Ganta, Nimba County – Breaking away from the traditional, businessman Benoni Urey took an unconventional approach Saturday in announcing Alexander Duopo, a professor at the University of Liberia as his running mate in his bid to contest the upcoming presidential elections in Liberia.
Report by Rodney D. Sieh, [email protected]
“I chose Mr. Duopo over the so-called traditional politicians because I do not want the people to see themselves through the government.
“This is a ticket that reflects the broad mass of our people. Reconciliation is paramount to Liberia and I strongly believe that the Urey-Duopo ticket strikes the chord of national healing and reconciliation.”
“This was no oversight,” Mr. Urey told FrontPageAfrica outside the convention hall, shortly after making his pick official and introducing him to the party at its convention held at the Methodist gymnasium in this vote-rich county.
“I chose Mr. Duopo over the so-called traditional politicians because I do not want the people to see themselves through the government. “
“This is a ticket that reflects the broad mass of our people.”
Reconciliation, Mr. Urey asserted, is paramount to Liberia and I strongly believe that the Urey-Duopo ticket strikes the chord of national healing and reconciliation.”
Not since Gabriel Kpolleh, a school teacher and leader of the opposition Liberia Unification Party made its entry into the domain of the Liberian political spasm, has an unheralded name took many by surprise.
Organized by Kpolleh, who was President of the Public School Teachers’ Association, the party was viewed as a dark horse heading into the 1985 presidential elections against Samuel Doe.
LUP followed the Liberia Action Party in backing a legislative boycott of the 1985 elections and refused to take seats won in the legislative race.
Mr. Kpolleh was arrested in March 1988 on charges of plotting to overthrow the Doe government and sentenced to ten years in prison, the following October.
Mr. Kpolleh was released but later assassinated although the party remains active.
While Mr. Duopu may be an unfamiliar face to modern politics in Liberia, the name isn’t.
His father, G. Moses Duopu was a prominent son of Nimba who was killed in June 1990 allegedly by NPFL strongman Benjamin Yeatin for questioning the leadership status of Charles Taylor of the NPFL.
Alexander was born on September 27, 1966 to G. Moses and his mother, Beatrice Isobel Blapoh-Duopu in the Township of West Point, outside of Monrovia, but grew-up in the Borough of New Kru Town and later moved to Gardnersville in 1977.
Inheriting some political touch from his late father, Alexander, who previously flirted with the idea of running for President was petitioned by women and youth of Whebe Town on the Shieflin/Robertsfield Highway in Margibi County in October 2015.
But on Saturday, he refused to allow the excitement of the moment to decapitate without acknowledging the realities of what could be.
“Well, it is historic and its epic and it’s a good thing for our generation because we are anticipating a smooth transition in the future and also for the people of Nimba County to know that no one person is more deserving than the other so we came to join Mr. Urey to mobilize the people of Nimba County.”
Duopo says his experience in finance and dealing with students is a major asset that could help Mr. Urey reach out to a base that is yet to be untapped by other candidates in the race.
“I’m a professor at the University of Liberia, even in the graduate school, I’m a financier. I have an MBA in finance and a Masters in Accounting. I also bring a wealth of experience.”
Alexander started his education at the St. Mary’s Catholic School in Duala, Bushrod Island.
In 1978, he continued his Elementary and Middle school education at the Warren Street School and the Barringer Annex in Newark, New Jersey in the United States of America.
Mr. Duopu also attended the Kwendin Vocational Training Center (KVTC), Nimba County, where he graduated from Secondary Education and earned a WAEC Certificate and Diploma in 1983.
Mr. Duopu is also a 1998 graduate from the University of Liberia where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting and minoring Economics.
In 2002, Mr. Duopu traveled back to the United States of America where he earned a Master of Science in Accounting and an MBA in Finance from Strayer University, 2007 and 2009.
Mr. Urey will be hoping that Mr. Duopo’s novice to the Liberia political terrain will be a factor as voters head to the polls in October.
But more importantly, it is a bond shared between the two families that Mr. Urey is hoping will make Mr. Duopo appealing to voters.
Like Alexander’s late father, who was a major player in the fight to remove Doe from power, Mr. Urey’s own father was imprisoned by Tubman for standing up for change in Liberia, and his wife’s father, Dr. Cyril Bright, was killed in the 1980 coup.
At his trial, former President Charles Taylor described the late Moses Duopu as a mutual friend of his and General Thomas Quiwonkpa.
“We were in the States together in the Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas. I think I mentioned that in my testimony yesterday.
It, so, happened that Tupee, my wife – my wife’s sister was also – Tupee’s sister was also married to Moses Duopu.
So, we were in the union together, but these are two guys that were married in the same family and so we were very close.
He was very, very close to General Quiwonkpa also and was also in la Cote d’Ivoire at the time.”
For Mr. Urey, picking Mr. Duopo is a manifestation of his commitment to giving Liberia back to the ordinary people.
“By selecting one of their own as vice presidential candidate, a young and patriotic son of Nimba County who also happens to be the son of the late great Moses Dupou, one of Nimba’s greatest heroes, it shows that our ticket has taken a giant step toward healing wounds and reshaping the direction of post-war Liberia.”
