JULY 26TH MESSAGE FROM DR. DOUGBEH CHRIS NYAN, M.D.
THE 169TH INDEPENDENCE DAY NATIONAL ORATOR
ON THE OCCASION OF LIBERIA’S 175TH INDEPENDENCE DAY COMMEMORATION
Happy Independence Day to ALL Liberians as we commemorate Liberia’s 175th Independence Anniversary on July 26, 2022.
A few years ago at the nation’s 169th National Orator on July 26, 2016, I posed a few questions and implored the citizens and government to think about the same as follows: “After 169 years of existence [as a Nation in 2016] … What have we done? What have we achieved? What accomplishments can we make better? WHAT COULD WE TELL OUR FORE-PARENTS IF THEY WERE SITTING IN THIS PAVILION WITH US TODAY?” (see video clip)
Then later in 2021 on the 213th birth anniversary of Liberia’s first president, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, the US Ambassador to Liberia, Michael McCarthy, asked a similar question in an OP-ED: “What would J.J. Robert Have to Say about Liberia Today?”
To me, it seems that we have lost sight of the fundamental principles upon which Liberia was founded in the early 1800s — those principles that are anchored on Pan-Africanism, Liberty, Equality, Social Justice, and Democracy.
In contemporary times, it appears that we have forgotten our responsibilities to our founding fathers as to how to steer the country on those founding principles for a better Liberia; correcting their mistakes and building on their progress by advancing to a refined participatory democracy for a prosperous society and nation. Liberia, a vibrant nation once seen as the light of Africa and the rest of the oppressed world, now appears to be relegated to the obscured pages of history and the global theatre of political comedy. Today, just as in the past, discrimination, corruption, bad governance, chaos, mediocrity, and political patronage continue to pervade and haunt our governance system. These are hurdles to our progress as a people and nation.
At this juncture, as we commemorate the 175th year of our existence as a sovereign nation, we must be very critical of ourselves, both individually and collectively as a nation; we must act with bold and sincere steps to arrest the current ills of our political, economic, and social situations; we must evoke that giant patriotism in us – that lion pan-Africanism. We must Rescue Liberia; we Must Fix Liberia; we must build a Liberia not just for “settlers,” “re-settlers” or “natives,” but a Liberia with Liberty, Justice, and Prosperity for ALL. Let us never forget that the Love of Liberty Brought ALL of US Here to this area of land that is called Liberia today. Do not despair, for a better Liberia is on the verge of rebirth.
Happy July 26th with Liberia @175
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