KAKATA, Margibi – A 34-year-old commercial motorcyclist has died after getting hit by the official vehicle of Nimba’s fourth district representative, Gunpue Kargon.
The accident took place on Tuesday at about 8:30 a.m. in Kakata, Margibi near the City View guest house.
According to eyewitnesses on the scene, the commercial motorcyclist had dropped off a passenger and was getting back onto the roadway when the lawmaker’s vehicle, apparently speeding along the road, collided with the victim, Elijah Korkorlee. The representative’s vehicle was not insured, as is required by law.
The lawmaker immediately turned himself in at the Margibi police detachment in Kakata, along with four others who were riding onboard the vehicle.
Korkorlee sustained serious injuries and was rushed to the privately owned Barkolleh Health Center before being taken to the government-run C. H. Rennie Referral Hospital in Kakata. There, he was pronounced dead on arrival by medical authorities.
After police allowed Rep. Kargon to leave for Monrovia and removed the official license plate off the vehicle, commercial motorcyclists set up roadblocks to protest the action of the police.
In a bid to calm the tension, the police explained that they could not constitutionally detain Kargon as he was headed for his official duty at the House of Representatives. However, the police succumbed to the motorcyclists’ demand to place the license plate back on the vehicle.
Meanwhile, the president of Margibi chapter of the Federation of Motorcycle and Tricycle Union of Liberia, O.J. Morris, said the federation regrets the death of one of its members and wants justice to prevail.
He said his union had moved in to quickly diffuse the growing tension caused by the accident, noting that the union believes in the justice system and will do nothing to undermine the rule of law.
For his part, Margibi’s chief of traffic, Ganmifo Toure, said the Margibi police detachment would ensure that justice is served. He told the public that the issue would not be resolved by the police; rather, the case would be judged in a traffic court.
Feature photo courtesy of Joe Josiah
