By William Selmah
Political party youth leaders have committed young people of the country to peace and the conduct of a violence free election.
The commitment was consummated on Friday in Monrovia, with the signing of a peace declaration by the youth leaders under the banner of the Forum for Political Party National Youth League.
“The future of this country is not lost; it is ours, and that’s why we must do all within our means to work for a peaceful society,” said Michael Tippayson, leader of the youth wing of the opposition Progressive People’s Party (PPP) shortly before signing the document on behalf of his party’s youth auxiliary.
In the document, youth leaders reaffirmed their commitment to upholding the Farmington River Declaration earlier signed by political leaders which among others calls for a violence free electoral process.
They also pledged to uphold the rule of law and called on government to conduct free, fair, transparent elections in order to promote a peaceful, democratic transfer of power in keeping with the constitution.
“We will remain engaged in shaping lasting peace and stability in our communities as positive contributors to peace, justice, reconciliation and decision making”, the youth leaders stipulated in their declaration.
It also called on national and international stakeholders and other partners to support civic education programs aimed at creating increased awareness on the document during and after election.
Speaking earlier, the Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary General (SRSG) for Political Affairs and Rule of Law Waldeman Vrey described the signing ceremony youth leaders as “an important step”.
Vrey called on political parties to campaign peacefully ahead of the runoff election between George Weah of the CDC and Joseph Boakai of UP.
The Deputy chief of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) extolled the young people of the country and Liberians in general for the peaceful manner in which they conducted themselves in the October 10, 2017 legislative and presidential elections, urging them to do likewise during the runoff presidential election on December 26.
For his part, the Ambassador of the African Union Delegation Ibrahim M. Kamara recalled the turbulent years of civil wars the Mano River Union basin suffered in its recent history.
“No other person values peace more than the people of this region, as I hail from here myself,” the AU envoy said.
Ambassador Kamara then challenged the Liberian people to put country above party interest so that Liberia becomes the winner in the end”.
The signing ceremony will be followed by an outreach carnival scheduled to take place from December 16-22, 2017.
The outreach is intended to spread the intent of the peace declaration to other parts of the country.
In a related development, political party youth leaders on Friday showered praises on Police Inspector General Gregory Coleman for the professional manner in which the force has been working under his leadership.
In separate remarks, they encouraged to keep up the good work and guard against any form of “partisan policing”.
The forum took place under the auspices of UNMIL.