Sierra Leone and Liberia: The Prospects for Development, Peace and Prosperity
By Karamoh Kabba
March 17, 2006
Sierra Leone and Liberia have many things in common: They are English-speaking neighbors, home to the descendents of freed slaves (Freetown, Monrovia), have had two identical menaces in the forms of Charles Taylor and Foday Sankoh, have recently ended acrimonious civil wars, and have postwar presidents who were once employees of the United Nations.
Notwithstanding these striking similarities, the seeming dissimilarities of their presidents, as revealed in their inaugural speeches, are of peculiar interest. Although given 10 years apart, one would expect some likeness in the speeches of leaders who have identical problems. But in an examination of Sierra Leonean President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah's inaugural speech (1996) and newly elected Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's inaugural speech (2006), you will notice little resemblance.
The apparent unlikeness of these two postwar inaugural speeches underscores the action of disgruntled soldiers who successfully toppled the government of President Kabbah in May 1997. It also helps us to understand why Sierra Leone, 10 years after President Kabbah's first inaugural speech, is still unable to wiggle its way out of despondent poverty and control the chronic unemployment of its youth — key factors that fueled its civil war in the first place. On the other hand, it may explain why President Sirleaf's Liberia has more potential for development, peace and prosperity.
1
The recently ended, decade-long civil wars, which began Liberia and spilled over into Sierra Leone, were marked by some of the most unsightly war crimes against humanity. They were caused by factors such as economic and social marginalization, and political intolerance of certain sectors of society by the aristocratic and paternalistic regimes of the past. Foreign realpolitik was also a factor, pursued through covert and overt action and compounded by popular youth movements in both countries. However, the true origin of both wars can be traced back to the minority Americo-Liberian's (freed slaves) anachronistic and paternalistic government that ruled the majority native population in Africa's first republic — Liberia — for many years, that is until Samuel Doe put an end to it on April 12, 1980, in one of West Africa's bloodiest military coups.
Unlike the United States, which in 1847 set up and abetted the regime of freed American slaves that invariably marginalized the native population on the rubber plantations of Liberia, Britain probably foresaw such a problem when it ended colonization in Sierra Leone by handing power to Sir Milton Margai, a native from the majority Mende-speaking people.
But it was through the advocacy of people like U.S. Senator John Tyler Morgan, who argued on the late 19-century senate floor, "Africa was prepared for the Negro as certainly as the Garden of Eden was prepared for Adam and Eve," that Africa indeed became the Garden of Eden for freed slaves and colonization: In Mobutu's Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Charles Taylor's Liberia, in Foday Sankoh's Sierra Leone, in Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, and Angola, among many others.
After pouring over $500 million dollars in aid on the Doe regime between 1981 and 1985, former secretary of state George P. Shultz would later think aloud, "Perhaps I made a wrong career choice, if it was people like that I was going to meet. Doe was unintelligible."
Howard W. French, in his well-researched book, A Continent for the Taking, puts it this way:
"As they settled the land, the Americo-Liberians fondly strove to reproduce the only model they knew, the plantation society of the American South. Affecting top hats and morning coats, the freedmen ruled Africa's first republic in a clannish and conservative manner, established their own curiously paternalistic brand of apartheid, systematically excluding so-called aborigines from positions of privilege and power."
2
Ahmed Tejan Kabbah was born on February 16, 1932, in Pendembu, in the eastern district of Kailahun. He was educated in Sierra Leone and England, studying economics at the undergraduate level before going on to study law. He worked briefly with the British colonial system before working as a civil servant in independent Sierra Leone. Before his twenty plus years of service with the United Nations Development Program (U.N.D.P.), he was once a subject of a commission of inquiry for corruption in Sierra Leone (1967) at the Sierra Leone Produce Marketing Board (S.L.P.M.B.). Otherwise, he traveled widely and mustered much experience in diplomacy during his international service with the U.N. He served in the West Africa Division of the U.N.D.P. in New York, as the resident representative of U.N.D.P. operations in Lesotho, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. He retired from the U.N.D.P. head office in New York as a coordinator of assistance between the U.N. and liberation movements such as the African National Congress (A.N.C.) and the South West African People's Organization (Swapo). His entry on the Sierra Leonean political stage came when the military junta of the National People's Reform Council (N.P.R.C.) asked him to chair the National Advisory Council, which was established to facilitate the restoration of constitutional rule and the drafting of a new constitution for Sierra Leone following a 1992 military coup. He was elected president of Sierra Leone in 1996, when he became chairman of the Sierra Leone People's Party (S.L.P.P.).
