Press Statement for Immediate Release By Concerned Citizens of Grand Gedians in the Diaspora May 10, 2024

Press Statement for Immediate Release By Concerned Citizens of Grand Gedians in the Diaspora

Mr. Alex Chersia Grant was inducted into Office as Grand Gedeh County’s 12^th Superintendent on Monday, May 6, 2024, during a ceremony charactered by heavy security intimidation. The event was possible because the appointing authorities chose to ignore the pleas of the Citizens of the County to remove Mr. Grant’s name from consideration as Superintendent of Grand Gedeh County. For three months, the Citizens protested and provided proof of Mr. Grant’s compromised leadership track record coupled with the fact that he lied under oath at his confirmation hearing. We believe, we did everything possible to alert and warn the appointing authorities of Mr. Grant’s unsuitability to serve as Superintendent of the County.

1. The young people of the County began peaceful protests from the moment Mr. Grant was nominated to alert the President to Mr. Grant’s track record and unsuitability for the position;
2. We respectfully petitioned the President to withdraw Mr. Grant’s nomination, providing him incontrovertible, non-sentimental and easily verifiable information to support our petition;
3. We pleaded with the Liberian Senate not to confirm Mr. Grant when the President did not withdraw his nomination;
4. Through teleconference calls, text messages, and copies of our petition and other documents, we pleaded with the Minister of Internal Affairs, the President’s point man for local government, to impress upon the President and the Liberian Senate the potential for violence and destabilization that Mr. Grant’s superintendency held for Grand Gedeh County;
5. We issued a few press statements to alert the public to the stonewalling that greeted our pleas and those of other Grand Gedeh groups, including the County’s elders;
6. We were compelled to alert Liberia’s key international partners to what was unfolding as a last-ditch effort to put Grand Gedeh County on their radar as a potential place for tension and Mr. Grant’s reprisals, consistent with his history, in the days and months ahead.

On Monday, April 29, 2024, the Minister of Internal Affairs met with some citizens of Grand Gedeh County in Zwedru in an attempt to “soften” the ground before sending in Mr. Grant. He pleaded with them, during the poorly attended meeting, to “accept their son,” Alex Grant. That the irony of that plea—someone from faraway Lofa County begging Mr. Grant’s people to accept their son—was lost on the Minister was telling. The Minister’s pacification effort confirmed that he, and everyone else who was involved in literally shoving Mr. Grant down the throats of the people of Grand Gedeh County, knew they were doing the County wrong.

During that meeting in Zwedru, the Minister pleaded with the people to give Mr. Grant a chance. “If you are a monkey,” the Minister said, “ahn the monkey hand can be black? You can wash it, it can get clean? Ahn it can still be black? If the man President Boakai has sent and the Senators agreed he must come . . .if he is a rogue, he will not change, he will soon come and steal; if he is a killer, he will kill . . .That’s the time now you will inform your people this man. . . can’t continue to work with our government.” Even when all the town’s people say, “this man is a chicken rogue,” the Minister was suggesting that it was wise to put him in charge of the chicken coop and then to wait and arrest him when he steals a chicken. In other words, wisdom comes from curing, not from preventing, from rewarding bad behavior, not from exposing and punishing it. This thinking, it seems to us, turns conventional wisdom on its head.

To say we are disappointed about the complete insensitivity of the appointing authorities to the wishes of the people of Grand Gedeh County would be an understatement. The Grant saga simply confirmed that in Liberia the more things change the more they remain the same. Government remains an Overlord which proceeds in its policies and dealings with little or no regard for the wishes of the people, particularly those in the hinterland. Impositions on them go as long as they serve Monrovia’s interest.

We conclude this press statement with a warning to Mr. Grant: we are watching you. Rest assured that this effort to secure Grand Gedeh County’s future has just begun. We will continue to advocate for good governance in the County and your activities will remain the focus of our continuous scrupulous scrutiny. This also goes to the other officials of the County. Know that the days of the carte blanch mismanagement of the County and its resources, and the-lording-it-over of the people are over.

We want to thank all diaspora Grand Gedeans and our partners in Liberia during this effort, which was directed at urging our government to do the right thing, for their patriotism, fortitude and peaceful actions. Together, we believe we laid bare a serious historical malady plaguing our country’s governance posture. We are eternally grateful to the young people who continued to peacefully call on their leaders to do the right thing even when their pleas were ignored. Let’s all resolve to press on for the good of Grand Gedeh County in particular and Liberia in general.

Signed:

By

Summary list of Members of Concerned Grand Gedeh Citizens in the Diaspora

1. I. Bull Yonly, former Board Chairman, former National Vice President, GGAA
2. Mwalimu Steve Boley, former Board Chairman, Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas (GGAA)
3. Emmanuel Cooper, former National President, former Board Chairman, GGAA
4. Edmund Zar-Zar-Bargblor, former Board Chairman, GGAA
5. Isaac Vowal, former Board Chairman, GGAA
6. Eric Kohn, former Board Chairman, GGAA
7. Dee Wilson Barlee, former Co-chairman, GGAA
8. Tillman Collins, former National President, GGAA
9. Fred Gwyan, former National President, GGAA
10. Henry K. Glay, former National President, GGAA
11. David Gbotoe, former National President, GGAA
12. William G. Nyanue, former National President, GGAA & Chairman,

Concerned Citizens in the Diaspora

1. Isaac Carr, former National Vice President, GGAA
2. Alphonso Bargblor, former President Delaware Chapter, GGAA
3. Sam Wulu-Davis, former President New England Chapter, GGAA
4. Annie Wilson-Zaza, former President New York Chapter, GGAA
5. Deacon Amos L. Zanwonjah, former President, DC Metro Chapter, GGAA
6. Gbote Tahyor, former President Iowa Chapter, GGAA
7. Chea Tardy, former President Missouri/Kansas Chapter, GGAA
8. Rebecca Deah, former Vice President Illinois Chapter, GGAA
9. Sophia R. Nyanue, former Chair, Education and Training Committee, GGAA
10. Annie Zeon-Yonly, former National Treasurer, GGAA
11. Sharon Browne, former Chair, Ways and Means Committee, GGAA
12. J. Benedict Wreh, Former Chairman, National Election Commission,
13. J. Michael Wreh, Member,
14. Jerry Gbardy, Member
15. Samson Toe, Member
16. Evangeline Mamie Tarr, Member
17. Gbarwho W. Flahn, Member
18. James Kaye, Member
19. Arthur K. Watson, former President, Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas (ULAA)
20. Eugenia Cooper-Merchant, Member
21. Annie Doman-Dahn, Member
22. Nora Wreh, Member
23. Dahma Breeze-Kohn, Member
24. Munah Tardy, Former Chairlady Women Wing, GGAA
25. Zedueh Doerue, Member
26. Gee Deh, Member
27. Fefe Waylee, Member
28. Ambassador Harold G. Tarr, Member
29. Anthony Urey, Member
30. Anthony Wlue Nyemah, Member
31. John P. Beh, Jr., Member
32. Jeremiah Shar, Member

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