STATEMENT BY DR SAMURA KAMARA ON THE CELEBRATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL PEACE DAY

21^st September 2020

The United Nations has set aside this Day, 21^st September, for us to observe and strengthen the ideals of Peace, and to work towards a safer and more prosperous world.

As we celebrate International Peace Day, today, I ask that, as Sierra Leoneans, we rise above cynicism and work together more genuinely for a more cohesive and a united country. We should remind ourselves of where we are coming from, of the social and economic morass we had to endure when we allowed cynicism, personal ambition, nepotism and other vices to override our better values of empathy, fairness and patriotism, leading us to a devastating civil war.

Even today, almost two decades after that brutal war officially ended in 2002, our nation is still recovering from the vulnerabilities inflicted upon us by that tragedy. As we move forward, we must therefore be careful not to sow or knowingly encourage others to sow, the seeds of division and unprovoked anger. We must avoid a politically charged environment. We must put aside the blame game and engender positive interface between political ambitions and the real job of addressing our nation’s festering development challenges – of reducing poverty; of promoting inclusiveness and of ensuring justice for all.

These are the drivers of lasting peace and enduring national cohesion, without which there will be no development.

Considering that our nation is still undergoing post conflict development, still categorized as a fragile state with all the hallmarks of a relapse to conflict, we owe it to ourselves and to posterity to make deliberate efforts to put our nation’s interest above self. I therefore call upon all compatriots to tone down the rhetoric and to detoxify our politics in order to be able to build a country anchored on Unity, Freedom and Justice, as espoused on our National Coat of Arms.