Monrovia – As the campaign for the October 10, 2023 General and Presidential elections gets in full-swing, Liberia’s former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf says the National Election Commission has the full responsibility to ensure that Liberians vote for their respective choices.
By J.H. Webster Clayeh, [email protected]
The former Liberian Leader made the statement Friday at a peace forum for Liberian women organized by the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa (GPFA) at the Ministerial Complex in Congo Town.
“We want our election commission to know that there are many women on that commission, but we want men and women on the commission to know that they have a sacred duty to our country and its people to make sure that the process enables everybody to have a freedom of choice,” she said.
Madam Sirleaf added: “We want to see a process that is free and fair, that is what our constitution calls for. We want everybody to feel safe, to go to the polls and cast their ballots in accordance with their hearts and their conscious.”
At the forum organized for women, former Liberian President said women in Liberia want things to change. This, she says the women want to see a Liberia where their children can grow up with the similar purpose of seeking their education in a safe environment couple with quality schools and a good neighborhood.
From the call to the end of the 14 years war to the beginning of a post-war administration with Africa and Liberia first female President, women had always been an integral part of nation-building in Liberia, former President Sirleaf says.
“Throughout our history, women have made a different. Whether in my trial, the women who stood for me through signatures, whether when the war was ragging and Leymah was able to bring women together to make sure that the Accra Peace Accord would succeed, whether it was time where the judges could stand up for us, there were always women,” Madam Sirleaf said.
The former Liberian Leader also called out for peace before, during, and after the elections. “Now, we are approaching a very important event and event is to choose our leaders, the constitutional duty that each of us has, the responsibility -because it is that choose we are all going to live with.
She added: “Based on peace, based on civility we will be able to respect each other, being able to talk without getting into those things that lead to difference, those things that lead to unfair expression, and those things that lead to tension in the society.”
“It is a collective efforts, a genuine efforts for women to know what the process is, to encourage each other to do the right thing and to call upon our leaders, and our institutions to abide by the constitution and do the right thing,” Madam Sirleaf added.