The qualification of all candidates means that all is now set for the full participation of hundreds of Liberians wanting to either retain or get to the legislative seats and the presidency to be determined in next month’s general and presidential elections. The final listings see no changes made to the previous provisional listings, making ‘doubted candidates’ to finally breathe a sigh of relief; at least for now.
Sixteen candidates including incumbent President Johnson-Sirleaf will be contesting the presidency while hundreds of others will be contesting 15 junior senatorial seats and 73 representative seats in elections that will test Liberia’s ability to sustain its eight years old peace in its second successive post-conflict democratic elections.
The presidential candidates as finally certified by NEC to contest the October 11 polls are Gladys G.Y. Beyan of the Grassroot Democratic Party of Liberia (GDPL), Charles Walker Brumskine of the Liberty Party (LP),Chea Job Cheapoo, Sr of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), James Kpa Chelly of the Original Congress Party of Liberia (OCPOL), Simeon Freeman of the Movement for Progressive Change (MPC), James Sawalla Guseh of the Citizens Unification Party (CUP), Prince Yormie Johnson of the National Union for Democratic Progress (NUDP), Marcus Roland Jones of the Victory for Change Party (VCP) and Jonathan A. Mayson of the Union of Liberian Democrats (ULD).
Others are Dew Tuan-Wleh Mayson of the National Democratic Coalition (NDC), Manjerngie Cecelia Ndebe of the Liberia Reconstruction Party (LRP), Kennedy Gbleyah Sandy of the Liberia Transformation Party (LTP), Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of the Unity Party (UP), Togba Nah Tipoteh of the Freedom Alliance Party of Liberia (FAPL), Winston A. Tubman of the Congress for Democracit Change (CDC), and Hanniah Zoe of the Liberia Empowerment Party (LEP).
The unchanged final listings could spur series of law suits to be filed before the Supreme Court on grounds of various ineligibilities claims of which the controversial ten-year residency clause whose interpretation is said to be vague could dominate. Attempts in the recent National Referendum to overturn the law by reducing it from 10 to 5 years were voted ‘NO’.
Article 52 (c )of the 1986 constitution, states that "No person shall be eligible to hold the office of President or Vice President, unless that person is resident in the Republic ten years prior to his election, provided that the President and the Vice President shall not come from the same County”.
Already, there have been accusations and counter ones from some candidates pointing at one another for not being qualified under the clause. On the other hand, other groupings and private individuals have been bracing themselves for the legal battle against those they perceive as being unqualified under the provision.
Already, President Sirleaf has said she is over qualified under the constitutional provision as she has been here since 1997 when she first contested the presidency unsuccessfully against Charles Taylor and 11 others.
But many Liberians who anticipated that the NEC, not being clothed with the constitutional authority to bar candidates on such grounds, would clear all to avoid any ‘noise’ and leave it out to whoever will want to take up the case legally.
Everyone is a genius
Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. – A Einstein
Drawing the line in Liberia
Crimes sponsored, committed, or masterminded by handful of individuals cannot be blamed upon an entire nationality. In this case, Liberians! The need for post-war justice is a step toward lasting peace, stability and prosperity for Liberia. Liberia needs a war crimes tribunal or some credible legal forum that is capable of dealing with atrocities perpetrated against defenseless men, women and children during the country's brutal war. Without justice, peace shall remain elusive and investment in Liberia will not produce the intended results. - Bernard Gbayee Goah
Men with unhealthy characters should not champion any noble cause
They pretend to advocate the cause of the people when their deeds in the dark mirror nothing else but EVIL!!
When evil and corrupt men try to champion a cause that is so noble … such cause, how noble it may be, becomes meaningless in the eyes of the people - Bernard Gbayee Goah.
If Liberia must move forward ...
If Liberia must move forward in order to claim its place as a civilized nation amongst world community of nations, come 2017 elections, Liberians must critically review the events of the past with honesty and objectivity. They must make a new commitment to seek lasting solutions. The track records of those who are presenting themselves as candidates for the position of "President of the Republic of Liberia" must be well examined. Liberians must be fair to themselves because results from the 2011 elections will determine the future of Liberia’s unborn generations to come - Bernard Gbayee Goah
What do I think should be done?
The situation in Liberia is Compound Complex and cannot be fixed unless the entire system of government is reinvented.
Liberia needs a workable but uncompromising system that will make the country an asylum free from abuse, and other forms of corruption.
Any attempt to institute the system mentioned above in the absence of rule of law is meaningless, and more detrimental to Liberia as a whole - Bernard Gbayee Goah
Liberia's Natural Resources
Besides land water and few other resources, most of Liberia’s dependable natural resources are not infinite, they are finite and therefore can be depleted.
Liberia’s gold, diamond, and other natural resources will not always be an available source of revenue generation for its people and its government. The need to invent a system in government that focuses on an alternative income generation method cannot be over emphasized at this point - Bernard Gbayee Goah
Liberia needs a proper system
If Liberians refuse to erect a proper system in place that promotes the minimization of corruption and mismanagement of public funds by government institutions, and individuals, there will come a time when the value of the entire country will be seen as a large valueless land suited on the west coast of Africa with some polluted bodies of waters and nothing else. To have no system in place in any country is to have no respect for rule of law. To have no respect for rule of law is to believe in lawlessness. And where there is lawlessness, there is always corruption - Bernard Gbayee Goah
Solving problems in the absence of war talks
As political instability continues to increase in Africa, it has become abundantly clear that military intervention as a primary remedy to peace is not a durable solution. Such intervention only increases insecurity and massive economic hardship. An existing example which could be a valuable lesson for Liberia is Great Britain, and the US war on terror for the purpose of global security. The use of arms whether in peace keeping, occupation, or invasion as a primary means of solving problem has yield only little results. Military intervention by any country as the only solution to problem solving will result into massive military spending, economic hardship, more fear, and animosity as well as increase insecurity. The alternative is learning how to solve problems in the absence of war talks. The objective of such alternative must be to provide real sustainable human security which cannot be achieved through military arm intervention, or aggression. In order to achieve results that will make the peaceful coexistence of all mankind possible, there must be a common ground for the stories of all sides to be heard. I believe there are always three sides to every story: Their side of the story, Our side of the story, and The truth – Bernard Gbayee Goah
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