As part of our professional obligation and commitment to our readership (public), the Editorial Staff of the Independent Eye News (IEN), has elected to critique the three aspirants, for the presidency of the Union of Liberian Association in the Americas (ULAA).

In fulfillment of our vital role as a medium institution within the Diaspora Liberian Community, which is to inform, educate and entertain the reading public, we deem it very expedient, to critique all three presidential aspirants.

We are not oblivious to the fact that we may be accused of being bias or called names, in our honest efforts to provide vital pieces of information to the public, which we believe could be very useful in helping in helping to make informed decisions.

As we may all be aware, information is knowledge and knowledge is power. We are therefore willing to provide such power to the electorates believing such power will help the public or should we say the “DELEGATES,” make the right choices on our behalf.

It is our fervent hope, the “DELEGATES” will elect those they believe have the leadership prowess, to lead the largest Diaspora Liberian community organization known as ULAA, for the next two year.

It is our prayerful hope that our contribution to the democratization process of ULAA, will have a very significant impact by energizing whomever will be elected.

In our Monday, September 12 editorial titled, “THIS IS OUR VOW,” we, the Editorial Staff of the Independent Eye News, called for the amendment of ULAA’s Constitution to provide for a ‘ONE MAN, ONE VOTE’ system.

We also called for national elections to be held within all ULAA Member Chapters, throughout the United States. We believe this will at least encourage mass participation of Liberians in the democratic decision making process.

It is our hope, meaningful changes to rekindle the hopes, aspirations and dreams of the Diaspora Liberian Community, will take roots. It is our hope these proposed changes will help amplify and reclaim the significant advocacy role played by ULAA, in the 1970s and 1980s.

We emphasized our conviction that the current “DELEGATES” system is an exclusive system. That is why we classified it as LIBERIANCRACY rather than DEMOCRACY.

We strongly believe beyond a reasonable doubt, the current system was a deliberate design put into place, to maintain the status quo in power perpetually, at the exclusion of others perceived as political “ENEMIES.”

We want to make it unequivocally clear that we are not opposed to Liberians preparing themselves politically for national leadership back home or elsewhere globally. It does not matter to us whether or not it is through the Government of Liberia, private section, or the United Nations systems.

However, we are also urging whomever is elected to the new ULAA leadership, to focus on the provision of services to Liberian Communities throughout all ULAA Member Chapters, while maintaining the Advocacy Component of the Union.

We want to stress that our critique will not be limited to only the presidential aspirants, but also their principle lieutenants, who in some cases, have enormous influence over the president and are most likely to succeed him/her in the event of incapacitation.

We, the Editorial Staff of the Independent Eye News, notwithstanding, will focus will focus on the presidential aspirants for now like a lazier, or an eagle eye. We will most especially based our critique on past and present leadership experiences.

That includes in school, community and church organizations, private sector and even in government. The aspirants’ ability to get along with others, irrespective of differences, political or otherwise, will be very crucial in our critical analyses.

The amount of time invested in ULAA’s activities both locally and nationally, will be one of our cardinal guarding principles. That is the number of conventions and meetings attended, committees chair and or served on, in the local chapters and/or the National Union, will all factor in our critique.

The number of representations made within ULAA, or any other community organization including county, district, clan, chiefdom or any other organization will very well matter in this process of evaluation.

We will also be interviewing friends, associates and other ordinary people, who know and have followed the aspirants’ activities very closely, in terms of leadership temperament and ability to serve as a unifier within the community etc. We pledge to be as objective and open minded as possible.

In this regards, we are requesting all presidential aspirants to provide the needed vital pieces of information to the Publisher and Managing Editor of the Independent Eye News, Mr. Tarnyon Nyenon, through his email at (tnyenon59@yahoo.com) or contact cell number at (763) 226-3634.

We believe any piece of information provided will be very significant for Liberians to know about our prospective leaders, as presidential materials. We are also requesting the best presidential photographs of the aspirants choices.

We are also requesting the public to send to the above e-mail address, any piece of information they know to be true to the best of their knowledge about the aspirants they believe the public needs to know about them.

Note: Members of the community who desire to send any information, are not required to include their names if they so desire. Any piece of information sent, whether it is positive or negative, will definitely be verified before publication.

The series “WHO LEADS ULAA NEXT?” will begin immediately after verification is done.

The Editorial Staff of the Independent Eye News, welcomes feedback (comments/reactions) to any of our publications from our readership.We assure you, your feedback will be published without censorship.

THE INDEPENDENT EYE NEWS (IEN),THE FASTEST AND LEADING NAME IN MEWS. WE REPORT,YOU DECIDE

BY: TARNYON NYENON
PUBLISHER & MANAGING EDITOR
INDEPENDENT EYE NEWS (IEN), WWW.INDEYE.ORG
TNYENON59@YAHOO.COM-(763) 226-3634-CELL