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was born in Monrovia, the Liberia's capitol, on October 29, 1938. Unlike Kabbah, Sirleaf is a descendant of Americo-Liberians. She was educated in Liberia and the United States. In the U.S., at Harvard she earned a masters degree in public administration. She entered politics very early, serving as Minister of Finance from 1972-73 in then President William Tolbert's cabinet, a position she would abandon because of a public spending disagreement. She was twice a political prisoner in Liberia. She narrowly escaped Samuel Doe's witch-hunt in the 80's. After fleeing to Kenya, she began an international civil service career. (Note: Kabbah chose self-exile following his 1967 corruption investigation; Sirleaf had to flee political persecution.)
Sirleaf returned to Liberia in 1985 to participate in politics during which she was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for opposing Samuel Doe — she served two years. She was again locked up briefly by Charles Taylor, who she had supported against Samuel Doe. Like Kabbah, Sirleaf has vast experience with the U.N.D.P. From 1992-97 she worked at the U.N.D.P. Regional Bureau for Africa as assistant administrator, and later became the director. She returned to Liberia, defeated world football star George Weah in a presidential campaign, and became the first African woman head of state.
3
An overview of both speeches:
President Sirleaf's inaugural speech is well organized. The same cannot be said of President Kabbah's inaugural speech. After a few lines of dedication, Sirleaf goes straight to the issues. Although her victory brought important dignitaries to Liberia for the inauguration, she did not dote on them.
President Kabbah in contrast, before accepting the position, burned four long paragraphs on thanking and praising almost everyone in attendance. Thereafter he proceeded to identifying and magnifying the graveness of the state of the nation but with nary a concrete plan of action statement.
In retrospect of the wars:
President Kabbah: "The tasks ahead are monumental. You are aware that our country stands virtually in ruins, with thousands slaughtered, soldiers and civilians alike, tens of thousands maimed and mutilated, and hundreds of thousands displaced, traumatized, living in poverty, diminished in spirit and body, and the country's moral, physical, and social infrastructure destroyed."
President Sirleaf: "Today, we wholeheartedly embrace this change. We recognize that this change is not change for change sake, but a fundamental break with the past, thereby requiring that we take bold and decisive steps to address the problems that for decades have stunted our progress, undermined national unity, and kept old and new cleavages in ferment."
In his following paragraph, Kabbah went on to discuss the cause of Sierra Leone problem while Sirleaf went straight to the solution of Liberia's problem when she said, "We pledge anew our commitment to transparency, open government, and participatory democracy for all of our citizens."
"Political Renewal":
President Sirleaf: "First, let me declare in our pursuit of political renewal, that the political campaign is over. It is time for us, regardless of our political affiliations and persuasions, to come together to heal and rebuild our nation. For my part, as President of the Republic of Liberia, my Government extends a hand of friendship and solidarity to the leadership and members of all political parties, many of them sitting right in front of me, which participated in our recent presidential and legislative elections. I call upon those who have been long in the struggle — and those who recently earned their stripes — to play important roles in the rebuilding of our nation."
There is nothing for comparison here except that president Kabbah concluded his speech by asking Sierra Leoneans "to show tolerance for the views of others, magnanimity to our transgressors for their many grievous wrongs to use of the past, and turn a new page for the future and for the good of Sierra Leone," as if he were not a part of that past.
"Economic Renewal":
Both leaders acknowledged the devastation of the economies of their nations by years of warring and the excessive corruption of successive regimes. Unlike President Kabbah, President Sirleaf pledged to change that trend by outlining specific plans such as encouraging those investors that will add value to Liberia's environment in the process of exploiting its natural resources. She discussed how to encourage and give small loans to farmers to jumpstart the economy. She also discussed one common and sensitive topic in both countries that Kabbah never dared to touch: the land tenure system, which is among the greatest enemies to many African economies. She promised to revisit the land tenure system to give investors more flexibility and access to land. "This will call for a transformation of our economic vision into economic goals that are consistent with our national endowment and regional and global dynamics," she said.
Governance:
President Sirleaf outlined how she will make government effective in Liberia:
"The workforce in our ministries and agencies is seriously bloated. Our Administration will therefore embark on a process of rationalizing our agencies of government to make them lean, efficient, and responsive to public service delivery. This will require the creation of a meritocracy that places premium on qualification, professionalism, and performance."
President Kabbah made a promise to the people:
"The outlines of my government's policy in the coming years have been set out in my Party's manifesto. The practical details will be spelt out to you when I publish my government's legislative programs, hopefully in my maiden speech to Parliament."
Corruption:
On this very important matter of grave consequence to the economies of both nations, President Sirleaf was emotional when she outlined how she is going to handle corruption in Liberia. She made a pronouncement — "Corruption, under my Administration, will be the major public enemy." — and took a very clear stance on corruption when she said that members of her administration would declare their assets and that she will declare hers first to lead by example.
