Harbel — The Senatorial bid of US-sanctioned former minister of state Nathanial F. Mcgill for Margibi County in 2023 has and continues to be greeted by barrage of public outcry and condemnations from high-profiled figures and institutions in the county with the latest call for his rejection coming from the Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia (FAWUL).
FAWUL, one of the country’s biggest trade union organizations with a membership (employees and dependents) of more than 25 thousand, is calling on all Firestone workers and Margibians to reject the ex-minister’s political quest due to his alleged involvement in human rights abuse and public corruption.
McGill was one of three top officials of the Weah government sanctioned by the United States Treasury Department for public corruption and human rights abuse. In September, he, along with his colleagues, bowed to public pressure and tendered in their resignations.
The Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia through its chairman in a press release issued on Tuesday, December 20, stated that corruption has over the years derided the moral dimension of Liberia and negatively affected the economic growth of the country.
Rodennick M. Bongorlee asserted that rewarding these sanctioned ex-officials government jobs, whether through appointments or elections, could signal to the rest of the world that Liberians are unready to fight corruption.
“We therefore call on all working communities of this country and across the world, especially the workers of Firestone represented by FAWUL not to only condemn this scornful, deliberate and unprovoked act of public corruption against the state and its people, perpetrated by these sanctioned former senior government officials, but to categorically reject them from taking state power” Mr. Bongorlee admonished.
Continuing, Bongorlee added: “leadership of FAWUL calls on all workers of Firestone including their dependents and spouses to distance themselves from any action or in-action that intends to promote the former and sanctioned Minister political quest comes 2023 in Margibi County.”
The FAWUL’s Chairman stressed that the ex-minister must be focused on seeking judicial redress to clear his name from the United States Treasury Department Global Magnitsky Sanction than vying for public office.
“We as citizens and workers of Liberia will sincerely offer to collectively support the former and sanctioned minister in his quest for justice, but not his senatorial bid for Margibi comes 2023”, he asserted.
Bongorlee, however, vowed that FAWUL has resolved to unanimously and jealously protect their political resources against vices that have the proclivity to undercut the development drive of Liberia, adding that such decision shall be done through a national-making processes, especially during the 2023 Legislative and Presidential Elections in Liberia and moving forward.
He said their latest decision is being triggered by what he refers to as the untold sufferings brought upon the working community of Liberia, especially the Firestone workers through the coming into effect of the Decent Work Act of 2015.
The Decent Work Act of 2015 stopped all concession companies’ retirement pension component in the country and give consideration only to the National Social Security and Welfare Cooperation (NASSCORP).
“This demeaning and non-human face law was also crafted by some corrupt public actors whom our people unknowingly voted to preside over national policy through their individual political decision-making process. It is this individual political decision-making process that the workers of Firestone represented by FAWUL have resolved to close door on it and then open a new door to a collective political decision-making process through their leadership as of today’s date onwards” He intimated.
Bongorlee words: “Our people will be guided with every step along the way to make a national decision as of today’s date and moving forward. Even though we will all go to the polls individually to make political decisions, we assure the people of Liberia that the decision that will be made by workers will be a collective decision comes 2023 to support a candidate or political party.”