Washington, DC — During her visit to the United States last month, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf addressed a gathering of development experts at a luncheon on March 20 hosted by the Academy for Educational Development. The session was recorded by AllAfrica and transcribed by AED. Sirleaf was introduced by AED President Stephen F. Moseley. Vivian Lowery Derryck, AED Senior Vice President and Director Public-Private Partnerships, presided. The text of Sirleaf's speech and the questions and answers that followed:
There are so much people in this room that have traveled with us on this long road to democracy and to the point of progress where we are. If I started to call names I'd probably end up calling up almost everybody around each table so I can just say to all of you a big thank you.
Thank you from the people of Liberia for all that you did to stand by them through a difficult time, the advocacy that you carried me, the agony that you shared with us, the support that you gave to us, individually, collectively, institutionally, certainly made a big difference in bringing us to this point of progress.
We certainly do think that the elections have opened up a window of unparalled opportunity and that window has the foundation in the exercise of choice. That's what democracy is all about and that's what the Liberian people exhibited in October and again in November when they went to the polls in large numbers under difficult circumstances, infrastructured, underdeveloped that would have imposed serious impediments to getting up and getting there to cast their ballots but they did and in that we see they stood up for democracy.
They exemplified the fact that they wanted Liberia to show the world that they want to be in control of their own destiny, and so we start off on the basis that Liberian people have chosen the path of participation and that we can do no less then create the environment that enables them to exercise choice in so many other ways, choice in leadership, choice in economic endeavor, choice in association, choice in religion, all of those things that encompass the fundamental rights of an individual.
This government is committed to ensuring that they continue along that path, but democracy does carry with it so many other requirements it will create that environment that promotes choice. One of the first things we think of is peace and stability to have the opportunity to participate and to exercise their democratic choice, we need peace and that peace can only come when we have concluded the work on getting our own security forces in place. The U.S. government is helping us along those lines, that peace enables us to respond to whatever threat there may be to democracy. The stability that is supported by that peace, but which goes beyond just having the military might or having professionalized institutionalized security service to protect the people, but one that goes in to creating a feeling of togetherness, a feeling of unity, a feeling like each one having a stake in the future.
And so we stress reconciliation as part of building that peace, finding the means to ensure that each Liberian has the right to participate in the processes of contrition and forgiveness, putting our emphasis on that and to carry that out we've just inducted into office and given support to the troop in reconciliation commission to enable them to examine some of the root causes of conflicts and find the means whereby we can adopt those measures that will ensure that there will not be conflict again.
The constitution, the composition of our government is trying as best as we can to make it inclusive bringing so many of the opposition people into it promoting a loyal opposition so that we don't have we don't slip back in to a centralized power and decision making situation with an imperial presidency, but ensuring that everybody feels that they're party all are taking part in the process of decision that will affect their lives.
We also know that if democracy will prosper we need a government that has some policies, some economic policies, to enable us to carry out a development agenda to be able to attract private capital and investment; a government that is efficient that's honest, that has a level playing field and enables a judiciary system to respond wherever recourse the legal means are necessary to protect rights-- contractual and corporate rights.
A government that has the commitment and the ability to manage our own resources while pursuing an agenda of balanced economic developments so that we not only concentrate on employment opportunities and investment opportunities in some of the major urban centers, but that we take it out to be to the countryside through an official local government system that also has decision making and choice, not only at the center but at the peripheral, and enabling people to build capacities to establish their own priorities as much as possible with linkage to the center to manage their own affairs at the local government level and be able to see opportunities all the social economic infrastructure extended beyond just the centers of power .
We start formulating our development agenda, trying to tie in to policies that will enable us to implement it, but clearly one of the things that we are going to focus on is education. There is no doubt that if anything we need to address if there's one area that's been neglected over time is educating our young people. We have a strange situation, an unusual situation in our country today, where the current generation is more educated more capable then the one behind it, than the younger one.
In most places the younger generation is much more educated, much more knowledgeable, has much more interest in academic achievement, not in our case, suggesting to us that our own experiences that we've neglected education for much too long. Obviously in our program of education the center of attention has to be the thousands and thousands of war affected youth.
Those many kids who were conscripted into warring factions, some not with the opportunity of any education at all under conditions not of their own control, forced into violence, forced to commit atrocities, forced in to a way of life that really dehumanized them. And so we must find a way not only to get them back into schools if possible, but into skills training programs to enable them to have a future and enable them, as much as possible, to become professionals and to make a major contribution to the rebuilding of their nation.
It is not going to be an easy task, because many of them still suffer from the trauma of war; the kinds of destruction that they faced, the kind of death of they've seen-- their families killed before their eyes--have not left them very energized about an education. But again, in my own campaign, wherever I went, when I talked to young people as traumatized as they were in that movement, when they reflected and you ask them, ?What do you really want? What do you want your government to do for you?? Without a blink, inevitably, the response was "We want to go to school." "We want an education." We want to be trained.?
And so the message in that respect is clear: our agenda has to include the means whereby we can put these kids in to school. We have also as a part of this development agenda just building our own national capacity with all the support that we get, and we are thankful for this window of opportunity and the expression of bilateral and multilateral support from many of our development endeavors.
