The chief of party of Digital Liberia E-Government Project is emphasizing here that if Liberia will be a better place, it means every citizen should be honest, trustworthy and sincere in whatever position he or she occupies in public service.
Madam RieLukowski spoke recently at the 5th ConsultativeMeeting of KvinnaTilKvinna or TK Liberia, urging Liberians to become standard bearers of building integrity, because it’s very significant to the rebuilding process of the country.She explains that the aim and objective of the meeting was to learn more about integrity, understanding the importance of being a person with integrity and how integrity is linked to unity and culture.
According to her, there’s no doubt that the women of Liberia, when they are united, could do more than just stopping the war, and bringing peace to Liberia, saying “As we are aware, more still needs to be done, especially in a society that is male dominant, and with a history that still hangs in some parts of the country that women should not have equal rights as compared to men. There is more work to do; meaning there’s more than enough reasons that women should gather and be more united than ever before.’’
“We can all do it but it’s a choice, take back your culture with strong values and keep pushing for a better result, we must become the change we want to see”, she continues. Keynote speaker Madam Victoria Cooper-Enchia, stresses that building integrity is important to making a country peaceful, stable and sustainable.
The gathering, under the theme “Integrity-Link to the Unity of Women” was organized by Kvinna Till Kvinna (KTK), a Swedish based organization in collaboration with the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) Gender Advisory Office.
Participants were drawn from urban and rural women, as well as representations from Community Based Organizations, Civil Society Organizations and government agencies, NGOs, INGOs, marketers, Traditional Council, entrepreneurs and young women’s organizations, respectively.
Mrs. Enchia continues that in order to achieve integrity building, the rebuilding process across the society must be as intentional as building roads, hospitals, schools, churches, mosques and businesses.
“Rebuilding integrity must be as important as teaching children to read, write and count and training doctors, teachers, nurses, lawyers, electricians, and it must be intentional.”
“I was living in Ghana in 2003 when the women sat down, locked their arms together and refused to allow the Liberian leaders out of the room until they agreed to a peace settlement; This was unity, this was solidarity, and this was women united to save their country and their families and their future”, she notes.
She recalls that when Liberia went to the polls in 2005, women were again in the forefront and elected the first democratically-elected female President in Africa, noting that the life and death nature of civil conflict made unifying women easier, as war was the common enemy.
She stresses the need for solidarity and unity of women as more important now than before because this is fight for Liberia’s core, for the fabric of society, which holds a society together.
“The Government of Liberia acknowledged that the fabric of the Liberian society was devastated during the war. Implicit in that statement is that before the war there was a fabric of the society or a set of core values. Maybe these core values can be rewoven, but it will take commitment and focus,” she points out.
She says the country may not be at physical war anymore; however, the situation remains critical, adding that although it looks different and the challenges are spoken of in hushed tones and not from megaphones, “We have a major problem at the core with integrity.”
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Lewis S. Teh; editing by Jonathan Browne
Quelle/Source: The New Dawn Liberia, 15.06.2017
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