MONROVIA – Unarguably, former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is the most popular female Liberian in contemporary times, and is a national matriarch of international appeal. On Tuesday, 29 October 2024, she celebrated her 86th Birth Anniversary and she used the occasion to send a mail to the Liberian populace, specifically political leaders. In her view, there is so much noise in the public space beclouding the trajectory for transformation, peace and development for which the impoverished majority have strong expectations. As The Analyst reports, the former head of state particularly called out the National Legislature and public scoundrels.
Nobel laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Johnson who is also held in high esteem for breaking the glass ceiling, becoming Africa’s first democratically elected president, was yesterday, October 29, not merely consumed by the fanfares of her 86th birthday celebration but was keen on national affairs which don’t appear to be to her liking.
In her official celebratory message to the nation, the former Liberian leader frowned on the country’s stagnancy if not retrogression of progress while other nations on the African continent are making laudable moves.
“As we embark on another regime of promised political change,” Madam Sirleaf said in a social media-broadcasted statement that “the stakes are high. We must respond, because the world is changing, bilateral and multilateral relationships are repositioning demands for national self-reliance will be the requirement of our people.”
She expressed satisfaction that Africa is seen as the continent of the future, and several African countries are responding to this call with reimagined structures and systems to achieve their potential goals.
Ma Ellen added: “Several are moving rapidly to claim the future, but yet others, engulfed by recurring bad habits, are being left behind.”
She did not shy away from calling spade and a spade. She growled: “Let’s face it, Liberia is one of those countries that will be left behind, even when compared with our closest neighbour, which no longer follows our limit.”
“It is time for reflection, my people,” he continued. “It is time for us to work. It is time to stop the steal. It’s time for honesty and time for changing minds and attitudes.”
In an apparent reaction to ongoing mutiny that hit the National Legislature sparking so much political noise in the country, the ex-president made a clarion call on top officials of government.
“It is time for our Legislature to make laws and not noise,” she said and moved on the Judiciary and Executive Branches of Government: “It is time that our judiciary get on with settling cases and dispense justice without being compromised. It is time for the executive to speak, but speak with the power of exemplary behaviour.”
She further asserted: “Some will ask why this message now. Is because time for us, time for Liberia is running out. Why am I doing this? Because I’m a leader and because I care for the good of the country. Silence makes us all comfortable in wrongdoings; wish me a happy 86 birthday.”
Earlier, she praised God for clocking 86, a feat she called “the blessings of life, blessings of challenges and opportunities, blessings of excitements and sorrows, the latest sorrow being the sudden death of my two older professional sons in a short period of two years apart”.
The 86th birthday celebrant said the message of the day was not only about her, but about the Liberian public at large, about leaders in charge of governance.
“It is about us. It is about the country. Liberia is at a crossroads,” she said. “Liberia’s story historically is one of cleavage, the failure to assimilate, of political chicanery, and there’s still too much of it today.”
The former president however said comfortingly: “With resilience, we have overcome these setbacks and the worst of hard times, we have prevailed. Moreover, we have survived two rigorous military rules, two decades of devastating wars and a horrific disease, Ebola.”
She traced some noteworthy parts of Liberia’s history, the support the country once provided for the liberation efforts of other African countries – something that has been fundamental to Africa sovereignty. She also spoke of Liberian women who played a crucial role, example, Chief Suacoco, the strong woman chief who fought to bring the first major investment to Liberia, Firestone.
“We had the first African woman to head the United Nations General Assembly, Angie Brooks Randall and I was elected democratically, the first woman president on the African continent,” Madam Sirleaf, who herself became the first female elected president of Liberia and Africa.
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