The standard bearer of the Movement for Progressive Change (MPC) businessman Simeon Freeman has named former Presidential aspirant and public health specialist, Dr. James Kollie Barclay, as his running mate in the October 10th Presidential and Legislative Elections.
Mr. Simeon made the choice on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, at the MPC's fourth national convention held at the Baptist Seminary in Paynesville outside Monrovia. The party has elected new corps of officers to steer its affairs for the next six years.
"Having been elected by the MPC as its standard bearer, I also want to name my running mate today. Our running mate is a Liberian, married, comes from Bong County and is a medical doctor. Our running mate is well school. With that, I like to call out Dr. James Kollie Barclay as my running mate", Mr. Freeman announced.
He continues, "From today onward, Dr. Barclay and I will be moving forward as the next President and Vice President of Liberia in this upcoming election. We will make sure we bring change to the people of Liberia."
He urged Liberians to make sure the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) government of President George Weah is replaced at the ballot box comes October.
"This election is not about T-shirts, how much money a politician spent to build toilets and other facilities for you. Let it be about who has the competence and capacity to deliver Liberia from poverty and redeem us back to respectability."
He reminded Liberians that if they have endured poverty for the last six years, then they shouldn't be deceived in the next three months.
Quoting statistics from the World Bank and other international organizations and government's commitment, the MPC standard bearer noted that the Government of Liberia should have created 50,000 jobs by 2014, but it failed to do so.
Mr. Freeman noted that from 2014 to now, the population of Liberia has increased and things have changed, which means that government now needs to provide or create at least 65,000 jobs annually.
"This government (CDC) has proven that they can't give it to you. Now the question is, how will those jobs be created? How will the many women that have kids and the fathers have not looked back or the many men that have girls pregnant, when that child is born, may probably not know their fathers; how are you going to feel that child? Those are the issues this election is about. Therefore, you have to be very careful how you vote", he cautioned Liberian voters.
He said the pending elections are about education and future of all Liberians, especially single mothers, who deprived themselves of dressing and eating just to educate their children but later after graduation, the child still becomes liability to parents only because the quality of education is too substandard to be competitive.
He added that the election is also about the challenges that people face when they go to hospital to get medication and disappointingly there are no drugs at the facility and their homes are much cleaner than the government facility.
"After this election, let it not be said that the people fool us. These elections are about your future. If you vote for someone based on sympathy, you are responsible for Liberia's shortcomings. If you vote on the fact that you know the people and they don't have the competence and capacity to move our country forward, then you are part of the problem of our country."
According to the satellite television (Dstv) distributer, often young people phoning in on national radios say they're calling from the district that has no representative, but
Interestingly he notes when there is an election these young people permit themselves to be trucked to other people's districts giving them lawmakers that they don't want.
He said one thing those involved in such practice failed to realize is that if they are twenty years old and elect a bad leadership, that leadership will expire when they are 26, which means that within the space of six years, they will have nothing to show.
"If I close your eyes now and take you to Nigeria and you have not been there for the past five years, you will wonder where you are. But, if you travel from Liberia ten years ago and came back, you see no real change. Many of us live under very difficult circumstances", he lamented.
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Mr. Freeman: "When I was a child growing up with my parents, we lived in a zinc house. When it was raining, the rain will have no other place to fall but on top of your bed. And when the sun is shining, you will open the window fighting battle with mosquitoes and sleep. But, if you close the windows, you will have to deal with the heat."
He said like his own experience, many Liberians are going through similar situation but when elections come, they allow themselves to be used by politicians and later say they were fooled into electing the wrong leadership.
However, in his acceptance speech, Dr. James Kollie Barclay said he was excited and overwhelmed over his selection by Mr. Freeman, as running mate.
"Our problem in Liberia is chronic. We need radical treatment, someone that will stand with us. That person who has the vision to change this country for all Liberians. And, the best option for Liberia now to lift this country from poverty to self-reliance and food production is the Freeman-Barclay Ticket. This team understands the plight of the Liberian people", Dr. Barclay said.
