GANTA, Nimba – The Liberia Broadcasting System director of television, Charles Coffey, has won the presidency of the Press Union of Liberia, although some union members are cautious about the new leader.

Announcing the official results of the presidential elections, James Kollie, the head of the PUL’s election commission, said 252 of the organization’s 450 members participated in the voting process, constituting a 56 percent voter turnout.

For other positions, Octavian Williams defeated incumbent vice president Jallah Grayfield while Daniel Nyakonah of Fabric Radio retained the position of secretary general. Darius Zinnah was also elected as assistant general secretary.

In his acceptance speech, Coffey called for unity in the PUL: “What is incumbent upon us now is to remain united and see the Press union of Liberia as one common denominator.”

He promised to develop a road map for the forward match of the entity and underscored the role of the pass leadership of Kamara for conducting a successful congress.

Also speaking to reporters after his loss, Kamara, the outgoing president, said he accepted that the union’s members did not have the confidence in his team’s leadership.

Kamara suggested he would return to journalism but also pledged to make himself available to provide assistance to the new leadership if requested.

On social media, some journalists decried the election of an individual affiliated with a government news agency whose programming is generally biased towards the ruling party. Front Page Africa also published an editorial calling on the union’s president-elect to “resign from the state broadcaster to maintain the integrity of the Press Union.”

One journalist, however, expressed his disappointment that journalists attending the congress of journalists in Ganta appeared to only be concerned over the elections and not other aspects of the gathering. Jonathan Paye-Layleh observed that many sessions, including one focused on a new code of ethics, as well as the financial report of the outgoing leadership, received very few participation.

The BBC correspondent suggested that he may no longer agree to participate in committees in the future if the union’s membership continues to be passive in union activities.

Featured photo by Arrington Ballah