allAfrica.com: Liberia: Remarks by H.E. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf President of the Republic of Liberia at the 2007 Africare Bishop Walker Dinner (Page 1 of 3)

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

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.

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