Monrovia – A Liberian businessman and standard bearer of the United People’s Party (UPP), Mr. MacDonald A. Wento says bad governance and the lack of political will has reduced Liberians to nothing more than refugees in their own country.
Speaking Monday in Monrovia when he was honored and certificated as Liberian Businessman of the Decade (2006-2016) by the media advocacy group, the Strategic Journalists Committee, Mr. Wento lamented that foreigners and aliens continue to enjoy the fruits of Liberia’s natural endowment while Liberians remain frustrated, disappointed and hopeless.
He called on Liberians to resist the temptation of election-time philanthropists and use the impending October presidential and legislative elections to make decisions that would turn their lives around for the better.
Mr. Wento reminded Liberians to remember the foundational principles of their country and do away with acts that are responsible for the political and economic downward trend of the country.
“We forgot the foundation of our country that’s why we are the way we are.”
“We must go back to our root. The task ahead is huge but together we can make it”, Wento stressed.
Speaking earlier, the Secretary General of the Strategic Journalists Committee, Mr. Jerome Carngbe said his organization selected to recognize Mr. Wento not as a politician seeking elective office but as a Liberian businessman who has over that last ten years, added eight new businesses to the Liberian economy which have provided jobs for more than 1500 Liberians and with the potential to provide over 5000 more job opportunities in an economy where unemployment is like a deadly virus.
Carngbe noted that Mr. Wento has two concession agreements with the Liberian government. The International Consultant Capital and Geblo Logging Inc. and also holds majority share in the New Millennium Oil & Gas Company.
These concessions, according to Mr. Carngbe, provide job opportunities in Nimba, Sinoe, Rivercess, Grand Bassa, Grand Gedeh and Montserrado Counties.
Thr Strategic Journalists Committee’s spokesman also recounted that in 2007, Wento founded the Liberia Wood Industry, a sawmill plant based in Brewerville, Montserrado County through which he established the International Construction Enterprise (2013), Liberia Tropical Wood Industry (2015), and the Infinite Oil & Gas Service Provider, started in 2014.
The group also recognized that Mr. Wento has contributed significantly to enhance the economic growth and development of Liberia through humanitarian and philanthropic initiatives such as the establishment of the MacDonald Wento Foundation in 2008, a program that trains children from five to 18 years in areas such as music, computer, driving and other productive disciplines on purely a free of charge basis.
This program has graduated over 100 students with between 300 to 500 more Liberian children undergoing training.
Mr. MacDonald A. Wento is the founding Chairman of the opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) where football legend George Weah serves as Standard Bearer for the 2017 elections.
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