May 14, 2025
By Emmanuel Gonquoi, CIC, Economic Freedom Fighters of Liberia
Monrovia, Liberia
Today, the Government of Liberia, under the administration of His Excellency President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr., has declared May 14 as National Unification Day, supposedly a moment for Liberians to reflect on our shared values, celebrate national unity, and recommit to the noble ideals of peace and integration. Thanks Mr. President for executing your constitutional duty as previously done by other Presidents regarding the historical account of this day.
As a Country, we have celebrated this day for many decades and it’s time that we must boldly ask ourselves: What unification are we celebrating as a Country?
What unification is it when one political party comes to power, they view members of the opposing parties as enemies to be harassed, intimidated, and denied opportunities simply for exercising their democratic rights?
What unification is it when civil servants are dismissed or sidelined based on the color of their political T-shirts during elections?
What unification is it when brothers and sisters of the same tribal groups, from the same counties, now hate each other because of the toxic politics of exclusion and blind loyalty?
What unification are we celebrating when opposition rallies and fight to shut down a functioning Government because they want to return to power at all cost?
What unification it’s when activists are monitored like criminals, and journalists are harassed for exposing corruption and media institutions are denied advertisement contract because they are not working to promote the Government or certain powerful people within the Government?
What unity exists in a nation where youth unemployment remains astronomical, and yet the same recycled elites control power and resources without accountability?
We ask:
Where is the unification when regional development is selective and based on political affiliation?
Where is the justice when our judicial system is a playground for the powerful and a death trap for the poor?
Where is the equality when cronies and political loyalists monopolize government contracts, leaving real professionals in poverty?
Let us be reminded that Unification Day was originally celebrated as a symbol of national healing and inclusion, especially during a time when the Americo-Liberian and Indigenous divide crippled national progress. It was a response to deep historical inequalities and an effort to forge a common national identity where no one was superior because of origin, language, political position or tribe.
For decades now, the very essence of Unification Day has been bastardized into a hollow formality and a cosmetic observance dressed in rhetoric but lacking the substance of real unity from one Government to another.
The powerful people are parading in hypocrisy and drinking wine while citizens suffer the pain of economic despair, social fragmentation, and political marginalization.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Going forward, we must act as listed to make this day historically accurate for celebration. Until then, I personally don’t see this day worthy of celebration.
1. Depoliticize government institutions and end the weaponization of state power against political opponents.
2. Implement a national reconciliation commission that goes beyond photo-ops to address historical grievances and tribal division under the Ministry of Internal Affairs or create new commission.
3. Initiate a Youth Economic Empowerment Program to bridge the gap between the center and the marginalized majority.
4. Pass laws that criminalize political discrimination, especially in the civil service and community leadership structures.
CONCLUSION
We will not sit silently while the powerful boast of unity they have not earned. We will not clap to speeches while our people bleed internally from the wounds of division. And we refuse to celebrate a lie. Until Liberia embraces real justice, equality, and inclusion—not just in words but in practice—Unification Day remains a contradiction.
We stands ready to expose, confront, and dismantle every system of division and oppression hiding behind the mask of unity. Let us unite in truth, not pretense.
The Coming Revolution!
