THERE ARE MIXED public reactions on President Joseph Boakai’s decision to rebury two former slain Liberian presidents — Williams R. Tolbert, Jr and Samuel Kanyon Doe, along with 13 other former government officials who were executive by firing squad on April 22, 1980 at the Barclay Training Center in central Monrovia.
TO THE FAMILY of the two slain Presidents and the other 13 former government officials who met their untimely demise 46 years ago, the decision by President Boakai government to finally give them a befitting burial brings dignity to their fathers and also paves the way for them to be remembered every year during National Decoration Day.
THE FAMILIES OF these former slain Presidents and the other 13 former government officials are grateful to President Joseph Boakai and the Government of Liberia for reburying their loved ones, who served Liberia in their own weak ways in service to country.
BUT FOR OTHER Liberians on the hand, the Government should not have given the fallen leaders befitting funerals because their times in leadership, they ill-treated the majority while they and their families reaped the benefits of the country. And also, they are saying the two former slain Presidents committed acts against the Liberian people that led to thousands of deaths, especially during the reign of former President Samuel Kanyon Doe, who wanted to extinguish a tribe in Nimba County.
BUT TO DISABUSE the minds of these Liberians who that in this direction, President Boakai is right when he urged Liberians to “Reject the forces that divide us” in his eulogy for former President William R. Tolbert, Jr. According to President Boakai, former slain President Tolbert was known for his visionary leadership, his bold reforms and his Pan African Spirit.
PRESIDENT JOSEPH NYUMA Boakai is urging Liberians to do all to reject forces that try to divide us. The President further urged his compatriots that as they resist those evil forces, they should “choose peace over vengeance, unity over discord, and progress over stagnation. The Liberia we seek to build must be one where the legacy of our leaders is honored with truth, with respect, and with accountability.”
THE PRESIDENT, WHO is the 24th President of Liberia, made his plead when he eulogized one of his compatriots and former colleagues—President William Richard Tolbert— for his visionary leadership, his bold reforms, Pan African Spirit, his enduring belief in the young people of Liberia, social justice, economic empowerment, and the unification of all Liberians. Former President Tolbert was the 20th President of Liberia. President Tolbert and his Administration were violently overthrown in a bloody coup d’etat in April 1980.
SPEAKING FURTHER, THE President reminded Liberians in the hall of the Centennial Pavillion and outside on Tuesday, July 1st, that the ceremony was in “solemn remembrance to honor the life and legacy of a statesman, a patriot, and a servant of the people, the late President William Richard Tolbert, Jr. This moment is also one of reflection, reconciliation, and national renewal. Today, we gather to memorialize, with full dignity and honor, a son of Liberia whose story is deeply connected to the history of our republic,” the President said among other things.
SIMILAR CALL WAS made by President Boakai in Grand Gedeh when he attended the reburial rites of former slain President Samuel Kanyon Doe. In Zwedru, President Boakai urged Liberians to reject bitterness and reject all vices that only adds strife to contentions already existing.
SPEAKING AT THE State Funeral Service and Reburial of former President Samuel Kanyon Doe and Burial of former First Lady Nancy Bohn Doe, the President passionately appealed to every Liberian to also reject bitterness and that Liberians should “walk forward with hope, guided by love for our country and faith in our shared destiny.” He told Liberians to jealously “protect the peace we now have with vigilance and cherish it with patriotism.”
“WE GATHER HERE today with solemn hearts and a shared sense of reverence to honor and reinter the remains of our former Head of State, President Samuel Kanyon Doe, and his loving wife, the late former First Lady, Mrs. Nancy Bohn Doe. “This is not just a burial; it is a moment of national reflection, a time to reconcile with our history, to heal from our wounds, and to remember with respect and purpose.”
AMONG OTHER THINGS, the President reminisced how his former boss—President Doe—led Liberia through a decade of immense challenges, from 1980 to 1990. “He rose to power as a young man with a bold vision to empower ordinary Liberians and uplift the voices of those long marginalized.”
THE PLEAD OF President Boakai to Liberians during these reburial rites of the two former slain Presidents, the 13 former government officials and former First Lady Nancy B. Doe should serve as the basis for genuine reconciliation in Liberia. Reconciliation is a bitter pill to swallow especially if a former leader of a particular leadership hurts their own people during their rule.
BUT FORGIVENNESS IS required of every one God created; so despite what each and every Liberian went through during the dark days of the civil war, the country’s needs for genuine reconciliation cannot be overstated. Liberians must reconcile, forgive and unite.
THE LIBERIAN POST joins President Boakai in urging Liberians to forgive, forget and move on for a new chapter to begin that will set a new path and foundation for genuine reconciliation for the next generation of Liberians. It is acknowledged that it is a bitter pill to swallow but for the sake of the future of the children of Liberia genuine reconciliation has to take place.
THE LIBERIAN POST wants to use this time to call on President Boakai and his Administration to also set a day aside for a memorial of the more than 250,000 people who lost their lives during the 14-year Liberian civil war. Families were torn apart by the war and TLP believes a memorial to eulogize them will also help to heal the wounds of the civil war.
GENUINE RECONCILIATION IN Liberia should and must be the way to reunite each and every Liberian in this new dispensation. The hate and bitterness are beyond bounds among Liberians and now is the time for Liberians to bury their respective hatches and reconcile in truth, love and spirit for the better of the future of Liberian children and generations unborn.
