16 November 2009
Urey Salutes Supporters, Non-Supporters, Opponents, Vows to Win Comes November 24
As the first round of electoral skirmishes has come to an end leaving eight of ten candidates falling by the way side, the man who attained the second frontrunner position, ruling Unity Party strongman Clemenceau B. Urey, has entered the final race with an unusual political sportsmanship and wit.
Speaking to an array of journalists Sunday, Urey praised and commended the thousands of supporters, particularly the 28,329 citizens of Montserrado County who voted for him on November 10, 2009.
He also saluted nine other contestants who wrestled with him over the senatorial seat and thanked thousands of opposition voters for exercising their franchises in an orderly and peaceful manner.
The Analyst Staff Writer, who attended the press conference at Urey's residence, reports on how the Unity Party hopeful tried to reach out to friends as well as foes, and sounding exceedingly upbeat about final victory in the runoff.
Surviving what political pundits described the most catastrophic electoral feud since 2005 as the runner-up, Unity Party's 2009 senatorial by-election hopeful, Clemenceau Urey, appears unscathed and is sounding cheerful and amiable not only with those who smarmed him during the campaign trails that preceded balloting, but also with his opponents and their followers.
He has been paying tributes to nearly 30,000 citizens of Montserrado citizens for their "resilience, thoughtfulness and gallantry" demonstrated during three weeks of campaign, for defying the challenges which prevented others to come out to vote, and for making him the second frontrunner in the first half of the race to the Capital Building.
According to the chief umpire of the process, the National Elections Commission, Urey obtained 28,329 votes or 29.7% of the total votes cast, while his arch-rival, Geraldine Doe-Sheriff of the CDC obtained 33,874 votes or 35.7%. Apparently not feeling uncomfortable with the roughly 6.9% margin in favor of Madam Sheriff, Urey said, "We have just a few more miles left to cross the Rubicon; indeed, I could not have made this giant historic move without you, my dear supporters. Thanks a million."
The journey is already won, Urey further said at the press conference breaking ground for the commencement of the runoff campaign. "I just want you to keep up the good fight until final victory is achieved".
"Nothing should get you discouraged. The job is done, already. You have already elected your senator," he said. "You know, as well as our opponents know very well, that the job you initiated on Tuesday, November 10 will be finished on Tuesday, November 24. With each of you coming out again just with a few more of your friends and relatives, you can rest assured that history is made. You have already made me the Junior Senator of Montserrrado."
The Unity Party senatorial hopeful did not limit his thankful outreach to his supporters. Speaking to journalists Sunday, he commended other candidates in the first round of the by-elections, particularly CDC's Geraldine Doe-Sherriff, "for their brave fight which added color and style to our nascent democracy."
"I feel fascinated and further politically solidified by the kind of stiff resistance which each of these powerful figures did bring to bear on the electoral process; I enjoyed and I appreciate every step of the way," Urey said, expressing the hope that in the coming days both sides on the electoral divide would exercise patriotism, "by putting Liberian first".
Addressing himself to reported "disorganizations and irregularities" during the first round of balloting, Urey expressed the hope that the National Elections Commission will be informed by the criticisms and outcries and make amendments that will improve its output during the runoff.
"Our democracy is young so is your electoral system," he said stating that as time goes by, lessons will be learned and progress will be made. What we must remember though is that progress will only come when we learn from the hard lessons, and I am sure Mr. James Flomoyan and his colleagues will prove themselves worthy of the public trust by reducing the rate of disorder many complained about, which will increase credibility in the system."
Urey's words of political sportsmanship notwithstanding, many observers believe the runoff which brings 2005's two "belligerent parties" (UP and CDC) at loggerheads will witness one of the remarkable internecine electoral battles in the history of the country.
The ruling Unity Party, which is fielding Urey, in 2005 lost to the CDC, which snatched away the county's two senatorial slots in the National Legislature. On the presidential front, the CDC must have still been nursing the wounds of a narrow loss of the presidency to the UP in 2005.
