Speeches

National Day Remarks 2005

February 23,2005

National Day Remarks By Ambassador Thomas N. Hull February 18, 2005

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to thank all of you for honoring us today with your presence. I have learned from long experience that people enjoy the food, the drink, and the camaraderie at national day celebrations, but never the speeches. I will endeavor to make mine mercifully short.

You are no doubt wondering why we are celebrating this event today instead of on America’s Independence Day, the 4th of July. This weekend we observe another American holiday known as President’s Day, a holiday that was created to honor two remarkable leaders who were born in February: George Washington, our founding president, and Abraham Lincoln, the president who guided the United States through a brutal civil war into the modern era.

Lincoln was a man of eloquence and simplicity. His most famous speech, the Gettysburg Address, was only ten sentences, but is remembered for its incisive description of democracy as “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

The United States of America and the Republic of Sierra Leone share a commitment to democracy that binds our friendship. Lincoln’s words remain the criteria by which we measure our democracies. As friends, we occasionally offer constructive criticism, knowing that democracy offers the best hope of achieving Sierra Leone’s aspirations for a more secure and prosperous future for all, provided that those who serve the people do so with integrity, selflessness, and a commitment to the country as a whole.

The United States of America is working with Sierra Leone to bring representative government to the people through local councils; to assure the rule of law; to achieve agricultural self-sufficiency; to rectify the diamond sector; to stimulate the private sector; to professionalize journalism; to prevent HIV/AIDS; to end trafficking in persons; and to train and equip the armed forces to cite but a few areas of cooperation. I expect that we will announce soon two new programs to increase school attendance by girls and to generate youth employment.

To accomplish these and other priorities, Sierra Leone needs sustained peace, as we have had for over three years thanks in large measure to international intervention. Sierra Leoneans must also be credited for their commitment to peace, but in the future this commitment will be tested by a reduced international presence and persistent hardship.

Although there are many positive economic signs, poverty is deeply entrenched and a chronic threat to stability. The popularity of the song “Borbor Belle” indicates widespread dissatisfaction with the status quo despite efforts to correct the conditions that caused the civil strife of the past. The lyrics have resonated because so many Sierra Leoneans feel economically deprived and politically excluded to the extent that they see government, rightly or wrongly, as being for the few and not for them. Development and democracy go hand in hand, and if one is flawed, both might fail.

All of us who love democracy should be concerned, but also resolute. Democracy is a process and never perfect, but we can reduce imperfections by working together. We Americans want Sierra Leone to have a democratic society truly of the people, by the people and for the people, and we will persevere with you to make that a reality.

I am not as succinct or as eloquent as Abraham Lincoln. Nobody is, which is why I have borrowed his language today. As was said when he died in 1864, “he belongs to the ages.”

We all do share with Lincoln a vision for a better future, in our case a better future for Sierra Leone. In that spirit, may I ask you to join in a toast to Sierra Leone: may your future be peaceful, prosperous, and democratic and may our relations be forever strong.

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