Gbarnga, Bong County – Liberia’s Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor says she feels ready to return home after medical treatment in Ghana, and is waiting for doctor’s permission. The vice president has been in Ghana for three months since contracting COVID-19.
In an email exchange with FrontPageAfrica Tuesday, Howard-Taylor said there has been a “tremendous improvement” in her health. “Things are improving. I want to be grateful to God first, the government of Liberia and all Liberians who have kept me in their thoughts,” Howard-Taylor said. “I will be delighted to return home.”
A lack of official information regarding Howard-Taylor’s health from the government continues to raise concerns from Liberians. Jerry Forkpa, a resident of Howard-Taylor’s native Bong County posted on his Facebook Monday. “Why the government is so mute about the vice president’s current health status? Is she not a member of the government? It has been three months now and there hasn’t been an official statement from the government regarding the vice president’s health,” he said.
Charles Diggs, another resident of Bong County phoned on a local radio station in Gbarnga, Super Bongese, to raise similar concern, questioning the government’s support to the vice president during her illness. “Three months no statement from the vice president regarding the vice president’s current health condition warrants concern from each and every Liberia,” he said, adding: “The issue about someone’s health should go beyond politics or animosity, least to mention a sitting vice president.”
Howard-Taylor said she has not been abreast with news back home. “I haven’t had the time to see what’s unfolding back home whether developmental or political,” she said.
In Bong County, a segment of Howard-Taylor’s supporters last week endorsed the Senate bid of Howard-Taylor’s former office staff, Menikpakei Dumoe, stating that their decision was in consonance with her. In her response, she said: “I haven’t decided on my choice of candidate for the Senate seat in Bong County. Upon my return, I will endorse a candidate and that person will be the eventual winner. I am going to be very active in the politics of the 2020 Senate race,” she said.