Our Platform
Citizens of District Number Four are left behind to suffer because they lack adequate representation. But the year 2023 will be the beginning of a transformation for the people of District Four. As someone with the requisite experience, I promise you, as your Representative, I will make District Four the center of my life as I have always done. Working along with you, we will deliver on modern agriculture merchandising productivities which will serve as bedrock for creating employment. We will ensure that our people have land deeds for their land. We will harvest the energy from the sun to provide electricity to our people. We will promote modern education from ABC all the way to University level. We will ensure that our healthcare delivering systems are adequate and affordable.
Modern Agriculture
If the Omnipotent God has given us sun, rain, good soil, forests and if our people are hardworking, why should we be in poverty? Why should we suffer hunger during the rainy season? Some things are not right. Our proposals are intended to correct those things that are not right. Our top priorities will be on modernizing agriculture and adding values to the productivity of our people. We plan to:
Advocate and work with the Ministry of Agriculture and NGOs focusing on providing agriculture extension services to teach farmers the technique of climate-smart agriculture that serves as a means of supporting livelihoods focusing on generating incomes for farmers.
Create investment opportunities focusing on modern production (including the use of modern equipment), storage (warehouses) and transport (roads) to market (including the US market)
Create job opportunities that lift people out of poverty.
Land Documents
Land is the single most valuable resource that our people in District Number Four have. Its natural and mineral resources as well as its cultural values have supported our people for hundreds of years.
Realising the values of land and land resources, I got involved with land reforms in Liberia in 2010 when I started working for the Liberia Land Commission as Program Assistant. Since that time, I worked along with the Government of Liberia and Civil Society Organizations to pass the Land Rights Bill into law. The law specifically recognizes and protects the rights of customary or traditional people to their lands. Prior to the passage of the Land Rights Bill into law, all lands in Liberia without registered deeds were considered to be public land. The Land Rights Law breaks away from this historical injustice and specifically recognizes and protects the land rights of rural Liberians with or without deeds. The law also outlines procedures where rural Liberians can follow to ensure that the government gives them deeds.
We have already started working with some clans in District Number Four to obtain deeds for their land. We will continue this work. We will ensure that every landowner in District Number Four has title deeds on their lands.
Provision of Electricity
Electricity is the energy that powers economic growth. Unfortunately we do not have electricity in District Number Four. Fortunately District Number Four in rural Bong County receives adequate sun-shine to produce adequate electricity. Our goal therefore, will focus on harvesting the energy from the sun to provide electricity to our people. We will ensure that our major health facilities and schools have electricity.
Education and Youth Empowerment
As someone who lived in District Number Four but did not have the opportunity to go to school until I was almost 14 years old, started school in the Bheta Refugee Camp for the first time in 1995, graduated from high school, obtain a B.Sc, two masters degrees and a Ph.D, I know the power of education. I have seen first hand the benefits of quality education. I believe that every child born in District Number Four has the right to education and this fundamental right should not be denied.
We have already laid the foundation of education in District Number Four. We built a school and made it a public school free of charge. Our school is the only school in District Number Four that has running water powered by energy from the sun. We will continue this good work making sure every child has the opportunity to go to school.
We will ensure that agriculture is an integral part of our high school systems. We will support vocational agriculture as part of our school system.
Many students graduate from high school and are unable to attain college education. The reason is that we do not have a college in District Number Four and students have to either move to Gbarnga or to Monrovia to go college. This is impossible for poor families that do not have family members in Gbarnga or Monrovia with housing to provide homes for their students. Therefore, we will ensure that we have a world class university in District Number Four. We will build a student resource center and equip it with internet facilities. We will link the center to tuition-free online universities based in the United States of America. Our students will remain right in District Number Four and obtain University Degrees from the United States of America.
As District Number Four will be the focus point of our development strategy, students benefiting from our programs will be required to sign contracts that will ensure that they make certain contributions to the development of District Number Four upon graduation.
As part of our overall education strategy, we will focus on building the capacities of our teachers. We will lobby with the Ministry of Education to ensure that all teachers in District Number Four are paid regularly and on a timely basis.
Provision of Adequate and Affordable Healthcare
We do not have an adequate and affordable healthcare system in District Number Four. The few clinics we have are normally out of drugs and are under-staffed. These will change under our representation. We will advocate for and lobby with the Ministry of Health and NGOs to make sure we have improved healthcare delivery systems in District Number Four. We will also focus on health education ensuring that our people practice prevention as a method of reducing disease burdens.