Liberia May Have Second Woman President as MacDella Cooper Joins 2017 Presidential Race

MacDella Cooper Photo: PATRICK MCMULLAN/PatrickMcMullan.com

MacDella Cooper Photo: PATRICK MCMULLAN/PatrickMcMullan.com

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s constitutionally dictated absence at the upcoming 2017 presidential election will not be missed, gender-wise, as the first female aspirant has emerged saying that she has the requisite credentials and is prepared to lead the country.

MacDella Cooper said she has not just come to ensure gender balance at the polls next year, but to lead Liberia from where President Sirleaf leaves it.

At a well-organized program held at a resort in Monrovia yesterday, Ms. Cooper broke her silence, indicating that she will be a contestant in the 2017 presidential elections, because there is a lot to do in a country where the masses still live in abject poverty amid abundance of resources, adding that she is prepared to lead a charge that will emancipate Liberians from their current impoverished state. Cooper is the assumed political leader of the Union of Liberian Democrats (ULD), recognized and certificated by the National Elections Commission (NEC).

She indicated that the country’s current condition cannot be laid at the foot of the current administration– which she said has tried to do its best–conditions that emanated from the prolonged civil crisis coupled with bad governance and the marginalization of a huge portion of the population for so many years.

“We have gathered here because we believe in the prospects and potentials of our great country. Liberia is the greatest country I have ever known. Though we have had a lot of setbacks as a people as well as having a situation in the past when only a minute portion of the country’s population enjoyed the wealth of the land… with a MacDella Cooper presidency we will make Liberia a great nation where everyone will be treated equally and given the same opportunities to bring out the best in them.

“I can’t change the whole world but I can help our kids and young people get better education that will lead to a better future. These will be the ones who’ll transform our nation.” With the nation’s youth as her priority, with emphatic hopes for girls’ education, Ms. Cooper is expanding her efforts to work with women and children across Liberia and in the Diaspora.

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