Following a year since the disappearance of the logistics officer for the National Elections Commission in Grand Gedeh County, neither the government nor his family can give account of the 44 years old Alfred Dunner, leaving citizens to wonder about his whereabouts.
Mr. Dunner went missing on May 3, 2022 in Gbarzon, Electoral District 3, which is 25 kilometers away from Zwedru City, where he had gone to seek herbal medication and since then not even his dead body, if he is dead, has been found.
Some family members, colleagues and friend have expressed concern over his prolonged disappearance and are calling on the Liberia government to ensure that those responsible for his mysterious disappearance are brought to justice.
Following his disappearance on May 3, 2022, in Juarzon, the General Town Chief of the town informed the Liberia National Police and other stakeholders that Dunner allegedly vanished from the room where he was sleeping with his brother and brother-in-law in the morning hours. “This has not happened in our town before. This is shocking and has caught us off balance,” the chief pointed out.
“His caretakers, his brother and brother-in-law told me that they did not see him leave the room with his laptop, but he left without wearing his slippers and shirt,” the chief told the police preliminary investigation in Zwedru.
On May 4, 2022, the LNP arrested four suspects including his brother and brothers-in-law, the herbalist and her husband and charged them with Kidnapping and Criminal Conspiracy. On May 9, 2022, they were forwarded to the 5th Judicial Circuit Court and are said to be remanded at the National Palace of Corrections pending Court trial.
On May 20, 2023, which makes it over a year since the mysterious disappearance of the NEC logistics officer, the Inquirer Newspaper visited Grand Gedeh County and spoke with the herbalist, the brother, brother-in-law and one of his colleagues concerning the case, though the police declined to speak to the issue because, according to them, the case was forwarded to court.
The family is accusing the government of not properly investigating the disappearance of their son to establish what may have happened to him, to know whether he is dead or alive but to only imprison people and turn a blind-eye on the trial of the matter.
“We are worried. Since Alfred went missing, no official of government, from the county inspector to the police, has shown any interest in searching for him. It seems normal to them for someone to just vanish in thin air and no one says anything about it,” says his brother, Jeremiah Dunner. Jeremiah is one of the four arrested and charged by the police for kidnapping and criminal conspiracy.
“I think they are okay with just keeping us here rather than investigating the whereabouts of my brother,” Jeremiah told the Inquirer from his prison cell in Grand Gedeh.
According to him, he along with his brother-in-law, Chris Kumeh was sleeping in the room with Alfred the night he went missing. “That night, we were three on the bed. Alfred slept in front, Chris was in the middle and I was behind. We asked him to sleep in the middle, but he said ‘No’ because of heat. I woke up at about 1:00A.M in the morning and saw our room door wide opened but Alfred was not in at that time of the night, we don’t know how the door opened, we don’t know how the man left from beside us,” Jeremiah asserted. He furthered, “He left with only his laptop, with no shirt and no slippers.”
“He woke up first when the herbalist came to rub chalk on him and did not put shirt on him because of the chuck. It was from there that we all went to bed,” Jeremiah said.
According to Jeremiah, Alfred was diagnosed of typhoid but after several medical treatments with no results, they decided to try traditional treatment. “This is how our mother and his mother-in-law called Chris and me to take to the herbalist,” he narrated.
For his part, Chris Kumeh described the missing man as his father and a big brother. “Alfred was like a father to me; he liked for me to be around him even during the by-election, I was with him throughout the process. All I want is for them to find Alfred. That’s all,” Chris said. Chris is detained along with Jeremiah and two others.
The herbalist who spoke through an interpreter said this is the first time for such incident to take place at her shrine. “I don’t know what is happening,” she said wondering. “The man arrived that Sunday evening. It was May 2, 2022 and I assessed his condition and admitted him. That night, I went to his room and administered the first chalk to ease the pains he was feeling and left. I was called late that night by his brothers that he was not in the room,” she said.
“The next day, government people brought me and my husband here say that we know what happen to the man,” she explained.
The mysterious disappearance of Mr. Dunner has sparked mixed reactions among the people of Grand Gedeh County.
According to one of his colleagues who preferred to speak on anonymity, the disappearance of Mr. Dunner and the perpetual silence from NEC has instilled fear among the staff of the Grand Gedeh. He averred, “The disappearance of Alfred could be traditionally or politically motivated, but the fact that our bosses are not saying anything about it could mean they don’t care about our safety.”
He said following the by-election in the county, Mr. Dunner confided in him that he felt like being chased by some invisible beings. “It was in March of 22 that Mr. Dunner started behaving strange in the office; a once lively man but he would just come to work and confined himself to his office the whole day,” our source said.
“So, one day I approached him and asked what was going and he told me, ‘I don’t know what is happening to me, but I feel empty and scare. Like something or someone is running after me,’” he said.
“I still feel that some big hands are behind the disappearance of Mr. Dunner because since his disappearance no one, not even the county superintendent nor the police have shown any sign of seriousness to find our workmate.
A resident of Zwedru, Madam Nancy Cherue is blaming the police and the National Elections Commissions for not doing much to locate the whereabouts of their kinsman. “It has been over a year now and no one can say for sure if he is dead or alive. Not even his own office in Monrovia.
“We, the citizens of Grand Gedeh, deserve to know what happen to Alfred because he’s our son,” she added.
“All we want is to see our brother. That’s all. We do not care how long we stay in jail, once we find Alfred, it is okay for us,” Jeremiah said crying; report by Gideon Nma Scott, Jr.
