MONROVIA, Montserrado – The 2018 Liberia Kickball Federation general election has come to an end, with Youver Kollie’s time as president ending after he was beaten by the former assistant secretary general, Emmanuel Surprise Whea.

Whea won the federation’s top seat with a narrow victory over the incumbent – 24 of the 43 votes. Kollie served as president for eight years before being defeated by Whea, who has been the federation’s assistant secretary general for the past 12 months.

Whea’s campaign vows of increasing participation in the various counties, improving the national league, and reforming the current constitution were factors believed to have won him the top seat. He will be joined by Solomon Ward, his candidate for the vice president for administration position. Ward defeated the only female candidate in the election, Amie Wesseh.

The positions of vice president for operation, secretary general, assistant secretary general were won on white ballots. Evan Soma was retained as vice president for operations while the long-serving secretary general, Milton Padmore, remained in the position secretary general. The assistant secretary general seat was won by Abu Fofana.

The newly elected president, Whea, commended the outgoing administration for conducting a peaceful election and promised to work with them for the growth and development of kickball. Whea was quick to apologize to the outgoing team for offensive remarks made by his supporters during the campaign process.

“We know at times, our supporters said a lot of things that might sound negative during the electoral process. We want to apologize if you [Youver Kollie] and your team felt offended,” he said.

One of the strong supporters of Whea, Augustine Bryant of the Nimba County Sub-Ccommitee, told The Bush Chicken that voting for Whea was the best decision taken by the stakeholders. Bryant said the leadership of Whea will bring a great change to the federation.

“The election is over, and I am happy that Mr. Whea won the seat. It wasn’t an easy race, but he won in the end. This is the best decision taken by the stakeholders of the kickball federation. Whea has proven to be a leader you can rely on in bringing development to the federation and I’m optimistic of a brand-new kickball federation under his administration,” Bryant said.

The newly elected officials will continue running the ongoing 2018-19 season.

Featured photo courtesy of Kolubah Zayzay