LIBERIA'S 178TH INDEPENDENCE ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION ORATION BY WELMA MASHININI REDD
JULY 19, 2025
LIBERIAN EMBASSY
WASHINGTON, DC
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His Excellency Al-Hassan Conteh, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Liberia to the United States, Officials of the U.S government, Officials and Staff of the Liberian Embassy, Officials, Members of the Diplomatic corps, Members of the Clergy, Officers and Members of LCA-DMV, fellow Liberians, Friends of LIBERIA, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen:
Thank you for inviting me to share my thoughts and passion for Liberia with you today.
Our country, Liberia, has its challenges. The great United States has its challenges, but I ask you pause and take a moment to send love and blessings to Liberia in all its vicissitudes. Imagine God filling you with a golden Holy Light. You are in Liberia. Let your heart radiate with a golden light. See the light filling every street, every market, every health facility, every school, every community, every farm, and every dwelling place in Liberia. Take a moment and see the light rejuvenating our economy into a renaissance reviving and rebirthing every part of the land called Liberia.
We are gathered here today for one of Liberia's most important national rituals: the celebration of our independence as a republic; the commemoration of that historic day, July 26, 1847, one hundred and seventy eight (178) years ago that set in motion all of the events that have defined us, made us uniquely, and proudly who we are: The Midwife of African liberation. Let us show Liberia some love, honor and dignity.
As we mark this historic day, July 26, it is fitting that we pause again to pay tribute to the remarkable men and women whose work, foresight, and selfless sacrifice made Liberia possible: Joseph Jenkins Roberts, Sao Boso, Bob Gray, Edward Wilmot Blyden, Chief Madam Suakoko, and many others.
They were not perfect and like all of us they had many flaws. But against immense odds, they bequeathed us a nation, a place we can call home, our own home: Liberia.
That is why it gives me great pleasure to speak to you today on the topic: Liberia's economic renaissance: building bridges between Liberia and United States.
What is Renaissance? 700 years ago, Europe was in darkness, 90 percent of the population was illiterate, they were impoverished and died at a very early age. Then a miracle happened. In Italy, the province of Florence started to invest in the education of the youth. Michelangelo sculpted the David statue and painted the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa. Writers and architects, men and women, individuals, like you and me, rolled up their sleeves and put their learning and intellect into action. It was like a miracle. Europe experienced an enlightenment across the continent and went from their dark medieval ages, into the renaissance.
Liberia is primed for its renaissance. We talk about "normal days." When we start to romanticize about our national past, let us remember that although everything across the country was not rosy everywhere for everyone before the military coup of 1980 or our 14-year civil war. But an objective look at some facts about the past would show that we did have a relatively strong economy compared to the economy we now have.
Let's look at the numbers: according to the World Bank, Liberia's per capita GDP in 1972 was $3181. If we adjust for inflation, that would be $24,470 today. If the resource produced in the country was divided equally with everyone, each person would get $24, 470 a year. That means in 1972, Liberia, at least by its per capita GDP, was a high-income country, or at minimum an upper middle-income country.
Today, the World Bank reports that Liberia's per capita GDP is a meager $846. Compared to other countries we are among the very low income countries in the world. Just the thought of that can be depressing, but let's not despair.
A renaissance is indeed coming. If, and only if, you play your part. I play my part. The government plays its part, each in a smart way.
I just returned from Liberia two weeks ago and I left very impressed. The Liberian people, despite what you may have heard, are resilient and working very hard working.
Government is building roads. Your will be proud to drive from the airport next year. It will be almost like driving on a superhighway. People are building homes. Operating businesses. Building private hospitals. Building universities. Go into communities and see how people are hard at work, making or selling something: Liberians are welding window bars and metal gates, Liberians are selling cement blocks, Liberians are sewing African clothes. They are cooking and selling food along the streets, or behind lappas-be-doors; They are selling in nice restaurants.
They are packaging peanuts or ground peas, cashew nuts, plantain chips, kanyan, rice and cassava flour, all locally made, and well-packaged, clean, on supermarket shelves. People are taking advantage of every opportunity.
All of this speaks to the resilience, dynamism and creativity of the Liberian people, even under the worst conditions.
The renaissance has begun as people pull themselves out of poverty.
The Government has initialized its ARREST AGENDA for inclusive development. Consisting of, Agriculture, Roads, Rule of Law, Education, Sanitation, and Tourism
The government is focused of course on agriculture. Most Liberians depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. We need a top down--bottom-up approach for an all-inclusive development. Government needs to hear and understand the issues. The struggles people consistently face must be sought after and attended to by the ARREST agenda. A mechanism can be put in place to hear what is going on in the counties in a systematic way that the Cabinet can include on Its agenda. We must listen to the people where they are and tell them what the government is doing about it.
The answer to our low agricultural productivity may not be simple. Ask the farmers about their problems and help them find solutions. Inform them of the policy details. There must be an on-going national conversation between the people and their government about problems, policy, and the expectations of government. We must provide the yellow machines. We must provide the extension services. We must provide the improved seeds. We must provide our farmers all the advantages that modern technologies offer. There can be no ifs, ands, or buts about this.
Of course, finding the resources, we must admit, has always been a challenge. But that is why we must think anew about how we can build bridges with our historic and long-standing relationship with the United States.
I remember a time when our economy benefited from significant American private sector investment. There was the Liberia American Mining Company or LAMCO. There was the National Iron Ore Mining Company. There was B.F. Goodridge. There was the United States Trading Company (USTC). Today, they are all gone. There is only Firestone, which is really a Japanese owned company today.
