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Claim: Multiple Facebook users have claimed that the president of the Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA), Cllr. Bornor M. Varmah contested on the UP ticket in district #1, Gbarpolu County, during the 2017 and 2023 general elections.
Verdict: Misleading! Cllr. Bornor M. Varmah contested in the 2017 general elections on the Unity Party ticket, but DUBAWA did not see his name in the list of contestants for the 2023 elections.
Full Text
On April 23, 2025, the Supreme Court of Liberia issued a ruling invalidating Representative Richard Koon’s election as Speaker of the House of Representatives. The Court described legislative actions taken by Koon and his self-styled “majority bloc” as unconstitutional, unauthorised, and without legal effect. This ruling followed an amended bill of information filed by House Speaker J. Fonati Koffa and his allies.
Following the Court’s decision, the Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA) released a press statement, signed by its president, Cllr. Bornor M. Varmah expressed disagreement with several aspects of the ruling.
In response to the LNBA’s position, multiple Facebook users alleged that the Bar Association’s stance was influenced by political loyalty, claiming that its president had contested legislative elections on the Unity Party ticket in 2017 and 2023.
These are some of the claims made on social media in reaction to the LNBA’s statement:
Cdc-cop Political Benson: For the record, Cllr. Bonor Varmah, president of the LNBA, ran unsuccessfully on the Unity Party’s ticket in Gbarpolu County in 2023.
Cllr. Moriah Yeakula-Korkpor: Cllr. Varmah is a staunch partisan of the UP/Rescue government who contested on the Unity Party ticket in 2017 in District 1, Gbarpolu County. He came third, winning 13% of the votes.
Hon Acarous Moses Gray: The current Bar Association president ran on the UP ticket in 2017. What do you expect from a Unity partisan from Freetown and a son of President Boakai?
Given the traction of these claims, DUBAWA decided to investigate as part of its commitment to combating misinformation and disinformation.
Verification
DUBAWA focused its investigation on two key questions:
- Did the LNBA President, Cllr. Bornor M. Varmah, contest elections on the Unity Party ticket?
- If so, in which year(s) did he contest?
DUBAWA first contacted the president of the Liberia National Bar Association, Cllr. Bornor M. Varmah, via phone, to ascertain if he ever contested on the Unity Party ticket.
Responding to our inquiry, the LNBA president said:
“I contested only once as a representative candidate for Gbarpolu County District #1 on the Unity Party ticket during the 2017 elections. Any claim that I participated in the 2023 general elections in Gbarpolu is entirely false. I encourage anyone to verify this by checking the National Elections Commission’s official candidate listing for 2023. But again, we understand that these attacks will continue because we now occupy a public position and have chosen to remain critical of national issues.”
DUBAWA then checked the 2017 final candidate list that the National Election Commission shared.
DUBAWA confirmed that Cllr. Varmah contested in the 2017 general elections on the Unity Party ticket. His name appears on page 34 of the official 2017 NEC final candidate list, where he was listed as a representative candidate for District #1, Gbarpolu County.
DUBAWA also searched the final candidate lists for the 2017 and 2023 elections to authenticate whether the LNBA president contested both as a representative candidate for Gbarpolu County District #1, as claimed.
We discovered that the Unity Party candidate in district #1, Gbarpolu County, during the 2023 elections was Siryon Loseni Kanakino and not Cllr. Bornor Varmah, as claimed.
Our researcher also conducted a Google keyword search to see if there was any credible media report to prove that the LNBA president contested in the 2023 elections, but to no avail.
Conclusion
The claim that Cllr. Bornor M. Varmah contested elections on the Unity Party ticket in both 2017 and 2023 is false. Verified electoral records confirm that he only contested in 2017. There is no evidence that he participated in the 2023 general elections.
