Businessman turned politician Benoni Urey has told local journalists here that he speaks better Kpelleh (one of the local vernaculars) than President George Weah would speak his native Kru.Mr. Urey, who is the political leader of the All Liberian Party made this comment, while responding to a question on the Country /Congo divide which continue to undermine the unity of the country.Urey who is of Americo-Liberian descant said nobody is more indigenous than the other in Liberia.
In retrospect to the Liberian history dating back before 1822, Mr. Urey narrated that there were powerful chiefs who captured their brothers and sold them in to slavery.
He said he doesn’t see why after these decedents have returned they should be treated differently. He acknowledged though that when the freed slaves were repatriated they also enslaved those they met here.
However, he opined that both the Congo and Country peoples have one way or the other paid their respective prices and there is no need to divide the population based on that.
He blamed the likes of Dr. Togba Nah Tipoteh, Dr. Amos Sawyer who are all of Congo origins of pushing such divisive politics.Mr. Urey believe that there is no pure tribe in the country. “We are all interconnected,” he said.
“I have uncles and aunties who don’t speak English. We must not allow people to divide us; whether you went as slave and came back-we all paid the prize.
He argues that most of the politicians who play the Country Congo cards don’t even have a house in their villages.
Mr. Urey further argues that there is a need for Liberians to emulate Ghana where the chiefs came together to apologize for their roles in the slavery and then reconcile rather than continuing to play the country Congo Card.-By Othello B. Garblah
