MONROVIA, Montserrado – The corpse of Senator Geraldine Doe-Sheriff of Montserrado is expected to arrive today Friday, February 15 from Accra, Ghana onboard Kenyan Airways via the Roberts International Airport.

The senator died from an illness late Saturday, February 9 in Accra, Ghana at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.

Samuel Worzie, assistant minister for information services at the Ministry of Information, announced at the ministry’s regular press briefing on Thursday, February 14 that the remains of the senator would be deposited at the Samuel Stryker Funeral Home in Sinkor.

“Funeral arrangements for Doe-Sheriff will be released subsequently,” Worzie added.

Dubbed ‘Lady Zico’ because of her early days as one of Liberia’s pioneering women footballers, Doe-Sheriff had won the Montserrado senatorial seat in 2009 after it became vacant following the death Sen. Hannah Brent. Then, she ran as a member of the Congress for Democratic Change, the same party as Brent’s.

Prior to her demise, Doe-Sheriff chaired the Senate’s Committee on Transport and co-chaired the Committee on Commerce, Trade, and Industry.

In May 2014, as chairman of the Congress for Democratic Change, the late senator announced that she was quitting the party.

“I am tendering in my resignation with a heavy heart,” she said then.
“You will agree with me, no doubt, that the purpose for which we founded this once noble party has [been] lost. Our goal was to form an institution with the sole purpose to emancipate our people – the downtrodden – from the dungeon of poverty to the celestial heights of a decent life through participatory democracy. We have made several attempts to change this course internally but all of our efforts proved futile as I even suffered physical harm as a result of my stance in reconciling the country while serving as chairlady of the party.”

Doe-Sheriff then joined the ruling party at the time, Unity Party, and became a strong voice in advocating for the rights of women at the Liberian Senate.

On February 10, Unity Party spokesperson Mo Ali issued a press statement praising Doe-Sheriff for helping the party reach the second round of the 2017 presidential election as head of the Montserrado campaign team.

“The UP will forever remain grateful to Doe-Sheriff,” the statement said.

Featured photo by Zeze Ballah