MONROVIA : The apparent strategy of Senator Prince Moye to market the Unity Party in Bong County by criticizing Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor “for failing the people of Bong County” may have hit rock bottom on Saturday, August 5, 2023 when some citizens who reacted to his live interview during the launch of the opposition Unity Party (UP) campaign in the county told him in no uncertain terms to account for his own stewardship as senator of the county for close to six years, rather than going after the Vice President whom they believe does not deserve to be dragged in any political stunt meant to promote the former ruling party in the county.
The citizens made their reactions known when Senator Moye, as Unity Party National Campaign Manager with oversight responsibility over Bong, appeared on Radio Gbarnga to speak to the people as he kicked off the UP campaign in the county where he highlighted some of the achievements of the former ruling party during its 12 years in power, with specific reference to Bong County, which he compared the same with the six year rule of the CDC that he described as “complete failure”, especially for Bong County that has its daughter there as Vice President.
Our correspondent who was on a special assignment in Bong County and had monitored the live interview at an intellectual center, not too far from the vicinity of the radio station, reported that some of the citizens who had difficulties getting their calls through on the lines provided by the hosts of the program said it was baffling that the Senator whom they described as “one of the Monrovia Politicians” would come to the county, and instead of telling them what he has done for them since he became senator, would choose to go after Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor “to score cheap points and deceive the people of Bong County again”.
One of the few persons, Mr. Elijah Cooper, who was fortunate to go through the lines where the callers were predominantly members and supporters of UP, questioned Moye on what has become of the abandoned Ballah Town Bridge which Moye promised to have constructed since 2019, and emphasized that the project was a key undone milestone that has left the people going through a lot of difficulties.
“I listened to Senator Moye. I just want to tell the Senator that he knows very well that he failed the Bongees. He has no message to tell the people and he is telling us to vote for Joseph Nyuma Boakai. He is saying the government has not done anything. Let him come to Ballah Town and complete the bridge there since he said it is easy. Since 2019 he started that bridge but up to now, it has not been completed”, M.r Cooper said.
Another lady who was hawking her fruits around but took interest in the conversation that ensured during and after Moye’s interview said she was disappointed that the Senator will want to use VP Howard Taylor as a punching bag to gain support for the Unity Party, stressing that Senator Moye should desist otherwise he may lose the respect of the people.
“Let the Senator talk on his own and leave Jewel. It will not help him. This is election time and it is time for us to hear from him what he has done for the Bong County people all these years. We don’t want to know what the Vice President did or did not do from his mouth. When the time comes for us to know or hear from the Vice President, she will tell us herself.
“But what the Senator is doing this morning may affect him tomorrow. Is there any other way he can campaign for Joseph Nyuma Boakai without mentioning the Vice President’s name?”, the lady wondered.
An older man who formerly taught in a number of schools in the county before retiring in 2013, who simply gave his name as Old Man Sumo said Moye’s venture will be a hard sell for his party against the background that he is discrediting a citizen of Bong who is currently the Vice President for someone else.
“I don’t understand him and I wonder if he thinks the Bongees are going to buy that kind of campaign. That they should leave their daughter who is currently the Vice President for another person? This is even against our own tradition that you remove glory from your own and give it to another person.
“Even if the VP has not done anything for the county as he is claiming which I don’t even want to believe, why must they send him to us to discuss about our daughter and he being her brother traditionally can’t say, ‘no my people, our people will not accept that from me?’ He is joking”, Old Man Sumo said.
Earlier during the interview, Moye said the Rescue Mission was not about him but about the people of Bong County who massively voted for the ticket of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) which carried President Weah and VP Taylor in 2017 but unfortunately the county has not benefited anything from the decision they took to elect the CDC ahead of the Unity Party.
He said in 2017 he warned the citizens against voting for then Senator Weah because he knew that he would be a disappointment, “and truly he has disappointed everybody, to the extent that what all they met here from the Unity Party government were all destroyed”. He said Bong being one of the counties that gave President Weah such a huge number of votes still cannot boast of anything substantial.
‘Not only are they meaning us with infrastructural developments having given them more votes in 2017, they are even meaning us with other different major jobs in the country. There is no single cabinet minister from the county to remind the President about the county and its people”, he said.
Senator Moye made a comparison between former VP Boakai and VP Taylor, and said during the administration of the UP, Boakai exerted a lot of influence and was instrumental for a good number of citizens from Lofa County to have key appointments in the government.
While promising that Bong County will immensely benefit from the UP government when Boakai wins, Moye also took a swipe at the government for the decline in the support for development in the county despite his cooperating with the government as an opposition with the view that the county would have benefited from projected items in the national budget, which failed to be actualized.
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