“I Am Not A Politician, But Man Of Action’’

-Mark Keshen Asserts

By T. Saye Goinleh

Mark Keshen, a senatorial candidate in the impending senatorial by-election in Montserrado County has disclosed that he is not a ‘seasoned politician’ and is not around to manipulate, but one of actions if given the chance to be elected to the upper House of the Liberian legislature.

Keshen speaking as the only contestant among the seven in the Montserrado County senatorial by-election to honor the invitation of the Press Union of Liberia to address the Special Edition of the Edward Wilmot Blyden Forum at the Union’s headquarters on Clay Street says he is not going to the Senate as a hero because there are equally beautiful people already up there.

“There are people in the Senate who may not have had the opportunity to proffer Bills, but I am not them; there are some also that have the reasoning, but I am not them and there are people who have been able to change the minds of others to create policies, but I am not them’’, Keshen said at the gathering.

The seven senatorial hopefuls invited were expected to lecture on the issues of health, education and the present situation in Liberia including the rising cost of living, commodity prices and the growing concern about the educational system in the country.

Touching on the health sector in the country, Keshen said the matter is manual as compared to other countries in the West African sub-region like Ghana, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast. He stressed that the issue surrounding health is a must and government should encourage insurance and banking institutions in Liberia to invest in the area.

On the problem of drug abuse among young people in the society, the Montserrado senatorial candidate noted that when elected, he would attempt to tackle the factor by understanding who the real players in the importation of the substance are and out of the country, who are the providers and those buyers and users which he said are not so difficult to achieve.

Reflecting on the Liberian economy, candidate Keshen mentioned that the local market is flooded with goods from all over West Africa and far-away regions thereby rendering Liberians as mere consumers and not importers to other countries.

Keshen further argued that with the fourteen cents US$0.14 reduction in the prices of a gallon of gasoline and twenty-five KG bag of rice, these are insignificant. According to him, Liberians should in fact be compensated over the years because they were being cheated with the high prices they were subjected to pay.

He suggested that Liberia as a contemporary nation in the 21^st century should step up to invest in agriculture and the industrial sector if and only if it has to be on par with her neighboring sister nations.

It is not clear up to press time why the other senatorial candidates of Montserrado County stay away from this year’s Special Edition of the Edward Wilmot Blyden Forum thereby being sent separate invitations by the Press Union of Liberia.