Delivered Before the National Black Chamber of Commerce (US)
My friends: Americans, French, Liberians, friends of Liberia and Africa. My name is Woahtee, and I come before you this evening to declare my candidacy for the Presidency of the Republic of Liberia. I have chosen this path because the Liberian people desperately want and deserve a change, and I represent that change. Liberians want an end of divisions, and a beginning of unity. Liberians want an end of conflict, and a beginning of cooperation. Liberians want an end of violence and fear, and a beginning of peace and hope. Liberians are reaching out to the world, and the world is ready to reach out to Liberia.
The message of my campaign is partnership. I have proposed a new partnership and spirit of volunteerism within the communities of Liberia. I have developed a program to bring student volunteers into the villages, to learn as they help the communities meet the needs of basic health, infrastructure development, and education. As they teach, and learn, they will also develop and spread a shared, renewed sense of Liberian citizenship and community.
Why, you may ask, have I come before this organization, the National Black Chamber of Commerce of the United States, here in Washington, DC, to announce my candidacy for the Presidency of Liberia? I have done so because more than ever before, Liberians must reach out to our friends in the world. The theme of my candidacy is partnership: Partnership within the individual village and neighborhood communities, partnership between the villages and the cities, partnership between Liberia's people and the world.
I propose today the formation of a partnership between cities and communities in the United States and cities and communities in Liberia. This partnership will not consist merely of making a speech or two, then never being seen again. With the new technologies that are now available to us, we can c...