The same cannot be said of President Kabbah who went on making promises on every important issue of statecraft, sometimes referring people to his party's manifesto.
The word "corruption" appeared only once in President Kabbah's speech when he blamed past regimes without any insight of how he would make a difference in that area of governance. Whereas President Sirleaf stated, "My Administration will also accord high priority to the formulation and passage into law of a National Code of Conduct, to which all public servants will be subjected," hammering a big headed nail of credence into her stance on corruption.
Foreign Policy:
On foreign policy, President Sirleaf stressed noninterference in other countries and good neighborliness whereas President Kabbah praised foreign dignitaries in almost every paragraph of his speech. He seemed to be more concerned with celebrating his victory than talking substance.
4
Sirleaf's presidency is the first true representation of a non-strongman leadership democracy in Liberia since 1980. Her recent inaugural address perfectly qualifies as the first postwar democratic inauguration in Liberia. If President Kabbah had had good action plans in his 1996 inaugural address, Sierra Leone would have marked the end of hostilities that year. Instead, his lethargic approach to leadership created the need for a 17,600-strong U.N. peacekeeping force.
The threat of violence still looms in Sierra Leone as it approaches its third "democratic" inauguration in 2007 — a journalist was beaten to death recently, and Paul Kamara could barely stand when he came out of the infamous Pandemba road prison after the supreme court acquitted him for reprinting the outcome of an inquiry into President Kabbah's 1967 corruption charges. Many journalists are fleeing persecution and many more are leaving the country after imprisonment. The authorities in President Kabbah's government are dragging their feet with regard to the registration of formidable political parties. Excessive corruption and chronic unemployment of the youth are all signs that President Kabbah's 1996 inaugural address lacked substance.
President Sirleaf, who recognized her opponent in her inaugural speech, showed signs of tolerance. It signaled in itself the commencement of outstanding leadership. And she did not stop short of stating categorically that anyone who attempts to disturb the hard-earned peace in Liberia would be dealt with accordingly.
Until President Kabbah and his team start looking at the issues transparently and pragmatically, Liberia's progress will take place in leaps and bounds over Sierra Leone's.
President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah's Inaugural Speech, Freetown, Sierra Leone, March 29, 1996
My Lord the Acting Chief Justice, Your Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and International Organizations, Members of the Consular Corps, Chairman, Committee of Management, Freetown City Council, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
I should like, at the outset, to welcome in particular the Head of State of Liberia, His Excellency, Professor Wilton Sankawolo, and the Deputy Chairman of the Armed Forces Ruling Council of the Republic of The Gambia, His Excellency, Captain Edward Singhateh, and to thank all of our foreign guests and other dignitaries for gracing this historic occasion. You have done us honor by coming here. We regard this as a true demonstration of the fraternal relationship that exists between your great countries and ours. We pray that this bond of friendship will further flourish and be sustained.
I should like to express our grateful thanks for the financial, diplomatic, and moral support that we received from the donor countries and organizations. In this connection, I should like to specifically mention the efforts and contributions made by the United Nations both in the democratization process and in the ongoing discussions between Government and the RUF.
My sincere thanks also go to Dr. James Jonah and his colleagues as well as the international observers, for the pivotal role they played in the Presidential and Parliamentary elections. I am also profoundly aware of the debt of gratitude that the people of Sierra Leone owe to the officers and men of the Nigerian, Guinean, and Ghanaian armed forces, for their inestimable contribution in the efforts to provide security to our country. In a special way, I must commend the role of our armed forces and in particular, the Chairman and members of the NPRC, and the hundreds of thousands of Sierra Leoneans from all walks of life, who, in the face of daunting odds, came out to vote decisively in the elections, thereby affirming their belief in our country, its future, and democracy.
Fellow Sierra Leoneans, with all humility, I accept the position of President of the Republic of Sierra Leone. My election to this sacred position is all the more reassuring in that it was brought about by hundreds of thousands of devoted, dedicated, tireless, and motivated Sierra Leoneans, young and old, both at home and abroad. This is indeed an inauguration of all Sierra Leoneans.
The tasks ahead are monumental. You are aware that our country stands virtually in ruins, with thousands slaughtered, soldiers and civilians alike, tens of thousands maimed and mutilated, and hundreds of thousands displaced, traumatized, living in poverty, diminished in spirit and body, and the country’s moral, physical, and social infrastructure destroyed.
My fellow citizens, during the last civilian administration the gates of indifference, insensitivity, inefficiency, and callousness were opened and those traits resulted in the untold tragedies of a senseless war.
Our agriculture, which has traditionally provided economic sustenance for most of our population, has been brought to a standstill over the past five years, through the indiscriminate violence of lawless people.
