Gbarnga, Bong County – What seems a worrying signal for the Vice President Joseph Boakai and Emmanuel Nuquay’s support in Bong County emerged Monday when one of the key figures propagating the campaign of the Unity Party in the county was jeered loudly during a major campaign rally.
Report by Selma Lomax, [email protected]
“If what I am hearing is true then the Unity Party is heading for trouble. I am hearing that Senator Yallah has been given the tasked of overseeing the campaign of the vice President in Bong County.”
“If that is true then I am withdrawing my support because you can’t have a senator who has not done anything for the people then you make him head of a campaign” – Wilfred Kolliesue, a resident of Gbarnga, Bong County
Bong, with the third highest number of registered voters in the ensuing October election (over 200,000 registered), is seen as a political battleground county and VP Boakai and Speaker Nuquay in recent days have shown early indications of wooing support due to the separate endorsements they received in the county.
But astonishingly, Senator Henry Yallah, Chairman of the Governing Council of the People’s Unification Party (PUP), got political bruises when he was jeered off by a segment of the crowd over what they termed as the lawmaker’s ignoring their plights at the national legislature.
Boakai noticed jeering?
The jeers for Senator Yallah became louder apparently to the notice of the vice President when the Bong County senator held the microphone to address the crowd on behalf of his fellow legislators and leaders of the county, who are all supporting the Presidential bid of the standard bearer of the Unity Party and Vice President Boakai.
A segment of the crowd positioned on the left wing of the field branded Senator Yallah as a failure to the people of Bong County.
Jeremiah Coleman, who visibly taunted at Senator Yallah during a parade on the main streets of Gbarnga, told FrontPageAfrica that Senator Yallah has failed to attract the dividends of democracy back to the people of Bong County.
Coleman said he was withdrawing his support from the vice President because of Senator Yallah’s involvement with Boakai’s campaign.
“It is often said show me your friend and I will tell you who you are.”
“To see Yallah behind the vice President indicates that they are birds of the same feathers and because of him I can’t support the vice President any longer,” Coleman added.
Dangerous political support
Some expressed that Senator Yallah’s support for Vice President Boakai is a dangerous political game.
Jeremiah Cammue, a resident of Yallah’s native town of Gbecon, Kokoyah district who was at Monday’s political rally in Gbarnga, warned that the senator’s support for VP Boakai is politically dangerous for the Unity Party in Bong owing to the growing dissatisfaction from citizens about his leadership as senator.
“I believe Senator Yallah doesn’t have the influence he commanded in 2011 when he won the senatorial election any longer.”
“ He hasn’t done much for the people of Bong County since his ascendency as senator. His support for the vice President could haunt the Unity Party”, he said.
Another resident, Wilfred Kolliesue, said his support for the vice President is under scrutiny because of Senator Yallah’s reported task to head the campaign of the vice President in Bong.
“If what I am hearing is true then the Unity Party is heading for trouble. I am hearing that Senator Yallah has been given the tasked of overseeing the campaign of the Vice President in Bong County.”
“If that is true then I am withdrawing my support because you can’t have a senator who has not done anything for the people then you make him head of a campaign,” he added.
Senator Yallah, who has been speaking on behalf of his fellow legislators at political rallies in support of the Vice President, has been a target of criticisms from citizens of Bong County over what they are describing as his inability to deliver on campaign promises made to citizens of Bong County.
Attempts by FrontPageAfrica to contact Yallah if he noticed the jeers proved futile.
Unpopular Lawmakers support could prove costly
Political support for Boakai by some lawmakers of the county who their citizens see as been unable to deliver could make things difficult for the vice President, according to political observers in the county.
Corpu Barclay, lawmaker of Electoral District #7 is facing resentment from citizens of her district for what they say is her inability to deliver on campaign promises she made upon her re-election 2011.
Citizens of the district are also threatening not to vote the Unity Party because of the lawmaker.
Another lawmaker, whose support for VP Boakai could make no impact if opinion polls in his district are anything to go by, is Edward Karfiah of electoral district five.
The unprecedented halt in the lawmaker’s scholarship scheme he launched two years into his leadership, which has been angering scholarship beneficiaries could spill over to the vice President.
The citizens are accusing Karfiah of failing to attract “legislative support” projects to his district.
While some citizens are planning to withdraw their support from the vice President because of the involvement of some lawmakers they believe don’t command their influence because they have not done well over the past six years, others are planning to petition the Vice President to put the campaign in the hands of people they feel are influential in their respective districts.
The citizens said if these lawmakers remain at the helm of the vice President’s campaign in Bong, the results could turnout negative.
Cheers for Rep. Moye, James Sao
While there were jeers from certain parts of the county, the Vice President received his fair share of cheers in Sergeant Kollie Town, where Representative aspirant James Dorbor Sao produced an overwhelming crowd to greet the Speaker on his arrival.
Sao, a legislative candidate of electoral district five, managed to assemble his supporters in Sergeant Kollie town to receive Rep. Emmanuel Nuquay.
Speaker Nuquay, in response to the crowd said he was grateful at the turnout.
Sao said he and his supporters deemed it necessary to greet the Speaker because he supports the candidacy of the Unity Party.
In parts of electoral district two, the lawmaker, Prince Moye who is supporting the vice President’s bid for the presidency, also assembled his supporters to receive the Speaker.
Rep. Moye has been an influential lawmaker in Bong County whose six years tenure at the national legislature has attracted over seventy projects (both funded by national budget and his personal account).
Judging from Monday’s event in Bong County, the swelling support for VP Boakai’s presidency by lawmakers from the seven political districts of the county might prove both good and bad.
People against these lawmakers might transfer their anger against Vice President Boakai on Election Day.