did and we made sure we got dividends and we got respected by our people, appreciated by our people. That’s what I did and we would make sure to unseat him, he would be a one-year Senator. It’s not by bragging, it’s not by talk , it’s about our deeds, the work we do.”
Despite his confidence, many political observers say Rep. Fallah faces a daunting task. Montserrado being the microcosm of the rest of Liberia is the center of all the major issues compounding the Weah-led government, now in its third year.
Echoes of corruption, bad governance and the President’s refusal to accept a petition from anti-rape protesters last week have prompted many to suggest that Fallah could encounter backlash in the buildup to the elections.
While expressing support to the organizers of the protest, the lawmaker appeared reluctant to committing himself to committing to supporting protesters call for President Weah to declare a State of Emergency on Rape as has been done in next-door Sierra Leone.
“There are procedures, the first thing to commence with a big thanks to the organizers, the young people that exercised their constitutional rights, under our constitution, there was nothing wrong to take the streets. The essence of taking the streets was to make the government and international partners to know that something is happening and they are there to raise alarm to raise local and international attention which is protected by the Constitution of our country. There was nothing wrong except where after the first 48 hours, we observed that some political flavor started to get into it.”
‘No Qualms Disagreeing with President’
A father of three girls, Rep. Fallah says he is a strong supporter of anti-rape measures. “So, as a party, as a government we support that. This has not been the first time… I can remember, the little girl they call Angel, I remember the young man at the time, our youth leader, Jefferson Koijee, they took to the streets. We were in government at the time we saw attention that was paid by the government to those young advocates – some of them went to jail, some of them were beaten and all of that.”
On the issue of rape, Rep. Fallah says he has no issue expressing disagreement with the President if he feels it is not in the country’s interest. “We can speak to the President; there are laws on the book. Someone would say capital punishment, someone would say death penalty; can we look at those laws as our responsibilities as lawmakers, we must legislate, we must amend, we must repeal. So, if there are laws repeal or to add teeth to what we have currently we must enforce them. The demonstrators did their part but now it is our responsibility, so, if we went, for example, and said let’s do death penalty because the issue of rape is damaging our children, it’s the prerogative of the lawmakers to speak to that and put that into law. If the President do go and veto and says the penalty is too harsh, we can’t do death penalty, we can come as opinion leaders, as lawmakers and say Mr. President, this is the way to go. I can go there and say Mr. President, this is how I think it should be so that it can help to curtail the issue of rape.”
The lawmaker adds: “The issue of rape is not an individual stuff, I think the Chief Executive is inclined, the entire government is inclined, the three branches of government is inclined. As I sit here, a meeting is now going on, our colleagues received the petition, the petition would be put in a better perspective for formal legislative discussion.”
Rep. Fallah asserted that while he agrees holistically that rape is an issue in the country, lawmakers must play their role. “We can disagree with the President when we think it’s necessary to disagree on behalf of the Liberian people. I did it with Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, now my government, it gives me a better platform sit with the President, go in his living room, go in his bedroom and say Mr. President, here are the issues. I can call the party’s chairman and say Mr. Mulbah Morlu, these are the issues, these are things that I think we need to do, can we move as a governing party and I have that latitude. I can go the Justice Minister that has that statutory responsibility, I can to go the Gender Minister that has that statutory responsibility. There is something we even have at the level of the LNP, I think they call it Gender and Children, so these are things we can do. With my position now with the ruling party, I think the flexibility is there for us to have conversations on those major national issues.”
“I can tell you for a fact that outside of Saah Joseph, we’ve had two support from the opposition community today – that story would be changed. That fact that people believe that Montserrado is for the opposition, we have a support base in the opposition, they’re not CDCians but because our working relationship. Once it comes to the governance of country I’ve managed to build that relationship, so outside Saah Joseph we’re going to make that history and I think our party didn’t make any mistake in selecting someone that would go into the opposition community and speak to into the minds of the opposition.”
– Rep. Thomas Fallah(District No. 5, Montserrado County)
While he says he’s opened to challenge the President as he did during the past regime, Rep. Fallah is quite aware that the dynamics have change. His party is now controlling the cards. “There were critical issues, understanding the doctrine of coordination and cooperation in governance, we were able to work with the then ruling party. I have been with the CDC all through – from school to politics. There were times we disagreed with Madam Sirleaf, but if you check District 5, I was a strong opposition candidate but because we managed to build that coordination and representation adequately, today you see the district is completely laid out.”
The lawmaker says if elected he would push for more funding to tackle rape. “Like the issue about the rape, we need serious budgetary attention and that would be one of my focus points. Where we need to focus or finance, shit or focus some of the priorities, where we need to finance the Ministry of Gender because there are logistics issues; the Ministry of Justice there are issues to fast track some of those cases this is where we use our resources. So, we’re going to make sure the Liberian people show, we all show that we want to tackle and fight rape then we must put our resources there. We’ll use our role perfectly, negotiating with our colleagues in the Legislature.”
Drawing a Line Between Himself & Dillon
The lawmaker is quick to draw a line in the sand between himself and Senator Dillon, even as he stares down the glaring realities in a capitol city lingering on the edge of uncertainty and the stark realities on the ground.
This is where he says his experience three-time triumph in District No. 5 could come in handy. “Montserrado has been like this but we are hoping we can accelerate more. We can do more. From my experience in just two and half years of this government, I think a lot have been achieved when it comes to improvement in the education sector. The issue of education, encouraging our kids to take education seriously, this government has demonstrated to my understanding and opinion it. Especially where at the University of Liberia, the university has been declared tuition free. That was costing US$3-4 million annually, that’s the responsibility the government has incurred.”
Rep. Fallah says he’s had a hand in a lot of the development in the county. “We’re talking about infrastructure – the roads. In two and half years go to Rehab today, go see Johnsonville Road, go see my own district VOKA Mission it’s paved. We can name on and on. There are lots of companies around here, Bishop Michael Francis Road. These roads [have] been in existence from time immemorial. In two and half years, I think more has been done but more needs to be done so that would be my role as a Senator. When I am presiding over the county, I’ll make sure that we encourage the current government to do more; where there are interventions needed, we can make those interventions collectively. In the legislature where budgetary support is needed, we are going to make sure we work and cooperate with the Executive.”
With nearly four months to the December 8 elections, Rep. Fallah is racing against time to defy the odds of convention, offering a different style to that of his opponent. “Being an opposition doesn’t mean that you must always create tons of problems for the ruling establishment. There would be internal disagreements, there would be problems, but you need to have a focused leadership that would be able to bring the ruling party to the table, bring the opposition to the table, navigate your way and see what the issues are and be able to solve problems and that is leadership. The opposition would always have issues but we need someone that would cultivate and say ‘Opposition, yes, we have issues, we can talk? Can we sit? What are the issues?’ and the only way that can happen is when you have a working relationship, they’ll listen to you. So you have those issues catalogued, put on the table, move to the ruling party if it is the CDC and say Mr. President, though you’re the Chief Executive of our country but there are issues from our opposition community and get them on the table.”
Rep. Fallah is counting on the incumbent factor of the ruling party to sell himself as a bridge building to get things done quickly in the county. “Given my relationship as a son – I consider myself as a son to the President and he’ll listen. The chairman of our party, the national executive committee, the governing structure of our party – these are people that would listen. So, I’m going to play that role.”