Monrovia – The All Liberian Party candidate in Montserrado County electoral district-6, Henry Costa, Saturday brought the entire Rehab community to a standstill as surging crowds packed the main route to the Roberts International Airport.
Report by Selma Lomax, [email protected]
The Rehab road junction, venue of the program, was awash in white and red colors as thousands of supporters thronged the venue of the campaign launch.
It was indeed a spectacular scene as supporters of Costa danced to brass-band music of local tunes like “Costa is our hero”, “Costa will give them Pressure” and many more.
“We are indeed excited; we are going to vote for Costa and ALP, this is the time for change.”
Addressing the crowd, Costa said he decided to listen to his friends because “the voice of the people is the voice of God.”
“I decided to listen to the voice of the people who have asked me to go into politics,” Costa said.
He promised that if he is successful, he will pledge thirty percent of his salary and benefits to the District Development Council of District Number 6 for development purposes.
He also pledged to introduce a “Buy Liberian” act at the House, which would require the Government of Liberia to purchase goods and services from Liberian-owned firms that made competitive offers.
Noted for his unbending criticism against those he sees as lacking in patriotism in doing the people’s work, Costa has enjoyed a stream of commendations that he foresees as added advantage.
He said if he is successful, he continues to run his Costa Show, since he says there is no law that prohibits him – even as a member of the House of Representatives – from hosting the show.
Though he does not see any conflict of interest there, if he is successful, there might be opposition from some quarters against him, should he continue to run the show as he runs it now.
Many of those who oppose his strong positions in issues think he cannot eat his cake and have it at the same time, and therefore Costa may open himself for criticism, since he would be branded with the very people he had heaped attacks on in previous years.
Costa said he will bring up issues in committee rooms and on the House floor for discussion on his talk show, to get let the people know what is going on.
And while that may seem probable, the real challenge is if, when he is crowned as a representative of district six and his colleagues decide to bring him into their fold, whether he will be different.
To this, Costa said he will not veer from his critical stance, nor is he expecting to be liked by his prospective colleagues in the House.