-says Boakai can defeat Weah face down
Ahead of the main opposition Collaborating Political Parties (CPP’s) convention scheduled for December this year to decide who gets on the Collaboration’s ticket for the presidency, the political leader of the All Liberian Party Mr. Benoni Urey reiterates his support for former Vice President Joseph Nyumah Boakai of the Unity Party.
Mr. Urey believes strongly that the only candidate in the CPP that can defeat incumbent President George Manneh Weah face down at the poll in 2023 is the 76 years old ex-Vice President.
But ANC leader Mr. Alexander B. Cummings recently said after running large complex organizations in the United States and producing results, he brings different experiences than former Vice President Joseph Nyumah Boakai.
“I think the difference, I will say is, I bring a different set of experiences than the former Vice President, and Liberians will have to decide whether that different set of experiences is what they think we need to lead our country,” Cummings said Monday, 7 June in Monrovia during a live talk show on OK FM. These comments indicate that the bid for the CPP’s ticket would be a dog fight at its December convention ahead of 2023.
Speaking at a news conference Thursday, June 17, in Monrovia, Mr. Urey said the former vice president is most suited, experienced, and well-schooled in good governance hence, he (Boakai) remains the only option for the Executive Mansion.
The CPP is made of the former ruling Unity Party of Joseph Boakai; the Liberty Party of Senator Nyonblee Karnga Lawrence; the Alternative National Congress of Alexander B. Cummings, and the All Liberian Party of businessman-turned-politician, Benoni Urey.
Urey was quick to point out that though he supports Boakai, he will support anyone that will win the convention but his primary concern and alliance are with Mr. Boakai whom he notes, had earned international recognition and gained the support of Liberians from every spectrum of life.
The ALP leader laments that the current administration headed by President Weah and the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change has failed the Liberian people and the only beckon of hope is Mr. Boakai who had served the country for 42 years with 12 of those years as vice president to the first democratically-elected female president in Africa, Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
He says it would be an unforgettable mistake for the CPP not to support Boakai for the standard-bearer post, warning that President Weah would have an easy ride to his second term. Commenting on the resurgence of the Corona Virus pandemic in the country, he urges the government to give more attention to the fight against the global disease by equipping hospitals and health workers in readiness to serve and stop the virus from spreading.
According to him, there is information that some hospitals are reportedly refusing patients on grounds of lack of medications, logistics, and equipment. On the question of members of the Liberian legislature receiving US$15,000 each for legislative engagement projects, Urey says this is alarming and unacceptable.
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Instead, he suggests that at least each lawmaker should have taken US$5,000 and directed the balanced fund to health. He insists both representatives and senators who directly represent the people should reconsider by returning US$10,000 to the national government to fight the COVID-19.
Commenting on the allegation that both the United States and the United Nations have restricted him from traveling and seized his assets, Mr. Urey denies and terms such information as misleading and total falsehood, clarifying that he was once investigated years back and subsequently cleared by the United Nations thus, he’s a free man who can travel to any part of the world at any time without restriction. Recent statistics from the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) reveals there are 2,729 cases of COVID -19 in the country, 2,105 recoveries, and 95 deaths.
Liberia: Government to announce new covid-19 protocol
By E. J. Nathaniel Daygbor–Editing by Jonathan Browne