But unless we have the means to be able to implement these programs, it will take us a long time to benefit from the huge amount of assistance, and we need to get some of our people back, some of them in this room our talent that's out here in the Diaspora. To get them back may take some sacrifices on their part, but some of them have already made that big decision. We'll do what we can to encourage others so that we have an expanding national capacity to enable us to carry out what we know will be a very ambitions development agenda.
We also are committed to structural reform, and here we have some work started to the governor's reform commission, which I headed before the elections and have some ideas as to how we go about changing, changing Liberia, changing it to the new Liberia that we talk about.
So, enthusiastically, what does it mean? How do we change it from that archaic low corner of the globe that everybody knew and make it something that's vibrant. How do we get a renaissance? How do we get new thoughts, new approaches to doing things?
We've set up in our first of goal, first of all trying to do constitutional reform and that means knowing that this is, you know, this is the largest symbol of the court of conduct of any nation and the standards by which a nation's operates within the global environment, establishing global standards.
But so how do we now change this to remove some of the anachronistic provisions that have probably inhibited our carrying out the government agenda? How do we look for some of those best practices and good examples in other places that have indeed put forth systems, systems that provide a new political order so that participation is ensured on the part of all, so that never again as has been the history of our country will there be a monopolization of power and privilege by any one group, but that everyone knows that they have a stake and that they can take part?
How do we remove those things to enable the economic person to bring the creativity, the productivity and the industry without the constraints that we know exist in some of our constitutional provisions? We also want to embark upon a very important program of land reform, and again I throw this out because so many of you in this room have worked with other countries where some of these issues have been examined and new approaches and new methods have been identified to achieve a bigger objective.
Here the land tenure system has been our historic orientation of communal land ownership. How does that affect productivity, production, and what new methods can we adopt to bring changes to that? We have already started on a judicial reform system where we go not only beyond the system of justice to the court system but to ensure that rights are protected at all levels in the society.
What kinds of institutions will we need besides the courts to ensure that these rights and the service reform we started also. For many of those from the private sector in this room, making sure that government gets out of those issues it should not be in and that the private sector can take the lead when it comes to things like construction and infrastructure and utilities and all of those things that normally government would care about, but which we think that merely the regulatory environment is needed to ensure the protection of national interests and the protecting of the people that these things can be done well by the private sector. And that we also create there an absorptive capacity of the many of the people in the situation, where we would like to see more efficiency and effectiveness of government operations by reducing its size and reducing the scale of its operations.
The interrelationships between democracy and development is just so clear to us that no matter what we pursue, if we want to pursue democracy we know that we have to touch the root causes of conflict; we have to touch the root causes of underdevelopment.
We have to be able to have a sound development agenda that puts people to work, that enables people to pursue an education, that provides to them medical care over the country. Those are some of the challenges that we face. The challenges are real in a situation from whence we've come. But we know that we now have this opportunity, this window of opportunity that Liberia's people cherish so much because it provides us the chance, the chance for choice. This time, choice on a national scale.
The government is only the lead in this regard, but our obligation is to make sure that the Liberian people feel this, feel that it's time for the nation to move forward and already we begin to sense that. The anticipation and expectations are high but the commitment is real and it's deep that they do want a new life, they do want to move forward, they do want to see Liberia prosper again, and they do want to regain their international credibility and reputation.
Liberian people want back their dignity. They want the chance to live. They want a chance to prosper. Our commitment and our obligation is to provide the leadership that enables them to pursue those goals and we want to thank you for all that you have done and continue to do to work with us in the achievement of those objectives. Thank you.
[applause]
Vivian Lowery Derryck: Thank you very much President Sirleaf for really speaking of vision and with such passion that we all wish that we could become Liberians and go back and work with you. The President has graciously agreed to take three questions so please stand, go to one of the mikes, identify yourself, and ask a question that is succinct. Ambassador Jeter
Ambassador Howard Jeter: Thank you, Vivian. Madam President, it was reported in the New York Times and other national newspapers over the weekend that you have now asked formally the government of Nigeria to extradite Charles Taylor. I wanted to ask and try to get your personal assessment of what you think the impact of that action will be. Not what others are saying what it might be but your view of how this is going to affect stability, progress development, and peace in Liberia?
President Sirleaf: Ambassador Jeter when you get to where I am, you stop thinking. You take advice. You stop having opinions and if I had my way, I'd point to my national security advisor and tell him what does he think so that I can be enlightened. We think there will be some resistance. We think there'll be some attempts at destabilizing. But we also think the Liberian people are, in the greater numbers, are ready to move on, ready to put this particular issue behind us because it is a constraint on our ability to move our development agenda, and I think we just want to get it past us that's why we want to bring it to closure. So, the advisor tells me that we may have to stay up all night some times but we'll manage.
Vivian Lowery Derryck: It was a bold and courageous step and I think that the international community recognizes it as such. Mel (Foote)?
