By Precious D Freeman
The national chairperson of the Patriotic Entrepreneurs of Liberia (PATEL) Dominic Nimely, has given an ultimatum of 90 days to whosoever that would be elected after the October 10 elections to correct the wrongs in the country, if not, unspecified action will be taken.
Addressing the press yesterday, he explained that Liberians have been marginalized in their own country by foreign business people, which needs to change and be corrected.
According to him, there have been foreign companies in Liberia since the regime of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf up to present, like APM Terminal and others, who do not value Liberian currency, but rather request for their payment in United States Dollars.
“There is no law that states that when foreign companies come into a country, they should refuse the currency of that particular country; also, most of the stores that are owned and operated by foreigners often charge in United States dollars forgetting to know that this is not America and our currency needs to be respected and valued,” he said.
The PATEL boss furthered that Liberians need to change the narrative of putting aside their currency, “this is not America so we all need to respect our currency, because if we do not respect it, no one else will, and that goes to the Legislature that signed the documents.”
According to him, he even heard Edwin Melvin Snowe and others saying that it was the worst mistake that they did in signing the APM Terminal contract.
“So many times we submitted documents to the Legislature from the upper house to the lower house, requesting them to summon APM Terminal and other companies that are marginalizing us, but the Legislature has refused to call those people, because they have sold their birth right to them,” he said.
Chairman Nimely continued that the Liberian policy has been marginalized over the past 15 to 16 years, and that the only people that can turn the dynamic around are the Liberians themselves.
“As I speak to you today, to get a container out of Freeport is very stressful, we have lots of problems from the business angle and this has been burning our hearts from the last 15 years, we have been asking the Legislature to right these wrongs, but till present, there has been no redress,” he stated.
“If the wrongs are not corrected after the elected President, the action that will be taken will not be revealed, because real economic fighters don’t show their next step of action, but when Dominic Nimely speaks, people know what will be done already,” he assured.
Meanwhile, he is encouraging all citizens to maintain the peace, and make sure that the election be peaceful and transparent, because everyone has their own rights to vote for whosoever they want.
