Monrovia – Rolling up his sleeves in readiness for combat, the cool and soft-talking former Governor of the Central Bank of Liberia will not relent to pounce on any of his political rivals who would deviate from defining their ideals and polices in these political times, but rather attempt to make him unpopular.
Report by Edwin G. Genoway- [email protected]
“Enough is enough, we have maintained that we should discuss issues and policies; we have entered this race to treat everyone with respect, but let us be clear, no one is going to beat me down to the ground.”
“I will fight. Let us speak to policies, let us speak to ideals when we are talking about this election. No one should take an individual civility for weakness” – Dr. J. Mills Jones
Dr. J. Mills Jones who aspires to be Liberia’s next President lifted the hatchet in reaction to the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism description of assertions attributed to him by FrontPageAfrica as “illusory and dishonest”.
FrontPageAfrica last Monday quoted Jones as saying “Government’s failure is not a criticism but a reality”.
In a sharp reaction to the story, the government’s communication arm, said the comment was only an expressed inordinate desire of him wanting to become president, believing, in his mind, that such can become easier by his unwarranted criticism and denigration of the very government he served for almost 10 years.
But distancing himself from the assertion, Jones who now bears the flag of the Movement for Economic Empowerment (MOVEE) said his statement was misconstrued and wondered why the Information Ministry did not verify the statement before unleashing its machinery against his reputation.
“Enough is enough, we have maintained that we should discuss issues and policies; we have entered this race to treat everyone with respect, but let us be clear, no one is going to beat me down to the ground, I will fight. Let us speak to policies, let us speak to ideals when we are talking about this election. No one should take an individual civility for weakness,” Jones asserted with a stern face.
He dispelled the notion that one cannot criticize the government because said individual once worked with the government.
“Let us examine this logic that you worked in government before so you can’t criticize government. Well, the people elected the government, so shouldn’t the people criticize the government because they elected that government? Let them answer that question.”
“If they say no, they must criticize because they elected the government, then you can take the same logic to say someone who worked in the government should not criticize the government?” he argued.
The ex-Central Bank Chief in his argument noted that there are some incompetent individuals working in government whose failure cast a reflection on the government. He, however, did not reference any particular individual.
He stressed that he would not relent speaking on and criticizing issues obtaining in government, despite he once worked with the government.
“We want to be clear, we are citizens of this country and we will speak whatever we want to speak about and whenever we want to speak about it and wherever we want to speak,” he asserted.
He noted that he would always stand tall for whatever he believes is right, irrespective of the fact that he once served the current government.
“Who doesn’t want to speak let them lose their speech, but we will stand up. It is not a question of whether or not one worked in the government, we hear people get on the radio and say he worked in government so how can he say anything about the government?”
According to Jones, Liberia as a nation has fallen short of her potential of what she can do as a nation.
Meanwhile, Dr. Jones as standard bearer of MOVEE has urged some 500 women who recently joined the party to keep their heads above water and maintain their status in society.
He encouraged the women to register and vote in order to effect the changes they desire to see in government.
“We say thank you for taking the bold step to join our party. In the Movement for Economic Empowerment, we have no discrimination, we treat everyone with dignity and respect,” he said.
He told the women that during his time at the Central Bank, he provided loans for people all around the country to build their homes and do business, but many people in high offices, according to him, did not like the idea.
Jones: “They will come to you and say they love you, but they got vex when we gave y’all money to change your lives, to build your homes and make your lives better from the funds when we were at the Central bank of Liberia. Shine your eyes and don’t let them fool you anymore.”
The women under the umbrella Sheriff Women Club, Hawa Kromah said she and her fellow women made no mistake choosing Dr. Jones to replace President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf through the ballot box.
She believes Jones’ economic empowerment policy which tends to empower ordinary Liberians would have a significant impact on their lives.
Madam Kromah noted that every Liberian will have the opportunity to send their children to school under a Mills Jones’ regime.
“Right now our children are not in school because there’s nobody to support them. Many of us, our husbands are not working and the money we’re supposed to send our children to school with is that money we take to buy food,’ she lamented.