Monrovia – MacDella Cooper – the first female declaring her Presidential ambition come 2017 – is on record for saying she has enough money to buy any political position in Liberia, including the presidency if she wanted to.
Report by Edwin G. Genoway – [email protected]
“I have no interest in the politics – no political ambition I should say. If I do want one I have enough money to buy it, because everything in our country is out for sale today.
If I meet the right person and offer them the right amount I could have the best political post today, including the presidency.
I take my money and go to the road of Washington D.C. I could have the presidency – I tell you that much, that’s how easy it is. I have no interest. You’ll never see me running for no political office, I’ve no interest” – Presidential Hopeful MacDella Cooper
Speaking during a forum organized by the Young E’nnovative Leaders of Liberia (YELL) in 2015 in California, United States of America, Ms. Cooper said she had no interest in any political seat in Liberia as perceived by many in the USA.
“I have no interest in the politics – no political ambition I should say. If I do want one I have enough money to buy it, because everything in our country is out for sale today.
If I meet the right person and offer them the right amount I could have the best political post today, including the presidency. I take my money and go to the road of Washington D.C. I could have the presidency – I tell you that much, that’s how easy it is. I have no interest. You’ll never see me running for no political office, I’ve no interest,” she said.
However, brushing aside her boastful statement, Ms. Cooper who reportedly eyed being the future first lady, as she claims to be the mother of one Presidential hopeful George Weah’s child, believes she’s the most suited for the country’s highest seat.
While summersaulting on her 2015 comments at a program marking her declaration of intent over a fortnight ago in Monrovia, Cooper said – “It is imperative to effectively improve the basic needs and social services for Liberians.
“Over a third of all Liberians continue to live on less than US$1 a day. That is just unacceptable.”
She vowed to build a vibrant educated youthful society if elected President in 2017. She criticized the government for depending on foreign aid to provide education, noting that education should be a primary responsibility of the government.
The 40-year-old model-turned politician vowed to build a vibrant economy by empowering local entrepreneurs as a means of boosting local commodities on the local market.
Astounding News
Chairman of the Center for the Exchange of Intellectual Opinions (CEIO), Franklin K. Wesseh, who also participated in the 2015 YELL Forum told FrontPage Africa that he was astounded when he heard that MacDella Cooper was vying for the Liberian presidency.
“I can recall in August, 2015 at the YELL Summit in Sacramento, California that this enterprising, beautiful and intelligent young Liberian lady, in her presentation said she does not nurse any political ambition and brother would contest for any elective post.
To have summersaulted so abruptly without recollecting her statement of that day gives me an impression that she said so sub-consciously. Well, this is typical of Liberian politicians.
‘Political words are not cast in stone,’” Wesseh said.
Wesseh, however, says he respects her right to contest the presidency as a Liberian once she meets the constitutional requirements.
Relationship With George Weah
Cooper had not said much about her relationship with Weah but is on record for telling the New York Post that she could be the future first lady as Weah who she at the time believed would be the next President fathers her child.
Weah — who spent 14 years playing for clubs in France, Italy, and England — took Cooper with him in 2013 when he was inducted into the Mexican Football Hall of Fame.
“He is someone who has a big heart,” Cooper says. “We are going to change Liberia,” she added while making her disclosure to the New York Post.
Defining Moment for Liberia
According to Cooper, the outcome of the 2017 elections would be a defining moment for Liberia and its citizens, both at home and in the Diaspora.
She noted that the hard choices that Liberians make would indicate whether or not Liberia is prepared to move ahead or remain stuck in time, reliving the ugly past.
“Our nation still grapples with huge challenges when it comes to education, healthcare, electricity, water, land reform, among several other socioeconomic gaps,” she wrote on her Liberia Union Democrats Face Book page.
Cooper noted that as a former refugee who fled the civil conflict from Monrovia to Danane, in La Cote d’Ivoire in the early 1990s; she was fortunate to gain entry into the United States of America where she obtained her higher education.
“We all know firsthand what our people endured in the remotest parts of Liberia.
The sad part is that even today in most areas of our country, particularly in the Southeast, our people remain stuck in a weird time wrap as if the war has not ended,” she said.
She explained that her decision to enter the 2017 Presidential race rests on the backbone of hope and reform.
“As a former refugee girl, I bear testimony to the fact that education remains the greatest equalizer for hope and reform. When used constructively, education can transform anybody into somebody,” she said.
She, however, acknowledged the significant socio-economic transformation, but noted that the task of improving the lives of Liberians is far from completion.
The female Presidential aspirant said she remains confident that the change the Liberian people so desperately crave can only be realized when Liberians themselves are ready to change.
According to her, saying, a holistic economic transformation has to completely trickle down to the citizenry, if they must feel the ripple effects of development.
She further stated that over the next couple of months, she and her team would robustly engage citizens across the length and breadth of the country, as well as in the Diaspora, on a soul-searching mission to listen, learn and document what works best for Liberia.
“Our approach to developmental problem solving will not be a ‘one-size-fits-all’.
The development needs of our people in River-Gee, of course, will be different contextually from those in Gbarpolu County as so it is with other counties,” she said.