The President of the Republic of Liberia, H. E. Dr. George Manneh Weah, has by proclamation declared Monday, July 26, 2021 as Independence Day, to be observed throughout the Republic as a National Holiday.
The proclamation calls on all citizens and foreign residents within the borders of Liberia to observe the day as such.
The proclamation is in consonance with the Patriotic and Cultural Observance Law, Title 26 of the Liberian Code of Laws of 1956, which set aside July 26 of each year to be observed as a public holiday, known as Independence Day.
According to a Foreign Ministry release, all government offices and business houses are to be closed during the observance from 6:00 o’clock ante meridian to 6:00 o’clock post meridian.
According to the proclamation, due to the COVID-19 situation, the usual official festive celebration of the day will not be held.
The theme for this year’s Independence Day is “Together, We Are Stronger: Fighting COVID-19 and Achieving Development, Peace, Human Rights, Justice, Health and Prosperity for All”.
The proclamation further instructs, invites and requests 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, offering thanks and praises to God for the blessings He has showered upon the Republic in past and present times, and beseech Him for his continued goodness and beneficence towards all peoples and nations of the earth; especially, the people of the Republic of Liberia.
The proclamation states 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 state 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 and was 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 Independence African Republic”.
The presidential proclamation further states that in His infinite goodness and mercy God has blessed and flourished the work of the minds, hearts and hands of all the people of the Republic of Liberia since July 26, 1847, when the nation was declared a free, sovereign and independent state, “and from thence, through the years of our national life, manifold and varied have been the experiences of the nation and its people, who, through it all, have been able to forge their way by dint of perseverance, devotion, and courage”.