Monrovia – With barely a month to Liberia’s Presidential and Legislative Elections, and despite many political pundits declaring that there will be no out right winner in the Presidential race, many of the major Presidential Candidates are assuring their supporters that they will win the election in a single round.
Report by Gerald C. Koinyeneh – [email protected]
Appearing on ELBC Radio over the weekend, the political leader of the All Liberian Party (ALP), Benoni Urey said unless he is cheated by the National Elections Commission, no one can stop him from winning the Presidential election.
When asked what if he does not win, Mr. Urey snapped. “That’s not possible. I will win; correction. The people of Liberia will vote for me; except there is electoral fraud. And there is where we are concerned.
This is why we keep appealing to the international community, the NDI, we listed all of what we thought are areas of concern. We want to advice the Elections Commission that this election is too important to our country for them to anticipate cheating,” the ALP Standard Bearer said.
He noted that the decision by the National Elections Commission (NEC), with the blessings of the Supreme Court to clear all those that were thought to be in violation of the Code of Conduct is a reason to raise concern about the NEC’s credibility.
Following the landmark ruling of the Supreme Court of Liberia in favor of Liberty Party’s Vice Standard bearer Harrison Karnwea and the Vice Standard bearer of the Alternative National Congress (ANC) Jeremiah Sulunteh, many representative and Presidential candidates including Dr. Joseph Mills Jones, Standard Bearer of the Liberia Empowerment Party (LEP), former Bong County Superintendent, Madam Selena –Polson Mappy and former Minister of Gender and Children Protection, Madam Julia Duncan Cassell are in the clear.
“Look at what has happened. You go clear all those people who should not have been cleared. Isn’t it a reason for one to be concerned? It’s a reason to be concerned. Stop doing things to hurt the poor people of Liberia. They need to stop it. This has been our prayer. Even if you’ve done it before, stop now. Let’s move forward as a people,” he intoned.
On Nepotism, he reiterated that if elected, his immediate relatives including his children and siblings will have no say in his government; noting that the presidency is the highest job in the land and as such it was prudent to give other qualified Liberians the opportunity to serve their country.
“They will not work in my government. They can go work in the next government. That is final and definite. We must stop this. You see this country is not owned by one group of people. When you become President you get the biggest job in the country.
Why you want to bring other relatives to take all the other jobs. Other people are not Liberians? They are entitled to it. We must stop this. And I hate to see some politicians trying to justify it saying that’s the mans right. That’s not his right,” he asserted.
The ALP’s Presidential Candidate named the promotion of free speech and the fostering of Liberia’s relationships with key international partners like the United States and the People’s Republic of China as some of the Sirleaf government achievements.
He vowed to establish cordial relationships based on mutual respect with the international community and promote freedom of speech, but will not tolerate the defamation of people’s character that is being perpetrated by others on an unprecedented scale.
He averred that ethnicity has no place in Liberian politics and vowed to promote genuine reconciliation.
He said what sets him apart from his opponents is the fact that he has lived and invested in Liberia all of his life.