Liberia: James Strother Re-elected LIBA President

Members of the Liberia Business Association (LIBA) have overwhelmingly re-elected Mr. James Mozart Strother for a second term.

Other members of LIBA who were elected at the organization’s sixth annual convention recently were Fomba Trawally, chief executive officer and owner of National Toiletries Incorporated, as vice president; Ms. Rema Fahd Fawaz, CEO of Vertu Group of Companies, as general secretary; and Lucy M. Stewart, financial secretary.

The election, which was chaired by W. Ohato James, brought together LIBA coordinators and members from the 15 political subdivisions of Liberia. The association’s members retained their leader for the second term, but with a caveat — that he should be more robust in promoting and protecting the interests of Liberian businesses. Strother and his new team will steer the affairs of the entity for next four years.

In his acceptance speech, the LIBA president-elect assured his colleagues that his leadership will continue to champion the quest of Liberian businesses.

“We did not come to this leadership for personal gain,” said Strother. “We came to this leadership with an open mind to serve our people and transform the business sector of the economy.”

According to him, LIBA does not pay any of its leaders a dime. It’s all sacrificial work that they are doing and, as such, he is willing to connect LIBA members to business tycoons in the outside world.

“I want to say to all LIBA members that made this day a success, we want to say thank you very much. I know your choice is not wrong. I know you have elected us for a specific purpose, and we want to say to you today that we are going to do exactly what we promised to do. We pray that, by the Grace of God, LIBA from here forward will be a different LIBA in this republic,” he said.

Strother also assured members of the association that LIBA will take over the economy of this country under his leadership.

Earlier, Grand Bassa County District #3 Representative Matthew Joe, who served as keynote speaker of the convention, lauded LIBA members and coordinators for their hard work in ensuring a peaceful and successful convention.

“We thought that LIBA was not going to reach this far, but the leadership of James M. Strother and his staff are keeping this institution alive, especially seeing coordinators from all 15 counties here present, which shows that they are satisfied and willing to work with him,” he observed.

Representative Joe also encouraged other business people in the country who are not members of LIBA to join because the institution is about to make a break. We need to make headway. He concluded by pledging his support to the James M. Strother leadership to work together and transform LIBA in the country’s economy.