-Liberian Diploma defends presidential bid
Former Liberian Diplomat to the United Nations Madam Sara Beysolow Nyanti says she is fit for leadership, mounting a defense of her quest for the Liberian presidency.
The presidential hopeful rhetorically asked who is a better leader than her in Liberia, telling reporters in Monrovia that she is cancer free after three successful surgeries.
"Who's [a] better leader than me in Liberia? show me the person, then I have been all around the world in all the countries [where] I have served humanity. So don't tell me that I have cancer, that I'm not fit for [the] leadership position," Madam Nyanti said.
"I did have cancer, but with the help of God and after three successful surgeries, I'm cancer free," she said during a retirement dinner held at a hotel in Monrovia.
Madam Nyanti's statement came against a local media report alleging that she is terminally ill, and unhealthy to lead.
But she explained that in her ten months of health challenges battling the sickness, she had been doing her work serving humanity.
She argued that she is fully fit to assume any leadership role as she transitions into a new path in life.
Madam Nyanti emphasized that she is glad that people wrote her story and it was read.
She said it sent a clear picture that people in Liberia do not have access to healthcare and diagnosis capacity that needs to be improved with a good leader and a new chapter.
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She said her job at the United Nations involved solving problems, building systems that create room for poverty reduction across the world, and giving life to the hopeless.
The former United Nations Resident Coordinator in South Sudan stressed that though her health challenges had been pulling service to humanity, she has been strong executing her duties as a UN Diplomat.
Madam Nyanti vowed to continue to champion the cause of women and girls in Liberia, expressing hopes that every girl in Liberia will have a better future.
Madam Nyanti thanked the Liberian people for being a part of her journey in different ways.
In remarks, her husband Mr. Stephen Nyanti said the Liberian Diplomat's career should be described as a testimony to many young girls in Liberia.
Mr. Nyanti noted that every chapter of life has been inspired by God, describing his wife as a strong, brave, and courageous woman.
He indicated that she broke barriers to aid women, girls, and children around the world.
Before serving in senior-level representational roles at the UN, Madam Nyanti served as a technical expert at UNICEF and United UNDP related to setting up systems for large-scale grant management, social protection/cash transfers, HIV/AIDS, health, and education.
She joined the UN in the early 2000s after working for the Liberian government as Special Assistant to Dr. Peter Coleman, former Minister of Health in the Charles Taylor administration.
