Claim: “The National Elections Commission Hearing Office has denied the candidacy of a Representative Aspirant in Grand Cape Mount County District#1 Bintu Massasaley for not reaching the constitutional age as required by Law. The NEC hearing office said she reportedly told a lie about her age!”
Verdict: Correct.
Journalist Nyantee Togba of OK FM on August 10, 2023 posted to Facebook, claiming that the National Elections Commission denied the nomination of a CDC Representative Aspirant Bintu Massaley for Electoral District #1, Grand Cape Mount County for not reaching the constitutional age as required by law.
IVerify Liberia investigated this and found the claim to be True. To verify this claim, we firstly contacted the Head of the Communications of NEC, Mr. Henry Flomo through a WhatsApp conversation and he confirmed that a complaint was filed against the CDC aspirant for not reaching the constitutional age.
The complaint was heard by the Hearing Officer of NEC and “She lost the case at the level of the hearing but took an appeal to the Board of Commissioners,” Mr. Flomo wrote to our fact checker.
Additionally, we contacted NEC Chief Dispute Hearing Officer, Cllr. Muana Ville who also confirmed in an interview that a complaint was filed against Bintu Massaley on July 15, 2023 by a resident of the county, Hussein Semuvula, on grounds that she lied about her age, participated in the recent election in Sierra Leone and unofficially changed her name.
Said Cllr. Ville: “a complaint was filed by a registered voter of District #1 where an aspirant Bintu Massaley is seeking election in Grand Cape Mount County. Hussein Semuvula objected to her nomination on grounds that she has voted in Sierra Leone, on grounds that she has not reached the constitutional age and on grounds that she has changed her name unofficially.”
According to the Elections Law of Liberia as captured in General Requirement for Candidate Nomination, a person seeking to contest a representative seat must have attained the age of 25 years.
However, she has taken an appeal to the NEC Board of Commissioners who is expected to make a decision soon.
Conclusion
Based on our research conducted by our fact checking desk, it is concluded that the claim made by Journalist Nyantee Togba is true. Aspirant Bintu Massaley, who is seeking to contest for the Representative seat of District #1, Grand Cape Mount County, was denied due to a complaint filed against her for lying about her age.
Local Voices Liberia, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme, has implemented the iVerify Liberia system with the objective of strengthening capacities to address threats to information integrity, especially in view of the upcoming 2023 elections, to ensure all Liberian citizens have access to credible, reliable and verified information, everywhere and at all times.
This initiative is funded by Irish Aid, Embassy of Sweden in Monrovia, European Union Delegation in Liberia and the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund. The donors have no say in the production of this fact check report.