President Joseph N. Boakai has launched the William R. Tolbert, III. Chair for Peacebuilding, Mediation, Conflict Resolution, Reconciliation, and National Unity, stating that peace is sustainable when justice prevails.
Speaking at the official launch Tuesday, May 21, 2024 in Congo Town, President Boakai said, “We are all assembled here today at an occasion that is so full of meaning for the new course that we, as a nation, have undertaken to lift our country unto a new and qualitatively better trajectory. We come to water the seed of peace—the peace that will firmly thrust our nation to a point of no return to conflict and violence.”
According to the President, when peace is being spoken about, it does not mean a grudging one or one which is only masking a thick layer of restlessness and unease, but rather it means peace that will heal the wounds which Liberians have so senselessly inflicted upon themselves.
President Boakai applauded Cuttington University for the enviable display of foresight and thoughtfulness.
The Liberian leader noted that he has never relented in reminding the nation that peace is only sustainable when justice prevails.
“Yes, indeed we seek peace that will see both victims and perpetrators reaching closure and resolving to move forward with the awareness and appreciation that this nation is everyone’s duty and responsibility to sustain and develop,” Boakai noted.
The Liberian President explained that he has no doubt that the Peace Chair will grow and rise to be a tall instrument of education, while addressing issues of peace building, conflict resolution, reconciliation and healing.
He assured the organizers of his government’s support in whatever way it can to help make the teaching a shining example that many will opt to emulate.
Boakai said the launch of the Peace Chair will emit good signals that will attract greater attention to Liberians’ collective effort to strengthen and sustain a peaceful, reconciled, and united nation.
“The torturous path that this nation has traveled in conflict and violence must have hopefully taught us the bitter lessons that violence and disorder generate,” Boakai noted.
President Boakai said there is so much he could say about the man whose name blesses the academic Chair he (Boakai) has unveiled.
“It is against the foregoing therefore that I, to the memory and immortalization of the late patriotic Reverend, take the pride and honor to formally declare this honorable Reverend William R. Tolbert, III Chair for Peace Building, Mediation, Conflict Resolution, Reconciliation, and National Unity officially launched on this 21st Day of May, 2024 in the City of Monrovia,” he narrated.
He also extended thanks to the Liberian Institute for “Growing” Patriotism (LIGP) and the Angie Brooks International Centre for Women’s Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace and Security (ABIC), for the initiative that has birthed the launch of the peace chair.
