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INAUGURAL ADDRESS:
"The Values of a Patriot"
By: Her Excellency Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of
the Republic of Liberia, Monrovia, Liberia,
Courtesy: TLC
19 January, 2012
 Special
Guests, Special Representatives of Colleagues, to
Compatriots, to our Opposition Leaders sitting there: We
observe today, for the first time in two generations, the
swearing in of a second successive democratic government
elected peacefully by the will of the Liberian people.
Today, Monday, January 16, 2012, on this Capitol Hill, in
the presence of international dignitaries and the eyes of a
watching world, we inaugurate a new beginning, a rebirth of
our democracy and a restoration of hope.
Today, we can state with conviction that our country has
turned the corner. Liberia is no longer a place of conflict,
war and deprivation. We are no longer the country our
citizens want to run away from, our international partners
pitied, and our neighbors feared.
We have earned our rightful place as a beacon of democracy -
a country of hope and opportunity. The achievements marked
on this day, my fellow citizens, are yours. This is your
moment. You are the heroes of the day, and it is you whose
triumph we come together to celebrate. I am deeply honored
to have been re-elected to the Presidency of the Republic of
Liberia, to serve this great nation for another six years. I
have sworn, for the second and final time, "to protect, and
defend the Constitution and laws of the Republic," and
faithfully execute the sacred duties of this office.
The second election in any emerging democracy is the most
important. The first takes place on the world stage, in the
spotlight, with great fanfare. But the second election is
the true test of the will of the people and the institutions
they have created. If the second election works, it
establishes a pattern, a tradition, a routine of democracy
that subsequent elections can follow.
You, my fellow Liberians, have conducted another national
election, described by all observers as free and fair. It
was a miracle summoned by the people, and in so doing, we as
a nation have set our faces irrevocably toward democracy and
peace.
The cleavages that led to decades of war still run deep. But
so too does the longing for reconciliation - a
reconciliation defined not by political bargaining or by an
artificial balance of power by tribe, region, religion or
ethnicity but by the equality of opportunity and a better
future for all Liberians.
True reconciliation means a process of national healing. It
means learning the lessons of the past to perfect our
democracy. But above all it means economic justice for our
citizens and the spread of progress to all our people. It
means creating jobs, opportunities and giving our young
people the skills they need to prosper and create the life
they choose.
The youth of Liberia are our future, and they sent us a
message. They are impatient. They are eager to make up for
years of conflict and deprivation. They are anxious to know
that their homeland offers the grounds for hope. Let me say
to them: We heard that message and it is our solemn
obligation to ensure that their hope will not be in vain. I
believe that the achievements of the last six years, and the
challenges of the next six, come down to hope. Hope is being
restored to people from whom it was brutally ripped by war
and chaos.
Hope is making it possible for our people to imagine a
future of security, of progress, and of improvement for
themselves, their families, and their society. Hope is
fuelling the fires of ambition, and an ambitious people,
secure in their homeland, capable of great things. But now
we must follow through on the commitments we have made to
our people, so that their hope is not in vain, so that their
hope is real and they can actually taste the fruits of their
hard work and dedication. To all who have yet to feel the
hand of progress touch your life, your time has come. We
have laid the foundations for peace and prosperity, and we
must now hasten our true mission: putting people, especially
young people, first and lifting the lives of all Liberians.
This mission, and our national challenge, will test our love
of country. Some of these challenges may be confronted and
resolved during the next six years. Some will require more
years than will be left to me, or to my administration. But
we commit to you that we begin today.
My friends, dear compatriots, let us recognize here today
that securing a future of prosperity and democracy will
require commitment and hard work from all of us. Liberia
will not reach its potential unless each and every Liberian
resolves to reach his own. We will rise or fall on the
spirit of purpose and patriotism that we summon between us
today.