Commercial activities have likewise been adversely affected. Our industries, mining in particular, have not escaped the wrath of the unrelenting war. This war, with all its horrors, has for the past five years been levied on the people of Sierra Leone in the name of principles and causes which I, like you, cannot even begin to comprehend. These are but a very few of the tasks to which initially, I, with your help and encouragement, must devote my energy. It is for this reason that I express the fervent hope that the conduct of public affairs from this day onwards and the standards that I shall use as my guide will be emulated by all those whom I shall ask to assist me to serve this nation. It is my hope that our joint efforts and actions will be framed solely in the best interests of the people of Sierra Leone. I trust that my duties of governing, you and I may count not only on the cooperation of elected members of all parties in our new parliament, but our press, professional bodies, and other national institutions. I shall expect and welcome informed, persistent, and constructive criticisms as well as advice and encouragement from all such institutions.
The outlines of my government’s policy in the coming years have been set out in my Party’s manifesto. The practical details will be spelt out to you when I publish my government’s legislative programs, hopefully in my maiden speech to Parliament. Please permit me, however, in advance of that speech, to say that the restoration of the dignity and worth of every Sierra Leonean will be the guiding principal of my presidency. Both of these have been assailed in many ways over the last two and a half decades of our history, whether by senseless violence, or personal greed and corruption of officials of the state. We have witnessed an epoch of indifference to the legitimate concerns of citizens before the seat of justice by those who are paid to administer her. We have seen dishonesty in the state-owned organization and not least apathy on the part of functionaries high and low, to the social distress and deprivation, educational insufficiency and low job opportunities for far too many of you, my fellow citizens.
It is my desire that today should mark the end of that epoch and the start of a new era. What I demand of myself in your service is no less than what I shall expect from all those who will serve you in the various arms of the government. However, what you are entitled to expect of me and every servant of the State, your country too requires of you, namely, integrity, dedication, hard work, and personal decency.
My task will be to create for you all the conditions in which individual and national growth and prosperity will be fostered and encouraged. I dare to hope that your support for me, as a result of which you elected me as your president, will not end with these elections, but will continue throughout my present term of office.
I do realize that your support can only be maintained for any length of time by the honesty and assiduity with which ministers, public servants, and I discharge our duties to the state and each of you, during my tenure of office. However, the future and development of ourselves and country lie essentially in our own hands.
While we can count on the continued help and support of our many friends from outside, no people, no country, can develop themselves solely from without. We should therefore give thanks to Almighty God that He has endowed our country with the human and natural resources to reorder and rebuild our war-ravaged economy, our sunken spirits, and our nation.
To that end, I exhort you all to draw on our own resources of resilience, good naturedness, and courage which characterize us as a people and seek to develop our God given talents and abilities to the fullest of their measures.
There is a widespread perception which I also share, that amongst the causes of the present discontent and disunity is the unfair and unjudicial manner in which strongly felt grievances about people’s rights and even reputations have been violated.
I acknowledge the NPRC government’s efforts ro remedy some of these violations by the setting up of a Commission of Reconciliation and Unity.
I propose to enhance this organ and further this process of reconciliation and unity as a matter of urgency.
To attain the peace and reconciliation in Sierra Leone that we desire, justice must not only be done but must be seen by all to be done.
I am extremely encouraged by the outcome of the meeting just concluded in Yamossoukro, Cote d’Ivore, between the outgoing head of state, Brigadier General Julius Maada Bio and the leader of the RUF, Cpl. Foday Sankoh. I am particularly delighted by the desire expressed at that meeting by all the parties to achieve lasting peace, stability, and socio-economic progress in our country.
I have stated elsewhere on several occasions that the pursuit of lasting peace is my priority. And in this regard I emphasize here that with that determination I am ready to meet the leader of the RUF, Cpl. Foday Sankoh, at the earliest opportunity.
I wish at this point to express my personal thanks and gratitude to His Excellency, Henri Konan Bedie, President of La Cote d’Ivorie, the United Nations, ICRC, and other international organizations for facilitating that meeting. It is also my fervent wish that a meeting between Cpl. Foday Sankoh and myself will be arranged as soon as possible.
To the women of Sierra Leone, old and young alike, may I pass on the special message, that perhaps more than your husbands, sons, and nephews your efforts have made today a reality. Your support of Dr. James Jonah is a matter of record, as evidenced by your unwavering stance at Bintumani 1 and 2 in favor of elections, democratic civilian government, and freedom: freedom to elect the leader of your choice. We applaud your courage and I here publicly acknowledge it.
