LIBERIA: Gov’t Ignores Grand Gedeans Pleas …Inducted Alex Chersia Grant as 12th Supt. of Grand Gedeh

Despite calls by Grand Gedeans to remove former Representative Alex Chersia Grant name from consideration as Superintendent of Grand Gedeh County, the government on Monday, May 6, 2024 inducted him as the 12th superintendent of the county.

The ceremony, according to a press statement signed by over forty past leaders of the Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas, was characterize by heavy security presence as a mean of intimidation.

The release of the Concerned Grand Gedeh Citizens in the Diaspora stated that the event was possible because the appointing authorities chose to ignore the pleas of the citizens of the county.

The release noted that young people of the County began peaceful protests from the moment Mr. Grant was nominated to alert the President to Mr. Grant’s track record and unsuitability for the position; and respectfully petitioned the President to withdraw Mr. Grant’s nomination, providing him incontrovertible, non-sentimental and easily verifiable information to support their petition.
The Grand Gedeans said they pleaded with the Liberian Senate not to confirm Mr. Grant when the President did not withdraw his nomination and through teleconference calls, text messages, and copies of their petition and other documents.

They also pleaded with the Minister of Internal Affairs, the President’s point man for local government, to impress upon the President and the Liberian Senate the potential for violence and destabilization that Mr. Grant’s superintendency held for Grand Gedeh County.
“We issued a few press statements to alert the public to the stonewalling that greeted our pleas and those of other Grand Gedeh groups, including the County’s elders;
“We were compelled to alert Liberia’s key international partners to what was unfolding as a last-ditch effort to put Grand Gedeh County on their radar as a potential place for tension and Mr. Grant’s reprisals, consistent with his history, in the days and months ahead.”

The statement noted that on Monday, April 29, 2024, the Minister of Internal Affairs met with some citizens of Grand Gedeh County in Zwedru in an attempt to “soften” the ground before sending in Mr. Grant but the Minister pleaded with the citizens met during a poorly attended meeting, to “accept their son,” Alex Grant.
“That the irony of that plea—someone from faraway Lofa County begging Mr. Grant’s people to accept their son—was lost on the Minister was telling. The Minister’s pacification effort confirmed that he, and everyone else who was involved in literally shoving Mr. Grant down the throats of the people of Grand Gedeh County, knew they were doing the County wrong.”

The release stated that during the meeting in Zwedru, the Minister pleaded with the people to give Mr. Grant a chance. “If you are a monkey,” the Minister said, “ahn the monkey hand can be black? You can wash it, it can get clean? Ahn it can still be black? If the man President Boakai has sent and the Senators agreed he must come . . .if he is a rogue, he will not change, he will soon come and steal; if he is a killer, he will kill . . .That’s the time now you will inform your people this man. . . can’t continue to work with our government.” Even when all the town’s people say, “this man is a chicken rogue,” the Minister was suggesting that it was wise to put him in charge of the chicken coop and then to wait and arrest him when he steals a chicken. In other words, wisdom comes from curing, not from preventing, from rewarding bad behavior, not from exposing and punishing it. This thinking, it seems to us, turns conventional wisdom on its head.
The people of Grand Gedeh said to say they are disappointed about the complete insensitivity of the appointing authorities to the wishes of the people of Grand Gedeh County would be an understatement.
They said the Grant saga simply confirmed that in Liberia the more things change the more they remain the same and the government remains an Overlord which proceeds in its policies and dealings with little or no regard for the wishes of the people, particularly those in the hinterland.
“We conclude this press statement with a warning to Mr. Grant: we are watching you. Rest assured that this effort to secure Grand Gedeh County’s future has just begun. We will continue to advocate for good governance in the County and your activities will remain the focus of our continuous scrupulous scrutiny. This also goes to the other officials of the County. Know that the days of the carte blanch mismanagement of the County and its resources, and the-lording-it-over of the people are over.”
The Concerned Grand Gedeh Citizens thanked all diaspora Grand Gedeans and their partners in Liberia during this effort, which was directed at urging their government to do the right thing, for their patriotism, fortitude and peaceful actions.
“Together, we believe we laid bare a serious historical malady plaguing our country’s governance posture. We are eternally grateful to the young people who continued to peacefully call on their leaders to do the right thing even when their pleas were ignored. Let’s all resolve to press on for the good of Grand Gedeh County in particular and Liberia in general.”
Some of the signatories to the release include: Bull Yonly, former Board Chairman and former National Vice President, Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas, Mwalimu Steve Boley, former Board Chairman GGAA, Emmanuel Cooper, former National President and Board Chair, GGAA, Edmund Zar-Zar-Bargblor, former Board Chairman, GGAA and Isaac Vowal, former Board Chairman, GGAA.

Others are: Eric Kohn, former Board Chairman, GGAA, Dee Wilson Barlee, former Co-chairman, GGAA, Tillman Collins, former National President, GGAA, Fred Gwyan, former National President, GGAA, Henry K. Glay, former National President, GGAA and many more.