By Patrick Stephen Tokpah
Duta Town, District one, Bong County — Representative Albert Hills, Jr.’s reign as a Lawmaker of Bong County’s Electoral District, it would appear that his chances could be coming to an end as citizens have threatened to unseat him.
Their threats come barely 17 months to the 2023 general and presidential elections.
The citizens said the lawmaker has not kept his promises made to them when he sought their votes years ago and because of not living up to the promises, they have threatened to unseat him.
Speaking to reporters recently in Duta Town, Kpaai electoral District one, the Youth President emeritus, Sunday S. Dolokelen said Representative Hills has failed to address major problems affecting them as youth and inhabitants of the area.
Dolokelen narrated that since September 18, 2021, Rep. Hills assured the youth of Duta Town about the completion of their youth project till now, the center is yet to be completed.
The citizens said their threats is also backed by the failure of the Lawmaker in the execution of his three cardinal responsibilities which include Representation, Lawmaking, and Oversight, counting that he has not invested in and preferred the developmental agenda of the district over the years.
Flagging out the interest of the people in Duta Town, Kpaai electoral district one, the out-going youth President, explained that during the peak of the 2017 general and presidential elections, Rep. Hills ‘cajoled’ citizens of the district by reducing the prices of essential commodities as a means of improving the living standards of citizens of the district, but since he became Representative of the district, he ordered all of his shops closed; something, according to him, has led to the massive increase of rice and other essential commodities in parts of the district.
Dolokelen said, the administration of Rep. Hills has served as a serious embarrassment to citizens of the district on grounds that he (Hills) lacks the quality as a Lawmaker and he has decimally represented them in all dimensions.
“Currently, I think that we don’t have a Lawmaker in the House of Legislature, because our current lawmaker’s absence and presence have been the same; under his watch, things have changed from bad to worse in our district,” Dolokelen stated.
Dolokelen narrated that Rep. Hills in his campaign message in 2017 promised to make available 50% of his salary available to his constituency to ensure an equitable distribution of the district’s wealth and breach the gap between him and his people, but such a promise is yet to be fulfilled.
Rep. Hills’ ‘abandonment and under representation’ of the district have been voiced out by the bulk of the citizenry and some local leaders including Mr. Moses Kollie, general town chief of Weatouh Clan.
According to Chief Kollie, for the past years, he has confronted and placed several phone calls to Rep. Hills to assist members of his clan with hand pumps for safe drinking water purposes, but he (Hills) has reportedly refused to hearken to his calls which he believes is unprecedented.
“Sometimes I wonder why Rep. Hills is handling the district and its people in such a manner but one thing I know the masses will make their choice comes 2023; as for me, I am not involved in Politics,” Chief Moses Kollie averred.
Sadly, Duta Town, which contains approximately 2,500 citizens currently survives from a single hand pump, while two of the three (3) hand pumps have collapsed, such thing that has led a huge number them of the town’s drinking from unsafe running water streams from their respective farms.
It is not only the Youth President emeritus, Sunday S. Dolokelen, and Chief Moses Kollie were not the only people who strongly spoke against the ills of Rep. Hills;
Vincent Lablah, who is the newly elected Youth President of Duta Town, Kpaai District one, consented with the two local leaders’ assertions and described Rep. Hills’ leadership as a vacuum.
Lablah said the youthful populace in the district has resolved to kick Rep. Hills out of the district’s highest political seat in the 2023 general and presidential.