Sanoyea District, Bong County – There is a raging controversy and disagreement among citizens of Sanoyea district in Bong County over the appointment of an individual they say is a Sierra Leonean national, Milton Varney, as Commissioner of the district.
Commissioner Varney, whose name was reportedly rejected by citizens of the district in a 2009 meeting during the regime of former Bong Superintendent Ranney Jackson following an investigation that was conducted by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in the district, was appointed by President Sirleaf as Commissioner after he reportedly pushed by Senator Jewel Howard-Taylor.
It can be recalled the citizens overwhelmingly rejected Mr. Varney and said the latter didn’t have any trace in the district before the appointment of Cantos Bondo as Commissioner of the district.
Varney’s name later resurfaced as his appointment may have stemmed from reports that Bondo had died after he took sick for nearly three months.
Unacceptable appointment
According to a statement signed by one George Duannah, on behalf of the citizens, the appointment was unacceptable, saying that other residents that made up the district are being marginalized politically.
He condemned the appointment of Varney, claiming it is a reconfirmation of the long held view that Senator Taylor was against the retention of Bondo, and was witch-hunting people who didn’t support her re-election bid during the December 2014 special senatorial election, while the other senior citizens in the district are treated poorly.
”The appointment of Milton Varney is not only a reconfirmation of the long held view that Senator Jewel Howard-Taylor is only for those who championed her re-election bid while those who opposed her re-election bid and are prominent people in the district are seen and treated as second class citizens”.
”We have over ten thousand citizens of Sanoyea district that constitute and who have in one way or the other contributed meaningfully to Sanoyea district struggle and self-determination dream of the area, in all these, when it comes to the sharing the dividends of the struggle they are usually hijacked by only people who influence decisions and in most cases every other people who oppose them are seen as mere followers, this should not be if justice, fairness and equity as contained in the Liberian constitution are anything to go by”, the statement added.
”I believe very strongly that the appointment of the Varney, a man who doesn’t have any trace in the district is another bitter-pill that our people cannot swallow at this time. I do not have a personal grudges or issues with the Varney but the appointing authority ought to know that there Varney is a Sierra Leone native”, said Duannah.
Duannah said the district strongly rejects Varney’s appointment and is requesting for an emergency stakeholders meeting to chat the way forward.”
Varney flees district
FrontPageAfrica recent tour of the district established that the tension that greeted Varney’s appointment has forced him to seek refuge in Totota, an adjacent town to the district.
In furtherance of their resolve against Varney, Citizens of the town have been preventing Varney from sitting in the Commissioner’s compound.
One resident who only identified herself as Ma Martha told FrontPageAfrica: “We are not going to allow him sit in the Commissioner’s compound that we built from the district development fund because he is not a son of Sanoyea district.”
Selma Lomax, [email protected]
