HARBEL, Margibi – A candidate for the Liberian Presidency in 2017’s general and presidential elections, Ambassador Nathaniel Barnes, says he intends to enter into a covenant with the Liberian people. His priority is to get the country back on track and well into growth and development using five key areas of focus.

Speaking on June 2 at a gathering of young people in Harbel, Barnes said he will use his courage to effect positive changes in the country if he is elected.

“Our leaders have not had the courage to say the truth and take the necessary actions on people when they go wrong,” he said.

He said Liberia needs better reconciliation. “To have a national identity as a country, will form the basis for real peace and sustainable development,” he said.

Barnes said he would be courageous and unwavering using education, healthcare, infrastructure, agriculture,and justice as impact areas of his administration.

Because he says education is a key to the success, Barnes promised to secure appropriate financing to build, renovate and modernize schools and learning facilities. He also plans to focus on science, technology and math from kindergarten to high school and adopt digital learning and online curriculum in high school utilizing government or fiber internet access. Additionally his cabinet would make particular emphasis on civic studies and personal hygiene for students in kindergarten in addition to supporting nutrition and feeding programs in public schools.

Barnes also said under his educational plan; his administration will provide adequate funding and support for rural teacher training, tuition waivers to students in universities studying science, technology, and math. However, the tuition waiver would be on condition that they maintain a minimum grade point average and are committed to national service three years after graduation.

“We will provide livable wages to qualified teachers,” he said.

On healthcare, Barnes said his “covenant with Liberia will aim to upgrade the health care delivery system with strategic focus on access to basic health services and improvement in health care infrastructures.”

To achieve this, his administration will provide preventive and curative services for children to improve maternal and child health services, enforce malaria and HIV prevention. Additionally, he mentioned increased mental health services and that he would seek international partnerships on epidemic prevention and containment.

Barnes said as part of his covenant; his leadership will also train more qualified, available and motivated staff, increase the incentive for health care workers, provide opportunities for specializations and further training for doctors. He would also institute a system for performance evaluation of the sector. He also talked about the need to construct and renovate health care facilities, outfit community clinics and regional hospitals with access to water and electricity during operations, appropriate equipment for diagnosis and drug supplies.

Regarding infrastructure, Barnes said his leadership will seek build-own-operate-transfer financing for power plants. He would also push for solar and other renewable energy power such as biomass to enhance the provision of more convenient electricity.

He said, his leadership will rehabilitate existing water and sewage systems and construct new ones, seek out private investment for fiber optic networks and provide incentives to mobile network operators for last mile connectivity among others.

A Barnes administration would increase investment in roads and bridges, construction and modernization, and construction and rehabilitation of weather-farm to market roads in rural Liberia would be ensured.

He said the government would begin implementation of the Roberts International Airport building plan, rehabilitate and construct regional airports and landing strips in the country and provide an incentive for private investment in domestic air transport services.

“Dredging and modernization of the ports of Greenville and Harper, provision of incentive for private investment in domestic sea transport between Monrovia, Buchanan, Greenville, and Harper would be ensured,” Barnes said.

In the agriculture sector, Barnes has proposed to improve government agriculture extension services such as the Central Agricultural Research Institute and seeding program and support production intensification for smallholder farmers. He said the government under his leadership will introduce a system to buy what the farmers are unable to sell at the commercial level and use the produce for public school nutrition and feeding programs.

Additionally the government will institute a sustainable management of natural resources for mitigation and adaptation to climate change impacts including land and environment management, logging and oil, sand, diamond and gold mining.

He promised that if elected in 2017, his administration will develop a public service education program to bring awareness of civil rights to the broader population. “We will publish the Liberian constitution in simple English and launch an educational program to raise public awareness of rights to due process,” Barnes stated.

Barnes told Liberians his leadership will promote election rather than the appointment of local officials, implement zero tolerance policy for public corruption and failure in public trust at all levels of the government.

He used the forum to call upon young people to understand the power of their votes to the change needed for Liberia’s growth.

“Know that you have power and understand the importance of that power,” he said.

Barnes has served Liberia in different capacities both at the national and international levels. He was born in Monrovia and graduated from high school at the College of West Africa in 1972.

He served as Director General for the National Social Security and Welfare Corporation in 1999 and later as Minister of Finance in the same year and relieved of the post in 2002. In August 2003, he formed the Liberia Destiny Party and became its first standard bearer. When he lost the election in 2005, he was appointed in 2006 to serve as Liberia’s Ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations. Two years later, he was named as Liberia’s Ambassador to the United States from which he was recalled in 2010. He was later appointed as Chairman of the Board of the National Port Authority of Liberia but resigned in 2014 to participate in the private sector.

Forkpayea Mulbah, the Executive Director for Together Everyone Achieves More, a youth leadership exploring group in Margibi, praised Ambassador Barnes for his eloquence and farsightedness. He also stressed that many leaders in Liberia make huge promises but soon change their commitments when they are elected.

He called upon young people to be critical and search correctly into backgrounds and platforms of people seeking public offices in the country.

Speaking to The Bush Chicken, Mulbah said for too long politicians have made failed promises thus continuously leaving the country in a backward position. He said, now is the time that young people take charge of the future.

“We can no longer wait for the future, but we will take charge of today because it is what we were promised decades ago,” he said.

According to him, young people too can lead their country, and they must start the exploration now for 2017.

Barnes is part of what is usually a large field of contenders for the Liberian presidency. The other major name to have announced so far is Vice President Joseph Boakai.

Featured image courtesy of Liberian Journal