Gbarpolu County – The National Elections Commission finally calmed concerns over a disputed community between Bong and Gbarpolu Counties after registering over 250 voters in less than two days before the nationwide voter registration process concluded.
Acting NEC magistrate in Gbarpolu County, Kollie Lamandine, said workers exerted efforts to record voters in the area now dubbed ‘no man’s land’ and famously known as Jungle James Mining camp – a populated artisanal mining community.
The NEC official said s between 1 February and 14 March almost 14, 500 people were registered in the county, adding that eligible voters in Gbarpolu have increased from a previous total amount of 3,811.
Kollie said commission’s central office mandated VR centers in the two counties – Bong and Gbarpolu – to move into the disputed community with a mobile team and carry out registration. The two mobile VR centers allowed people in the camp to register under the county of their choice.
“We moved in the camp on the 13th of March and started work at 2:00 pm and continue the next day which was the final day and we registered 260 miners who said they could not leave the camp and their mining activities to walk long distance to register,” he said.
Kollie thanked locals for their patience, which he said ensured intervention by NEC and led to their registration for the impending elections.
He said NEC is not responsible to settle boundary despites between counties, but stressed that the commission’s action was in the best interest of the community – ordinary people who needed to be heard through the ballot box comes October 10, 2017.
“What we got in that camp will be under electoral district #1 VR center’s Mayamah in the county so we still maintained the 75 VR centers in Gbarpolu,” the NEC county official said.
Mr. Lamendine praised the local people and VR staffs during the VR exercise while recalling challenges including faulty cameras, poor communication and bad road connectivity.
Jungle James Camp was among 76 VR centers setup by NEC in electoral District #1, Gbarpolu County but that decision was contested and later registration was halted due to complaints and later a petition by Bong County authorities to NEC.
Bong County claims the area is within their geographic jurisdiction.
Tension sparked prompting aggrieved people to setup road blocks in protest and traditional groups were seen expressing discontent.
The disagreement prevented locals from registering at VR centers in the disputed area.
Although the dispute is completely unsolved, people are hailing local authorities from the two counties for amicable settling the issue ahead of the election.
Many locals were frustrated over the delays in resolving the conflict, and Peter Flomo described the situation as “totally disheartening and unacceptable,” having fear that over 18,000 people would had been denied their rights.
For his part, Sylvester G. Varmah, chair of the county’s Peace Committee, was excited and said Gbarpolu “made a mark during this VR period”.
But he emphasized that “It’s now the time for government to settle the camp issue (dispute over the land between the two counties) to avoid future damage control.”
At the same time, the coordinator of civil society organizations in the county said he was relief to see the VR process successful in the artisanal mining community, adding that such response to their concern is progress for rural Liberians.
“Little by little people living in rural communities’ voices will be heard,” said Abraham S. Kannah.
Report Henry Gboluma, Jr.
Editor’s Note: This story was reported in collaboration with Local Voices Liberia, a network of Liberian journalists from the 15 counties working to report issues that are underreported. Many local voices stories can also be read on www.localvoicesliberia.com