By Bill W. Cooper
President-elect Joseph Boakai is urging Liberians in the diaspora to unite and contribute their skills and resources towards the rebuilding of Liberia beginning next year.
He emphasized that the elections are over, and it is now time to roll up their sleeves and focus on the daunting task of nation-building, ensuring a prosperous and hopeful nation for all Liberians, irrespective of one’s political affiliation.
The President-elect further called on them to channel their talents, expertise, and financial support into critical sectors such as infrastructure development, education, healthcare, and job creation.
Boakai spoke over the weekend, on the occasion marking the formal welcoming program by the JNB Movement New England Chapter and the Liberian Communities in Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
Boakai, also acknowledging the challenging road ahead, expressed confidence in the resilience and determination of the Liberian people to overcome obstacles and create a brighter future for all.
This, he stressed, “Fellow Liberians, we have an opportunity to change the course of our country. As I have always said, our country holds so much promise, and it is up to us as a generation to seize it and transform our country for all to have a fair chance of a better livelihood.”
“I will repeat, as I have always maintained, that Liberia is not a poor country, but the problem of this country is the lack of sound and honest leadership. The election is now behind us, and it is time to do the hard work,” the President-elect maintained.
He furthered, “I ask all Liberians at home and in the Diaspora to join me as I lead in the fashion of a servant-leader to help build our country together to promote a functional and equitable society for generations to come. It will not be an easy road, but God above all, we will work together to change and transform our country.”
According to him, the importance of the Liberian Diaspora in the country’s political, economic and social development cannot be overemphasized, and as such, they will be nurtured and cultivated as a serious partner in implementing his government’s agenda.
He explained, “As I reflect on my vision of rebranding our society and creating an equal future for all Liberians, I want to highlight the need to address the crisis of governance by promoting inclusivity and popular participation in the decision-making process.”
“I believe the power of government must come from the people, whose unfettered participation in the democratic process always establishes the legitimacy that ensures political stability and social cohesion.
The nature and structure of our economy have promoted so much inequality and partly caused some of the social tensions and strains in society that have led to conflicts. We must rethink how concession and enclave should work for our people across the entire value chain, with deliberate decisions on value addition over raw extraction,” he intoned.
Boakai asserted, “More than that, natural resource exploitations must not only bring growth; that growth must equally come with development as that income is plowed back into the delivery of social services and other public goods.”
According to him, there are other social concerns such as the lack of respect for one another, dishonesty, hate messages, and the culture of impunity, and emphasized further, “These we can assure you will become things of the past.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, I have outlined all these because I see them as some of the recurrent and most critical problems facing the country, that will certainly confront the incoming government, and we will explore the means available to us to address these problems including the drug epidemic and health and sanitation challenges.
Still, it is important to establish that we cannot do it alone as a government. Certainly, the results of interventions will not be immediately evident in some of the cases. This is why the diaspora community would be a crucial partner in developing our country. Let me throw the challenge out to you!” he added.
President-elect Boakai further disclosed plans of the hosting of a yearly conference on Diaspora engagement, adding, “I am, in this public manner, proposing a yearly conference on Diaspora engagement to help facilitate Liberia’s contribution to the community in the development of the homeland.”
