MONROVIA : After officially naming Senator Jerry Kpan Koung of Nimba County as his running mate, the Standard Bearer of the Unity Party, Mr. Joseph Nyuma Boakai has commenced a massive citizen outreach to explain his agenda for a better Liberia if elected during the ensuring general election and in the process taking an aim at the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change(CDC) for failing the Liberian people after 5 years and urged Liberians to take advantage of the October 10, 2023 general elections so that “we must rescue Liberia from the nightmare”
The frontline Presidential aspirant made the assertion last week when he visited districts #s 14, 15 and #16 of Montserrado County where he engaged mammoth crowd of Liberians who turned out to listen to the RESCUE TEAM, as the campaign organization of the Unity Party is called where he narrated the “level this country has degenerated that we have lost every respect others used to give us and the citizens have become hopeless for a better future’
“This country needs to be rescued. If not so, most of you will remain nowhere, some of you in your 20’s, 30’s , mid 30’s or so, are you satisfied with where you are? You have to protect your future. The future is coming and I can assure you that within 3 years after we must have rescued this country, you will see a new Liberia. We mean it and we are serious about it”, Mr. Boakai said.
Mr. Boakai said corruption and selfishness in public service has negatively impacted service delivery to the people and what has become the order of the day is for public officials to loot the treasury and corner for themselves , their families and friends that which should have been for the common good of the people.
He said development thrives in a country when the government inspires its citizenry to grow beyond where they are and achieve what they want to achieve based on their qualification, competence and worth but lamented that the CDC led government has nothing to offer in that respect to encourage the citizens
“Unfortunately, we do not see that with these people. They behave like goats, destructive goats, eating everything around where they are and leaving none for others. That is the situation we find ourselves in.
‘To succeed those that are up should be able to help you to lift you up. But you cannot say it for these people”, Boakai said.
The former Vice President took the citizens in memory lane to narrate how at various times in the history of Liberia, “we prayed for particular leadership and God gave us” but at the end of the day the solutions to the country’s problems are yet to be found.
“We have a dictator (Tubman) who ruled for 27 years, we had a soldier, Doe, and we asked for a war lord and we got Charles Taylor, we wanted a woman and we got Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; then we asked for a youth, and God said it is not only going to be a youth but a youth icon that the young people will follow and will come from the grassroots.
“That is why when people say they want a youth, I have always told them, but you have had all. You have had a dictator, a soldier, a war lord, a woman and you have a youth now”, VP Boakai said amid cheers from the crowd.
In direct reference to himself as the best option to get the country out of where it is, he said God has spoken of a chosen one for the country, someone who cares and understands the country and its people because “it is time to be serious and stop the child’s play, it is not a football field and “Liberians should take the general election serious so as to correct all the past mistakes”
“We are happy today to be here to appreciate what you are doing. When the time comes to vote, that vote will be your decision about your future. Our country has turned into a laughing stock, no one takes us seriously anymore. Our international reputation has been ruined and our position in international affairs has been reduced to nothing.
I see our young ladies selling things that barely get them anything to buy for a cup of rice. Our children are risking their lives between moving vehicles to sell their market, some of whom will be for a family’s survival.
“We have our children who are all grown up and there is nothing more we desire if not for your future. We owe it to you to get you a future that you and your children will be proud of. That is why we are saying we need to work together to rescue the country”, Mr. Boakai said.
The UP number one partisan scolded President Weah for being unable to deliver anything tangible, especially in the area of sports that brought him to both national and international fame wondering “if he cannot excel at something that gave him prominence, then what is there that he can do better” and vowed to make agriculture, an area he termed to be his interest and passion a major sector to grow the economy.
“When I completed college, I went up to the country to help farmers to grow food, making nursery for farmers, marketing, then I went to LPMC and then the Minister of Agriculture. There is no Liberian before and now who understands agriculture than me as it relates to experience and ability to make something out of it.
“We will are going to make sure that we build our economy around agriculture to sustain ourselves first in order to have food security and then export to support the economy. Agriculture will be the lifeblood of the economy, but this does not mean other sectors of the economy will not be prioritized.
“Majority of our population is engaged in some form of agriculture but at an unsustainable level. We are going to make the sector a major priority so that it will be more viable and sustainable.
“Those days the only imported brand of rice in this country was the PL480 but now you find all kinds of rice from all kinds of places, we don’t even know the quality but they are all here in our market. These are some of the things we want to correct”, he said.
He vowed to place emphasis on quality education that will serve the people because that is the surest way of securing the future for the children and ensuring that parents will be forced to send their children to school because all the conditions for conducive learning will be available.
Earlier in a brief remark, the Vice Standard Bearer of UP, Senator Jeremiah Kpang Koung said the decision taken to elect Mr. Boakai as Standard Bearer of UP was not a mistake but a decision that will go a long way to reposition the country from decline if the Liberian people elect him on October 10, 2023 because Mr. Boakai has the pedigree of working for the Liberian and delivering at the various stages of positions he has served the country and its people.
He spoke of Mr. Boakai’s contribution during the administration of Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf where both of them work assiduously to take the country from stagnation where the national budget according to him was hovering between 50-70 million United States Dollars and before the expiration of their tenure the national budget was more than $500m.
“After 12 years, the Liberian people decided to hand the country over to Ambassador Weah and the man chakla it again. And he chaklah it again?
“Thank God one of those on the team is still around today. And so Ambassador Boakai is not a mistake. Ambassador Boakai understands it better because when everything was broken down, when there were no street lights in the country, no security, he and Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf did it and that is why we trust him”, he said.
He scolded the country for the loss of the $100m drug case recently and accused the government of knowing about all those who were involved but will do everything possible to conceal their identities.
“We just lost a $100m drug case and that speaks a lot to the justice system. Interestingly this is a President who fought so hard using the justice system to impeach a sitting Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Kabineh Janneh and that tells you that they know about the drug case and that is why the government of Liberia could not win the case.
“The good thing is that the government is campaigning against itself for us”, he said amid cheers.
Meanwhile, Mr. Boakai at the end of the tour, wrote on his official Facebook page to thank all those who turned out for the engagement, some of them under heavy downpour of rain and vowed not to disappoint them when elected
“Let me use this medium to thank the people of districts 14, 15, & 16 for turning out yesterday, even with the heavy downpour of rain. When I arrived, and saw people standing in the rain for hours, I was thrilled. I sat there asking myself how can these people risk everything to entrust us and I allow others to steal from them to build mansions, acquire ill- gotten wealth and go with impunity? How is that possible under my administration? Believe me, this country will be rescued. We’re not here to play. I am prepared for this mission.
“As I said yesterday, when the Children of Israel were experiencing famine, there came a Joseph. It is called the JOSEPH EFFECT”.
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