Joint Press Statement on Election Violence by a Coalition of Liberian Women Organizations

The 14 years of civil conflict in Liberia provided a unique opportunity to reform the
nation’s political institutions and processes in a way that has increased opportunities for
women to participate in decision making. Much of the international peace-building efforts
aimed at fostering sustainable and peaceful societies has focused on seizing this
opportunity.

Elections, for example, offer women the chance to translate the new roles they assumed out
of necessity during the conflict into formal political representation. However, elections also
expose women to lingering discriminatory mindsets and cultural practices that are
considerable barriers to their greater political participation.

On December 8, 2020, Liberians across the 15 counties went to the polls to elect senators in
the Special Senatorial Election. Election Day was relatively peaceful.

But a coalition of Liberian women organizations, comprising women’s organizations and

advocates of women’s rights, is particularly concerned about the recent attacks on
independent senatorial candidate Botoe Kanneh, who is leading Gbarpolu County’s
senatorial race featuring eight other candidates, all men.

Kanneh leads the Gbarpolu senatorial race by 449 votes (4722/25.68 percent); followed by
Rep. Alfred Gayflor Koiwood of the ruling party, the Coalition of Democratic Change
(4,273/23.24 percent). Madam Kanneh beat Koiwood and incumbent senator Armah Jallah
in their own districts. Nomodatonau is Kanneh’s stronghold.

The National Election Commission (NEC) ordered a rerun in Nomodatonau because the
town’s 2021 registered voters did not participate in the Dec. 8, 2020 election because
Paramount Chief Magill Wuluah seized the ballot boxes and election materials.

The rerun was scheduled to take place on Dec. 15, 2020. The day before the election, the
Chief Wuluah brought out the traditional male devil, a tactic intended to prevent Madam
Kanneh and her supporters from entering the town to participate in the electoral process.
In traditional societies, women are not supposed to see the male devil. We have reviewed
video tapes where Gbarpolu County’s Superintendent J. Keyah Saah was seen threatening
local officials that they would lose their jobs, if they do not vote for Koiwood, the CDC
candidate. We are disturbed by the display of abuse of power and misuse of office by the
Paramount chief and superintendent.

We have learned that Madam Kanneh and some of her supporters were threatened, beaten,
and harassed by local authorities in the town of Nomadatonau, District 3, near the Sierra
Leone border. Two of the young women working on Kanneh’s campaign were allegedly
raped while in police custody, according to the team of women advocacy groups that
rescued Botoe.

The local authorities also brought out the male “Country Devil’’ to intimidate Botoe and her
supporters because they know full well that women are prohibited from seeing the male
devil. Since when are cultural practices introduced into our elections?

We cannot have the country devil coming out at the behest of individuals who are looking
for political gain and using him to intimidate and disenfranchise women’s voters. We also
want to state that our “country devils’’ are an integral part of our traditional heritage of
which we are immensely proud. This abuse of such an historic symbol is denigrating the
very fabric of our nation and putting us up to ridicule. We must remember that the laws of
Liberia supersede these traditional practices.

The use of the devil during elections and in any statutory process is wrong. That is not what
our traditional authority is used for. This attitude is corrupting the practice of our tradition.
Our laws prohibit the abuse and misuse of our traditions. There are specific traditions and
practices when the country devil is called out. This does not include election. The Country
Devil is prohibited from coming out during election.

We strongly believe that the absence of enforcement of the law by the security sector has
increased the ongoing violence in Gbarpolu County. Members of the Joint Security forces
that were present in the area failed to protect Madam Kanneh and her supporters and calm
the situation in Gbarpolu County.

We strongly believe that these cultural and physical attacks on women in our electoral
process is at odds with Liberia’s commitment to achieving women’s representation in
politics.

We therefore remind the Liberian government of its obligation to protect all candidates

especially women candidates to promote equal participation of women.

We also believe that NEC could have been more forceful in the execution and protection of
the electoral process. We do not understand why there is a failure in this regard.

We want to remind the government and citizens that the attack on Madam Botoe Kanneh is
not an isolated incident. During the August 2017 by-election, Telia Urey, who ran for the
District 15 seat to replace the late Rep. Adolph Lawrence, was attacked, stones were
thrown at her office and vehicle. Also, Cornelia Kruah-Togba, who was running for District
13 seat, was attacked along with her supporters. Senator Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence, who
was campaigning with Kruah-Togba was also attacked. In the just ended senatorial
election, there were reports of election-related violence in Bomi, Grand Cape Mount, Nimba
and Grand Bassa counties.
In all these incidents, there were no investigations, arrests, or prosecution. If Liberia’s
democracy is to flourish, the government cannot continue to turn a blind eye to election-
related violence. There must be consequences.

In recognition of the ongoing security situation in Gbarpolu, we held separate meetings

with the Minister of Justice Cllr. F. Musa Dean and Minister of Internal Affairs Hon. Varney
Sirleaf to voice our concerns.

Minister Dean assured us that arrests had been made of alleged perpetrators in Gbarpolu.
During our meeting, he indicated that the perpetrators were being evacuated to Bopolu for
further investigations.

He assured us of a full investigation and that the government will provide security for
Botoe Kanneh and Madam Edith Gongloe-Weh in Nimba. In the meeting we reported the
incident of threat and beating of the head of the women’s group and he started
investigating immediately. Minister Sirleaf said he is aware of the abuse of the country
devil. He said he and the council of traditional leaders are investigating and taken it
seriously. He said those involved will be sanctioned. He said the chief of Normor has
already been suspended.

Considering this situation, we are making the following recommendations:

 We request that President George Weah exhibits political will to protect women
from all forms of violence including election-related violence. We urge him to
provide adequate resources to the Ministry of Justice to enforce the law by
investigating and prosecuting those who were involved in all election-related
violence.
 We urge the Minister of Justice to investigate, arrest and prosecute all perpetrators
of violence during the just-ended Special Senatorial Election. This investigation
must include all those who abused our cultural traditions.
 The Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Council of Traditional Leaders
should immediately suspend all those traditional leaders accused of disrupting the
elections process, arrest them and turn over for prosecution. If found guilty, they
should be dismissed.
 Before the National Election Commission schedules the rerun in Gbarpolu it must
conduct a complete investigation of the election-related violence and put
mechanism in place to deter future disruption.
 The Armed Forces must be called on to support the security situation and protect
voters.
 We request assistance from the United Nations, ECOWAS, and the U.S. Embassy to
support monitoring and security in the area.
 The government must provide support and safe home for rape survivors and ensure
that the perpetrators are prosecuted.
This statement was read by Cllr. Yvette Chesson-Wureh on behalf of the following
organizations:

Angie Brooks International Center (ABIC)

YWCA
African Women Leaders Network (AWLN)
The Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL)
Young Women in Leadership and Knowledge Institute
Team for One Liberia More
Forum of Liberia Women Elders
Collaborating Political Parties Women’s Movement
Coalition of Political Parties Women of Liberia
Movement for One Liberia
Liberian Women Can Lead