VOINJAMA, Lofa County – Whereas President Joseph Nyuma Boakai is receiving accolades for launching reconciliation initiatives in Grand Gedeh and main a nationwide reconciliation convention in Monrovia, a storm is quietly brewing in his personal political and ancestral yard, Lofa County.
By Emmanuel Weedee-Conway
Plainly the President is popping a blind eye to deepening cracks inside Lofa’s political and conventional material, whilst he takes middle stage in therapeutic nationwide wounds.
In actual sense, President Boakai’s home leaks profusely whereas he repairs different individuals’s properties” as what started as a cultural disagreement over the set up of a Paramount Chief in Wanhassa District has now spiraled right into a broader political and familial battle.
This comes on the heels of the abrupt dismissal of Cultural Inspector Aaron Armah Ndosoe and the next appointment of his personal brother, Kpehe Armah Ndosoe, to the identical place.
This underscores the rising frustration over the President’s silence on the escalating disputes in his native Lofa, which is exhibiting indicators of inner breakdown, and lots of are questioning why its most outstanding son stays quiet.
It may be recalled {that a} week in the past, the President Boakai dispatched a high-level crew to Grand Gedeh County to calm longstanding ethnic and political tensions.
He additionally hosted a extensively publicized Nationwide Convention on Peace and Reconciliation, calling on Liberians to “forgive, unite, and rebuild the nation.”
However for residents of Lofa, particularly in Kolahun and Wanhassa Districts, these phrases ring hole.
In Lofa, native management has plunged into chaos following the controversial transfer by county authorities to put in a Paramount Chief with out correct neighborhood session, flouting each custom and the Native Authorities Act.
And regardless of the turbulence, President Boakai has but to difficulty a press release or ship a delegation to research. For a county referred to as his stronghold and birthplace, his silence has been interpreted by many as a betrayal.
“The place Is the Management at Dwelling?”
Mr. stated Paul Kanneh, a journalist and outstanding son of the county, who spoke to this paper, decried the scenario again dwelling and the President’s failure to swiftly intervene into the matter.
“The President talks about nationwide therapeutic, however his personal county is bleeding internally. You can not preach reconciliation in Grand Gedeh whereas ignoring the cries out of your yard. That’s not management, it’s avoidance,” Paul said.
Different neighborhood voices have echoed the sentiment, questioning why Boakai has prioritized symbolic nationwide unity whereas permitting unresolved native conflicts to fester in Lofa.
Lofa’s Rising Disunity
Tensions in Lofa transcend the current conventional appointments. For the reason that 2023 common elections, the county has been divided alongside political strains.
Accusations of partisanship amongst chiefs, unequal growth distribution, and rising distrust between communities have solely widened the divide. The cultural and conventional management, as soon as a supply of unity, is now fragmented and politicized.
The Paramount Chieftaincy dispute in Wanhassa is only one instance. Whereas neighborhood members name for democratic session in step with the Native Authorities Act, native energy brokers aligned with the ruling social gathering have as a substitute moved unilaterally, thus prompting protests, accusations of bias, and now, violent threats.
Aaron Ndosoe, the ousted Cultural Inspector, insists his removing was not about misconduct however about silencing dissent.
“My solely crime was standing up for custom and resisting political interference,” he stated in a current interview. If President Boakai desires true reconciliation, he should begin by addressing the injustices occurring proper right here in Lofa,” he said.
Political Danger or Missed Alternative?
Observers consider Boakai’s hands-off strategy could also be political, an effort to keep away from taking sides in a battle involving conventional elders and native politicians. However others warn that the price of inaction could possibly be steep.
“Boakai dangers dropping ethical authority on nationwide reconciliation if he permits his personal county to break down into disunity,” asserted one other outstanding Lofian, stressing that this sends the message that reconciliation is a efficiency relatively than a observe.
With disunity festering in Lofa, the President’s subsequent steps may decide whether or not he’s remembered as a real healer or a symbolic one. Residents await not simply speeches from the rostrum however actual interventions the place it issues most. And for a lot of in Lofa, that begins with a go to, a dialogue, and decisive management within the place he calls dwelling.
