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The hopes and dreams of a new nation [New African](New African Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) At the next elections in Liberia in 2017, a completely new candidate will be in the running for president. Benoni Urey (pictured below), 57, an entrepreneur and philanthropist, has already thrown his hat in the ring. Though he has extensive experience in government, he has never been a politician. He says he wants to run for president because his "heart bleeds for the people. I want to move our people from where they are." Urey is highly rated, and opinion leaders say he has a good chance of success. Here, we profile the man who hopes to be king, come 2017. Benjamin Disraeli, the British prime minister of yore, once said: "The world is weary of statesmen whom democracy has degraded into politicians". A century and a half later, Linda Lingle, the American politician who became the sixth gover- nor of Hawaii, had a beautiful riposte to Disraeli: "Politicians all too often think about the next election. Statesmen think about the next generation," she said. Which of the two categories would you put Benoni Urey, Liberia's millionaire-businessman who wants to run for president in 2017. He has wide experience in government, having worked in several positions under various presidents until becoming the Commissioner for the Bureau of Maritime Affairs in 1996, and working closely with former President Charles Taylor from 1997 to 2003. After the collapse of Taylor's government, Urey submerged himself in business, first expanding the reach of his multi-faceted farm at his birthplace in Careysburg, 20 miles outside Monrovia, which covers 120 hectares of a 400-hectare farmland inherited from his father, and later, developing further upcountry the fourth largest rubber plantation in Liberia, covering over 1,200 hectares of farmland. Today, Urey owns the largest poultry farm in the country. But what made him a multi-millionaire was his mobile telecoms company, LoneStar Cell, which, after being merged with the South African multinational MTN, is now the largest telecoms company in Liberia. Urey is part of a 40% shareholding in the merged company, now trading as LoneStar MTN. With money from Lonestar Cell and the farms, Urey has expanded into a successful real estate business, a car rental company, and a publishing and broadcasting house. He now owns a newspaper in Monrovia, a TV station, and two FM radio stations with national reach. He employs 1,600 people on a full-time basis, and thousands more on a contractual basis in his many businesses. A serious farmer Trading under t he na me Wulki Farms, the farm at Careysburg is not just a fa rm. It is a homestead for Urey a nd his siblings (who have all built their houses there). It is a lso a tourist site that attracts thousands of local tourists on festive days and a few less on normal days. There is a conference centre on the farm, there a re bars, there is a big restaurant that serves customers Monday to Sunday, there is a large swimming pool where customers can cool down at a sma ll price, there is a cof fee shop with a smaller conference room, there are cha lets where clients can spend as long a time as they want for a fee, t here is a radio station, and Urey is building an 18-hole golf course on the undulating hills on the farm. But that is the business side of the confident man who says "come what may, with God's help, I will be president in 2017". Scholarship scheme Urey's public service side includes a scholarship scheme funded from his personal resources, which now covers more than 100 students in universities, colleges and high schools. Each year he gives a scholarship to the best student in agriculture and economics at his alma mater, Cuttington University in Gbarnga, Bong County. He also has a large philanthropic programme that helps individuals, hospitals, churches, mosques, schools, colleges and universities, and other social groups. He says it is the current sorry plight of the people of Liberia that has moved him to put his hat into the presidential ring. Having had a rural upbringing himself, he says his "heart bleeds for the people". As he puts it: "The 10 or more years of being on the UN travel sanctions list enabled me to interact with Liberians throughout the length and breadth of the country, thus giving me the opportunity to understand their hurts, needs, wants, and desperation. "I have lived and worked with almost every ethnic group in Liberia during and after the civil crisis. My religious association (Christian and Muslim), business, and social work have given me a firmer understanding of Liberia and its people." Personal profile Urey was born on 22 June 1957 at Careysburg. He came from a very humble background. His father was a farmer and mother a teacher. His father became a political prisoner in 1955 when he was arrested and incarcerated for four years by President William Tubman. Urey grew up in a household of 11 biological siblings and 6 adopted siblings. As a boy, he worked on the very farm in Careysburg that he is now operating as a poultry farm and residence. He attended the Careysburg Public School and was awarded an American government scholarship to attend the American Cooperative School in Monrovia where he earned his high school diploma. From there, he went to the Cuttington University College in Gbarnga on a Liberian government scholarship and obtained a BSc in General Science with an emphasis on Chemistry. His first passion was to become a medical doctor, so he applied and was accepted at the A.M. Dogliotti College of Medicine but could not attend because he had to work to help support his younger siblings. His first job was at the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) in Monrovia where he worked as a training officer in the Manpower and Training Department. While at the LEC, he was granted a scholarship to attend the University of Southern California (USC) in the USA, where he obtained an MA in