“On July 26, 1847, the Founding Fathers of this Nation announced to the world the birth of a new country, to be called ‘Liberia’, and declared its independence from the rule of any power, to stand on its own among the comity of nations. Since that momentous day, the Declaration of Independence has been commemorated as an important national milestone in the history of our country,” the first lines of President Weah’s Independence Day speech noted.
This year’s Independence Day was celebrated under the theme, “Together, We Are Stronger: Fighting COVID-19 and Achieving Development, Peace, Human Rights, Justice, Health and Prosperity for All”, and was pre-recorded this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Orator of the Day was Rev. Prof. Dr. Julius Julukon Sarwolo Nelson, Jr.
In his speech, President Weah stated that one of the recurring themes, which remained prominent and consistent throughout his revealing journeys, was the large infrastructural deficit. According to the Liberian leader, the nation cannot boast of being the first independent African nation when, up to today, it lacks the proper health, educational, governance and infrastructure systems befitting such a status.
“That is why since our incumbency my Administration has endeavored to tackle roads and other basic infrastructure requirements, so as to bring improvement to the lives of our people, as well as ensuring that there is adequate access to services. In spite of many challenges, we have rehabilitated thousands of kilometers of roads across the country, built hundreds of housing units, constructed and rehabilitated many schools, hospitals and several market buildings. We will continue our infrastructure drive, in keeping with the Pro-Poor Agenda, until we can begin to reduce the infrastructural deficit because the very existence of this deficit at this time in our national development trajectory can be regarded as a major historical failure.
“In spite of the negative impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic, we have ensured that the national development agenda is not derailed. With the firm and prudent fiscal and monetary policy measures we have instituted, inflation has returned to single digit. There is also greater stability in the monetary sector and marginal GDP growth is projected,” President Weah noted.