Montserrado County – Montserrado County Electoral District #12 Representative candidate Laraamand S. Nyonton has launched his political campaign with a promise to repeal the Liberia Industrial Free Zone Authority Act of 1975 to enable citizens of his constituent become permanent residents and have right to own property.
Report by Gerald C. Koinyeneh – [email protected]
The Liberia Industrial Free Zone Authority was created in 1975 under the administrator of the late President William R. Tolbert Jr. to “ensure the promotion of exports, increased employment and the improvement of industrial technology thereby contributing to the nation’s economic development”.
In Montserrado County, large portion of the Somalia Drive including Chicken Soup Factory and LPRC, and extending to Jamaica Road and the Double Bridge are found within the Free Zone, which has been occupied by residents since the civil war.
Residing as squatters, these residents, many of whom are eligible voters, have repeatedly been told to by the Government of Liberia to vacate the area, something which has been a delicate issue for the politicians representing these people to meddle in.
But the ALP vocal campaigner, who among scores of other aspirants is running against incumbent Richmond Anderson, was emphatic when he told his adoring supporters who had trouped the Special Project High School basketball arena in Stephen A. Tolbert Memorial Estate over the weekend that he will lobby with his colleagues to repeal the act and make his constituent and enviable district among the 73 electoral districts across Liberia.
“We will make sure that we repeal the act creating the industrial Free Zone; making sure that all of our citizens within Chicken Soup Factory and LPRC that are recognized as squatters will become permanent citizen and have rights to own the land they reside on, he pledged.
Said Nyonton: “I also commit to parents and educators across our district that under my leadership, we will ensure that we can enhance collaboration with the PTA in our district; that we can work with existing infrastructure and support schools in areas where needed.
That we for the first time in the history of our district and country will propose a bill in the national Legislature seeking for a national student loan program, so that students within our district and beyond can have the opportunity from tenth grade up to the time you graduate from college to go to school on the shoulders of your government as oppose to the shoulders of your parents.”
He also promised to corroborate with his fellow lawmakers if elected to increase the minimal wage to at least US$500; and build the capacity of the disadvantaged youth and get them out from the ghettos.
Taking a jibe at incumbent Representative Richmond Anderson, Nyonton urged voters of District 12 to cancel the ‘failed representation’ of Honorable Anderson and vote him come October 10; noting that he has come on board to provide a viable alternative and pathway to change the district.
“We ask all young people, all parents of our 16 local communities to join this movement because this is the only movement that embodies the true spirit of progress and determination across our local communities,” he urged.
“As we move on we urge you to look around us and watch who do not really care about us. If you want to vote someone who believes in refurbishing a monument as opposed to helping the dozens of other young people who are out of school, then you will choose Richmond Anderson.”
“If you want to elect someone who sat in the national Legislature for the last six years, and has not been able as per the new educational act of 2011 to propose a bill seeking for students to be redeemed in terms of high fees and tuition, then you will elect Richmond Anderson, he taunted.
“But I say to you today the time of change is at hand, the match we had just few minutes ago was a match to victory.”
“We are ready to take our district into a fundamentally new direction and there is no time for failure.”
“It is time for progress, it’s time for determination and we ask you all to join the wagon. Let’s make District 12 an enviable district among the 17 districts in Montserrado County.”