Vice President Jeremiah Kpan Koung, has promised residents of the county’s electoral district #5 that he would stay away from the pending by-election as a senior government official from the county.
Political pundits said they would hold the vice president by his word during the conduct of the by-election, whether he will support a candidate or stay away from the process.
The by-election became necessary following the recent election of the district sitting representative, Samuel G. Kogar to the Upper House; filling the vacant seat of the late Senator Prince Y. Johnson.
Koung describes those aspiring for the lone seat in the district as his “closest boys.”
He made the statement on Wednesday, May 14, when he appeared on RKFM in Ganta, but the interview was relayed on several other community radio stations across the county.
According to the VP, names that are surfacing as contestants for the by-election in district #5 are all “my closest boys. And so, taking a specific side or pledging support to an aspirant will bring bout disunity in the district.”
A situation, he said, will give him a bad image as a vice president for all.
Koung then named Agustin Menkoah, Sampson Wonah, Kortor Kwagrue, and others as his “boys he has previously worked with prior to becoming a vice president.”
“By this, I have no special interest in any of the would-be contestants in the upcoming district #5 by-election.”
He meanwhile, described politics as ‘90 minutes game,’ that when it is over, the players come together and celebrate the winner.
He also called on participants in the Just ended senatorial by-election in the county to put aside their political differences, but to consider Nimba first, and work together as Nimbaians. By Rueben Guahn, Jr.