By Patrick Tokpah (Contributor-Bong)
Series of consultations are ongoing between residents of Bong County and former Senator Henry Willie Yallah to pick him as running mate to Nimba County Senator, Jeremiah Kpan Koung on the Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction’s (MDR) ticket in the upcoming elections.
The former president of the Bong County Students Union (BONSU) who contested to be a representative of District 3 in 2005 but lost by 100 votes to George Mulbah has also enjoyed unfettered movement across parties, from the New Deal Movement in 2011 to the People’s Unification Party (PUP) and now President George Weah’s Congress for Democratic, under which he is expected to cross over to the MDR.
According to the former Bong County Senator, officials of the party have preferred him to go as vice president to the party’s standard bearer ahead of the pending General and Presidential elections in Liberia.
It can be recalled that on July 29, 2022, during the birthday celebration of Yallah in his home town, Gbecon, the former senator was called and petitioned by residents of Kokoyah District to contest the senatorial race in the upcoming October 10, general and presidential elections.
In the Kokoyah residents’ petition, they outlined several factors ranging from bad leadership, abandonment of the district, and the alleged failure of the two current Bong County Senators, Prince K. Moye, and Dr. Henrique Flomo Tokpah to live up to campaign promises they made to residents of Bong County.
But, what appears to be a total surprise to the Kokoyah District residents took place over the weekend in Gbecon Town when the former Senator sought the advice of some residents of the District to go as running mate to Koung.
Yallah, who lost his re-election bid to Senator Moye in 2020, said it would be a disservice to the residents if he failed to contest considering his “wealth of experience” as a former Senator noting, “You know I served in the Legislature for nine years before I was defeated in 2020. In fact, my former colleagues from the Legislature say I am on sabbatical.”
Yallah has maintained a strong presence on the political scene in Bong County even before he was elected senator in 2011.
For their part, traditional leaders of the two districts, including women, Youths, heads of churches, and the Muslim Community have all embraced the idea brought forth by the former Bong County Senator.
