MONROVIA: Former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has stated that it is time for the National Legislature to “make laws and not noise.”
The former President of Liberia, made the statement on Tuesday, October 29, 2024, in a message to the nation in observance of her 86th birth anniversary.
Madam Sirleaf was joined yesterday by several Liberian women and other influential African Women including past and current Liberian officials at her residence in Monrovia to celebrate her 86th birth anniversary.
In her message to the nation, Madam Sirleaf thanked God for clocking the age of 86 and for the blessings of life, challenges, opportunities, and excitements.
“As I greet you through this message this morning, join me in thanking God for the blessings of life. I thank God as I clock 86, for blessings of life, blessings of challenges and opportunities, blessings of excitements and sorrows, the latest being the sudden loss of my two older professional sons, in the short period of two years apart,” she said.
EJS, who is historically the 24th President of Liberia said her birthday message is not about her but Liberia and Liberians.
She said the Liberian Nation is at a crossroads and is historically, one of cleavages of political chicanery, yet resilient that brought the people through the worst of times.
Madam Sirleaf highlighted that Liberians have survived military rule, devastating wars, and a horrific Ebola crisis.
“But, just think of the noteworthy part of our history, support we have provided for the liberation efforts of other African countries. The strong woman chief who fought for the first major investors, the first African woman to head the United Nations, and I was elected as the first African woman President on the continent, with two successful political transition of historical consequence,” Madam Sirleaf asserted.
According to her, the country has embarked on another promised political change, and the odds are high, and Liberians are not responding.
She, among others, pointed out that the world is changing, bilateral and multilateral relationships are repositioning, and demands for National self-reliance are unequivocal.
Madam Sirleaf mentioned that they are proud 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.
She asserted that several African countries are moving rapidly to claim the future while others that are engulfed by recurring bad habits are being left behind.
She believes that Liberia is one of those countries that is left behind, even when compared with their closest neighbors which no longer follow its lead.
Madam Sirleaf told Liberians that it is time for reflection, honesty and as well for changing minds and attitudes.
The former Liberian leader continued: “It is time for a Legislature that makes laws and not noise. It is time for a Judiciary that gets on with settling cases and dispenses justice and not give solicited excuses. It’s time for the Executive that speaks with the power of example. Some will ask why this message now; it is because the time for us, time for Liberia is running out. Why am I doing this, it is because I am a Leader and because I care for the good of the country? Silence makes us all culpable in wrong doings”.
Madam Sirleaf, born Ellen Eugenia Johnson on 29 October 1938, is a Liberian politician who served as the 24th president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018. Sirleaf was the first elected female head of state in Africa.
She was born in Monrovia and educated at the College of West Africa. She completed her education in the United States, studying at Madison Business College, the University of Colorado Boulder, and Harvard University.
She returned to Liberia to work as Deputy Minister of Finance in William Tolbert’s government from 1971 to 1974. Later, she worked again in the West for the World Bank in the Caribbean and Latin America. In 1979, she received a cabinet appointment as Minister of Finance and served until 1980.
After Samuel Doe seized power in 1980 in a coup d’état and executed Tolbert, Sirleaf fled to the United States. She worked for Citibank and then the Equator Bank.
She returned to Liberia to contest a senatorial seat for Montserrado County in 1985, a disputed election. In 1985, she was arrested for openly criticizing the military government and sentenced to ten years imprisonment, although she was later released.
Madam Sirleaf continued to be involved in politics. She finished second in the 1997 presidential election, which Charles Taylor won.
She won the 2005 presidential election and took office on 16 January 2006. She was re-elected in 2011. She was the first woman in Africa to be elected president of her country.
In 2011, she won the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her efforts to bring women into the peacekeeping process. She has received numerous other awards for her leadership. In June 2016, Sirleaf was elected as the Chair of the Economic Community of West African States, making her the first woman to hold the position since it was created, writes Linda Gbartie