Public Finance and an MSc in Planning (public private planning). While at the USC, he worked for the Los Angeles Times, delivering newspapers in the mornings to top up his living allowance. He also worked for the Los Angeles County's Redevelopment Commission. He completed his second Masters Degree in May 1986, this time in Public, Private Planning, and married his sweetheart Mai Bright Urey on 26 May of the same year. They have four children. Urey returned to Liberia in June 1986, and 10 years later became the Commissioner of the Bureau of Maritime Affairs, a defining period in his life. His journey of employment has seen him becoming an Accounts Clerk at the Security Pacific Bank in Los Angeles, an Assistant Project Manager of the Community Development Commission in Los Angeles, a Deputy Director General of Training at the Liberia Electricity Corporation in Monrovia, a Consultant of the African Development Bank based in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire; a Managing Director of the Liberia Rubber Development Company in Gbarnga; a President and CEO of the Agricultural and Cooperative Development Bank in Monrovia and since 2005 the Chairman of Lonestar Communication Corporation in Monrovia. He is a member of nearly all the traditional fraternities in Liberia and also the District Deputy Grand Master of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Liberia. The Taylor era When Taylor won the elections in 1997, Urey was already Commissioner for the Bureau of Maritime Affairs. He had been appointed two years before. Though he has never been a politician and has never held any cabinet position in his life, his experience in government employment and sheer hard work pushed him close to President Taylor. Today, people remember him for being put on the United Nations travel ban list because of his closeness to Taylor while he was at the Bureau of Maritime Affairs. In the final report of the United Nations Expert Panel on Liberia, Urey was put down as: "Ex-commissioner of the Bureau of Maritime Affairs of Liberia. He was the direct superior of Mr Ruprah and played a key role in arms procurements starting in the summer of 2002. Associate of former Liberian President Charles Taylor with ongoing ties to him." Urey finds it inconceivable that anybody could describe his involvement in the purchase of two ex-military helicopters that was used by the Liberian police and the Special Security Service (SSS) as "having played a key role in arms procurements in the summer of 2002". He explains that as head of the Bureau of Maritime Affairs, whose revenues made up US$21m of Liberia's then national budget of $33m, he was instructed by the then finance minister, who himself was under the instructions of President Taylor, to write to the maritime comptroller in Vienna, Virginia, USA, to ask the agent of the Liberian International Ship & Corporate Registry (LISCR) based in Vienna, to transfer an amount of $628,000 to San Air for the purchase of the two helicopters. "The UN has a copy of my letter to the maritime comptroller in Vienna," Urey says. "I didn't purchase the helicopters. I got the directive from the Finance Ministry and I wrote to the maritime comptroller, saying: 'By the Directive of the President through the Finance Minister, you are authorised to transfer $628,000 to San Air for the purchase of two MI-2 ex-military helicopters.' That is what the UN Expert Panel had against me, but there was nothing inappropriate about it, and the Panel found no impropriety against me. The helicopters were used by the Liberian Police and the SSS." Ties with Taylor Regarding the charge of "ongoing ties with Taylor" put down against him in the UN Report, Urey says: "Like any other Liberian, I worked for the government of Liberia under President Taylor. But one has to understand that everybody in Liberia worked under Taylor. Perhaps because of my proximity to him, they might say something, but what does that amount to? "Yes, I was close to Taylor, I am not denying that, but it doesn't change my commitment to my country, Liberia. There were other people who worked under Taylor and were close to him as I was, and they are now holding important public positions in this country, either as senators or senior senators, judges, senior civil and public servants, and senior members of the Legislature and ministers in the present government. They have all been given opportunities to serve this country again after their time with Taylor. So why should it be different when it comes to me?" On the source of his wealth, Urey says: "Most of my wealth was acquired as a result of my investment in LonestarCell MTN, planting rubber, and developing my farm in Careysburg. Some people claim that my wealth came from when I was the commissioner for maritime affairs. That is totally incorrect. "In fact, three audits were conducted after I left the Bureau of Maritime Affairs. The government of Liberia sent auditors to audit the maritime programme when I was commissioner. VOSCON audited me, and the European Union also audited the maritime programme. "In all the audits, they found that the Maritime Bureau rather owed me money, but they have not been honourable enough to pay me what the Maritime Bureau still owes me, and you might ask why I haven't commented on it. But never has the international community accused me of any financial impropriety while I was at the Maritime Bureau. "And I want the following points to be emphasised: never has the government of Liberia accused me of any financial impropriety while I was at the Maritime Bureau! What you are hearing is all empty political talk. "In fact, most of what I have acquired over the years came after I was commissioner of maritime affairs. Well, I did start a poultry farm when I was commissioner, but most of what I have acquired over the years came after my days at the Maritime Bureau. "After I left the maritime programme, I started my GSM company, LonestarCell Communications, in which I now jointly own 40% shares. That has been the