By Bill W. Cooper
Several citizens of Montserrado County District 2 have accused their Representative, Jimmy W. Smith of trucking hundreds of women to form part of the ongoing Biometric Voters Registration (BVR) process in their district.
The citizens predominately the youthful population are at the same time warning Representative Jimmy Smith and team to desist or face unspecified actions from them as residents of the district.
Rep. Jimmy Smith is representing the people of District 2 in the 54th National Legislature on the ticket of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) and has since declared his intention to re-contest in the upcoming October 10, 2023 elections.
However, Liberians are expected to go to the polls on October 10, of this year, to elect their new leaders which include President and Vice President, 73 Representatives and 15 Senators to steer the affairs of the country for the next six and nine years respectively.
Furthermore, in line with the National Elections Commission (NEC’s) timetable released for the smooth conduct of the elections, the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) exercise commenced on Monday, March 20, 2023.
And since the commencement of the exercise, citizens continue to raise alarm over the “trucking” of non-domiciled residents to and from their respective districts and counties by incumbent lawmakers something that also caught the minds of District 2 residents to call their lawmaker to check.
In an exclusive interview with this paper, they maintained, “We got this info from some of the very same people Mr. Smith and team trucked into our district and we therefore called on him to stop right now.”
“Because we are resolved to engage him at all lengths to halt this unscrupulous exercise as means to safeguard our district from being politically infiltrated by those who do not intend to better our living conditions and develop our district,” the residents stated.
Daniel Zeon, on behalf of the aggrieved residents further stated, “We are consulting other community leaders and the youths, and any attempt by motorbikes, buses to bring people who are not residing here by the instruction of Rep. Smith or other aspirants will not be registered.”
“So, if you are bringing people to overshadow us, you are putting that property and people at risk. We are not going to hesitate to resist anything because trucking denies the citizens of a constituency their rightful choice to represent them,” he stressed.
“And whenever trucking is done and someone wins, he or she will always say ‘da my money put me there’. Let the citizens who live in the district sit and decide who to vote for and this is something that has hampered our district over the years,” he added.
Meanwhile, some of the alleged trucked voters also decried how they were being treated by Rep. Smith and his team who they accused promised them US$20 after they had registered in his district.
Wonder Paye, who is believed to be from District 10 stated, “We never came here on our own but it was one man by the name of Alfred Tokpa who is the Chief of Staff to Rep. Smith that brought us here to register in order to be able to vote for his boss man.”
“And since we got through registering, we are yet to receive our money which is US$20 that we agreed upon. What is more frustrating is that only US$10 each we received on grounds that we were going to get our money once we finish registering but as we speak, we are yet to hear from them,” Paye explained.
“So, we are calling on Rep. Smith and his boy to please give our money they promised and owe us and if they fail to do so, we will report the matter to the Police and we will all face the law,” she added.
