Monrovia – Liberia’s fallen Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Dr. Edward B. McClain has been buried at a ceremony attended by scores of government officials including President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and other ordinary Liberian citizens as well as family members of the deceased.
“Your work ethics and companionship, there was no one in whom I had more explicit trust and confidence; there was no one more loyal than you, there was simply no one like you. It hurts today, to realize that you had major health problem that you did not know as you labored to help this administration achieve its agenda” – President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
A senior Minister of the Government of Ivory Coast also attended the ceremony and delivered a statement on behalf of President Alassane Ouattara describing the death of Dr. McClain as a loss not only to Liberia but to the two sisterly countries.
The Ivorian official said the late Dr. McClain helped to stabilize the borders between the two countries and as such President Quattara and the people of Ivory Coast are sharing the grief of Dr. McClain’s death with the Government and people of Liberia.
The ceremony brought Monrovia to a standstill due to huge traffic congestions with the entire city lockdown.
Remembering Dr. McClain, President Sirleaf described the late Minister as one of the officials in whom she had explicit confidence and trusted due to the long working relationship between the two.
“The memory remains as if yesterday were today. How did the journey that ended on July 23 begin?” President Sirleaf recalled.
President Sirleaf recounted that she knew the late Dr. McClain from childhood on Crown hill in Monrovia and they all moved in different directions in search of education.
Moving on, President Sirleaf said she and the late Dr. McClain worked together in setting up and running a corporation in neighboring Ivory Coast in 1997, describing him as one with exceptional talents.
“We returned home in 2003 with a new beginning and opportunity to join compatriots of shared value to start the process of returning our country to normality”, said President Sirleaf.
According to President Sirleaf her long standing relationship with the late Dr. McClain grew to the extent that they both kept the promise by going beyond the call of duty to serve the country.
“In 2006, after the victorious election of 2005, til now, all through the good and difficult days. We have kept the promise and the commitment to put our country first. This required going beyond the call to duty, working during vacation period, working around the clock, something many of our compatriots can never understand”, she added.
She praised the work ethics and companionship of the late Dr. McClain.
“Your work ethics and companionship, there was no one in whom I had more explicit trust and confidence; there was no one more loyal than you, there was simply no one like you. It hurts today, to realize that you had major health problem that you did not know as you labored to help this administration achieve its agenda”, President Sirleaf said.
Following the funeral rites which were held at the Providence Church, the late Minister of State was laid to rest at the Melton Family Plot in Upper Caldwell.
The late Minister McClain, one of the longest-serving officials in the Sirleaf administration lost a long-running battle with heart complication and died on Saturday, July 23, 2016 at about 2:25 am Central African time at the Wilgers Life Hospital in Lynwood, Pretoria, South Africa.