By Patrick Stephen Tokpah
/Bong
The president of the National Kpelle Organization of Liberia, (NAKOL), Emmanuel Sibley, has openly declared that they have resolved and adequately prepared to test the political heat in the upcoming 2029 presidential and general elections.
Mr. Sibley said in the past that they have struggled to make senators, representatives, and presidents, but we have never been recognized as an organization.
Based on these dissatisfactions, the political wing of the organization will support a presidential candidate to contest the 2029 presidential election who is a senior official of the organization.
“We the Kpelle people have resolved to support Cllr. David Woah in the 2029 presidential elections,” Sibley stated.
After the declaration, he called upon the National Leadership to travel across Liberia with Cllr. David Woah to present him to the Kpelleh people of Liberia as their 2029 presidential candidate.
He further emphasized that the decision is their right under the constitution of the Republic of Liberia, not a privilege.
“Let us join hands, to choose our own, support our own, defend our own, and elect our own comes 2029,” he added.
Furthermore, Emmanuel Sibley revealed that they have suffered a lot because of what he described as their mistakes in Liberia’s largest tribe.
He added that the time is now to recover those past discoveries.
“Those mistakes should be past memories. The time is now to harness our resources and challenge the future with all our might. My noble Kpelle people, we have lost a lot of opportunities due to ignorance in the past,” the NAKOL president stated.
The president of the National Kpelle Organization, at the same time, said that the future rests on perpetuating and preserving their culture by ensuring that young people are protected and developed through adherence to the culture and traditions.
He expressed that drugs are wreaking havoc on the young people in the Liberian society, most of whom are Kpelle.
He continues: “This organization must join the fight against illicit drugs and substance abuse through awareness to save our future, the youth. We must also seek ways to ensure that the Kpelle language is taught in schools within Kpelle settlements in Liberia and Guinea and that it is used as the second general sub-regional language.”
He stressed that they as Kpelle people are separated by the boundaries that divide them because of colonialism.
History tells us that the “Scramble and Partitioning” of Africa, which was settled by the colonial powers at the Berlin Conference in 1887, divided families and tribes by separating them into different countries.
One of the tribes affected was the great Kpelle people, When the French took Guinea, they divided the Kpelle people who were living along the border side as one people. And as I said earlier, some of them became Guineans and others became Liberians.
This geographical divide hurt the bond of the Kpelle people. Members of the same tribe became divided on boundary lines.
This situation persisted for several years and created a lot of division among us still continues today.
“We all know the danger of this colonial divide which had outweighed our togetherness in terms of our language and cultures,” Sibley stated. “Nevertheless, our unity remains unbending and undisturbed.”
To re-strengthen the bond, and be knowledgeable of the history of our oneness, this organization was birthed to reunite the Kpelle of Liberia and Guinea, as well as the Kpelleh of all nations.
“Now, we have a vehicle to unite the Kpelle people and that vehicle is, the National Kpelleh Organization of Liberia, and must strengthen the capacity of that vehicle to effectively achieve its objectives overwhelmingly,” NAKOL President cited.
He underscored that to ensure that the Kpelle people are adequately represented and their agenda fully achieved, we must be able to formulate a sub-regional Kpelle Legislative Caucus in the Liberian and Guinea parliaments. By doing so, fostering regional peace, reconciliation, and promotion of bilateral interests shall be easily achievable.
The statement of endorsement was made at the organization’s recent General Assembly held in Liberia.
However, Cllr David Woah accepted the endorsement of the National Kpelle Organization (NAKOL).
He lauded the organization for their farsightedness in recognizing his effort in endorsing his candidacy in the upcoming 2029 elections in Liberia.
“By God’s grace, I will be on the 2029 ballot as a presidential candidate,” Cllr. David Woah assured.
