REMARKS BY HON. CLARICE A. JAH
Special Guest Speaker at the
19th National Convention - 2009
Hon. Clarice A. Jah
Sr. Senator, Margibi County, Liberia
Mr. Alfred M. Dousuah, National President
United Bassa (Liberia) Organization in the Americas,
Chairman and member of the Board of Directors,
Official guests,
The UNIBOA family,
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen.
I am humbled by your invitation to speak at this gathering of the Bassa people residing in the Americas.
And as you convene here in Philadelphia, let me bring you congratulatory greetings from the Margibi Legislative Caucus, the officials and the people of the county of Margibi among which are the greatest Bassa people.
I am especially glad to be here because I believe that there could be nothing greater that taking time out to reminisce your achievements and challenges as is being demonstrated here today.
It is therefore my ardent hope that this convention would be a beginning between you and the mother land and would redirect UNIBOA’s policies and principles for the mutual benefit of the Bassa people in the United States and those back home.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, over the years we have carefully observed the many contributions you have made to our country through remittances to family members, friends, churches and charitable organizations. Your aims are noble and the Liberian people are grateful for those initiatives.
The Liberian people are not unmindful of the many problems and challenges you go through each day and the sacrifices you make to ensure that those remittances are forwarded to them. However, they expect you to focus on a common interest that will expeditiously bring you closer to reality in Liberia so that you may not be a stranger when you come back home.
I am talking about the common interest of basic social services for our people, the common interest of healthcare for many less fortunate people who lack full three square meals a day, the common interest of education for our youth, the common interest to design programs that will discourage teen age pregnancy and school drop [dropouts], and most importantly, a common solidarity: one people, one voice, a single banner for all irrespective of party politics. This is the vision I, too, share with thousands of citizens in our country.
I want to use this occasion to call on all Bassonians residing in the Americas, the United Kingdom, Australia, Asia and those living back home, to use this United Bassa Organization as a catalyst and to come together as a group that will speak with one voice. I see UNIBOA as a driving force behind the unity, peace, progress and stability of our country.
To achieve this goal, our responsibility, as visiting guests, will be to take the good example that is being demonstrated here back home to our people so that the need to come together is not only for the organization in America, but for all Bassonians of Liberia irrespectively of county of origin and of residence.
If unity, peace, progress and stability are our goal; if we are going to succeed as a people, your organization and those of us back home must be prepared to contribute our quota to the human resource development of our people as well as build bridges that will reconcile them.
It would be inane of me to expect that reaching the goals of “common interests” can and will be done over night. However, as I have observed, your organization has great potential that can be exploited to these ends.
This must be so because the new political reality in Liberia today calls for an equal robust political participation in the strategies and measures. We, as a people, whether we are in Liberia or the United States or the United Kingdom, must unite and meet the challenges if our common interests must come to pass.
For my part, I believe it is unattainable for Government to meet all the challenges of rebuilding our country, let alone our counties. For, there are indications that our government presently lacks the capacity to deal with the mountain of problems that she is faced with.
The enormous challenges of rebuilding our country are therefore placed in our hands so that you and I can personally should some of the responsibilities that will bring relief to our people in the areas of social services, healthcare, education, and employment. The challenges are ours.
In closing, let me call on the United Bassa (Liberia) Organization in the Americas, incorporated to support our development agenda through aid and other support items for our people and to follow closely, the new political reality in our country. I urge you to periodically visit your beloved Liberia and you will see that the changes that have engulfed the country are not yet sufficient. A lot needs to be done.
As you celebrate this day, be mindful of your responsibility to the nation, Liberia. Let UNIBOA be the light that shines when all other lights have failed.
May God bless us all and restore the years the locusts have eaten.
I thank you.
