By: Ben TC Brooks
The ruling Unity Party River Gee chapter has alledgelly surrendered its headquarters in Fish Town to the property owner due to inability to keep up with rent payments.
While the rented building has been returned over to the owner, the party’s logo remains displayed, prompting accusations of deception from some observers and political pundits in the county.
In 2023, the headquarters was often bustling with Unity party members and supporters, but following the elections, it became abandoned, marked by a failure to maintain rental payments.
Jay Doe Welah Jr., the Party County Chairman of River Gee and now Region 5 Coordinator for the Ministry of Agriculture, which comprises Maryland, Grand Kru, and River Gee, confirmed the handover of the party’s former headquarters.
Welah explained that the party struggled to secure funding from the national executive committee to cover rent costs, as a result, he and other local UP executives decided to relinquish the property to avoid further embarrassment from the owner.
“When we called for meetings, most partisans and supporters refused to attend because they felt left out after the elections, and we are in the minority with job opportunities,” Welah stated. “We cannot force people to attend meetings or activities at the party headquarters, especially when we have no significant engagement. Therefore, we had no choice but to officially return the building to its owner”, he re-emphasized.
When contacted, the property owner, Madam Sarah Thomas, a resident of Gbeapo Kanweaken also confirmed via telephone that the building was turned over since September of 2024 due to refusal to pay rent.
During the 2023 National Elections, Moses G. Nyanatoh, the Magistrate of the National Elections Commission in River Gee County, reported the final tally from 56 precincts across 98 polling places during the presidential runoff election, which featured candidates of Joseph Nyuma Boakai of Unity Party and George Weah of the Coalition for Democratic Change
According to the NEC’s consolidated report of 2023, of the total 37,000 registered voters in River Gee County, 23,592 participated in the runoff election, of which 520 of those votes were deemed invalid.
In the final count, the Unity Party received 4,686 votes, accounting for 19.9% of the total, while the Coalition for Democratic Change garnered 18,906 votes, making up 80.1%.
Jeremiah Doe, a member of the opposition Liberty Party in River Gee County, has raised concerns regarding what he described as the Unity Party’s alleged unprofessional behavior.
He characterized their decision to relinquish the sub-headquarters while still displaying party logos as deceptive.
“You cannot say you have turned over the building and still have your party’s logos displayed, This is total deception and an irresponsible behavior,” Doe maintained.
However, most residents, particularly Unity partisans, in River Gee have accused the party of allegedly deviating from its usual youth empowerment programs in the Southeast.
Despite the accessibility of the national road from Ganta to Cape Palmas, there are numerous challenges, including the failure to provide job opportunities, particularly vacation jobs for students to afford their school fees.
