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Liberia Government (Monrovia)

Liberia: Remarks by H.E. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf President of the Republic of Liberia at the 2007 Africare Bishop Walker Dinner

19 October 2007

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The following is Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's acceptance speech at The 2007 Africare John T. Walker Memorial Dinner in Washington, DC on October 17:  

President George Bush and Former President Bill Clinton, National Honorary Patrons;

Mrs. Laura Bush;

Mrs. Maria Walker, Honorary Dinner Chair;

Mr. Robert Johnson, National Chair;

Friends of Africa and Friends of Liberia;

Thank you to everyone who is here tonight and to AFRICARE for hosting this event and presenting me with such a notable honor. When I look at the list of the past recipients – President Nelson Mandela, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Richard Lugar, Bill and Melinda Gates, President Bill Clinton, Colin Powell, I can't help but feel humbled to be included. Each man and woman so honored was a pioneer in their own way, changing the world with their ideas and their innovations. This, for me, is the definition of true legacy.

Tonight I ask you not to celebrate me or my Presidency, but to celebrate the Liberian people, because they have suffered through so much and granted me the privilege to serve my country, and it is their support and hope for a better future that I need to sustain.

I am often asked what I think my legacy will be, and I reply that this is for historians to decide. But it is my hope that when history passes judgment on me, it will not just remark that I was the first woman to be elected President in Africa.

I would like to be remembered for raising the bar for accountable governance in Liberia and across the continent; for designing institutions that serve the pubic interest; for turning a failed state into a thriving democracy with a vibrant, diversified private-sector-driven economy; for sending children back to school; for returning basic services to the cities and bringing them to rural areas.

I want Liberia to show the world that in the time of great uncertainty, with sustained support from the United States of America and its partners, a post-conflict country can live in peace within its own borders and amongst its neighbors and emerge as a nation that embraces constitutionally defined separation of powers, that respects civil rights, and the rule of law.

I want us to use the opportunity of this night to share in the excitement of a continent (Africa) on the move; a region virtually free of war and destruction, a nation after decades of conflict and near total destruction, on the mend, securing the peace, open for business, reclaiming a future of hope and promise.

Thank you AFRICARE for your contribution to this progress, for your work in food security and health services and HIV prevention and water supply and sanitation in over twenty-six countries in Africa.

Your work and commitment to Liberia is long standing. C. Payne Lucas was there with us in the old days and he listened to our prayers and hopes when things turned bad. Julius Coles worked with us in USAID many years before he came to AFRICARE so he knows our trials and tribulations, our strengths and expectations.

Thank you, AFRICARE, for the current support in reviving our rural agriculture, thereby enabling our people to become self sufficient once again; and for the building and staffing of clinics, and the fight against HIV/AIDS.

There are many others, several in this audience, who have helped Liberia on to this path of progress. It would never have started if our African leaders had not taken the bold step to say 'enough is enough' in the suffering of a people, if President Bush, urged on by unsung heroes – Bobby Pittman, Jendayi Frazer, Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell – did not tell the world that it was time for a dictator to step down. President Bush just recently gave thousands of Liberians another lease on life by extending their stay in the U.S. for another 18 months.

Today as we reclaim the future, we thank you Mrs. Bush for being with us when we took the oath of office and for the continuing support exemplified by the inclusion of Liberia in the special education initiative. Please come back to Africa to see the progress in the fight you have supported against malaria and please come back to Liberia to see what we do in promoting the education of our children, particularly the neglected girls.

Bob Johnson, National Chair, you have provided the means whereby thousands of Liberians now have the opportunity to compete in the business sector. You have gone beyond that in becoming one of our greatest advocates, bringing our potential to the attention of American investors, securing the link between Liberians and African Americans.

Congresswoman Nita Lowey, as Chair of the Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, and with others of your colleagues, has stood by us in our time of need. You have spearheaded Liberia's inclusion in Supplementals to keep our security sector reform on track. By so doing, you have embraced the vision that the government of Liberia has articulated for its future.

And whether everyone here realizes it or not, you are showing the world that when the politics in Washington is united, across party lines, towards a goal, there is nothing that this great nation of the United States of America can not accomplish.

Many of you may recall when I spoke last year to the Joint Meeting of Congress – I said, "Liberia is taking its place among the community of peaceful democracies, but we haven't done it alone. I stood before you then and I stand before you now as an African woman and an African president, thanks to the grace of Almighty God; thanks to the courage of the Liberian people, who chose their future over fear; thanks to the people of West Africa and of Africa generally, who intervened to give hope to my people. And thanks to the government and people of this country, and to the world community, who spurred the international effort that brought blessed peace to our nation".

We have come a long way since January 2006. Our vision and development agenda is clearly focused around the four goals of Peace and Security, Economic Revitalization, Infrastructure and Basic Services, and Governance and the Rule of Law. Our new army and security forces are under professional training, preparing to assume the responsibility when the UN peacekeeping forces commence a draw down. We have drafted a new National Defense and Security Sector Act and completed plans for the establishment of a Veterans Bureau.

We balanced our budget in four months, and we have more than doubled revenues in one year, increasing budget resources from $80 million under the transitional government to close to $200 million. We have formulated sound macroeconomic policy and introduced a wide range of sector policy reforms as the foundation for developing our Poverty Reduction Strategy. We have implemented the Governance and Economic Management Assistance Program (GEMAP) which provides Technical experts for revenue generation in key government institutions. We have commenced the first national census in 20 years, met the conditions for the lifting of sanctions on timber and diamonds.

We have qualified for the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) to facilitate Liberian exports to U.S. markets. We have renegotiated a $1 billion iron ore concession agreement with Arcelor Mittal Steel. We have resolved financial integration of the Central Bank from deficit to surplus capital deposit. We have concluded arrangements for $10 million investment in processing of old rubber trees into chips for export to Europe; ensured food security with provision of seeds and tools worth more than $2 million to more than 14,000 families throughout the country; and supported the rehabilitation for 200 small rubber and cocoa farms.

We are reviewing proposals for investment in other mines and in our forestry sector under a new law that protects the environment and gives benefits to the communities. We have welcomed new investments in exploiting our mineral and oil potential.

We have increased school enrollment by 40 percent with special emphasis on the education of girls and going beyond official resources to tap private funds through the Liberian Education Trust which has raised $3 million to build or renovate 50 schools, train 500 teachers and give 5000 scholarship to girls. We are keeping our election promise to improve conditions of our market women. We are rebuilding clinics and hospitals, and trying to restore the nation's number one facility, the John F. Kennedy Memorial, to prewar status.

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