Nimba citizens, in their thousands gathered from Baila, a bordering town between Bong and Nimba Counties onward to Ganta to welcome President George Manneh Weah as he entered the county at the start of a three-day campaign tour. That was contrary to rumors that citizens of the county would boycott President Weah and his CDC activities in the county after two of the county’s prominent sons (Senators Prince Y. Johnson and Jeremiah Koung) announced that they no longer support Weah and the CDC. Prior to the two Senators withdrawal of support to the Coalition for Democratic Change in early 2023, Senators Koung and Johnson had supported President Weah and his CDC government for, according to them, his numerous development initiatives in the country with Nimba and its citizens benefiting immensely. On numerous occasions, the two Senators had rallied the support of Nimbaians at home and abroad to give President Weah a two-term mandate with Senator Prince Y. Johnson informing the people of Nimba that President Weah is a son of the county for the fact that his (Weah) deceased mother hailed from Gbie&Doru Administrative district in Nimba County. It later came as a shock to many citizens of the county when Senators Johnson and Koung in February announced that they were no longer supporting the re-election bid of President Weah due to his “refusal to develop the county, provide jobs for Nimba citizens and holding on to the county’s Social Development money”. Shortly following the two Senators’ decision to discontinue their support to President Weah, their party, the Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction (MDR), which entered into a political marriage with the CDC back in 2017, held a convention in Nimba County where Senator Koung was elected Standard Bearer on a white ballot and given a mandate by his party to contest for the presidency. But this ambition was turned down when Senators Koung was announced as Vice Presidential candidate by former Vice President Joseph Nyumah Boakai of the former ruling Unity Party. Since then, the two Senators have called on their kinsmen to redirect their support to the UP instead of the CDC they once supported. But many citizens of Nimba County seem not to pay heed to the Senators’ call as they were seen trooping in their numbers to welcome President Weah and his entourage to the county and reassuring him of their unwavering support to his second term bid. Following the warm welcome ceremony, the citizens gathered at the Ganta football field in affirmation of their support to President Weah through many speeches and statements of re-endorsement and support. Many of the citizens, who spoke on behalf of different groups and organizations, recounted the construction of roads, health facilities, markets, schools, free tuition to public universities and colleges, payment of WASSCE fees by the President and the appointment of some Nimba citizens into top government positions, as sufficient reasons to support the re-election bid of President Weah, noting that they as citizens of Nimba County are not ungrateful and must not be made to appear as that based on the attitude of few of their kinsmen. Source: LINA
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