How do we attract more U.S. investment? We must begin with the basics: put in place the necessary reforms that will improve our rankings when it comes to ease of doing business. We must do everything we can to make us an attractive place to do business. We may not quickly be able to tackle all the binding constraints to development like the lack of affordable electricity, water, and roads. But we should see solving these constraints as opportunities and necessities to attracting investments and see their solutions as win-win propositions for Liberia and foreign investors.
And we must smartly market ourselves to investors in the US. We have much on our side, including our historic ties to the US, and yes, as President Boakai recently demonstrated, our ability to "speak good American English."
We must not doubt ourselves. We must think boldly and invest smartly in promoting Liberia. There should be well produced commercials and advertisements on television in the United States, showcasing what we have to offer, from agriculture to tourism. We must engage not only US government officials, but captains of industry. When we think about official trips to the US, it should not only be about meeting government leaders. It should also be about meeting and engaging the private sector, as well as research and academic institutions that can help us find answers to difficult impediments to development.
We must also specifically target a group of Americans with whom, given our culture and history, we should have a natural affinity to: African Americans.
It may come as a surprise to you. But African Americans have $1.6 trillion in spending power, constituting a significant share of the American economy. How can we ignore this? We must target it deliberately. We must build partnerships with the Black church, Black organizations like the NAACP, the Urban League, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) like Morgan State University where I teach. We must work with Black sororities and fraternities. Show them that investing in Liberia is a win-win proposition.
Let's make it easy for them to come to Liberia. Can we automate a one-day electronic visa processing system, fully done online. (Interjecting "Neblett, can we do an electronic visa so that people don't have to fly into DC to get a visa?") Maybe we can adopt a visa free program for some who register. Make it easy for them to own land for investment and development purposes. Whatever we must do to attract them to come, invest, and stay in Liberia, we must do.
Train our officers at our ports of entry to be kind, courteous, professional and not to solicit, shamefully.
Develop a media campaign on courtesy, respect, and calm. Everything, every discussion, every disagreement, every misunderstanding need not be a fight. Liberians, at home and in the diaspora, my people, let's learn to calmly find solutions to problems among ourselves.
And there is another important group we must attract as part of our effort to build bridges with the United States, and you know that group very well: it is you, all of you, every one of us--the Liberian Diaspora. You are a great reservoir of talents, and resources, perhaps the greatest pool Liberia currently has.
Our focus should be on harnessing your great potential for our country's development. You are already rendering a great service to Liberia. Your remittances not only provide for your families back home. They have a positive multiplier effect throughout the economy.
And the numbers say it all. In 2023, remittances from the diaspora total $800 million. (Close to a billion, if you count money we carry in our bags.) This was larger than the entire national budget and accounted for about 20% of the GDP.
You are doing more. You are building homes; you are educating thousands of Liberians. You are sending rent [money] home. You are feeding your families in Liberia. But with the right national plan, you can do even more. We must make it easy for you to return home and invest. We must consider special breaks on customs and duties to encourage investment by you. We must consider land grants for your investment that are mutually beneficial for you and the communities in which you invest. We must work with you to see how you can take advantage of lending opportunities here in the US, including lending by the Small Business Administration to facilitate investments in Liberia that benefit both Liberia and the United States.
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Distinguish Ladies and Gentlemen: the thoughts I have shared with you today are truly just a small portion of what we can do to build bridges with the United States to ensure Liberia's economic renaissance. I encourage you to think about and follow through on more.
But as we do so, we must also rethink the way we have historically structured our relationship as a country with foreign investors.
We should not repeat the colonial type of model, where foreign investors pay us relatively small royalties from profits they determine, and in exchange for those relatively low loyalties, we ask them to provide schools and health care for their employees and their families.
Instead, we must be co-investors and partners. We must be partners, sharing in the risks and rewards. Not only must the government be stakeholders in these investments, but we should also have individual Liberians who can afford it as shareholders. That way we ensure that some of the returns from the exploitation of our natural resources remain in Liberia. We need to make individual Liberians rich. Give them opportunities. Give opportunities to people who can deliver, not only your family, friends and partisans. Reach out to everyone who is capable.
We must also recognize that Liberia is not Monrovia. We must deliberately work to target investments outside Monrovia, so we create good paying jobs in rural areas.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen: working to ensure Liberia's economic renaissance is a daunting task. But we can do it.
If there is any country that can chart its own journey to development, it is Liberia. We have all it takes. Our population is young, dynamic, and resilient. Our forests are reserves of great wealth. Our mountains are storehouses of vast treasures. Our rivers and streams are deposits of enormous riches. The Atlantic, filled with nature's bounty, washes our shores feeds us. The rains endlessly water our soil.
Indeed, nature has endowed us with enormous resources that other countries can only dream of. Our task is to use these resources for the benefit of all of our people.
As enormous as the challenges are, we should never doubt our capacity to meet them.
So, I invite you to raise your sights and imagine the possibilities: imagine green, lush farms dotting the Liberian countryside, producing food and crops we can eat and export, imagine sorting plants, juicing factories in Ganta, Palala. Imagine economic free zones in Harper, Greenville, or Robertsport, adding value to Liberian exports, imagine farmers with income to turn mud huts into cement block houses and thatch roofs into zinc roofs.
We can do this. It is not beyond our reach. Poverty needs not be our destiny. We are Liberians, cut from a very special cloth, heirs to a noble destiny. We must fulfill that destiny and create for ourselves and our posterity a truly sweet land of liberty, justice, and prosperity for all.
