Liberians in Minnesota Go to the Polls

News

By Semantics King,Jr.,Minneapolis,Minnesota
Liberians resident in the Midwestern American state of Minnesota will go to the polls on December 2 to elect officials that would govern them for the next two years,the Elections Commission of the Organization of Liberians in Minnesota(OLM) announced this week.

Article VI section 4.1 which qualifies voters requires any Liberian wanting to vote to be in good standing and with good conduct.

Each voter will be required to pay $5 before voting.

There are four candidates that are vying for the presidency of OLM.They are:

Incumbent OLM president Martha Sinoe who is seeking her second term in office,her current vice president,Jackson George,Jr., former president of the Liberian Association of Michigan, Kerper A.Dwanyen and a workshop facilitator in the department of Continuing Professional Studies of the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota,Wynfred Russell.

Official campaign has already begun and supporters and sympathizers of various camps can be seen daily canvassing for their candidates.

However, in a recent Board of Directors of OLM debate on Nov.18, Brooklyn Park police had to be called in twice to maintain calm as the debate nearly became violent when Edmond Gray,a reported supporter of Kerper Dwanyen attempted to stop Benoni Grimes, a facilitator of the OLM Elections Debate Committee from taking photos.

Though Mr. Gray’s action did not go unpunished as the Elections Commission has unanimously suspended him from further participation in the 2007 Election, his act has resulted into something-the Liberian community in Minnesota has forfeited its chance of holding the 2007 Election at the facility of the North Hennepin Community College.

This means that the Election would have to held in a private place at the Brooklyn United Methodist Church and the community would have to pay not less than $1500 to rent the venue.

The presidential debate is slated to convened at the same place this Sunday,Nov 25, and it’s hoped that this will be done under a peaceful atmosphere.

But it appears the suspension of Mr.Gray has generated furore from some prominent Liberians.

The deputy minister for Asian-African Affairs of the Liberian government in Monrovia,Henry.B.Fahnbulleh who is a long time resident of Minnesota is not happy about the Commission’s decision to suspend Mr.Gray.

In a circulated email to hundreds of Liberians through the yahoogroups,Minister Fahnbulleh said that as an unobstrutive observer in the OLM 2007 Elections, he finds the Commission’s ruling to be hasty and rightly so but he only saw the judgment side and not the process side,prompting him to inquire whether there was any hearing conducted with Mr. Gray before suspending him.

Minister Fahnbulleh urged the Commission to quickly answer to questions that he propounded to it in fashionable manners, as a delay or the absence of a reply could cast aspersion on the Commission’s credibility and therefore render the Commission’s ruling against Mr. Gray as politically motivated.

Latest reports received indicate that two other members of the kerper Dwanyen campaign team, have been suspended by the Elections Commission for engaging in violence in this year’s election campaign.

They are:Oblayon Nyumah,Chairman of the Kerper Dwanyen campaign team and Harry Papa Mason, another strong member of Mr. Dwanyen’s campaign team.

Meanwhile, a Liberian Ministerial Association in Minnesota, a group of Liberian religious leaders,headed by Fr.James Wilson has called on Liberians in Minnesota to do away with hate messages in this year’s election.

The Association said it would be very good if supporters of various candidates would deal with issues affecting Liberians and try to seek ways to deal with the issues rather than character-assassinating people.

And though many fear that given the way the Election Commission is handling suspension issues,the election might not be free and fair,the Commission’s Chairman, Francis Zayzay said his Commission has plans to ensure free,peaceful and fair election in Minnesota.

Twelve persons have been certified to run for the position of Board of Directors of OLM, and it remains to be seen who succeeds incumbent Martha Sinoe,the only female candidate.

While some are hoping to lead Liberians in Minnesota,the very Liberians are claiming that they don’t even know whether or not there is an organization of Liberians here in Minnesota who should be seeking their interest.

Michael Harris,a Liberian Student in Brooklyn Park sees it this way: “I don’t even want to get myself involved with such Liberian issues because there is nothing good you hear about us only fighting each other and not doing anything worthwhile.”

Michael thinks that if OLM leaders want many Liberians in Minnesota to know about OLM leaders should undertake an awareness campaign in the community.

Almost every candidate vying for the presidency of OLM is promising voters to deal with Permanent residents or Greed Card issue for those on Deferred Enforced Departure(DED) for all Liberians on that status, and as Dec 2 draws to a close, would what happened in national elections in Liberian be repeated here in Minnesota?Only December 2 could tell.

Editor @ November 24, 2007