PATRICK S. TOKPAH
Africa-Press – Liberia. Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor, in a strategic move aimed at garnering support for her and President George Weah’s reelection, has donated L$1.5 million (US$8k) to three women’s groups in Bong County.
The gesture, although purportedly aimed at empowering women, has left many questioning whether it constitutes an act of vote-buying cleverly disguised as a generous gift.
It comes as the ruling party faces significant challenges to its reelection bid from two opposition figures, Joseph Boakai and Alexander Cummings, respectively. Taylor’s visits to the women’s groups, which were for campaign purposes, aim to significantly maintain the ruling party’s grip over the battleground county, just as it did in the 2017 elections.
In a speech, the Vice President vowed that her office would remain open for “any program that seeks to empower women” economically, both at the local and national levels.
“Women’s empowerment program is one of the most important programs in this dispensation and should be taken to the length and breadth of Liberia,” Taylor said on September 5. “The cash donated is intended to buttress the women’s efforts to achieve their dreams and strengthen their businesses. We believe that when women succeed, our entire nation prospers.”
The L$1.5 million, which is expected to be divided equally among three groups, has been earmarked for assisting women in launching their own entrepreneurial ventures. The donation follows a life skills training program, in which the women groups participated, organized by A. Victor Tokpah, who is the ruling party’s legislative candidate for Bong County electoral district 2. Tokpah’s gesture is now part of a new trend “of philanthropic donation” taking place in the country to sway voters, which experts say is a form of covert vote buying.
Some of the women who are expected to benefits from the L$1.5 million donation.
He had invited the Vice President, who remains popular in Bong County, not just to endorse his legislative campaign, but to also push the reelection agenda of the President. In this regard, Taylor warned that if the people of Bong County District #2 want to obtain the favor of the government upon re-election, they should vote for Victor and the reelection of Weah.
According to Taylor, the decision of the district to elect James Kolleh, during the 2021 by-elections, the Vice President added, has been one of the major reasons why it has suffered from limited development since.
“Turn out in your numbers on October 10 to overwhelmingly reelect the Weah-Taylor Administration for the forward march of the country’s developmental agenda,” she said.
“[Also] elect Victor Tokpah, come October 10, if [you] are to obtain the favor of the CDC government upon reelection,” Taylor added. “The region suffered developmental glitches over the past years due to the decision to elect an opposition figure during the conduct of the district’s 2021 by-election.”
She cited James Kolleh’s alleged “disrespectful and aggressive” behavior towards members of the ruling party as reason enough to deny him reelection.
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