The true essence of reconciliation manifested itself on Friday in Belefinia, Bong County, when two sisters took the path of reconciliation to trash out their decades of dispute and reunite for the common good of their community.
According to a dispatch from Belefinia, Paramount Chief Lorpu Kollieand Chairlady Garmai Weah conflict started in 1998 as a result of a dispute over a market table.
The disagreement intensified in 2019 when Lorpu left for the United States to visit family members and while in the U.S., her sister Garmai engaged in a romantic affair with Lorpu’s boyfriend.
To further fuel the conflict, Lorpu’s daughter, who was in the employed of her then boyfriend (a lawmaker whose name withheld) got fired from the job based on account of Garmai’s influence.
The boyfriend in question is a member of both the 54th and 55th Legislature in the House of Representatives.
At the first day of the reconciliation dialogue session, Chairlady Garmai and other participants were deeply troubled by the prolonged fuel which, according to them, that is undermining peace and progress in Belefinia.
They described the dialogue session as pivotal to ending the dispute and forging peace and reconciliation between Paramount Chief Lorpu and Chairlady Garmai.
The participants said the conflict between the two sisters/leaders has divided the residents of the town, adding: “We are not united but divided in this town. We want the conflict between our two leaders be resolved and peace comes to our town.”
Several attempts by the Zota District Paramount Chief Lorpu and Zota District Chairlady Garmai who participated in CECPAP’s two days reconciliation dialogue session that took place in the Kpelleh Town together with NGOs and the residents to bring peace between the two leaders failed.
“We want CECPAP to try too to see if she can resolve the conflict,” the participants agreed. Based on their request, CECPAP’s Director Charles Crawford extended invitation to Lorpu to attend the next day session through the town Chief who was also a participant at the dialogue session.
During the discussion that centered around “A Reconciled Society for Sustainable Growth,” Paramount Chief Lorpu and Chairlady Garmai along with their supporters were highly touched by the lectures and subsequently decided to put aside their 26 years of conflict, reunite for the betterment of their community.
Mr. Crawford expressed happiness over the reunification of the sisters, and used the opportunity to admonish the participants, the two parties and their supporters to see the path of reconciliation between Paramount Chief Lorpu and Chairlady Garmai as a seed that needs to be watered every time, adding “you guys need to keep talking and preaching the message of peace and unity to Ma Lorpu and Sister Garmai every time you come across them. By doing that, what we did here today will hold firmly and Belefinia and the entire Zota District will once more become a united community.”
CECPAP’s reconciliation dialogue session is expected to reach to areas identified by the Peace Building Office (PBO) as hotspots during the 2023 presidential and legislative elections.
Already, CECPAP has reached Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County; Zuo-Zualay, Nimba County; and Belefinia, Bong County and the next locations on its agenda are Foya, Lofa County; and Porkpa, Grand Cape Mount County for similar dialogue sessions with residents of those communities.
The reconciliation dialogue is being organized and facilitated by CECPAP with funding provided by the UN Peacebuilding Fund with supervision from the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM).
