Gbapolu County District #1 Representative Alfred Koiwood has congratulated Senator Botoe Kanneh for her victory in the December 8, 2020 Special Senatorial Elections. The Representative also lauded the Coalition for the Democratic Change (CDC), his supporters and well-wishers including his legal team for the level of support provided to him during the legal battle that was intended to challenge the victory of Senator Kanneh.
Representative Koiwood made the statement in an interview with The Analyst via telephone over the weekend. He said, “The development of the county cannot be held back and that the interest of the people is paramount than any individual across the county.”
His statement followed the certification of Senator Kanneh by the National Elections Commission as winner of the December 8, 2020 Special Senatorial Elections in Gbarpolu County, after months of legal battle.
NEC certificated the senator on March 30, 2021 laying to rest the acrimonies that have attended the Gbarpolu election which allegedly resulted into molestation of the winner of the election and her supporters.
Congratulating Senator Kanneh, the Gbarpolu Representative indicated that the Supreme Court of Liberia is the final arbiter for justice in the country, noting that there were other avenues created to further pursue his challenge of Senator Botoe Kanneh’s victory.
Botoe Kanneh’s challenger has decided not to further pick bones with the certified Kanneh for the Senate on ground that the interest of the people of Gbarpolu is bigger than his ambition.
Following her election as senator, Madam Kanneh could not be certificated as it is done by law to qualify a winner of an election for induction into an elected office due to a legal challenge filed against her by her main challenger, Representative Alfred Koiwood who complained of fraud and elections violence allegedly by supporters of Senator Kanneh, a claim which was dismissed by the National Elections Commission (NEC) and backed by the Supreme Court of Liberia through its determination of the matter at the highest court.
In the Supreme Court ruling, Justices of the Court labeled the continued failure of the Ministry of Justice to prosecute election offenders accordingly as a threat to the country’s peace and security, opinionating in its ruling that the action by the Ministry of Justice led by Cllr. Musa Dean to downplay cases growing out of electoral violence predicts a grim future for Liberia’s democracy and people.
“We fear that if these cases of election violence are not handled decisively now, future elections in our country will be disaster-prone,” the Court’s five Justices wrote in a unanimous ruling relating to the Gbarpolu County electoral dispute case between Senator-elect Botoe Kanneh (appellant), Coalition for Democratic Change (1st appellee) and the National Elections Commission (2nd appellate).
The Gbarpolu County District #1 lawmaker disclosed that he will soon stage a Peace and Reconciliations Tournament in Gbarpolu County, which is intended to bring together supporters of the nine candidates that contested the December 8th Midterm Senatorial Elections to move the county forward.
“It is about time the Legislative Caucus of the county welcome Senator Botoe Kanneh for the common good of the people and the county”, he said.
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