Pres. Johnson-Sirleaf Statement at Opening of October 2017 Term Of Court

Monrovia – It is the last time I have the honor to address you as your President.

The next opening of your esteemed body will be in the first quarter of 2018 after the Inauguration of Liberia’s next President of the Republic.

Statement by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia – At the Opening of October 2017 Term of Court, Temple of Justice, Monrovia, Liberia

October 9, 2017

Mr. Senate President Pro-Tempore
Your Honor Chief Justice and Associate Justices
Mr. Dean of Supreme Court Bar
Mr. President and Members of the Liberian National Bar Association
Judges, Magistrates
Doyen and Members of the Diplomatic Corp
The SRSG and the UN Family
Regional Institutions Representatives
Distinguished Guests 

It is the last time I have the honor to address you as your President. The next opening of your esteemed body will be in the first quarter of 2018 after the Inauguration of Liberia’s next President of the Republic. 

My Government inherited a failed state and in the past eleven plus years with the cooperation of all of you, we have tried to strengthen our democratic institution so that they guarantee the Peace and Prosperity for future generations, so that they are not owed or subjected to the whim or will of any one leader or group of leaders.

I brought to the task great inspiration and anticipation as I promised to tackle long standing issue of integrity.  It has been a challenge.  It remains a challenge for our government in all branches and at all levels. 

A legacy of thirty years of conflict where rent seeking behavior was a way of life continues to haunt us.

I stand by the example that I set and the way of life I have led and I welcome the scrutiny to which all of us who serve the public must be subjected. 

In the meanwhile I took the political bullet for you, for so many of you in this room.  I did so in the interest of peace.

As I bid you farewell with our historic elections before us, I make this final appeal to you, Honorable Ladies and Gentlemen of Liberia’s highest Judicial body – Please do our country proud. 

Please stay united and resolved in the dispensation of Justice.  Be an institution beyond reproach, independent doing the Peoples’ business – only the Peoples’ business.

Our democracy can only be sustained through you and our development can only be sustained through democracy.

Dear Honorable Justices, I thank you for the exceptional level of cooperation which has existed between the Judiciary and the Executive.  I thank you for the courtesies and cooperation which you have extended to me. 

May you be guided as you make the critical decision that will have lasting implication for our dear country.

God bless the Court. God bless our Counsellors and Attorneys, and Judges and Magistrates.

God bless our country as we go to the polls and God bless the People of Liberia.