Grand Kru County has been hit with the lack of voters’ appetite to the extent that Superintendent Doris Yankton has placed an embargo on all mining activities making the Biometric Voters Registration (BVR) exercise mandatory for every resident.
Reports gathered from various registration centers is that the locals are not going to get registered at the centers created by the National Elections Commission (NEC) in the three electoral districts due to mining activities.
The Superintendent said until the BVR exercise ends on Thursday, May 11, there shall be no any mining activities in the county and anyone who dares her mandate shall have him/herself to blame because the BVR card is not only intended for casting vote in October but could also be used for important business transactions in the future.
According to the report, Yanton has ordered the local state security in the county including the police, Liberia Immigration Services (LIS), Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA) and others to enforced the mandate to the letter without fear or favor until after next Thursday, May 11.
According to the report, because of the ongoing mining activities at various mining site in the county, the BVR exercise is at a slow pace at various centers with limited number of people turning out.
She stated, among many things, that the registration listing also shows the county’s numerical strength in terms of its population.
“The BVR exercise is free of charge why should residents snub the process by being at those mining sites and are refusing to get registered. Until they can go to the various centers near them and get registered, no mining site shall operate because every vote counts,” Yanton noted.
It can be recalled that Grand Kru County alone, President George Weah’s place of birth, during the National Population and Housing Center (NPHC) numeration exercise, 109, 342 persons were counted which summed up the projected population of the country to 5.2 million.
However, the issues of lack of voter’s appetite are not only recorded in Grand Kru County but in the remaining nine counties which witnessed lawmakers who are seeking reelection and aspirants to engage in trucking voters.
