Edith Gongloe-Weh is believed to be struggling, as the trial continues at the National Elections Commission (NEC), to grab a strand of evidence to prove alleged fraud and irregularities against NEC.
Edith’s lead lawyer and brother, Cllr. Taiwon Gongloe, who is noted for human rights advocacies, is allegedly twisting and turning testimonies from NEC’s second Magistrate, Bledoh Flomo, who was assigned in upper Nimba County, in an attempt to grab a strand of evidence.
At the on-going trial at NEC, on Thursday, January 28, 2021, Cllr. Gongloe questioned Magistrate Flomo about NEC’s training manual that guided the special senatorial election in Nimba .
When quizzed whether he was responsible to train all the election workers on his assignment in Nimba, his lawyer, Cllr. Arthur Johnson, quickly objected to the answer, but the hearing officer, Cllr. Bokai Harris, allowed Magistrate Flomo to answer, in an attempt to clear the doubt of the hearing.
The magistrate smartly answered and said he trained election supervisors, but Cllr. Gongloe, on what is referred to as “fishing expedition” among lawyers, did a follow-up question on the same training manual, asking whether it was the 2020 training manual being used by the magistrate to train election supervisor, pointing to chapter seven, page 63, and quizzing the Magistrate again on the Temper Envelop Evidence (T3).
The well-known human rights advocate proceeded with questioning on the presiding officers’ worksheets for the same election, as to whether it was placed in the same T3. The Magistrate answered in the negative.
Cllr. Gongloe was searching to know whether the magistrate actually used the training manual during the special senatorial election, but again NEC lead lawyer, Cllr Cooper W. Kruah, objected to the question on ground that written instrument is more reliable than verbal testimony, and fortunately for the Magistrate the hearing officer sustained the grounds.
Throwing another hook on the official NEC stamp for validating results, Cllr. Gongloe questioned Magistrate Flomo on the proper placement of the stamps.
However, a lawyer on the team of NEC, Atty. Othello Kruah, also the brother of Cllr. Cooper W. Kruah, objected to the question raised on ground that it was immaterial and ambiguous to the case of fraud and Irregularities, but the hearing officer overruled the objection and Magistrate Flomo again smartly answered to the proper placement of the stamps.
Another incident, again, for the search of a strand of evidence of fraud was for the magistrate to tell the hearing officer how he trained NEC workers to park the T3s, but again the question was objected to by Cllr Arthur Johnson, on ground that the question was totally irrelevant, vague and indistinct as to the complaint filed by Edith about fraud and irregularities.
However, the hearing officer, Cllr. Boakai Harris, overruled the objection and, again, Magistrate Flomo was allowed to answer.
Cllr. Gongloe, still on search for a strand of evidence of fraud against NEC, questioned Magistrate Flomo on what ground or authority he went to Upper Nimba to work, instead of his usual post, but, again, the magistrate was able to pull out a letter from his bag that authenticated an official communication from NEC office, sending him to upper Nimba to temporarily do a piece of job on behalf of the NEC.
The letter, again, was a tool for more questions during the trail in search for fraud. Meanwhile, the trial continues.