President-elect of Liberia, Mr. Goerge Weah, has declared
that those looking to cheat the Liberian people thorough the menace of
corruption will have no place in his administration. He said this in his
victory speech on Sunday.
Full speech:
Distinguished ladies
and gentlemen
Madam Jewel Howard-Taylor, Vice President-elect of the
Republic of Liberia
Fellow compatriots,
Today is a day to give thanks. Let us begin by lifting our
eyes to heaven to thank God Almighty for the wonderful blessings He has
bestowed upon beloved our country.
It was God who inspired the people of Liberia to vote change
to believe that with this change will come the hope of … in a most prosperous
Liberia future. I thank God that among so many presidential candidates, I was
chosen to be the 24th President of the Republic of Liberia. I am truly blessed
and humbled by this divine favour.
I thank my darling wife, Clar Weah, and my family who have
stood by me over the years, especially in the last 13 years of political
struggle. Through the darkest moments of this struggle, my wife and children
have remained my pillar of strength.
I would not have been able to do this without their untiring
support and advice. I cannot summon the words to thank the people of Liberia
who have made this historic day possible. What the people of Liberia have
delivered for the country cannot even be described in words. So, I will ask
Liberians here and those throughout the country under the sound of my voice to
thank the Liberian people by clapping for one minute. I thank you for joining
me to celebrate the Liberian people. They are the true heroes and heroine of
this victory.
Let me also thank the leadership, partisans, supporters and
sympathisers of the Coalition we say a big thank you, with special thanks and
appreciation going to the Honourable Senator of Nimba County, Prince Yormie
Johnson. To the leadership and partisans of the Liberia People Democratic
Party, we say thank you. To the leadership and partisans of the National
Patriotic Party (NPP) we say thank you, and of course to our own, Congress for
Democratic Change, we say a resounding thank you. CDCians have sustained the struggle
over the years, and without you this victory would not be possible. Two days
ago, the world watched me cry.
I did not cry because I won. I cried because of the many
partisans who lost their lives in the struggle for change. They will never be
forgotten. Please join me in a moment of silence in memory of the fallen heroes
of our revolutionary struggle. We truly thank all Liberians especially the
women of Liberia who stood with us in the battle.
For that I can truly that the best way to celebrate all Liberians
is to improve their lives through the instrument of pro-poor public governance.
I declare publicly today that transforming the lives of all Liberians is a
singular mission and focus of my presidency. Over the next few days, we will
assemble the government committed to fighting for the ideas that have inspired
our campaign, and dedicated to delivering for the Liberian people.
Those chosen to serve will and must be dedicated to the
ideas of grassroots, social transformation. Person looking to cheat the
Liberian people thorough the menace of corruption will have no place in my
administration. We will build on the institutional gains under Madam Sirleeaf
to improve the lives of our people. We will build a new institution where
necessary to protect rights and engender inclusion among all our people.
To our Diaspora
Liberians, we say come home. This is a new dispensation. We need your skills,
your ideas, your expertise and talents so that together we will build our
common patrimony.
To our development partners we say a big thank you for the
support you have provided over the last 12 years. As we embark upon this
transition, we call for renewal and strengthening of this partnership. We know
that aid flows have declined in the last few years. In our view this decline is
not good for the current transition – at least in the short term. While we work
to grow the Liberian economy and expand our revenue base, medium term aid would
be needed to support projects that would be critical to our long term growth.
To investors we say Liberia is open and ready for business.
Over the long term, private investment will be our key strategy to delivering
transformation. We will work to relax constraints to private investment;
strengthen the business, legal and regulatory environment, and protect business
profits. Fellow partisans, I received a concession call from His Excellency
Vice President Joseph Nyumah Boakai. I thanked him and said that in the
interest of our people, we will work together. He is a statesman and also my neighbour.
If I have to walk over to greet and get advice from him, I will. That is what
neighbours are for.
To other political parties, we are not enemies. We welcome
you with open arms as we all strive to build our country. This election was a
contest in ideas, and not a clash of political personalities. Our ideas have
prevailed but that does not mean you do not have a contribution to make.
We need to bring our country together to secure our peace
and work harder towards national unity and development.
To the iron lady of African, President Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf, we say thank you for the peaceful transfer of power that is
about to take place.
Yours is a legacy in democratic empowerment, and we promise
to follow your footsteps in protecting the rights of Liberians and providing
even greater freedom. We will build on the foundation you have laid to achieve
more for all of our people.
Your job is not yet done, Madam President, as we will
continue to count on you to strengthen our outreach to both development partner
and investors, all in the direction of moving our country forward. Let us all
work hard to build our country; only then will the creed in our national anthem
ring true:
In union strong success is sure With God above Our rights to
prove
We will o’er all
prevail
Thank you
0 Comments