Monrovia – The United People Party (UPP), which has been inactive since the demise of Gabriel Barccus Matthews, says it has been recharged to take the presidency in 2017. Matthews served as the party’s first standard bearer.
Report by Edwin G. Genoway, Jr. [email protected]
The newly elected Standard bearer of UPP, Macdonald A. Wento said at a press conference that the UPP stood ready to unseat the Unity Party through a democratic election in 2017.
He described his party as a sleeping giant that has been awakened to transform Liberia through its rich platform upon taking leadership in 2017.
“The sleeping giant has [awakened] up and we are ready to take leadership come 2017. As we all know, the UPP has not been active in politics for a good number of years,” he noted.
The UPP held its 5th National Party Congress last weekend, September 30 to October 1, 2016. The Congress is the highest decision-making body of the Party. It brought together 107 of the 108 delegates expected.
The delegates represented the 73 electoral districts; the 15 counties; and four of the five National Executive officials.
Wento was elected standard bearer of the Party. He told journalists that he took the responsibility seriously for many reasons.
“On Saturday, we promised to create jobs by building roads, engaging in mechanized and diversified food production, utilizing locally produced materials to build low cost housing and public buildings, such as schools, health centers, court buildings, and administrative facilities, using the most current modern technology,” he stressed.
He explained further that the UPP is going to develop Liberia’s wood industry for domestic and the global furniture market and creating partnership to meet the country’s energy and water supply demand as well as expansion of broadband technology all across Liberia.
Wento also said that his party will build on the country’s tourism potential and create partnerships between schools and employers to achieve the goal of school to work.
“We, the members of the United Peoples Party are citizens of Liberia who reflect diverse ethnic, religious, and social backgrounds, but, are nevertheless resolved to work together in peace and harmony in pursuance of our mutual interest for the political stability and economic development of our country,” he said.
The UPP’s standard bearer said his party believes that their individual political and philosophical approaches to the effectuation of progressive change are mere methods, which must be advanced in a spirit of mutual respect, moderation and compromise; so as to safeguard the party’s patrimony against acute contradictions and polarization that would tend to undermine the existence of a stable political and economic order.
“Similarly, we promise to implement this vision with a plan. But, most importantly, we served notice on corruption and all who are its clients; that a UPP led Government will not give sanctuary to corruption,”
He noted that corruption has left the country far behind in terms of human and economic development, saying it has hurt the family, the basic unit of the society.
The UPP said corruption has torn families apart and taken away the opportunities Liberia youths desperately need to make their lives better.
“In a country with many natural resources, how do we explain 70% of the people living outside Monrovia who cannot afford $1.25 for a day’s meal? How do you explain the prisoner’s dilemma of thousands of our fellow citizens being out of work, and having no opportunity for employment or develop the necessary skills to find a job that pays a living wage?”, he wonders.