primary source of my wealth and income, and whatever I have had from LonestarCell has been re-invested wisely to reach where things are today. "So let me repeat it because it is important that I repeat it: I have never been accused by anybody, not by the Liberian government or the international community or any credible institution of any financial impropriety, never! When I left the Bureau of Maritime Affairs, there were three audits done - and all of them cleared me! "In terms of how I acquired my wealth, I acquired it through hard work. I started my poultry farm during the Taylor administration. At that time we were the only poultry producers in Liberia. We were selling approximately 25,000 chickens a month at US$5 each. We were selling eggs. We were growing pepper. We had cattle. We had a fishery programme. That's where my wealth started from. "Then after Taylor was removed from power, I devoted my time and energy to my businesses, and from there it grew and grew." On the question of what he brings to the presidential race, Urey says: "I am bringing to the table experience in governance, and most importantly I am bringing national- ism and patriotism. Of all the candidates likely to enter the race, I am the only one who has lived in Liberia all my life. I have lived with the people, I can show them what I have done, and they can see what I have done. "At this point in the life of our nation, we need somebody with the requisite experience and knowhow to run the country. I have worked in several governments. I have both political and business experience. I have the requisite education, and I have been able to show that I can use all of these things to run the country, "When it comes to nationalism and love for the country, a lot of the candidates who are likely to run for president don't love this country. They love what they can get out of the country. All of them come here and go, their families live out of Liberia. They don't live with the Liberian people. "But I have been here with the Liberian people, I have felt their pain, I have shared their joys. I have seen them at their worst, I have seen them at their best. I have been with them, I have worked with them. The other aspiring candidates have not. They don't know what it is to be poor. I know what it is to be poor because I came out of a predominantly poor family. "There is nothing anybody in Liberia has done that I haven't done. We worked the soil. We had to sell produce in the market to make a living. We tapped rubber to live. People don't know this, they think we were from a favoured class. No. I have a rural upbringing. So I have an appreciation of what the poor people are now going through. "I know what it is not to be able to pay school fees. I know what it is not to be able to pay your father's hospital bill and you have to beg for money from people to pay it. I have those experiences. We have come a long way from the depth of poverty to where we are today. "And I still believe in development, but development with progress - meaning, what good is it for me to acquire all that I have acquired while everybody else around me is poor and suffering. That concerns me a lot. My heart bleeds for our people! "And if you ask me why I want to be president after all that I have acquired through my businesses, I say I want to move our people from where they are. I see our people suffering daily. You go to the hospital, there is no medicare. You go to the schools, the children don't have benches to sit on. There are no jobs. It pains me. I have done all I can to help in this endeavour. I have an extensive scholarship programme, I donate to schools, I donate to hospitals, and I believe that when I am elected president this situation can be improved." The Congo factor: In Liberia, there has always been ethnic animosity between the descendants of the Americo-Liberians who came from the USA to settle in the country, and the descendants of the natives they came to meet. This animosity is known locally as the "Country-Congo Divide". The Americo-Liberians and their progeny are known locally as the "Congo people", and the natives "Country people". Since Liberia's independence in 1847, the "Congo people" hap- pened, and still happen, to be the rulers of the country and the richest in society. Regarding this distracting division in Liberian politics, Urey says: "This is one of the areas where the previous leaders of this country have failed the Liberian people. They have not united this country, to the point where in this age and time people are still preaching ethnicity. It is total foolishness. "For example, it is difficult to look at me today and say I am a Congo man, because all my life I grew up as an indigenous person. I have never been a member of the elite ruling class. I speak Kpelle fluently. [Kpelle is the largest spoken language in Liberia]. "My father had three wives, two of them were Kpelle and one was Congo. I have uncles and aunties who have never spoken a word of English in their lives. And they are my relatives. So how do you judge somebody like me? "These are some of the areas we will tackle when I am elected president. We have to look at ourselves as Liberians, and not as Kpelle, Gio, Congo, Mandingo, etc, because it is divisive for our country. It doesn't help this country. "I don't look at myself as coming from one ethnic group. I look at myself as being from more than one ethnic group. Even religiously, I am a Presbyterian, I am a ruling elder in my church where I serve as a sexton. I clean the church. My responsibility to the church is to clean and make sure the church is fit for service. And this is my way of giving back to God all the good he has done for me. "And not only do I associate with my church, I associate also with many other churches. I give generously to them and I go to their programmes. I also go to the programmes of the Muslim community. I send people on the Hajj. I have sent more than 20 people on the Hajj, all paid for by myself. Some of my best friends in the world