Again, more that we the men, you have borne the brunt of the war when you were killed, made captive, forced to walk for miles and your persons and dignity assaulted and violated by men of violence. Away from the warfront you have been marginalized for too long. For these reasons the structure of government will specifically create and institution to enable you to redress these unacceptable indignities and facilitate your planning and preparation of programs directed to enhance your public life and the removal of obstacles in the utilization of the considerable talent that is to be found in more than 50% of the population of Sierra Leone.
I want to assure you that my wife and I commit ourselves to the achievement of these goals and invite you to join us.
After today’s jubilation, I call on everyone to start working immediately to make Sierra Leone what I am sure God intended her to be: serene, secure, and prosperous. Fellow Sierra Leoneans, I invite you all to join me in our quest to eradicate forever from our society the tyranny of ignorance, superstition, disease, violence, and poverty.
Often in the past, you have been asked by your leaders to sacrifice the present in order to gain the promised land of plenty in the future. While that land is yet to come, while it will take many months and perhaps years to get there, let us for the present put our hands to the plow and we shall, with God’s help, attain that promised land. Let us all today resolve to sue our essential humaneness and solicitude for others which are so much a part of our culture to build a new Sierra Leone, similar in spirit to the Sierra Leone of old, but physically more modern.
My concluding words to you are for all of us to show tolerance for the views of others, magnanimity to our transgressors for their many grievous wrongs to use of the past, and turn a new page for the future and for the good of Sierra Leone.
I vow to serve you as your president to the best of my ability and strength, God being my helper.
Following is the text of the Inaugural Address, as delivered on Monday, January 16, on the Capitol grounds in Monrovia, by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia.
Let us first praise Almighty God, the Arbiter of all affairs of humankind whose omnipotent Hand guides and steers our nation.
Before I begin this address, which signifies the high-noon of this historic occasion, I ask that we bow our heads for a moment of silent prayer in memory of the thousands of our compatriots who have died as a result the many conflicts.
Thank you!
I also ask your indulgence as I reflect on the memory of my two rural illiterate grandmothers and my mother and father who taught me to be what I am today, and the families who took them in and gave them the opportunity of a better life.
Let us also remember in prayers during his affliction, His Grace Archbishop Michael K. Francis, the conscience of our nation.
Vice President Boakai and I have just participated in the time-honored constitutional ritual of oath-taking as we embark upon our responsibilities to lead this Republic. This ritual is symbolically and politically significant and substantive. It reflects the enduring character of the democratic tradition of the peaceful and orderly transfer of political power and authority. It also confirms the culmination of a commitment to our nation's collective search for a purposeful and responsive national leadership.
We applaud the resilience of our people who, weighed down and dehumanized by poverty and rendered immobile by the shackles of fourteen years of civil war, went courageously to the polls, to vote - not once but twice, to elect Vice President Joseph Boakai and me to serve them. We express to you, our people, our deep sense of appreciation and gratitude for the opportunity to serve you and our common Republic. We pledge to live up to your expectations of creating a government that is attentive and responsive to your needs, concerns, and the development and progress of our country.
We know that your vote was a vote for change; a vote for peace, security and stability; a vote for individual and national prosperity; a vote for healing and leadership. We have heard you loudly, and we humbly accept your vote of confidence and your mandate.
This occasion, held under the cloudy skies, marks a celebration of change and a dedication to an agenda for a socio-economic and political reordering; indeed, a national renewal.
Today, we wholeheartedly embrace this change. We recognize that this change is not change for change sake, but a fundamental break with the past, thereby requiring that we take bold and decisive steps to address the problems that for decades have stunted our progress, undermined national unity, and kept old and new cleavages in ferment.
As we embrace this new commitment to change, it is befitting that, for the first time, the inauguration is being held on the Capitol Grounds, one of the three seats of Government. We pledge anew our commitment to transparency, open government, and participatory democracy for all of our citizens.
Fellow Liberians: As I speak to you today, I am most gratified by the caliber of the delegations of our own African Governments, Foreign Governments, partners and local partners as well, who have come to join us to celebrate this triumph of democracy in our country. I am particularly touched by those you see - our dear brothers, the delegation from the United States, headed by the wife of President Bush and my friend, our mediator, who has been with us so long and brought us to this day. We pay homage to all of you. We respect you. We welcome you. Bien vene a tous.
My dear Brothers and Sisters of West Africa: You have died for us; you have given refuge to thousands of our citizens; you have denied yourselves by utilizing your scarce resources to assist us; you have agonized for us, and you have prayed for us. We thank you, and may God bless you for your support to Liberia as well as for your continuing commitment to promote peace, security, stability, and bilateral cooperation within our sub-region - and beyond.
I wish to acknowledge the stewardship of the National Transitional Government under the leadership of its former Chairman, Mr. Gyude Bryant, for their contribution to peace and to the successful electoral process. I also recognize and thank the former National Transitional Legislative Assembly for their service to the nation. And I welcome the members of the 52nd Legislature who were sworn in a few moments ago. Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I congratulate you as you assume your individual responsibilities of representing our people. I look forward to working with each of you as we strive to build a better nation.
