Monrovia – President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has admonished Liberians to maintain the peace which, according to her, is the underpinning of everything her government achieved.
Report by Lennart Dodoo, [email protected]
Speaking to the BBC’s Veronique Edwards over the weekend, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said if she had one message for Liberians it will be “maintain the peace, we cannot go back to conflict.
Our country was set back over 30 years because of conflict.
The underpinning of everything we have done is the peace that we’ve secured and that was not easy.”
According to President Sirleaf, it took a lot sacrifice, compromises, managing and tolerance to keep the peace in Liberia.
“Today, I’m so pleased that now our first generation of children can say they don’t know anything about a gun, they and they don’t have to run and I think the Liberian people appreciate that they have the freedom to talk, they can pursue their dreams , they’re not anymore afraid and in the future there’s great hope,” she said.
According to President Sirleaf, she is pleased to be stepping down in obedience to the Constitution which she believes should send a strong signal to leaders around the world and give access to a new generation of leaders.
President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf became President of Liberia in 2006 and the first female President on the African continent.
Speaking of her own legacy, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said she is pleased that her purposes of trying to bring Liberia back by restoring basic services, promote democracy and maintain peace have been met.
President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf took over a country devastated by over a decade of war and several sanctions.
Her 12-year leadership which came in two tenures has put Liberia back on the map.
Though she is criticized locally for not doing much to fight corruption, promote reconciliation, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf remains an internationally acclaimed as peace icon and a model for female leaders around the world.
In 2011, she was one of three women who won the Nobel Peace Prize.