I swear before you now, to do all my position as President
allows to broaden and to deepen the opportunities for a
better life available to you. But it will be up to you - it
will be up to each of us - to seize those opportunities, and
translate them into prosperity for ourselves and for our
children. Yes, our government must do better; we have an
obligation and a sacred oath to fulfill. But it is up to us
all to ensure that this country lives up to its true
potential.
Your government should offer you education worthy of our
heritage, but it will be up to you to stay in school, to
study hard, and to learn the skills required for success in
this new technological world. Your government should foster
equality of opportunity so that you can get a job, and to
know the dignity of receiving an honest day's wage. But it
will be up to you to work honestly and hard to realize those
ambitions. Your government should provide a system of
justice that all of us can trust: law enforcement officials
who act out of a sense of duty; judges who interpret and
apply the laws fairly; administrators who live up to their
oaths of office whatever the temptations may be. But it will
be up to you and to me in demanding transparency and
accountability.
Six years ago, I stood before you in this same place, and
pledged to you my commitment to a process of national
renewal. Now I address a new and very different Liberia. I
call on you to join me in the completion of that formidable
task.
I call on you, my fellow citizens, to join me in renewing
our resolve to restore our country and lead it to its grand
destiny. I call you today to share a healthy pride in what
we have done, but a still fiercer resolve to do all that
must yet be done so that all Liberians thrive in freedom,
equality and friendship.
I call you, my compatriots, to a new age of patriotism!
I am asking you to join me in a rededication to the enduring
values set out in our Constitution, and consistent with our
deepest gratitude for the gifts the Almighty has conferred
on us as individuals and on our country. It is a rediscovery
of what it means to be a Liberian - a proud citizen of a
country that has suffered from wars but now a dignified
African nation with a simple dream of Liberty. The
patriotism and resolve we summon today honors that dream.
Patriotism does not mean blind loyalty to power. Indeed,
sometimes the highest demonstration of patriotism may well
be seen when citizens peacefully and respectfully express
their opposition to particular policies proposed by those
elected to govern them. Patriots freely and openly and even
passionately disagree about what is best for the nation they
love. Patriots compete for the support, and for the votes,
of their fellow citizens. Patriots acknowledge that those
who may not embrace their particular views are nonetheless
acting out of their own understanding of what is best for
their country.
Patriots believe that equality of opportunity applies to all
citizens, regardless of tribe or ethnicity, regardless of
geographic or economic status, and regardless of sex. My
administration remains particularly committed to achieving
equality for women and girls in all areas of life:
education, business, and in the family itself.
Patriots believe deeply in democratic processes and
institutions, and when those processes and institutions
waver or fail, patriots resolve to repair them. They believe
in a democracy of policies not personality, merit not money,
action not words. They believe in the sacred right to free
expression and the responsibility to exercise that right
with care.
My fellow Liberians, we know all too well what can happen
when the tenets of democracy and freedom are not jealously
and vigorously defended, when the true love of country is
abandoned for narrow interest. We have suffered the years of
deprivation and terror, during which democratic principles
were exiled from our shores. We have looked into the vacant
eyes of a generation of young Liberians whose hope for the
future was stolen. We all, together, will never allow those
mistakes to be repeated. We will never again shed the mantle
of democracy, of freedom, of national unity, of patriotism.
Let us go forth from this Inauguration Day to roll up our
sleeves, to make the sacrifices necessary for our continued
growth and development: economic, educational, moral and
spiritual. Let us resolve that our pride in our Liberian
nation, and in our tradition and heritage, will be
manifested in a new commitment to the democratic processes
that we mark on this solemn occasion.
I invite you to join me in the next steps toward restoration
and the progress of our beloved Liberia. The future that has
beckoned us is finally here. Let us walk along this road
together, our steps enlightened by our Creator, and grateful
to Him and the blessings He has bestowed upon us.
My compatriots, my brothers, my sisters, my daughters, my
sons: I call on each of you to join me today and together
let us forge our future in a spirit of pride, purpose and
unity.
May God bless us on our journey, and bless our beloved
Liberia.
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