I thank and applaud our gallant men and women of the Armed Forces of Liberia who have rendered sacrificial service to our nation and are now being willingly retired to facilitate the training and restructuring of the new Armed Forces of Liberia.
I also thank the leadership and gallant men and women of the United Nations Military Mission in Liberia who daily labor with us to keep the peace that we enjoy.
Fellow Liberians, Ladies and Gentlemen: No one who has lived in or visited this country in the past fifteen years will deny the physical destruction and the moral decadence that the civil war has left in its wake here in Monrovia and in other cities, towns, and villages across the nation. We have all suffered. The individual sense of deprivation is immense. It is therefore understandable that our people will have high expectations and will demand aggressive solutions to the socio-economic and societal difficulties that we face.
Our record shows that we are a strong and resilient people, able to survive; able to rise from the ashes of civil strife and to start anew; able to forge a new beginning, forgiving if not forgetting the past. We are a good and friendly people, braced for hope even as we wipe away the tears of past suffering and despair. Our challenge, therefore, is to transform adversity into opportunity, to renew the promises upon which our nation was founded: freedom, equality, unity and individual progress.
In the history of our nation, in the history of every nation, each generation, each Administration is summoned to define its nation's purpose and character. Now, it is our time to state clearly and unequivocally who we are, as Liberians, as your leaders - and where we plan to take this country in the next six years.
Political Renewal
First, let me declare in our pursuit of political renewal, that the political campaign is over. It is time for us, regardless of our political affiliations and persuasions, to come together to heal and rebuild our nation. For my part, as President of the Republic of Liberia, my Government extends a hand of friendship and solidarity to the leadership and members of all political parties, many of them sitting right in front of me, which participated in our recent presidential and legislative elections. I call upon those who have been long in the struggle - and those who recently earned their stripes - to play important roles in the rebuilding of our nation.
Committed to advance the spirit of inclusion, I assure all Liberians and our international partners and friends that our Government will recognize and support a strong democratic and loyal opposition in Liberia. This is important because we believe that our democratic culture and our nation are best served when the opposition is strong and actively engaged in the process of nation building.
Moreover, we call upon our colleagues of all political persuasions now in the Diaspora to return home and join us in meeting this exciting challenge of national renewal.
We make a similar appeal to the thousands of our citizens who continue to live in refugee camps throughout the sub-region and beyond. We recognize and sympathize with your plight and will explore with our development partners ways and means to facilitate your early return home as a national imperative for our renewal and development.
To those who are still internally displaced, we pledge to work with our partners to get you back to your communities to enable you to start the process of rebuilding your lives.
We must have a new understanding. Your job, as citizens, is to work for your family and your country. Your country's only job is to work for you. That is the compact that I offer you today.
A New Era of Democracy
My Fellow Liberians, Ladies and Gentlemen:
Ours has certainly not been an easy journey to where we are today. Indeed, the road has been tortuous and checkered. The tendencies of intolerance of each other's opinion rooted in parochial and selfish considerations - and greed - have driven us into our descent into recent tragedies and paralysis as a nation and as a people. These negative national tendencies have, in the past, bred ethnic suspicion and hatred, led to injustice, social and political exclusion. They have also weakened our capacity to peacefully co-exist as a people with diverse socio-cultural, economic, and political backgrounds. Consequently, we have witnessed needless generalized conflicts that have profoundly affected the Liberian family, the foundation of our society.
I know of this struggle because I have been a part of it. Without bitterness, or anger, or vindictiveness, I recall the inhumanity of confinement, the terror of attempted rape, the ostracism of exile. But I also recall the goodness and the kindness of the many who defied orders and instruction and saved my life, and gave food to the hungry and to give water to the thirsty. I recall their humanity - and thank them.
And so, my Fellow Liberians let us acknowledge and honor the sacrifices and the contributions of all as we put the past behind us. Let us rejoice that our recent democratic exercise has been a redemptive act of faith and an expression of renewed confidence in ourselves. Let us be proud that we were able to ultimately rise above our intense political and other differences in a renewed determination as a people to foster dialogue instead of violence, promote unity rather than disharmony, and engender hope rather than disillusionment and despair.
My Administration therefore commits itself to the creation of a democracy in which the constitutional and civil liberties and rights of all of our people will be respected.
Economic Renewal
In a similar quest for economic renewal, we start on the premise that we are a wealthy people. Our nation is blessed with an endowment, rich in natural and human resources. Yet, our economy has collapsed due to several civil conflicts and economic mismanagement by successive governments. The task of reconstructing our devastated economy is awesome, for which there will be no quick fix.
