BUCHANAN, Grand Bassa – The Superintendents Council of Liberia has elected new leadership to steer the affairs of the council for the next two years, with Grand Bassa’s Janjay Baikpeh taking over as chairman.

The council is a group comprising of the heads of Liberia’s highest political subdivisions. Its members use the organization as a collective platform to advocate on behalf of county issues, in addition to meeting and sharing ideas.

The election was held in Buchanan at the end of a four-day leadership seminar organized by the National Security Council Secretariat at the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs in collaboration with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, with support from the Swedish Folke Bernadotte Academy.

With the exception of the vice chair for administration position, the rest of the winners won on white ballots. The superintendents of Nimba and Montserrado contested for the position of vice chair for administration, with Florence Brandy of Montserrado winning 11 votes to 3.

Besides Grand Bassa’s Baikpeh being elected as chairman, Lee Nagbe Chea of Sinoe was elected as co-chairman for operations, Jerry Varnie of Margibi as secretary general, Adama Robinson of Bomi as assistant secretary general, Keyah Saah of Gbarpolu as financial secretary, Doris Ylatun of Grand Kru as treasurer, and William Tamba Kamba of Lofa as chaplain general.

River Cess was represented by its fiscal superintendent and Bong’s county information officer took the place of its superintendent.

Due to the absence of the Bong superintendent or an assistant superintendent from the county, only 14 votes were tallied during the election.

Deputy internal affairs minister for operations Emmett K. Reeves spoke during the ceremony where he called on the newly elected leadership to be focused on seeking the interest of the council and Liberia at large for the growth and development of the country.

“Now that you have a new leadership, we ask that you plan your own induction ceremony where we’re going to do our best to invite the president of Liberia, His Excellency George Manneh Weah, to grace the occasion,” Reeves said.

Baikpeh, who had been elected to head the organization, said he would work in the interest of the county and Liberia: “Let us use this process to work with each other to make sure that our counties and Liberia get better.”

“Thank you for reposing confidence in me and our colleagues that got elected. We can do it together. I know we have done it before. We all can work together collectively in the common interest of Liberia,” he said.

Before the election on Friday, Baikpeh had been acting as chairman of the council. He is not the first superintendent of Grand Bassa to chair the group. Former Grand Bassa superintendents Julia Duncan Cassell, Etweda Cooper, and Levi Demmah also chaired the council.

Featured photo by Sampson David