Monrovia – President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Saturday, April 30, 2016 joined hundreds of Liberian Muslims under the banner Consortium of Muslims Youth Organizations, Liberia Muslim Women Network, Imman Council of Liberia, and the Liberia Muslim Ummah to honour and bid farewell to former Finance and Development Minister Amara M. Konneh.
According to an Executive Mansion release, President Sirleaf joined the Muslims at the Monrovia City Hall where she extoled Minister Konneh for dedicated services and said government has already given him appropriate recognition and honour for his outstanding services rendered Liberia.
The Consortium of Muslims organizations gowned President Sirleaf for affording their kinsman the opportunity serve his country in key strategy positions in her government.
“If you, President Sirleaf had not appointed him, Liberia won’t have known him”. The group also gowned Minister Konneh for his devoted services over the past 10 years and prayed he succeeds at his new assignment in Kenya.
President Sirleaf said Minister Konneh will miss Liberia as he takes on his new job adding, although Minister Konneh will miss Liberia but he will be back. She said her pleasure was that Minister Konneh was recognized by a key international organization – one of the highest in terms of development service and development finance in the world.
The Liberian Chief Executive thanked the Muslim Community for honouring their son and particularly thanked the family of Minister Konneh as well as his wife and children for allowing him worked for Liberia.
Responding, outgoing Minister Konneh expressed gratitude to the Muslim Community – particularly the Imams, students and youth leaders who reached out to him and received his support in countless forms.
He said his performance in the cabinet was not because he was the smartest, but because of the prayers of his people and God’s wisdom bestowed on him to look at things differently.
“When the President asked me to serve, recognizing that I was the only Muslim in her cabinet, I had a talk with God. I had a talk with God in my own way. I asked God to please protect me, guide me and give me the wisdom so that I don’t make my community shame. I had that talk with God,” Minister Konneh said.
He expressed the hope that when Liberia looks back at his performance here and at the great mentoring and experience to which he submitted himself under President Sirleaf’s tutorship, the Muslim Community and the country will consider his work well-done and his life well-lived.
The former Minister of Finance and Development, who resigned his post for a prestigious World Bank position in Kenya spoke on Saturday, April 30, 2016 at an appreciation program organized by a consortium of Muslim organizations at the Monrovia City Hall prior to departure for Kenya.
The ceremony was graced by hundreds of Liberian Muslims, senior government officials among others.