MONROVIA – It has been several months now since controversy about the whereabouts of Dr. Daniel E. Cassell, Political Leader of the People’s Liberation Party (PLP), permeated the public space. In fact, detractors and naysayers had it that circumstances had obliterated the political career of the PLP leader and that he would never be heard of again. His concurrent silence was nearly giving the controversy some aura of substance until reassuring news broke, much to the delight of his partisans, many supporters and fans, that he would be going public with a Town Hall Meeting held last Sunday in the United States of America. The Analyst reports.
After a long silence in the wake of legal issues he reportedly encountered with the American legal system, the political leader and standard of the People’s Liberation Party (PLP), Dr. Daniel E. Cassell on Sunday, July 10, 2022, met with a cross section of partisans and supporters of PLP in the USA and addressed a wide range of developments.
Some of the issues discussed during the meeting were the misconceptions that attached to the story of his arrest as well as his political future during which time he said he will be returning to Liberia soon.
Speaking during the town hall meeting attended by a swarm of his supporters, who came from far and near, to listen to him as a means of seeking for clarifications surrendering the allegation levied against him which may have a ripple effect on his political career, Dr. Cassell said whatever that may have been said about him in the past, what is paramount to him is definitely he believes in the American legacy which is premised on the understanding that someone is innocent of any offense until otherwise proven by a competent court of jurisdiction in the country and insisted that the ugly situation will not survive the test of time.
While describing the situation as not surprising to him, the businessman turned politician said that for some of them who live and run businesses in the United States, especially the ones that run millions of dollars businesses, there is usually one case or the other against such entrepreneurs.
“As the CEO and founder, I am responsible for everything and anything that happened, whether I am around or not; whether I know who did it or not. At the end of the day, they will say it’s my company”, he said.
“And we see that even in the small businesses we run. As soon as you turn your back, you see what your workers are doing? That is the situation I am facing right now. But I believe in the American justice system, which says you are innocent until you are found guilty in a court of law. The case is being litigated. At the end of the day, everyone of you will see,” Dr. Cassell averred.
Though information of the case is sketchy, but investigation by The Analyst has given an insight of what really went on, and is leaning on the side of Dr. Cassell, that the $3.7m he is being accused of over-invoicing clients and the government was actually carried out by the management of his company and by virtue of his ownership of the entity, he is being called in to provide more information on the case.
During the Town Hall meeting monitored by this paper thought social media, Cassell was said to have been relaxed and exuded so much confidence that he will be vindicated at the end of the day.
Turning to politics, Cassell maintained his posture of the kind of politics he wants to preach on whose foundation he has developed his platform among them to pursue a welfarist approach to politics as the first step to winning the people over. Amid cheers, he said he will be on the ballot next year and vowed to wrestle power from the ruling establishment in the ensuing 2023 general elections be it through the single strength of PLP and his capability or through collaboration..
While responding to a question from one of the participants in the gathering on how realistic he was about winning the incumbent President and his government, Cassell, dressed in a lilywhite long-sleeved shirt, with the Liberian flag draped behind him, confidently answered in the affirmative.
“To answer that question as an optimist, as a believer, I say yes. I say yes because nothing is impossible,” Dr. Cassell said further. “Not because it hasn’t been done in the past, so you will never be able to do it. Anything can happen in life with the help of God. If it is God’s will, then history will be made as such.”
He added: “If God wants to send the PLP into the presidency, no man can stop it. In the divine mind of God, he holds the key to everything. He is the solution to everything. So PLP can single handedly defeat CDC; but is PLP only relying on that? No. PLP is open to collaborating with other parties, but based on our terms. We are going to sit at the table and talk with folks who are in the best interest of our people and our country.
“We are not going to compromise that. As a politician I am not going to say I am not going to talk to my fellow politicians. I am willing to go across the political aisle to speak to anyone as long as it’s in the best interest of our people and our country,” he said, noting that he is not in the race for the presidency just because of self-gratification.”
Speaking further, he said: “We are very practical, and we want to change the lives of our people. Our people have suffered for so long. Now is the time for their lives to be transformed; for them to see the changes. It burdens my heart, because we are all our brothers and sisters’ keepers. What affects the less fortunate affects us. For me, it is a Biblical responsibility to take care of the less fortunate, the widows, the orphans, the homeless, and our people that they call zogos. Who made them zogos? It’s us as a society. We’ve done nothing to address their problems, but instead to label them,” Dr. Cassell said
Queried as to what motivated him to vie for the Liberian presidency, and if he wins what is he inclined to do to help the Liberian people, Dr. Cassell said his motivation in everything comes from
God.
“My initial calling as God sent me back to Liberia seven years ago was to help through my humanitarian works; and as I continued to obey that and help my fellow citizens in that regard. Over the years, I got to see more complexities of the problem, and the fact that our government, the current as well as the past, wasn’t ready to address those problems. And so, I was late to step up and step into this path, because as I initially stated, politics is the way to transform the system through policies and through the enactment of laws. This is the way that the lives of the citizens can be transformed.
The PLP Standard Bearer stated emphatically at the Town Hall Meeting: “As to what I will do in my role to help Liberians, I believe in equity distribution of the wealth of our country across the spectrum to all of our citizens because, as the head of our country, the resources are not for the president. The president is only a trustee of it. The resources of our country is such that if it is responsibly managed, there are so many interventions that could be provided to uplift the lives of our people to where we could even create a second-class social status of our country.
“And as matter of fact, in a few Southeast African countries, they don’t even have as much natural resources as Liberia, but there is general healthcare services for all its citizens. If those countries can do that, what about us? But again, there has to be the right leadership to do that, and there has to be the right policy to be implemented so that those services are provided to our citizens. And those are things I will definitely guarantee for our citizens to have,” he said.
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