IPNEWS: The Lead Lawyer representing the National Campaign Management Team of Press Union of Liberia (PUL) Presidential Candidate, and lone challenger Julius Kanubah, insists that the current Full Membership Register (Voters’ Roll) of the Union is characterized by immense irregularities and there is need for a comprehensive and thorough audit to ensure a credible election on November 12, 2022.

The insistence by the Campaign Team of Mr. Kanubah comes after an appearance on Wednesday, October 26, 2022, before the PUL 2022 Elections and Inauguration Committee along with its Lawyer to justify and present evidence as it relates to the Union’s 2022 Membership Register (Voters’ Roll).

Attorney Alphonso Woiwor of the Supuwood and Associates Law Offices told Journalists on the grounds of the Press Union of Liberia that the PUL Elections and Inauguration Committee is treading a dangerous path if it chooses to go to elections with an enormously questionable Membership Register (Voters’ Roll).

The Julius Kanubah National Campaign Management Team, quoting Attorney Woiwor, notes that both the PUL Membership Committee Chairperson, Ms. Fabine Kwiah, and Co-chair Mr. Eddie Harmon during the hearing openly admitted to series of irregularities in relation to the just ended PUL Membership Registration exercise.

The Julius Kanubah Campaign Team, through its legal counsel presented overwhelming evidence of fraud and abnormalities associated with the Union’s published 2022 Membership Register (Voters’ Roll).

The pieces of evidence include names of over 800 new members created between 2020 and 2022. Other pieces of evidence presented at Wednesday’s hearing include interns, technicians and sales and business personnel of several media institutions across Liberia, who were illegally and fraudulently granted Full Membership Status in total disregard to the PUL Constitution.

Attorney Woiwor asserts that the PUL Elections and Inauguration Committee’s resistance to a legitimate call by the Julius Kanubah National Campaign Management Team for an independent panel of credible experts of media, elections and civil society to review the Membership Register (Voters’ Roll) as a vicious and direct attack on the democratic values of the Union and sets a bad precedence to the 2023 Presidential and General Elections of Liberia.

He emphasized that it would send an appallingly wrong picture to Liberians and the international community if the PUL Elections and Inaugurations Committee ignores the calls for an independent panel of experts and goes ahead to hold elections with such a contentious Membership Register without disaggregating the Voters’ Roll per Membership Categories, Recognized and Accredited Media Institution, County of Residence, Position/Title of Employment at media entities, and PUL Membership Identification Code.

Attorney Woiwor adds that the Press Union of Liberia which should be one of Liberia’s moral voices, must be in the position at all times to promote and protect one of the Union’s core principles bordering on supporting professionalism and social responsibility towards the development of greater democracy and freedom in Liberia.

Proceeding with the Congress and Elections in the absence of an acceptable and reasonable resolution of the contentious Membership Register (Voters’ Roll), according to Attorney Woiwor, the Election and Inauguration Committee vis-à-vis the Union will be aiding and abetting an act of fraud designed to undermine democratic institutions like the PUL.

He is calling on all Media Practitioners at home and abroad not to sit idly and allow posterity to judge the Liberian Media Community because of this professed and well-calculated fraudulence.

It can be recalled, prior to the 2016 PUL election that as boycotted by its former Vice President Octavin Williams, his campaign team also filed an injunction on the election after their concerns were raised were ignored by the PUL election committee.

At the time, the Octavin for PUL Campaign Team had filed to the PUL election committee for a voters roll clean up, but it failed to adhere to their concerns, thus their alternative was to file an injunction, thus canceling the PUL election of the previous date.

Weeks later and after court battle, the PUL again ignored a Bill of Information filed at the Court and went ahead with its election, at which time candidate Octavin Williams his team officially withdrew and boycotted from the PUL election which fraudulently elected Charles Coffey to his 3-year second term.

Quite recently, the outgoing PUL President Charles Coffey called a reconciliation meeting where he and his former vice president Octavin Williams buried the past and decided to move ahead.

With the latest reports of another candidate, Julius Kanubah expressing issues regarding voters roll for the pending November 2022 election, it only speaks to the PUL is far from being a democratic institution it professes to be, but rather only criticizes public officials or institutions that go against democratic tendencies.