05/12/2025
FORMER MINES, AND ENERGY MINISTER WILMOT PAYE OPENS UP IN A HOMECOMING DAY MESSAGE TO UP PARTISANS AND LIBERIANS.
On Saturday, December 6, 2025 our Party will come out in absolute display of unity for the first time since the Unity Party returned to power in 2024.
We are not coning out because the woes of inequalities, injustice, poverty and bad governance are now extinct. We converge because the eternal destiny of this great Movement, sanctified by the blood of William Gabriel Kpolleh, Edward Binyah Kesselly, Jackson Fiah Doe, Sr and others unites us.
This Homecoming must unite us not only against detractors. It must unite us against the adulterants and unpatriotic intruders in our midst. These are determined to prevent Liberia from reaching its GOD-ordained destiny. That is why this Homecoming must unite us against the enemies within, who are more dangerous than the Opposition. This is the real threat we face.
December 6 is not about politics for the sake of it. No, it's not a day for pomp and pageantry. It is not about arrogance or defiance. December 6 is a recommitment to the Pledge we made in 2023, the pledge we made to Liberia.
This is not a time for show. We are not coming out to boast. We are coming out to reaffirm. Today we must recommit. We must reflect on our journey. We must assure ourselves, reassure our base and seek to maintain the trust of our People, of all Liberians.
December 6 must rekindle hopes, revive the spirit of Unity. We must insulate our Party against those who want to replace the ARREST AGENDA with their greed.
December 6 is certainly not about promoting elitism within our Party..
Oh, no, December 6 is not about those who come when the battle has already been won. The battle was not about them. It was about Liberia for all Liberians, young and old alike, and not for a few, no matter how powerful they think they are.
On December 6, we must denounce, once again, in the loudest voice ever, our stance against ills. Those who have crept in to loot or steal must be stopped right here, and now!
Why should these folks treat Liberia like this? Why steal from yourselves and think you're being smart? Colluding with foreigners to loot our wealth and force us to beg for aid all over the world is wrong. We have all that we need to build our roads, to increase electricity generation, to build good schools without loans that enslave us to others.
On December 6, as we converge, let's do so not because all is well. We do so to renew the Pledge to cleanse the mess we met last year.
We come together without fear because our cause is just. We do so aware that some in our midst, who never wished for this day, and never even labored for it, now see it as a chance to loot Liberia again, just as they did before.
Let them not win this time around, I beg.
The schools we build, the roads we build, the farms we improve, the image we raise abroad, plus all the gains we have made since we came back to power, will be ruined if the thieves in our midst remain in charge, without check.
We must act against these crooks. Why are the corrupt even brave to join our ranks? Why? Are we afraid of them?
Why does it seem that the corrupt are in charge? No, they can't be. They must never be. Why do we even befriend them? Why are they allowed to deceive Liberia again?
December 6 must be the time we stop them from fighting to dislodge our own while we pretend that all is well. Their greed cannot overshadow Liberia's real needs. No way.
Liberia must never faill again. UP cannot change course. For the Homecoming Day, I plead with you to stand strong and tall.
Be bold. Be brave. Gear up to stop the glide towards to greed.
It is time to wake up. This cause was not to steal or replace wrong with wrong. Those in our midst determined to loot and steal and throw crumbs around instead of upholding our Pledge, must be exposed before it's too late.
We have given away too much, just to seem fair and lose focus on what is best and just and right for all.
This must stop. This Party, our great Movement, cannot fail. We cannot allow yesterday's thieves to have any moral voice just because we have lowered our guard.
No, we cannot. We must not. It's time to act. We must act, not with lies, but with truth, the harsh truth.
Let's prove them wrong. And they are damn wrong! The UP was tried and tested, again and again, and is here to stay, and for good!
Nobody, not even our foes, the intruders who now think they are winning, can deter us. No, they never can.
December 6 is only the beginning. Don't mind them. Don't fear them. They can never break us. We are still strong.
We have come too far to let them win. Their mission against hopes and dreams can never last beyond this day. Their days are numbered. They must be exposed--now, not later, not tomorrow. Now!
I urge you to celebrate. Hold up the Banner of Unity, but be mindful of the enemies within, who are more dangerous. This is the main group to fear. They pretend to be part of us but hikd venom in their jaws, determined to spew it out.
We must protect this Party and its lofty gains. We understand our purpose, our role. We can't let them win one day more.
Let us be watchful, always sober. December 6 must be the day we truly regroup, not in response to detractors, but to make sure the intruders are exposed, and isolated from soiling our great Name.
The UP is real. The UP is great. The UP cannot fail Liberia. The UP is too wise, too smart, too organized, too experienced, too mature, too open, too transparent, too effective, too careful, too sensitive, and too big for the small-minded, greedy and insensitive thieves to hide behind to rob Liberia again.
December 6 is not a feast. It must never be the end. It must be the time to evaluate ourselves and not let others do so for us.
Where there's wrong, let us say so without fear, reminding ourselves day by day that in 2023 we pledged to right the wrongs, all wrongs, and give Liberia hope again.
We didn't pledge to turn a blind eye to thieves, even if they pretend to be like us. No, we didn't pledge to ignore the poor but to look forward, not fearing what lies ahead but only to do what is right, not to side with thieves or pretend that they're not there.
