Monrovia – Seven opposition political parties have endorsed the second term representative bid of Margibi County Unity Party (UP) Representative Ben A. Fofana, becoming the first incumbent lawmaker in the county to receive such support for the pending October 10 polls.
Representative Ben A. Fofana represents the people of Margibi County electoral district number four at the 53rd National Legislature.
The Seven opposition political parties organized under the banner of “Collaboration of Opposition Political Parties in Margibi County Electoral District Number Four” comprise of the All Liberian Party (ALP), Liberty Party (LP), Liberia Restoration Party (LRP), United People Party (UPP), Union of Liberian Democrats (ULD) and Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) and True Whig Party (TWP).
Abel P. Varney presenting the group’s endorsement statement at an elaborate ceremony on Friday, September 29, 2017 in Kakata, Margibi County dubbed Representative Ben A. Fofana as a political liberator of Margibi County and a man that has lived a blameless and selfless life for the benefits and good of those around him and the citizens of the district and county.
Mr. Varney said: “Rep. Fofana is a man that has placed development at the fulcrum of his leadership and out-performed the rest of his colleagues at the Margibi County Legislative Caucus; and this endorsement will go down in history as the biggest political support a single candidate for representative has ever received in the county”.
“About six years ago-in 2011 to be exact, we decided to try the ability of a man who served us in the area of academia, when we made the decision to place a lot of things on the checklist as a guiding tool for evaluating the quality of service we hoped to receive as a people” he asserted.
The Collaboration of Opposition Political Parties in Margibi County Electoral District Number Four spokesman noted that they are also concern about electing a representative that intersperses his service with integrity, humanity, respect and development as well as having the ability to be law abiding adding that it is no doubt that Rep. Fofana has those characteristics and competence to continue on such pathways and the forward match of the district.
Mr. Varney indicated that they have chosen to ask their respective representative candidates despite being certified by the National Elections Commission (NEC) to stand down, allowing Representative Fofana to continue the numerous development initiatives he has embarked on in the interest of the district and Margibi County as a whole.
He acknowledged that the Margibi County lawmaker truly deserves a huge support from opposition parties due to his many contributions to the district and its people, accompanied by his achievement at the national legislature in representation, lawmaking and oversight.
Additionally, Mr. Varney said Rep. Fofana for the past six years has adequately presented the district in all aspects.
He stated that: “Rep. Fofana has introduced a lot of bill for the improvement of this county and Liberia at large. Prominent among them include the bill seeking to establish the Booker Washington Institute (BWI) as a technical college passed by the lower house and currently before the senate; the bill seeking to create the Kakata Administration District, amongst many others”.
He further named some of the dividends Margibi County has benefited from as the result of Rep. Ben A. Fofana’s exemplary leadership as human resource capacity building, infrastructures development; including schools, women resource centers, Police station, clinic, town halls, and educational support to his constitutes through the provision of scholarships, among many others.
“The endorsement we are announcing here today it didn’t just come from our stand point as District Chairs of these political parties.”
“We communicated this decision with the leadership of our parties at the county level and they have all embraced it. And so we are making this endorsement with no fear or intimidation”. Abel P. Varney asserted.
In response, Representative Ben A. Fofana intimated that his endorsement by the opposition political parties is a show of support to the people of district number four and Margibi County.
Rep. Fofana: “For seven opposition political parties to single out a candidate from the ruling establishment and say we support you, this is unprecedented and a new political dispensation unfolding here before our eyes. We also see this as an honor, as honor comes from God but manifested though man and this honor is being manifested truly through these collaborating opposition political parties”
The Margibi County Lawmaker promised his unflinching commitment to the seven opposition political parties and people of electoral district# 4 and Margibi County in a bid to ensure that he lives in the spirit of the endorsement.
He admonished electorates of district # 4 to wholeheartedly receive the endorsement by turning out in mass to ensure that he is re-elected in the October 10 polls, vowing to redeem Margibi County from the hands of those he termed “Evil People”.
He added that the redemption of the county starts with electoral district number four.
“I want to send this as a strong signal to our detractors, the people who want to take the people of this county for granted; the time is here you will no longer take the people for granted, the people are resolved from now on to take their political destiny in their hands”, Rep. Fofana noted.
Rep. Fofana, however, promised to continue providing adequate leadership for the people of Margibi and Liberia with integrity and humanity as guiding principles.
Report by Yawah Jaivey in Kakata, Margibi County