today are Muslims. We don't let religion divide us, rather we let religion unite us. I go to the mosque with some of my friends. "Unfortunately, the factors that should not harm us have been allowed by our leaders to divide us. There should be no reason why we should have religious problems in Liberia at this time. "I have relatives who are Muslims but we live together, we work together, we co-exist. I have got relatives who are Kpelle or Bassa, we don't look at them any differently. But this whole thing about 'Country and Congo', we have to do something nationally to overcome it. It is foolishness and it must be thrown out." On America's influence in Liberia, and how the Americans see him, especially after his close ties with Taylor, Urey says: "If you look at my resumé, I am basically made in America. At an early age, I was given an American government scholarship to study at an A merican cooperative school, where I obtained my high school diploma. Af ter university at Cuttington, and while working at the Liberia Electricity Corporation, I was given a scholarship to study at the University of Southern California (USC) where I got my first Masters Degree in Public Finance, before going on to do an Msc in Public/ Private Planning at the same USC. I also did a Training of Trainers Programme at Pittsburg. So basically I am made in America. "In terms of how I look at America and how they look at me, well, we grew up with a good appreciation of America. At one point in time, we were called reactionaries because we favoured America, but today the reactionaries have become the progressives because of our admiration for America. "I have always looked at America favourably. I think they too look at me favourably. They don't have a reason not to. Charles Taylor is no longer with us and it is important that we move forward. It is important that we have a good relationship with the USA because it has played a very positive role in Liberia from its founding until now. We must ensure that the ties with America continue, and not only with America, also with Europe and the rest of the world. America's interest in Liberia must be protected and vice-versa. "Liberia is a strategic ally of the USA. No leader of Liberia can ever believe or even think that we are not strategic allies of America. My greatest hope is that, under my administration, the two countries shall treat one another with dignity and respect, and I have no doubt that they will do that." On how he will treat former Liberian leaders, Urey says: "The time has come for us to move our country forward. We should not get stuck in the past. We have to look forward, not backward. "It will be a good thing to get a former president to sit down with the incumbent and give him advice. For example, when I am elected, I can call President Sirleaf one day and have lunch with her, and seek her advice on some international issues. We can't always prosecute everybody or kill our former leaders or put them in jail. I will not do that as president. We must move forward. "It is the responsibility of the government to take care of the country's former leaders. And not only former leaders, during my administration, I will institute a system where every senior citizen of 70 years and above will be given some means of welfare support to live comfortably until the Lord calls him or her." On agriculture, Urey says: "When I am elected, agriculture will be a priority. A nation that cannot feed itself ceases to exist. We will first tackle health and housing radically, because you have to live to do anything. After that, we shall go on to education. How can a country coming out of war in this day and age close down the Planning Department? Coming out of war, you need the Planning Ministry more than any other Ministry. "I once headed the Agricultural and Cooperative Development Bank. How can you be serious if you close down the Agriculture Bank when the major problem in the country is the lack of jobs? You want jobs for the people, and the greatest employer in the country is agriculture. And you close down the Agricultural Bank? "Another of our greatest needs is housing. And you close down the only bank for housing in the country? So how can you say you want to improve agriculture and housing by closing down the two banks created by law to help agriculture and housing? Come on, you can't be serious! "When I am elected, we shall get involved in mechanised farming in a big way. We have a population of 3.5 million people, we've got all this land and water, so why can't we grow enough rice to feed 3.5 million people? It can easily be done. I have already shown it by the produce from my farm. "Do you know how much we spend annually on importing rice? Over $300m! That money can remain in Liberia if we produce our own rice. Imagine if we invest $300m a year in rice production in Liberia and the returns we can get from it? In four years of my administration, we will be able to grow enough rice to feed ourselves." On the governance style he will adopt, Urey says: "Trust me, I will have a zero tolerance of corruption. Every month, we will have public hearings in one county. We shall sit down under trees where the ordinary people can come and talk and tell us things. "And let me tell you this: What I really want to do is to set standards, get things in motion, so my successors will have a template to follow. I want to have laws enacted to ensure that certain things don't happen. I want to put in place checks and balances so that anybody coming after me will be forced to do the minimum for the country to survive. I will take the hard decisions to set the country straight, and then I will step aside and let somebody else take over." NA Benoni Urey (r) is a member of nearly all the traditional fraternities in the country Benoni Urey (above) has the fourth- largest rubber plantation in Liberia (top) With his strong patriotism, Benoni Urey hopes to follow in the footsteps of previous distinguished presidents of Liberia (c) 2014 IC Publications, Inc. |