Political commentators conjecture that the two archrivals might be regarding the senatorial by-elections not only as time to settle scores for their individual waterloo suffered in 2005, but also an opportunity to unleash all that is in each party's political arsenal against the other ahead of 2011 general and presidential elections.
It might be in apparent acknowledgement of this ferocity and criticality of the by-election that the two traditional political foes have been rallying all their various weights behind their candidates. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Vice President Joseph Boikai and powerful officials of the Unity Party and government, put in personal presences during the first round campaign period, rallying voters to support Urey to victory.
Soccer legend George O. Weah, standard-bearer of the CDC temporarily quitted academic studies at DeVry University in the United States and flew to Monrovia to boost and sharpen his candidate's chances. There are indications that President Sirleaf and topnotch stalwarts of the Unity Party will be doubling their moral and material support to ensure an all-cost victory for Urey, while Weah who had gone to the United States is expected back to see Madam Geraldine Doe-Sheriff off to the National Legislature.
Asked what new strategy he got to translate his vows of victory into concrete reality, the UP candidate was tightlipped on whatever strategy he is considering for the runoff to clinch victory, saying, "A general does not go to the battlefront with strategies written on his face."
"All I can say to you, gentlemen of the press, is that my strategies are adequate and strong enough to deliver me victory on November 24," he said. He however said he is prepared to engage and persuade on his side even those who did not vote for him in the first round. Another political machinery behind the Unity Party candidate comes from two other prominent political parties, the Liberia Action Party and the Liberia Unification Party, two of which have merged with the ruling party.
LAP is overseen by Cllr. Varney G. Sherman who was a major force and sensation during the 2005 presidential elections. His party snatched away a good number of legislative seats during the elections. LUP, LAP, and UP announced, early this year, a political merger to strengthen one another's winning chances at the polls come the 2011 general and presidential elections to the anger of the public who fear a drift toward one-party state and the undermining of mulitpartyism.
No joint political maneuver had been noted amongst the three mainstream parties since then until the recent by-election which the merger regard critical and test case of their communal solidarity in 2011. The trio, since the NEC few months back announced the senatorial vacancy, have taken marketing their kin and kith, Urey who in 2005 came third place with little over 70,000 votes behind the CDC;s Joyce Musu Sumo and Hannah Brent.
"Clemenceau Urey is an Insightful Nationalist and Campaigner of Financial Transparency & Good Governance, a Philanthropist, an Incisive Business Executive, a distinguished Sports Administrator, a Man of Veracity, who is possessed with firm Moral Fiber. Doubtless, he is a New Class Politician," the three-party campaign team boasted at the onset of the election. It said the candidate is gifted with extraordinary administrative and managerial skill, exceptional human relations attributes and an enviable personality.
"To attest to this, his trophy cabinet radiates countless awards and certificates of honor, all of which having been bestowed on him by the media and numerous professional organizations for his selfless services to mankind," it boasted further. It said Urey is a campaigner for the development and promotion of the youths, a dedicated, hard and committed worker, and incisive business executive who has not had one thing: the opportunity to serve his countrymen and women at the apex of the nation's National Parliament.
The campaign said Urey, having as his adage "Anything the mind can believe, conceive and work towards, can definitely be achieved" has over the past 24 years, worked very hard in strategies planning; training and development; cost containment; financial analysis and management; administration; project management; organization effectiveness; budget preparation, etc., and attained meaning results.
Urey, the campaign said, is an architect for the revitalization of the Liberia National Olympic Committee (LNOC) where he served as its secretary general, later as president, and as an executive committee member-associate of Olympic Committee of Africa (ANOCA). The candidate is credited with the founding and management the Atlantic Life & General Insurance Company, believed by many to be the biggest and most reliable insurance company in the country.