Yet, we have the potential to promote a healthy economy in which Liberians and international investors can prosper. We can create an investment climate that gives confidence to Liberian and foreign investors. We can promote those activities that add value in the exploitation of our natural resources. We can recognize and give support to our small farmers and marketers who, through their own efforts over the years, have provided buoyancy and self-sufficiency in economic activity. We can revisit our land tenure system to promote more ownership and free holding for communities.
This will call for a transformation of our economic vision into economic goals that are consistent with our national endowment and regional and global dynamics. We will ensure that allocation of our own resources reflect those priorities formulated on the basis of sequential measures of structural change that need to provide this transformation. And we will call upon our development partners to likewise recognize that although they have made significant investment to bring peace to our country, this peace can only be consolidated and sustained if we bring development to our people.
With this in mind, we are working with our partners to identify key objectives and deliverables in the first one hundred and fifty days of our Administration, which coincides with the remaining budgetary period of the former government. We must meet our commitment to restore some measure of electricity to our capital city. We must put Liberians back to work again. We must put our economic and financial house in order. Most of all, we must revive our mindset of courage, hard work, honesty, and a can do spirit.
Our strategy is to achieve quick and visible progress that reaches significant number of our people, to gain momentum, consolidate support, and establish the foundation for sustained economic development.
For the long term, more will be required from us and our partners. We will formulate a multi-year economic reconstruction plan tied to a Poverty Reduction Strategy Program that relieves our country from a staggering US$3.5 billion debt and paves the way for acceleration in our national effort to make progress in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. We will also tackle the HIV/Aids problem, thereby enduring that this threat to our human capital and growth and prosperity is addressed.
Governance
We know that our desire for an environment for private sector-driven sustainable growth and development cannot be achieved without the political will and a civil service that is efficient, effective and honest. The workforce in our ministries and agencies is seriously bloated. Our Administration will therefore embark on a process of rationalizing our agencies of government to make them lean, efficient, and responsive to public service delivery. This will require the creation of a meritocracy that places premium on qualification, professionalism, and performance.
Bonding
Fellow Liberians, Ladies and Gentlemen: Across this country, from Cape Mount in the West to Cape Palmas in the East, from Mount Nimba in the North to Cape Monsterrado in the South, from Mount Wologizi in Northcentral to Mount Gedeh in the Southeast, our citizens at this very moment are listening by radio - some are watching by television. I want to talk to you!
As you know, in our various communities and towns, our children have a way of greeting their fathers when they come home after a long, tiring day of trying to find the means to feed the family that night and send the children to school in the morning. They say, "Papa na come."
For too many times, for too many families, Papa comes home with nothing, having failed to find a job or to get the help to feed the hungry children. Imagine the disappointment and the hurt in the mother and the children; the frustration and the loss of self-confidence in the father.
Through the message of this story, I want you to know that I understand what you ordinary citizens go through each day to make ends meet for yourselves and for your families.
Times were hard before. Times are even harder today. But I make this pledge to you: Under my Administration, we will work to change that situation. We will work to ensure that when our children say "papa na come", papa will come home joyfully with something, no matter how meager, to sustain his family. In other words, we will create the jobs for our mothers and fathers to be gainfully employed. We will create the social and economic opportunities that will restore our people's dignity and self-worth.
We will make the children smile again. The thousands of children who could not present their voting cards, but repeatedly told me whenever I met and shook their hands that they voted for me. Indeed, the voted with their hearts. To those children and other Liberian children across this nation, I say to you: I love you very, very much. I shall work to give you hope and a better future.
Now, I would like to speak in particular to our youth. You are out there. You can believe my word that our Administration will do its utmost to respond to your needs. We will build your capacity and empower you to enable you meaningfully participate in the reconstruction of your country. We will give you the education that you asked for, and the skills training that we know you desire. We shall actively pursue the Kakata Declaration resulting from the National Youth Conference held in 2005 and the implementation of a National Youth Policy and Program.
Corruption
Fellow Liberians, we know that if we are to achieve our economic and income distribution goals, we must take on forcibly and effectively the debilitating cancer of corruption. Throughout the campaign, I assured our people that, if elected, we would wage war against corruption regardless of where it exists, or by whom it is practiced.
Today, I renew this pledge. Corruption, under my Administration, will be the major public enemy. We will confront it. We will fight it. Any member of my Administration who sees this affirmation as mere posturing or yet another attempt by another Liberian leader to play to the gallery on this grave issue should think twice.
In this respect, I will lead by example. I will expect and demand that everyone serving in my Administration leads by example. The first testament of how my Administration will tackle public service corruption will be that everyone appointed to high positions of public trust, such as in the Cabinet and heads of public corporations, will be required to declare their assets. I will be the first to comply, and I will call upon the Honorable Speaker and President Pro-Temps to say that they comply.
