Liberia — No ten Liberians agree on who should play what role in the reconstruction of postwar Liberia. For some, reconstruction is an all-government business. For others, reconstruction is successful when the citizens take community-grown initiatives under the guidance of the government. For still others, it is successful only when the government and people work together in an atmosphere of inclusion and mutual respect. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf agrees. But as she outlines her administration's achievements and the challenges facing the nation, she says such government-citizen partnership for recovery demands shared interest and responsible citizenship. The Analyst reports from the President's Independent Day address in Tubmanburg, Bomi County.

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf says that now that her administration had laid the groundwork for national recovery, it was high time the Liberian people play the responsible citizen by climbing down from the spectator seat, ditching armchair criticism, and joining the reconstruction efforts.

She says this must become the new normal if Liberians must transform their country and put it on par with its neighbors in terms of economic and infrastructural development.

The president made the call during this year's Independence Day Celebration in Tubmanburg, Bomi County in western Liberia.

The president was speaking under the theme, “Transforming Liberia through Reconciliation and Responsible Citizenship” at ceremonies graced by many foreign dignitaries including former President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Dr. David Knight, a HEARTT physician.

The president, who was grateful to God for the serenity of the state and to the nation's partner's for their continue assistance, said there were many reasons for pessimists, who had thought that this nation would collapse shortly after signing the 2003 Peace Agreement, to reorder their priorities and join in the reconstruction efforts.

The president said it was to demonstrate that her administration welcomed the views of all Liberians in the nation's reconstruction efforts and that all sectors of the nation benefit from the nation's meager resources that it undertook, despite pressing budgetary constraints, to rotate the July 26 celebrations.

“Holding these celebrations is a tradition we began in 2006, to take the celebration to the people in all of our 15 counties. We do so because they provide the opportunity for expanding and enhancing infrastructural development and also for national healing and reconciliation by bringing our people together as one,” she said.

President Sirleaf said this why in the months, weeks, and days running up to July 26, 2013, the administration undertook a series of activities, which included the holding of investiture ceremonies to recognize the services of dedicated Liberians, dedicated educational and recreational facilities that cater for the needs of women and girls.

That is why also, she said, the government dedicated a major relief road in the home of the once notorious maximum-security prisons in the land, the Belleh Yallah Prison, and dedicated the poultry farm of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, where chickens are being raised to supply eggs to the local market.

“Yesterday, here in Tubmanburg, we launched, through the Ministry of Health & Social Welfare, ‘A Promise Renewed-Liberia's Commitment to Child Survival',” the president said to indicate that the government remained committed to improving the health sector with the assistance of its partners, especially UNICEF and USAID.

In the same vein, she said, the government dedicated or inspected some twenty-six development projects, among them, the regional office of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), the presidential guesthouse, chief's compound, superintendent's residence, and, among many initiatives the modern Gbah Market Building, in Gbah Jakeh.

The president took her hat off to this year's national orator, Unity Party National Chairman, Cllr. Cllr. Varney Gboto-Nambi Sherman, for proposing the enactment of several legislations including now dormant National Code of Conduct bill and the Dual Citizenship and Residency Expansion bills.

She said the many achievements of her administration, if reinforced by the legislations Cllr. Sherman is hooting, would prepare Liberia for the next six-year phase of reconstruction.

“In this second term, our goal is transform our nation economically, as well as socially, guided by our National Vision 2030, our Agenda for Transformation, and our Strategic Roadmap on National Peacebuilding, Healing, and Reconciliation which, together, are charting the path to the future we desire,” the president said.

Glad to head the nation's reconstruction process, the president said the Reconciliation Roadmap her administration launched recently demand upon the Liberia people to regard unity as the springboard for prosperity.

“Through the provisions of the Roadmap, we seek to account for the past; address present challenges; and collectively aspire for a better and shared future. To claim the future, we are coming together to reflect and heal the past,” she said.

Healing the past, the president said, also required moving away from conflict through political reforms and economic development. Both of these, she said, “need to be fully inclusive in terms of geographical and social scope, enabling greater ‘voice' and space for participation by citizens of Liberia in political processes and economic empowerment”.

It requires also the path to peace adapting the recommendations of TRC-Liberia. This is why, she disclosed, the Peace-Building Office in the Ministry of Internal Affairs recently completed a detailed study which shows clearly the action already taken on the 200-plus recommendations and suggestions contained in the TRC Report.

“Let me reiterate that our government is fully committed to the implementation of the TRC recommendations in those cases where they are in compliance with our Constitution and laws,” the president. She was addressing the concerns of “diehards” who she said claimed that reconciliation could not take place because the administration had not implemented the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

But the Liberian chief executive said there was more to the search for peace than recommended or allowed by the TRC recommendations.

“In searching for lasting solutions to our problems, we have found that when we share the work of governing with the people of Liberia, we foster an environment of inclusiveness and promote sustainable development. This is possible because in combining our energies, we can achieve more; in sharing our fortunes fairly, we do justice and promote peace; and in participating in decisions that affect us, we can together take responsibility for our destiny,” she said.

Also in searching for lasting solutions, and in order to sustain the current level of development, the president said there was need to transform Liberia from a system in which the Government has all of the responsibilities and the citizens have only rights and privileges.

“Being responsible citizens mean we do not stand in the way of progress. Responsible citizens do not build homes in such a way that construction of the roadway is delayed, and building the railway to transport the iron ore cannot proceed. We should not threaten the start date of bringing cheaper electricity to our people because construction of the hydro is hampered as a result of people having planted rubber trees in the basin where the water will flow. Such actions cost Government additional money we did not budget for, in order to settle the many claims. We ask you to join us, as responsible citizens, to do the right thing. It means doing your bit to help our country advance, and to accelerate its growth,” she said.

But she said there was something more akin to a citizen being responsible: it is the change of attitudes and behavior towards law, order, and governance.

“More importantly, we can only become responsible citizens by changing our attitudes and our behavior. We need, as Liberians, to think positively; to balance criticism with constructive solutions; to love our country and ourselves; to want to uplift ourselves and everything around us; to be patriotic. That's what citizen responsibility is all about. That's what progress is all about,” the president emphasized.

Meanwhile President Sirleaf says electricity would shortly be available to 18 communities along the Liberian-Ivorian border. The areas include residents of Luguatuo, Duoplay, Karnplay, Sanniquellie and Ganta, who now have street lights.

“Testing will continue throughout the remaining lines in the county, and by August residences and businesses will start being connected to the electricity grid. We hope that by Christmas, the citizens of Maryland and Grand Gedeh will experience similar joy, Nimba having come on-stream by the end of August,” the Liberian leader disclosed.