The President of the Republic of Liberia, His Excellency Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr. has, by Proclamation, declared Friday, July 26, 2024 as Independence Day to be celebrated throughout the Republic as a National Holiday.
The Proclamation calls on all citizens and foreign residents within the territorial confines of Liberia to observe the day as such.
The Proclamation is in consonance with the Patriotic and Cultural Observance Law of 1956, setting aside July 26th of each year to be observed as a public holiday, to be known as “Independence Day”.
According to a Foreign Ministry release, all government offices and business houses are to remain closed during the observance from 6:00 o’clock ante meridian to 6:00 o’clock post meridian.
According to the Proclamation, the official festive celebration will take place in the city of Monrovia, Montserrado County, under the theme, “Building a New Liberia for All Liberians”. An indoor program commemorating the day will be held at the Centennial Memorial Pavilion, Ashmun Street, Montserrado County, commencing at eleven o’ clock ante meridian.
The Proclamation further invited and requested all citizens in solemn cooperation with all prelates, priests, deacons, evangelists, imams, elders and other members of the sacerdotal order, regardless of religious creed to gather together with one purpose in their respective places of worship across Liberia,, especially in the city of Monrovia on Friday, July 19 and Sunday, July 21, 2024 to offer thanks and praises to God for His Blessings showered upon the nation and to beseech Him for His continued goodness and beneficence towards Liberians and peoples around the world.
The Proclamation stated that it is in grateful recognition of the blessings and miraculous deliverance which His Almighty Hand has extended to Liberia as a nation and state, in which the nation has been unworthy of to give thanks, adoration and praises to Him for saving the nation and to commemorate the brave and timely decision of the nation’s forebears on July 26, 1847.
The Proclamation added that, after due deliberation on the future of the settlement and facing colonial challenges and threats, the Founding Fathers did publish to the world the historic and immortal instrument, known as the “Declaration of Independence”, by which the Commonwealth of Liberia became presented to the comity of nations as a free, sovereign and independent state, thereby warding of encroachment from any colonial powers, and becoming the first independent African Republic.