Following is a statement sent to AllAfrica by Nathaniel Barnes, leader of the Liberian Destiny Party and presidential candidate in the 2005 election. Barnes, who served successively as Liberian Ambassador to the United Nations and to the United States, announced last year his intention to run again in 2011, then in July said his party would not to field a presidential candidate.
My fellow Liberians, over the last several weeks, friends and acquaintances from various walks of life have solicited my opinion with regard to the elections in our beloved country. I humbly offer this response.
Providence has provided us yet another opportunity. THIS IS OUR MOMENT!
I reach out to you not as a candidate for any office or as Ambassador or Minister, but as a brother, who, like many of you, deeply loves Liberia.
The world is watching us … waiting to see if we are ready to shepherd our homeland out of the shadow of its past into the light of its future.
Rest assured that stories will be told of this time and we can determine -by what we do now whether the stories celebrate our finest hour, or mourn the tragedy of another missed opportunity.
Liberians, if we do not come together for the sake of our country and our people, what will become of us? What will happen to a Liberia divided by mistrust and anger? Where will we go from here?
Brothers and Sisters, what will we tell our children and grandchildren? Will we want them to believe that we lacked the fortitude and could not summon the moral courage to stand up against the voices of divisiveness in favor of peace and reconciliation?
I, like you, want to be able to tell my grandchildren that we tried; that it was hard and we didn't always get it right but we tried; that we pledged to work together and committed ourselves to building an inclusive Liberia; that in our hearts and in our minds, the voices of rich and poor, settler and indigenous, Muslim and Christian, educated and uneducated; the voices of ALL
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Liberians finally blended in harmony and unity.
No one knows the answers to all of our challenges nor should we delude ourselves into thinking that any one individual can solve all of our problems. What is crystal clear to me is that we must reconcile. Without reconciliation we will never be greater than we are today; nor will we prosper and experience sustainable peace. I also know that reconciliation requires more than mere words.
It requires us to act on the belief that together we are stronger than we can ever be divided.
Reconciliation requires changes in our hearts and demands our willingness to hear the voices of all our people, to live as equals, treat each other with respect, and have faith in the knowledge that if we do not stand together we will fall together.
As we approach this run-off, I encourage those of you, who are eligible, to vote your conscience, abide by the law and accept the outcome no matter who emerges victorious. In the final analysis, a peaceful electoral process means Liberia wins.
Let History reflect that ALL LIBERIANS seized this moment and together began the journey towards a truly UNIFIED Liberia.
God bless Liberia