"He believes that all citizens and residents should have access to basic services such as safe drinking water, health, a clean safe environment, educational opportunity and other services. He believes in supporting the youth in all activities that are designed to raise them to their highest levels of achievement. He is a man of his words. He keeps his promises," the campaign emphasized.
A holder BA (cum laude) in Political Science from the University of Liberia in 1972, Urey earned a Masters of Public Administration degree from Syracuse University, USA (1974), a Masters of Business Administration degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, USA, (1983), the campaign said in its profile of the candidate.
He served as lecturer at the Liberian Institute of Public Administration (LIPA) before taking up the public service portfolios of Deputy Commissioner for Training and Excise, Commissioner of Internal Revenues, and Commissioner Customs and Excise at the Ministry of Finance in Monrovia. Despite his elaborate achievement, Urey says said he is like any other Liberian with no privileged background.
"I cut and toted wood, walked bare-footed, and even got bitten by a snake and could not walk for weeks. I cut palm nuts, hauled water, etc., but despite these difficult times, I kept my focus and went to school," he revealed. Urey hails from the District of Careysburg, Montserrado County, from where his late father hailed, while his mother who still lives, is a daughter of Maryland County. He is married with three children.
Mr. Urey who heads the board of the National Oil Company of Liberia as its chairman is also once served as president of the Greater Monrovia Lions Club, junior warden of the St. Stephen Episcopal Church, and President of the Association of Insurers in Liberia, amongst several other community, education, sports, and professional portfolios.
Meanwhile, Mr. Urey has revealed to the press evidences of his ability to represent the people of Montserrado County in the Liberian Senate. According to a campaign document, the candidate has kept his campaign promises to certain communities even after he lost the senatorial race in the 2005 parliamentary elections.
Projects completed in keeping with the 2005 senatorial race promises, the campaign said, includes an 8-room pit latrine in the Center Street Community of Greater Monrovia, a 6-room pit latrine in Logan Town's Zinc Camp Community on Bushrod Island, and a hand-pump that provides safe-drinking water for hundreds of residents in Kingsville District #7 Community.
Also to the credit of the candidate, the campaign said, is the donation of five sewing machines to the Logan Town Women for Empowerment Program. It said it was these achievements that the candidate promises to upgrade when he is elected to the Senate.
"As Senator for Montserrado, I will serve as an advocate for the improvement in the quality of life for all citizens and residents of Montserrado," Urey said.
But how? some say is the key question. "I will improve the road network within the City of Monrovia; I will construct and improve farm-to-market roads in rural Montserrado; and I will improve the congestion of the Red-Light intersection," Urey said.
Also at the top of his agenda of development, improvement, construction and/or repairs, Urey says, will be the improvement of the Caldwell to White Plains road, which he said will help to ease the congestion at the Red-light, the seeking of a lasting solution to the transportation problem of Monrovia and its environs, and the bringing health care to remote parts of rural Montserrado County.
Moreover, he says, he will provide safe drinking water for rural Montserrado, appropriate legislation to implement the youth policy adopted by the government and stakeholders, and stage annual fundraising programs aimed at realizing at least USD 50,000.00 to help defray the cost of WAEC fees for needy junior and senior high school students.
Finally, he says, he will engage private educational institutions with the view to arriving at affordable fees and tuition without sacrificing quality, enable affordable living for low income families, and design policies, programs and legislations aimed at supporting small and medium-size Liberian businesses geared towards producing an indigenous middle class.
"Within the limits of my resources, I will continue to offer financial assistance to needy students," Urey says.
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Let UREY know that our people will no longer be used,salutation or no salutation Madam DOE -SHERIFF Will WIN, These are the very same guys that got our country to be what it is today, they uesed our people,deprived them of education and better living,they were in school while our brothers & sisters served them,they distory our counry, they when to school abroad with public funds, while our people suffer,no equal rights & justicfor our people. MADAM GERALDINE DOE-SHERIFF WE SAY BRAVIO TO YOU. LET UREY SHOWS HIS NATIVITY.