Wants National Reconciliation Commission To Be “A Nonpartisan, Inclusive Body”
PHOTO: Rev. Dr. Emmett Lafayette Dunn
SEE PICTORIAL HIGHLIGHTS OF SOME OF TODAY’S OFFICIAL CEREMONY BELOW
By Our Staff Writer
The urgent need to fight corruption was one of the threads in this year 178th Independence Day Oration by Rev. Dr. Emmett Lafayette Dunn, when he called on Liberian political leaders to move away from public pronouncements and begin taking concrete actions in fighting the corruption.
This menace has plagued Africa’s oldest independent republic for many decades now.
“It will take more than policy to uproot corruption,” he said. “It will take courage and political will from the highest office to the lowest.”
In view of the setbacks that corruption has brought to Liberia’s development, the Baptist cleric, who is also Ambassador at large at the Executive Mansion, emphasizing that the building of a better nation requires collective responsibility of all and not one man alone.
“To the Honorable Speaker, the Honorable President Pro Tempore, and Her Honor,” Dunn stated, “the fight against corruption is yours as well—not just the President’s.”
President Boakai’s UP government came to power over one and a half years ago with a promise to crack down on corruption and that “there will be no business as usual”.
Rampant Corruption was identified by the TRC report as one of the root causes of the 14 years brutal civil war in Liberia that the United Nations said killed an estimated 250,000 people.
On July 17, 2025, Monrovia witnessed a street protest led by the STAND civil society group which included many youths who were calling on President Boakai’s ruling Unity Party government to be take more concrete and holistic measures in fighting against corruption, lack of transparency and other bad governance practices.
Dr. Dunn, a Liberian diplomat and regional leader of the YMCA in Africa, called on the government to listen carefully to the cry of the youths and the Liberian people, citing a parable to bring home his message.
“There’s a parable,” he said, “that says, when one enters a village, they should listen to the songs the children sing. For by listening to the songs the children sing, you will hear the good, the bad, and the ugly,” Rev. Dunn told the audience at the historic Centennial Memorial Pavilion in Central Monrovia.
On another key issue of reconciliation, the Liberian Baptist cleric stressed the need to consolidate the national healing and reconciliation process, reminding his fellow compatriots that, “The war is over. News flash—fresh off the press—the war is over!”
“Stop using the war as a crutch,” he said. “If we continue to hold on to the past, we stifle the birth of possibilities.”
This year’s national Independence Day Orator also spoke of the need to consolidate the gains made so far in promoting national reconciliation by creating a permanent national nonpartisan and inclusive body to steer the reconciliation process in the country.
According to him, “reconciliation is an ongoing process,” recommending the creation of a Standing National Commission on Reconciliation, which he noted should be a nonpartisan, inclusive body that would promote historical truth-telling, civic education, and healing from community to community.
Besides the issues of corruption and reconciliation, Dr. Dunn, who currently serves as Executive Secretary and CEO of the Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Convention, also touched other hot-button issues such as the high unemployment rate and gender inequality, calling for national action to alleviate these problems.
“Let us not only demand change, but let us be committed to be the change that we demand,” Dunn urged. adding that, “the Liberian dream must be built by Liberian hands.”
PICTORIAL HIGHLIGHTS OF SOME OF TODAY’S OFFICIAL CEREMONY
photo courtesy: Executive Mansion press
According to a Presidential Proclamation issued ahead of today’s 178th Independence Anniversary, the theme for the official celebrations: “One People, One Destiny: healing the past, Building the Future”
According to the Liberian Foreign Ministry press release, “The Proclamation further recounted that after due deliberation on the future of the “ Settlement” facing colonial challenges and threats, the Founding Fathers did publish to the World that 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 off encroachment from any colonial power and becoming the first independent African Republic.”