By: Leila B. Gbati
Declaring support for women aspirants in a press statement over the weekend in Gardnersville, Rev. Teah vowed that his organization will rally citizens’ votes for the women of Liberia’s rights and equal representation to contest the October 10, 2023 elections as representatives and senators.
According to him, they are preparing to go from house to house and street to street immediately after the campaign is declared open to mobilize Liberians to support women in the election.
He said OIL is a non-governmental organization that is neutral and comprises every Liberian who is an indigenous person of this land, so whoever the citizen chooses to support, they rally their support as well.
“We discovered that the men have failed, and this time with women in the House of Representatives and Senate, we think there will be a change. As we speak now, we have our awareness campaign mobilization committee that is working in the 15 sub-political divisions of Liberia, and we are going full blast, and based upon this series of meetings we have been having, we have come to this point where we have to declare our support, come what may, and we are going out to prepare more than ever before the house to house that a woman should be named as the next speaker of the House and not only just a representative.”
On May 11, 2023, political parties and the National Elections Commission (NEC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which signals political parties’ commitment to nominating women in a minimum of 30% of their candidate listings in the election. This commitment demonstrates their support for women’s political participation and promotes gender equality and women’s political representation.
However, Rev. Teah used the time to call on every woman and girl of voting age to come out in their numbers to vote for women’s rights and political representation for development and peace.
“We are fully prepared to go all out for the popular vote at every street corner and in the markets to support every woman who qualifies and has the ambition to contest the elections as a representative or senator,” he asserted.
Their decision to support women, Rev. Teah said, is based upon careful observation and study done to discover the failure of Liberia’s past and present leaders at the House of Parliament with no tangible development initiative to prove Liberians wrong in their quest to call for a possible replacement come the October 10, 2023 elections.
He also called on Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor and First Lady Clar Marie Weah to join and support them on this national call for women’s rights and equal representation in this time of the country’s history, thereby replacing the men with qualified, skilled, disciplined, and prepared women of integrity as they struggle to redeem Liberia from the hands of unprepared men at both the House of Representatives and Senate without any precondition.
“Let it be clearly understood that the foundation of a home is the strength of a woman, and if we are to overcome evil with good, it requires the combined efforts of a united citizenry to throw wrong people out from among good people, and we believe the women of Liberia are those kinds of leaders who are willing and fully prepared to take Liberia to a new level of human dignity as a result of the failure of men during the year under review at the detriment of our future,” he stated.
Rev. Teah further indicated that they want popular votes so that more women can be in the House, which requires numbers, so if they mobilize even in Monrovia out of 17 districts, if they can get 10 representatives, including other counties, they believe that if these women reach the House, their numbers will determine who becomes the next speaker for the women.
“In Liberia, we believed that it was difficult for women to support each other, but this time we want to appeal to them because this is not about if I am not there, nobody should be there; we are calling on women. From the time Liberia was established, you found it difficult for women to serve as Speakers, but looking at history, the first Secretary General of the United Nations was a woman from Liberia, the first African female president was Madam Sirleaf, and now serving as the first female vice president of Liberia is a woman, so we are encouraging all of you women to rally around each other so we can make this dream a reality,” he concluded.
Reverend Kafa B. Teah, National Chairman of the Organization of Indigenous Liberians (OIL), has described the signing of the Farmington Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) as a fiasco by political parties.
Rev. Teah sees no fruit in the declaration, as he noted that there have been agreements and reconciliation meetings where political parties go and sign a lot of documents, which, at the end of the day, proves nothing.
“This MOU will not be honored because of past history. I remember 1997 when former President Charles Taylor was coming into the election. Political parties emerged to prevent him from serving as president, but what happened at the end of the day was a fiasco, and he won. When former President Sirleaf was coming, the same thing happened: political parties came together, and in the end, she won. When President Weah was coming, they went to Ganta, but what happened? They split, and in the end, it was a few parties that came together, so going to Farmington and signing a document is just a formality; I know it will not hold; it is only left with the people who have a common mind to see Liberia wake up from the dungeon of being undeveloped; we are the people that will see Liberia develop tomorrow; this is why we are changing the political paradigm so that Liberia can have a good face outside,” he mentioned.