Mel Foote: Madam President, welcome. My question is two parts, one you spoke of the need for education as a priority of your administration. I'd be interested to know where does health rate in terms of priorities for development in Liberia. Secondly, I would like to know how have your neighbors in Sierra Leone and other countries, how have they accepted your presidency and are they being very supportive and that sort of thing?
President Sirleaf: We're very pleased that the warm welcome that we've received from all of the African leaders. It's just been exceptional. I think it's recognition of the progress Liberia has made in moving towards peace. I think it's also a recognition of the many years I and others have worked with them in their countries on development issues. So, we look forward to strengthening the partnership and relationship with all the African countries, particularly those in the sub region. [Regarding] our quest for placing emphasis on education and what this will do to reduce vulnerability of the youth, I think it's very welcome because that's going to perhaps stop some of the cross border recruitment that many of our countries in the sub region have faced. We're thankful this is working very well.
Vivian Lowery Derryck: Tara?
Tara Thomas: Hi, Tara Thomas from Chicago HRDI, I have two questions and this is concerning human capacity. Number one, you had mentioned that Liberians need to return home, that you need the talent and the expertise. What do you say to Liberians who may be abroad especially here in the United States, what do you say to them that would motivate them to return home to help Liberia move forward? That's the first question. The second question is, what do you need from the international community outside of education to help the young, especially the excombatants reenter society?
President Sireleaf: For the first question I'm going to turn to someone who has just returned and let her say what I said to her and what made her do what she did that's the Finance Minister.
Dr. Antoinette Sayeh, Liberian Finance Minister: Thank you, Madam President, thank you for the question. I think all Liberians here and elsewhere who've been privileged as I have been with education and with resources that the average Liberian does not have, have seen this as an unparalled opportunity to give back to our country. And to be asked to do so was for me an unbelievable honor and even with all of the opportunities that we've had outside of our countries, clearly to be fulfilled in our professions and to be able to give back is something we all cherish and I think we all want to do. Many people are making sacrifices to go back to Liberia. We very much look forward for the support from our partners in helping us encourage more of them to do so. A lot is involved in concerns of personal choices that people make with the families that they've invested in and the lives that they've invested in abroad and that they need to change to be able to come to that decision. What the international community can help them with is to help in a transitional way on the financial side to help some of them make that choice, and we've been talking to some of our partners about that and there is interest in helping to do so.
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President Sirleaf: That's Dr. Antoinette Sayeh, who we were able to recruit from the service of the World Bank to bring her back to Liberia as the Minister of Finance. On the second question, again, I'd like to get some other Liberians telling you some and I'm going to ask Dr. Fahnbulleh if he could just respond as one who has worked with youth Dr. Bomiah Fahnbulleh if he could just talk to what do we need, what do want people to do to help us with our youth. May I pass it to you Dr. Fahnbulleh
Dr. Bomiah Fahnbulleh: I think first and foremost I must say that we in Liberia are starting off in the position of gratitude to someone who has redeemed our generation. The young people in our country a long time have had this misguided opinion that people in our generation have failed them in some many ways. On the political front, we were not very decisive in what we wanted. On the social front, we've abandoned them and developed an elite system. On the economic front, we have created an enclave of opportunity for minority, and what the election of Madam Sirleaf has done for us is to give us the opportunity for the first time in 25 years to show what we would have done had we've been given the opportunity 25 years ago.
I think it is a demand that the young people are [asking] action of us so that they don't feel neglected. We want the international community to understand that we have a youthful population which has evolved in the culture of banditry. These young people have become hired hands in their sub region, they have fought wars, they have no other skills other than to fight wars.
We would like to engage the international community in such a way that we can provide for these people, give them a sense of hope, and the election of Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf gave us the opportunity to provide the hope for our people. In the first place I am one of those who believe that the problem in Africa has not been the lack of opportunities, has not been the lack of focus.
It has been a lack of the quality of leadership, and coming from a political science background, I believe in our own country we have a very educated experienced person, so we can now develop a paradigm in which these young people can be brought in, meaning they'll be engaged in literacy program where those who are educated can educate those who do not have the opportunity. For instance, our schools are under funded, most of our buildings have collapsed, but we have kids in school and first and foremost what we want to do? During the vacation we can have the international community giving us the resources where we can mobilize these young people and send them in to rural areas to go and teach the farmers, too, and teach the people. Those in the urban centers can then go into the slums and train the mothers and fathers, the market women so we want to build a community of our young people, give them employment, give them a sense of direction.
Also I would like to see the international community, especially the black community helping us to build a library, one of the best in Africa probably called the E. W. Blyden Library hosting African archives, where our young people, instead of being hooked on just rap music and Rambo, can go and search can search for sources of education. Our future lies in the youth all over West Africa. If we abandon the young people, then we're setting the stage for further destabilization tomorrow, and I think we want to engage the international community to focus on Liberia, make us the center of their experiment, whereby, with a philosopher king in power we can then develop the framework for involving the youth and giving them the sense of belonging and a sense of responsibility, that's what we'd like to do. Thank you.
Vivian Lowery Derryck: Thank you very much. President Sirleaf, we thank you for vision and inspiration and for making all of us believe that Liberia will become a beacon of hope in West Africa. Thank you very much.
