The Senator-elect of Gbarpolu County, Amara Konneh, a non-Unity Party (UP) partisan, is now heading the UP government-elect after the president-elect, Ambassador Joseph Nyumah Boakai, and the Vice President-elect, Jeremiah Kpan Koung, left the country on different functions.
According to information, while traveling to the United States a few days ago, Ambassador Boakai left Koung in charge of the governmental affairs of the in-coming UP administration. Surprisingly, Koung, too, left for Accra, Ghana, on Tuesday, December 5, 2023 and reportedly left Senator-elect Konneh in charge until his return.
VP-elect Koung did not publicly disclose the intent of his travel to Ghana, and the date of his return to Liberia has not been independently verified by the Hot Pepper. A Facebook post by Atty. George Mulbah however confirmed that VP-elect has left for Ghana, as he wrote that Koung, along with the former Deputy Speaker of the House, Tokpah J. Mulbah, met with him while enroute to Accra. “We shared our memory in the 53rd Legislature…” Atty. Mulbah said in his post.
Meanwhile, Amara Konneh is now the acting Head of the UP government-elect, and is spearheading all transitional activities from the UP side, and is expected to head the UP delegation at the National Elections Commission’s certification program slated for Friday, December 8, 2023, as well as receive briefings and notes while the two elected officials are away.
But information from within the Unity Party is that stalwarts of the party are not pleased with the decision of leaving Konneh in charge in the presence of individuals who risked everything to ensure that the UP was elected in the 2023 general and presidential elections.
UP stalwarts who spoke to this medium on the basis of anonymity appear to be feeling insecure with the entire transitional affairs being left to be headed by Amara Konneh, especially when they are capable and available to serve in the capacity. They claimed that Konneh is a senator-elect, and should leave executive affairs with other members of the revolution to handle, or he could be seen as stepping beyond his bounds.
Recently, Amara Konneh came under heavy criticism for not posting birthday greetings for Ambassador Boakai when all his recent Facebook posts have been UP-related. He was also heavily attacked by Martin Kollie, who insisted that Konneh gives full courtesy and credit to Dr. Alexander Nuetah, Josiah Joekai and David Colliee—the three technicians whom he said built the UP war room. According to Kollie, Amara Konneh’s role was to announce the election results that were being generated from the system built by these individuals before he could even join the team, challenging Konneh’s statement that “nothing was in place” before he came.
Konneh was also attached by Eugene L. Fahngon and Stanton Whitherspoon for his statement regarding the incident at the UP headquarters—that the incident was an accident and nothing else. Fahngon and Whitherspoon argued that Konneh is not the spokesman of the UP government-elect and, as such, should let the appropriate authorities to do so and not be fast to talk.
Observers are implying that the UP tact-team is gradually cracking ahead of properly taking over in January, and the worst is yet to come if they do not put their house in order.