The Nimba County senatorial by-election which seeks to produce the replacement of the late Senator Johnson Y. Johnson is slated for April 22, 2025.
In the light of that, the campaign dust is whirling and spiraling all over Nimba as at least seven candidates in the race are moving from one corner to the other heavily escorted by jubilant crowds seeking votes.
Samuel Kogar, who’s bearing the flag of Prince Johnson’s MDR party, and who seems to be supported by the sitting Unity Party government is being challenged by other contenders most of whom are directly or indirectly linked to the CDC of former President George Oppong Weah whose dream to regain state power remains as wide as the eagle’s wings.
As it appears, the CDC intends to test its theory or belief that the demise of Senator Johnson automatically makes Nimba like a goal post without a goal keeper, thereby making the game an easy one to play come 2029.
It’s a known secret that the CDC’s focus is to regain state power come 2029 having tasted power and knowing how sweet its marrow is.
You’ll recall that when they were in power they would politically sing, “The way power sweet; the way power sweet; we didn’t know power was so sweet; oh power, you’re never to leave our zone; we are going for 24 years, we are going for 18 years, we are going for 12 years and so forth. They would dance politically and boast politically, knowing little or not that power is like the cassava leaf which is not only meant for goats alone. So they were booted out in the 2023 presidential election by the Joseph Nyumah Boakia and Jeremiah Kpan Koung forces, a pain they certainly still feel deep in their political soul.
The JNB-JKK regime for its part is not engaged in loudly singing and pronouncing the sweetness of power, although it knows very well that power is sweeter than the wine.
The administration knows that Nimba is where the political trump card traditionally sits and as such, it wouldn’t allow the county to fall to any opposition, especially given that the sitting vice president Koung has significant political stake in the county.
It can be recalled that while endorsing Samuel Kogar, a sitting representative #5 recently, the vice president was very categorical in calling all Nimbaians to support the MDR candidate.
He called on the Mano tribe and all others to vote for Kogar, a Dan/Gio man so as to balance the political equation in the Senate.
Currently Nyan Tuayen, who hails from the Mano ethnic group sits as junior senator and was being paired with the late senator Johnson, a Dan/Gio man.
I believe when the vice president was making this call, he consulted the political tradition in Nimba( one Dan/Gio man, one Mano man) in the Senate. This is the tradition practiced by our forebears and it’s the tradition that remains ringing bell today.
Essentially, the senatorial race in Nimba is a test as to what 2029 will look like.
Politically, 2029 is like the sky that’s seen by all eyes; it’s like the goal post that all players gallop towards to score; it’s like the charming woman that all men desire; it’s like the honey that all bees want, etc.
That’s what makes the race in Nimba very critical. Nimbaians seem to be eyeing 2029, should President Boakia elect to retire following his first term. And with Koung as a possible replacer, Nimbaians will never replace their “intestines with dry banana leaves.” From where I sit, I could see Nimbaians voting massively for Kogar, not that he’s the most qualified, but to keep Nimba’s political strength unshakable in preparation of 2029.
Nimbaians will vote Kogar, not that he’s the most educated; they’ll vote him to prove that the voice of VP Koung remains the biggest, loudest and respected voice in the county.
They’ll vote Kogar not because he jumped over Prince Johnson’s dead body as a mark of traditional transfer of power from the deceased; they’ll vote for him to prove that the traditional and political will of the late Prince Johnson is fulfilled.
Against this background, Kogar is set to win because a victory for the hunting dogs automatically amounts to a victory for the hunters.
And a victory for the hunting dogs in the hunting game depends on how the hunting dogs are cheered to victory by the hunters.
Equally so, the bravery of the hunting dogs depends on the proximity of the hunters. This goes to say that the win for Kogar will obviously represent a win for VP Jeremiah Koung, the Unity Party and above all, a win for the government as a whole.
A win for Kogar will obviously represent a mirror through which 2029 could be determined. That’s the reason why Kogar is proudly jumping here and there, dressed like a Chinese monk, and he’s being cheered by the people simply because a significant portion of the Nimba people are set to vote for him, and by extension, the government which is their creation.
Based on this, one can safely express early sympathy to all those in the race, who’re from the CDC background, and whose mandate is to build political scaffold or corridor for the CDC come 2029, something which is being rejected in almost all parts of the county.