Monrovia – Presidential aspirant Carlton Boah popularly known as (CB17) has warned Liberians to shun inducements and learn to understand the works of elected leaders.
Aspirant Boah cautioned that instead of settling for some kind of inducement, Liberians should learn to understand the political intricacies of electing leaders during the 2017 general and presidential elections.
He sounded the warning to voters on May 12, 2017, when he delivered a statement at the Lady of Fatima Rehab Community – (Hope Mission) Rehab, Paynesville, Liberia, during ceremony marking the inauguration of the school’s student council government.
“Understand the powers, workings, intricacies, functions and duties of the position to which your leader aspires and evaluate him or her fairly, void of sentiments as much as you can,” said aspirant Boah.
He continued: “In a country like ours, taking our recent past of warfare and the level of corruption that has hampered development over the years; ask yourself if you are better off now than you were ten or twelve years ago”?
The former prolific pen-pusher cum politician urged Liberians to ask themselves whether they want to elect tainted characters and give them the mantle of power to keep the nation in the dark perpetually
In his address to the Principal, Administrative and Teaching Staff, the President elect and members of the student council, the student body, aspirant Boah reminded them to soberly reflect on the October 10, 2017 elections as a defining moment.
Speaking on the topic: Our Responsibilities in Deciding Our Leaders” CB17 recalled an experience in which a student who wanted to be elected in her class brought ice cream for her classmates and before the votes were cast, she won by a landslide.
“I hope the incoming president did not give you or promise all of you ice cream or some inducements in exchange for your votes,” he noted.
He continued: “Because if you ate ice cream or took something in exchange for your votes, it means you sold your franchise and negated a primary responsibility of yours”.
Boah stressed that the most important step to decide a good leader is to consider the person who understands their plight, accessible, and able to deal with issues at all levels and not stir the national pot.
“Knowing those who lead us, those who represent us, those who speak on our behalf is as crucial as the vote we cast because if we do not know who is representing us, we may not know whether or not that person is representing us properly,” Boah stressed.
He said another critical aspect of deciding a leader is someone who is being educated or informed about the issues that are relevant to the nation.
“In this year’s elections, the overriding question would be, do we continue down the same road or elect someone with fresh thinking who will make Liberia a shining model that it once was to many African countries”? He asked
He stressed that a leader must be globally vast; understand the effects of global climate change, migration, terrorism, money laundering, counterfeiting, human trafficking and other major issues that cut across national borders.
“Once a leader is decided, our responsibilities expand to ensuring that he or she succeeds in leading; this is done by us the citizens paying our taxes so as to ensure a smooth running of the government,” Boah hinted.
Additionally, aspirant Boah said Liberians should understand that they have a responsibility to know and understand their rights under the constitution, which he said cannot be taken for granted.
“As the crucial October elections draw closer, every citizen in our democracy has the responsibility to vote. I think voting is a cardinal responsibility that one has in deciding a leader,” he stressed.
The ex-pen-pusher said Liberia has nurtured many African countries to become very great and rich, but said the country is stocked in the past and not knowing whether age is what Liberians can boast of in the world.
“Dig deep within and open your eyes as wide as you can and answer these questions as loud as you can? Do we settle for few bundles of zinc and regret few years from now?
Do we settle for few dollars and wonder what happen to our roads? Do we settle for public toilets when they have several toilets in their houses”? he reaffirmed.
He continued: “Do we settle for hand pumps when we all deserve pipe borne water? Do we settle for a run-down community clinic when we could get a hospital?
Do we settle for a footpath when we can get road? Do we settle for less when our blind brothers and sisters cannot safely walk in the streets”?
More importantly, he noted: “Do we settle for pothole sidewalks when our brothers and sisters in wheelchairs have no sidewalk to ride or push their wheelchairs?
Do we settle for a school when it is not accommodating to our handicapped brothers and sisters?
Do we settle for tainted, war raging, old, tired, recycled and loud mouth politicians who have always promised but never deliver or turn a new leaf and move our country forward?
He concluded by stating: “whatever your answers, mine is a resounding NO – on all of the above – we must never settle for less, because when you settle for less, you get less than you settle for”.