My Administration will also accord high priority to the formulation and passage into law of a National Code of Conduct, to which all public servants will be subjected.
My Fellow Liberians: If we are to achieve our development and anti-corruption goals, we must welcome and embrace the Governance and Economic Management Program, which the National Transitional Government of Liberia, working with our international partners, has formulated to deal with the serious economic and financial management deficiencies in our country.
We accept and enforce the terms of GEMAP, recognizing the important assistance which it is expected to provide during the early years of our Government. More importantly, we will ensure competence and integrity in the management of our own resources and insist on an integrated capacity building dimension initiative so as to render GEMAP non-applicable in a reasonable period of time.
Foreign Policy
My Fellow Liberians: Our nation's foreign policy has historically been rooted in our core values as a nation and people in the practices of good neighborliness, non-interference in the affairs of other nations and peoples, peaceful co-existence, regional cooperation and integration. These values will continue to guide the conduct of our foreign policy under my Administration. Our foreign policy will take due cognizance of the sacrifices and contributions that have been made by our brothers and sisters to restore peace, security, and stability to our country. We will therefore work to be a responsible member of sub-regional, regional, and international organizations, including the Mano River Union, Economic Community of West African States, African Union, and the United Nations. We will do all that we can to honor our obligations, past and current, and enforce all international treaties to which our country has subscribed.
To our sister Republics West, East, and North of our borders, we make this pledge: under my Administration, no inch of Liberian soil will be used to conspire to perpetrate aggression against your countries. In making this commitment, we will work for a new regional security that is based upon economic partnership aimed at enhancing the prospects for regional cooperation and integration.
My Fellow Citizens: Let me assure you that my Presidency shall remain committed to serve all Liberians without fear or favor. I am President for all of the people of the country. I therefore want to assure all of our people that neither I, nor any person serving my Administration will pursue any vendetta. There will be no vindictiveness. There will be no policies of political, social, and economic exclusion. We will be inclusive and tolerant, ever sensitive to the anxieties, fears, hopes, and aspirations of all of our people irrespective of ethnic, political, religious affiliation, and social status.
By their votes, the Liberian people have sent a clear message! They want peace; they want to move on with their lives. My charge as President is to work to assure the wishes of our people. We will therefore encourage our citizens to utilize our system of due process for settling differences. We will make sure that we work together as a people, knowing, however, that we will forcefully and decisively respond to any acts of lawlessness, threats to our hard earned peace, or destabilizing actions that could return us to conflict.
As we savor the new dawn of hope and expectation, I pledge to bring the Government closer to the people. The days of the imperial Presidency, of a domineering and threatening Chief Executive are over. This was my campaign promise, which I intend to keep.
And now, before I close, I would like to talk to the women - the women of Liberia, the women of Africa, and the women of the world. Until a few decades ago, Liberian women endured the injustice of being treated as second-class citizens. During the years of our civil war, they bore the brunt of inhumanity and terror. They were conscripted into war, gang raped at will, forced into domestic slavery. Yet, it is the women who labored and advocated for peace throughout our region.
It is therefore not surprising that during the period of our elections, Liberian women were galvanized - and demonstrated unmatched passion, enthusiasm, and support for my candidacy. They stood with me; they defended me; they worked with me; they prayed for me. The same can be said for the women throughout Africa. I want to here and now, gratefully acknowledge the powerful voice of women of all walks of life.
My Administration shall thus endeavor to give Liberian women prominence in all affairs of our country. My Administration shall empower Liberian women in all areas of our national life. We will support and increase the writ of laws that restore their dignity and deal drastically with crimes that dehumanize them. We will enforce without fear or favor the law against rape recently passed by the National Transitional Legislature. We shall encourage families to educate all children, particularly the girl child. We will also try to provide economic programs that enable Liberian women - particularly our market women - to assume their proper place in our economic process.
My Fellow Liberians: We are moving forward. The best days are coming. The future belongs to us because we have taken charge of it. We have the resources, and we have the resourcefulness. We now have the right Government. And we have good friends, good brothers and sisters who will work with us. Our people are already building our roads, cleaning up our environment, creating jobs, rebuilding schools, bringing back water and electricity.
We are a good people; we are a kind people. We are a forgiving people - and we are a God-fearing people.
So, let us begin anew, moving forward into a future that is filled with promise, filled with hope!
"In Union Strong, Success is Sure! We cannot - fail. We must not - fail. We will not - fail."
God bless you all - and save the Republic.
I thank you.
|
Topic Locked
Posted - 18 Mar 2006 : 21:46:52
