VOINJAMA, Lofa County — Long before the first ballot was cast last week, the Unity Party’s county convention in Lofa had already become a political test. The question was not simply who would emerge as chairman. The bigger question was whether the party, after years of internal disagreements, competing claims to leadership and politically charged confrontations, could finally conduct an election without tearing itself apart.
By Selma Lomax, [email protected]
For weeks, political tensions had been building among rival camps. Names, loyalties and competing interpretations of the party’s internal rules had created an atmosphere in which even an ordinary county convention carried the possibility of becoming another divisive episode in the history of the Unity Party in Lofa.
Then came Senator Prince Kermue Moye Sr. The Bong County senator was appointed and confirmed to chair the convention, placing him at the center of a political process that required more than simply organizing voting.
He had to manage competing personalities, conflicting interests, and a party membership divided over who should control its county structure. When the process finally ended, the result was strikingly different from what many might have feared.
Lofa Superintendent J. Lavelah Massaquoi was elected chairman of the Unity Party Lofa County Chapter, defeating Voinjama District Commissioner David Mawolo by 85 votes to 50. More significantly, the election was conducted peacefully.
For Unity Party supporters who have witnessed years of internal wrangling, the peaceful conclusion has become the defining feature of the convention. It was, according to accounts from party supporters, the first smooth county convention in Lofa in approximately 15 years.
That makes Senator Moye’s assignment more than another entry on his political résumé. It places the senator at the center of what supporters describe as a possible turning point in Unity Party politics in the county.
The Tension Before the Vote
The disagreement was rooted in competing claims over the legitimate leadership of the Unity Party structure in Lofa. At one point, two parallel political structures reportedly emerged within the county. One was associated with William Akoi Eesiah, while another was aligned with David Mawolo.
The situation reportedly intensified during this year’s July 26 Independence Day celebrations in Lofa. Representative Thomas Fallah was said to have traveled to the county and provided financial support to Akoi to celebrate with Unity Party partisans.
Akoi reportedly carried a letter from National Chairman Luther Tarpeh authorizing him to act on behalf of the party. For supporters of competing camps, that development raised questions about who had the authority to speak for the Unity Party in Lofa.
Mawolo, who had served as Vice Chairman for Mobilization, argued that the party’s ascendency provision gave him grounds to assume leadership of the county structure. His position became part of a wider debate over succession, authority and the interpretation of the party’s internal rules.
They were unfolding in a county where political relationships are often closely connected to family, community and district interests. A dispute over party leadership could therefore quickly become a dispute involving larger political constituencies. That was the environment into which Senator Moye was brought.
The Choice of an Experienced Hand
Senator Moye was not entering unfamiliar territory. He had previously chaired the Unity Party’s National Convention on two occasions and had played important roles in the party’s national political campaigns. His political experience includes the convention process that produced Joseph Nyuma Boakai as the Unity Party’s standard bearer in 2017.
He later served as National Campaign Chairman during the 2023 presidential election, when the Unity Party defeated the incumbent Coalition for Democratic Change and returned to national power. That history helped explain why he was entrusted with the Lofa assignment.
But national political experience does not automatically translate into success in a county where political disagreements have become deeply personal.
Senator Moye’s challenge was to ensure that the convention did not become a contest in which the winner inherited a divided party and the loser rejected the process. The credibility of the process was therefore as important as the outcome.
His role required balancing the competing interests while maintaining enough authority to keep the process moving. It also required allowing the delegates to make the final decision. That distinction became important when voting began.
Five Districts, One Verdict
Delegates from Lofa’s five electoral districts participated in the convention. The election was conducted from the district level through the county level, creating a process intended to provide the new leadership with a broader mandate across the county.
When the county chairman’s votes were tallied, Massaquoi emerged ahead. He received 85 votes. Mawolo received 50. The margin was substantial enough to establish a clear winner. But the numbers tell only part of the story.
The more consequential development was what did not happen afterward. There was no major confrontation. There was no immediate collapse of the party structure into rival camps. Instead, the convention ended peacefully.
That outcome has become a source of pride among Unity Party supporters who remember the previous difficulties associated with county-level party elections. It also gives Senator Moye a political achievement that cannot be measured solely by the final vote count.
The convention’s peaceful conclusion gives him an opportunity to pursue that reconciliation from a stronger position. Had the election ended in confrontation or competing claims of victory, the new leadership could have inherited another prolonged crisis.
Instead, the convention has created an opening for the party to begin rebuilding its internal relationships. This could become one of the most important consequences of Senator Moye’s intervention.
Beyond Senator Moye’s Home County
The political significance of the convention also extends beyond Lofa. Senator Moye represents Bong County, but his role in Lofa places him within a broader Unity Party effort to stabilize its structures ahead of future electoral battles.
The Unity Party will eventually have to defend its governing record and organize for the 2029 elections, according to Senator Moye. That, he said, requires functioning county structures.
It requires local leaders who can mobilize supporters. And perhaps most importantly, it requires party members who believe internal elections can be settled through established processes rather than political confrontation.
The Road to 2029
With the convention behind them, attention will gradually shift toward the next political cycle. The 2029 elections are still ahead, but political parties rarely wait until an election year to begin preparing.
For the Unity Party, the task will be to translate organizational stability into electoral strength. Lofa will be part of that calculation.
A party divided into parallel structures will struggle to campaign effectively. Whether that foundation becomes a political advantage will depend on how the party manages its internal relationships from this point forward.
For Senator Moye, Lofa represents another chapter in a political career increasingly associated with difficult Unity Party assignments. He has already operated at the national level as a convention chairman and campaign leader. But the Lofa assignment offered a different measure of political skill.
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