Gbarnga, Bong County – It is almost clichéd now to say that the Bong County is where the October 10 Presidential election will be won and lost.
Report by Selma Lomax, [email protected]
This ‘fresh cliché’ is based on a number of issues FrontPageAfrica tour of the county has established.
Bong, our findings have established, might not vote exactly the way it did in the last Presidential elections when the county overwhelmingly voted Unity Party at the disadvantage of the Congress for Democratic Change and Liberty Party, that finished second and third respectively in the pecking order.
There is a growing suspicion that Bong County is open to five political parties: Liberty Party, the ruling Unity Party, Alternative National Congress and the All Liberian Party.
With a little over 300,000 registered voters, according to the National Elections Commission’s latest statistics from the just ended voters registration, there is the sheer number of votes at stake in the county.
The vote rich has become very critical to the calculations of the five political parties; it is no doubt a major determining factor in the upcoming elections.
Bong, the third largest county in Liberia, is no stranger to being hotly contested, as there has always been a fierce battle for the soul of the county.
Political commentators in the county have described the county as ‘the beautiful bride’ of the October election.
Bong – a politically fractured county
Bong County Senator, Jewel Howard Taylor, has already been selected as a vice running mate to Senator George Weah of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), while former Liberia Ambassador to the United States, Mexico and Canada Jeremiah Sulunteh defected to the Alternative National Congress (ANC).
Rumors are rife in the county that Sulunteh is poised to be selected as vice to ANC’s political leader Alexander Cummings, while another rumors have it that Internal Affairs Minister Dr. Henrique Flomo Tokpa is reportedly on the radar of the Standard Bearer of the Unity Party to go as vice running mate.
And it is this unusual political attention and the rare power to determine the outcome of a historic Presidential election is increasing the rift among supporters of politicians in the county.
One of the key factors that will be at play in Bong County in October is that the county is a fractured political county.
There are too many ‘political godfathers’ in the county, from Senator Jewel Howard-Taylor to Jeremiah Sulunteh, Dr. Henrique Flomo Tokpa, former Transport and Youth and Sports Minister Tornolah Varpilah.
Most of the ‘political godfathers’ mentioned are with or have sympathies for the Liberty Party, Unity Party, Alternative National Congress, Congress for Democratic Change and the All Liberian Party.
Sulunteh defection to ANC triggers mass defection
A major political the recently hit the Unity Party as no fewer than 500 members of the party in Bong County defected to the Alternative National Congress ANC.
They hinged their reasons for defection due to the exit from the party of Jeremiah Sulunteh, who last week defected to the ANC.
Leading the corps of the over 500 defectors was dismissed Kpaii District paramount chief Garrison Tehteh.
Tehteh, who spoke on behalf of the defectors, also said he decided to dump the Unity Party alongside his teeming supporters because they have been witch hunted by executives of the party in the county because of their loyalty with Ambassador Sulunteh.
Receiving the decampees, an executive for the ANC in the county, Jerry Mabande, who spoke on behalf of the county chairman, welcomed the new members on board.
He said the party was currently mending their broken fences to capture power from the UP in October.
Top of Form
Bong’s unpredictable voters
It will be unfair to suggest that the ‘political godfathers’ always determine outcomes of elections, especially in a county like Bong.
In fact, it could be argued that citizens in Bong have a mind of their own and that it is only when there is a convergence of interests that they vote along with their ‘political godfathers’.
In this case, if the Unity Party picked Dr. Henrique Tokpa as vice as it is being rumored, it would divide the votes between ANC and the UP if the ANC were to pick Sulunteh as vice running mate.
On this score, according to many political pundits, it is reasonable to expect that a segment of the voters in Bong will vote on what they independently think about or how they perceive the Presidential candidates and their capacity to address urgent national challenges.
The existence of this segment of voters holds promise for the five mentioned political parties that are making inroads in the county.
It means, according to many, that irrespective of the disposition of ‘political godfathers’, they can make their case directly to the electorates, especially the undecided.
Some of these voters, pundits are predicting, might be persuaded by the tiny achievements of the Unity Party in the county and think the party deserves to be re-elected, while some might think otherwise and be inclined towards opposition.
Jewel’s CDC vice pick may backfire in Bong
The selection of Senator Taylor, in the eyes of many, gives the CDC some edge in Bong County.
The popularity that propelled Senator Taylor to re-election in 2014 appears to have abandoned her. Claims of failed campaign promises coupled with her fallout with former Central Bank governor Mills Jones are making things difficult for the CDC in the county.
The fact that CDC foot soldiers in the county have grown unpopular with the people of Bong County on the failed Central Bank loan scheme is seemingly reinforcing the Liberty Party, Unity Party, Alternative National Congress and All Liberian Party’s advantages for the interest-driven voters in the county.
Money could influence voters in Bong
With the way that appeal to money was elevated to a major decider in the 2014 special senatorial election in Bong County, it is safe to expect the inducement of voters to be a major electoral strategy in Bong County.
Political pundits are predicting the ALP and ANC to have edge here. However, it will be naïve to think Liberty Party will not have a heavy war chest also.
Weah Sondah, a political commentator in Bong, wrote on his Facebook: ‘I have argued on this page that the power of stomach infrastructure is overrated, that it can help you only when your opponent is electorally vulnerable and is of little utility when she is not.’
There are many deciding factors that could shape the election in Bong and the difficulty of accurately ascertaining the weight of the factors is adding to the unpredictability of Bong votes.