President George M. Weah has warned the older generation of politicians who witnessed the civil crisis not to contaminate the young generation with their everyday politics. He warned that no political leader should ever put the life of a single young person at risk in order to assume political office.
President Weah sounded the warning when he addressed the joint session of the National Legislature during his State-of-the-Nation Address.
In his address, President Weah said, “I have observed that it is mostly young people who are the ones that are used to agitate. These young people have had little or no experience of war. We have now enjoyed 20 years of unbroken peace, and it can readily be seen that young people, who are coming of voting age for the first time since turning 18 years old, have had no experience of war. They are quickly and easily manipulated to do harm and instill violence. We need to guide our young people and inspire them to reject violence and conflict as a means to express their grievances and dissatisfactions.
“When the rice riot took place in 1979, I was only 13 years old. That was the first time that I had ever seen violence and destruction on such a massive scale.
“As a young man, I was confused and perplexed. That experience left an indelible impression on me about the horrors of civil unrest that can lead to violence, and a lasting distaste for violence that is unleashed for political reasons. The thought occurred to me at the time that there was no political leader among the hundreds of young people who had been killed during the rice riot.”
According to President Weah, “The moral lesson for all of us who were around during these civil wars and domestic riots is that we should never allow our young people to be contaminated by everyday politics. No political leader should ever put the life of a single young person at risk in order to assume political office.”
The Liberian leader noted, “I preach peace because I realized a long time ago that there is, and can never be, any victor in a civil war. When brothers kill sisters, and sisters kill brothers; when parents kill their children and children kill their parents; when friends kill each other; and citizens with a common patrimony turn violently on each other; no one wins. Instead, everyone loses, either directly, or indirectly. There is not one single Liberian family that did not lose a relative or friend to this terrible fratricidal war, that was both senseless and brutally uncivil, almost demonic. “To ensure that we never return to those dark days, we must give peace a chance to create the space in which we can begin the dialogue that will resolve our differences. We must hold the conversations to discuss how we can maintain our peace in a sustainable manner, so as to be able to develop our country.”