Independence Day Statement
B. Elias Shoniyin
July 26, 2025
Fellow Liberians,
Today, as we commemorate 178 years of our sovereignty, the longest unbroken independence on the African continent, we stand at a solemn crossroads between memory and aspiration.
Our founding fathers, with unmatched courage, carved out this Republic against the currents of colonial ambition and indifference. President Joseph Jenkins Roberts, in pursuit of legitimacy, spent nine months of his first term journeying through Europe to secure recognition for a fledgling nation. Such was the price of our freedom, the labor, diplomacy, and faith that built the foundation we now stand on today.
Yet as we reflect, we must admit: the promise of Liberia remains unfulfilled.
This year’s Independence Day is particularly sobering, following the honorable reburial of President William R. Tolbert, Jr., and his thirteen slain officials, as well as former President Samuel K. Doe. In honoring their final rest, we have also reopened wounds from our painful past. But in doing so, we acknowledge our truth and begin to heal.
Liberia has known moments of greatness, of leadership, learning, and strength. But it has also wandered through long valleys of conflict, injustice, corruption, and neglect – vices that are stubbornly still with us even today.
Too many of our citizens still live in silent despair, gripped by poverty, disease, and lost opportunity. But even in the darkest hour, hope endures.
We now find ourselves at the edge of a new beginning, a moment to restore trust, invest in our people, and rebuild our national dignity. If 178 years of independence could be preserved through war, instability, and neglect, surely we can now rise to fulfill the vision of our forebears.
Let this be the year we stop taking our nationhood for granted. Let this be the year we finally answer the call of history, not with nostalgia, but with action. It is time to unite, to reform, to build, not for ourselves alone, but for the generations who will one day ask what we did when Liberia needed us most.
The future is not a promise; it is possibility. And if we cannot find the way, we must create it.
Happy Independence Day, Liberia! The future belongs to us; let’s go for it!
May God continue to bless and guide our beloved nation!
Love Liberia, think Liberia, and build Liberia!
Alphonso Toweh
Has been in the profession for over twenty years. He has worked for many international media outlets including: West Africa Magazine, Africa Week Magazine, African Observer and did occasional reporting for CNN, BBC World Service, Sunday Times, NPR, Radio Deutchewells, Radio Netherlands. He is the current correspondent for Reuters
He holds first MA with honors in International Relations and a candidate for second master in International Peace studies and Conflict Resolution from the University of Liberia.
