Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor says her dream in life was to become a bank governor and not a politician.
Making the revelation ahead of her 60th birth anniversary, Madam Jewel Howard-Taylor confessed that little did she know that she would have reached such a higher level in politics.
She once served as Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Liberia now Central Bank of Liberia; president of the Agriculture Cooperative and Development Bank (ACDB) and Mortgage Financing Underwriter of the First Union National Bank.
Besides politics now, she is focused on education, health and social projects.
Howard-Taylor, the 30th Vice President of Liberia told the public via the Liberia Broadcasting System’s program “Woman in politics” on Sunday, January 15 in Monrovia that her achievements were attributed to her mother, Nora Giddings-Howard; former President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and the late Winnie Mandela.
The Veep stated, among other things, that the above-mentioned individuals played meaningful roles in her upbringing as a young woman and now a stateswoman globally.
“My Mother Nora Giddings-Howard raised me morally; Winnie Mandela’s ideas on issues of local and international concerns spirited me, and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s boldness strengthened me,” she intimated.
Howard-Taylor explained, “When I was First Lady, I travelled in trucks distributing food to our people, mainly the needy but honestly, I did not know I would have reached where I am today.”
“Whenever I am in public, I am a politician but at home I am a housewife who goes into the kitchen to serve my husband,” she reflected.
Meanwhile, Veep Howard-Taylor emphasized the need for more support and empowerment of women and girls and that this can be achieved when parents, guardians and the state invest in young women or girls.
“For the past five years now, the government has prioritized payment of fees for candidates sitting the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), free tuition for undergraduates at public universities and colleges among others,” Howard-Taylor noted.