My dear People, December 6 has come to reignite in us that spirit, that urge, that spark--the flame the Pioneers of our Movement bore so bravely abd boldly, even at the peril of their lives.
In the words of Edwin James Barclay, "Desert it, no never; uphold it forever. O shout for The Lone Star Banner, all hail". This is my plea.
Liberia wins when our Party rises above tribe, above ego and self, above all that's wrong and unjust.
The Unity Party can make Liberia big enough, rich enough, peaceful enough, proud enough, calm enough, productive enough, and open enough for all of us. All the strife and fuss and tensions and anxieties can ease if we build a Nation prosperous enough to care for its people with adequate room for all.
By coming out on December 6, we must prove them wrong that events won't build Liberia. Keeping our Pledge will.
We can build all the roads, all the schools, all the hospitals, make all the name abroad, which is good, but without being real on all that we pledged to do, trust will wane.
The people will think, and rightly so, that all we said before was just a bluff to replace crime with crime. But this was never our stance. We meant what we said before.
Let today awaken us for good. This is not about titles, or who sits where in the banquet hall that's now filled with Haman and all.
My Homecoming Day message is not one that's meant to appease or curry anyone's favor. No, that won't be fair at all. I care about our Party. Yet, I fear the thieves in our midst more than those opposed to us.
For those who don't know yet, just as I did in 2015 and even long before that, I do so again today. It's not yet time to pass on the baton. It's too soon to do so.
The Party must act now before it's too late. Greed for wealth is eating the show on us. This is what I fear the most. Too much greed has crept on us, threatening the soul of Liberia. This greed we must stop--and now!
The UP is not for sale. No way. Liberians are not pawns for thieves to always use to reach their end. No way. If we seek to win the confidence of thieves, we will lose our values and the trust we need to carry on.
Not today. Not tomorrow. Not next year. Not even in 2029. Let those thieves stay away. We don't need them. We must never cleanse their loot any day.
We must never forget that Liberians are not fools. They know what they want.
Wake up, Unity Party! Wake up, young people! Wake up, women! Wake up, elders! Wake up, Liberians!
Wake up now or never.
We can't be calm or quiet. We must draw the line for all to see. The thieves in our midst try to make you think money can win the next elections. Not true.
Elections are won with votes. Votes come from people. People are won with trust. Trust comes from character. Character is built over time, not overnight.
Let's unite against the enemies within. These are the real threat to the pledge we made in 2023, the pledge by which our Party will be judged in 2029.
Two years have gone by now, so it's time to wake up. Wake up, my people. Wake up! Don't be afraid. The Standardbearer needs you now, more than ever before.
The Homecoming Day must never be the end. It's just the beginning.
To members of the National Executive Committee, particularly those elected at the last National Convention, what are you waiting for?
How many titles can you alone bear while others are idle? Was it about you and you alone? Why wear all those on you alone?
After all, who should remind our Government about pledges made in 2023? Who will help the President to hear what people think all the way there in Vahun? In Buutuo? In Gbarma? In Barobo? In Compound #3? In Botota? In Karnplay? In Tappita? In Kokoyah? In Marshall? In Weasua? In Tewor? In Dia? Even in the hamlets?
Break up the clique. Remove the plague. Make way so some can have the chance to serve too?
And to those of us privileged to serve in our Government, let it not be about us. The best defense UP needs from you, the best argument, is to serve with dignity. Serve Liberia. Stop serving your pockets and purses. Stop serving your families and friends. This is the only way to make UP proud.
Fight corruption. Resist the temptation. Isolate greed. Send it far away from you. After all, how much do you really need to live here? Not much.
So why are we helping the enemies within to stall our march? We don't need aid. We have all it takes to build Liberia for all. I speak what I know.
In one week in March this year, Bea Mountain Mining Company generated US$31m from Gold alone, just one project.Check this out.
At that pace, that is US$1.6bn a year. For twenty-five years, this will be US$40.3bn. So, why are we crying all over the place for help?
Think also of this one. The iron ore potential along the Yekepa-Buchanan Rail corridor alone is 17 billion tons. At today's price of US$104 per dry ton, this is US$1.7tn(1.7 trillion US dollars). A lot of wealth sitting idle, being undermined by one company.
How can we still be poor? No, we're not. All we need is to stop the enemies within. The greed must be stopped. Otherwise, it will stop all of us.
The Unity Party cannot fail. It represents Liberia's last frontier. Hear this now. Be strong. Be courageous. It's time to stand up. Liberia needs you. Our Party needs you.
Fundraising for headquarters is good, but staying true to the cause is more glorious and loftier than gold. This we must know.
Rest assured that we are stronger together. We are here. Our dream is still alive. Montserrado County, here we come.
I would have loved to be there with you, but I am attending the funeral of a great Uncle, Elder Joseph Paye Mahn, Chairman of the Traditional Council of Gbehlay-Geh Statutory District, Nimba County. The funeral coincides with the Homecoming Day.
My wife, Mrs. Comfort B. Paye, will represent our Family.
We pledge US$500.00.
GOD bless the Unity Party.
GOD bless the Standardbearer and expose the enemies within.
GOD bless Liberia. I love you all.
WILMOT PAYE
Former National Secretary-General, former National Chairman, 2023 Senatorial Candidate for Montserrado County and former Minister of Mines and Energy
