Pleebo City, Maryland County – When William V.S. Tubman died in office in 1971, the great hope that filled Maryland in his 27 years of leadership started to fade. Today, Harper City which was then one of Africa’s beautiful rural cities, lies in ruins with huge abandoned buildings showing shadows of past glory. Pleebo which hosted a rural plantation has come to live, but across the county, many still struggle to make ends meet.
To make matters worse, the road to the Southeastern part of Liberia is closed, forcing many in Maryland County to turn to the Ivory Coast for basic necessities.
Despite this difficult atmosphere, thousands of Jubilant supporters of J. Tiah Nagbe came from many parts of Maryland and different backgrounds, dancing to campaign songs in the streets of Pleebo on Sunday, September 30 for Nagbe’s final campaign rally. Dubbed Maryland Victory Day by Team Tiah Nagbe, the day itself carried signs of hope in the midst of challenges. It was a sunny September day in the city full of rain.
Nagbe was dressed in the county’s yellow color as people waved, danced, and chanted his name. Maryland County, the land of sunshine and happiness, is breathing a fresh air of hope that this their son could do the magic, like Tubman before him, and bring back the glory days. Tiah promised jobs, modernization of the cities of Harper and Pleebo, loans for market women, and the transformation of rural communities. To do this, he says the key is to attract foreign direct investments. He says companies will create jobs and give money for social development. Jobs will help parents put food on the table, send children to schools, build houses, and prepare for retirement. He says more social development money will help the county fix the cities and rural areas, putting in more roads, water systems. Nagbe said his signature program for rural communities is will put an end to thatch houses in Maryland before his term ends.
As he spoke to the supporters, he asked them to vote for him for the Senate and President George Manneh Weah for President. Weah is very popular in Maryland, so his name received huge applause from the Nagbe supporters. Some have wondered why Nagbe still campaigns for President Weah. After all, the CDC ditched Nagbe, a CDCian since 2017 for incumbent Senator J. Gblebo Brown, who joined the CDC recently.
Nagbe has responded by saying he is a real CDCian and intends to stay with the party. He said that the things he needs to accomplish for Maryland require partnership with other legislators, and the CDC and its team of Senators and Representatives will help him to get the votes needed to pass major laws that will help his people. For this reason, he will stay with the CDC.
Many keen political observers in Maryland County believe that this senate race is between J. Tiah Nagbe and the incumbent Senator Brown. A good number of them think that Nagbe has an edge because Maryland is looking for a fresh face. Brown has served for nine years and is looking to get re-elected to the Senate in Maryland, something that three others before him failed to do. Brown also placed his bet on joining the CDC to change his fortunes in this race, but the CDC base has not embraced him because he opposed Weah in 2017 and his not done much to show his loyalty to the party, joining only as the elections approached.
J. Tiah Nagbe says he is excited by the prospects of winning this race because it will give him a chance to change the conditions of his people, a dream for which he returned to Liberia 12 years ago. If what he is promising can come to reality, then one can say that his election will usher in a “New Hope for Maryland”, which is his campaign theme.
