In his speech on the commemoration of the World Peace Day, the APC Presidential hopeful, Dr. Samura Kamara said that the United Nations has set aside September 21st, for us to observe and strengthen the ideals of Peace, and to work towards a safer and more prosperous world.
He stated that as we celebrate International Peace Day, Sierra Leoneans, should rise above cynicism and work together more genuinely for a more cohesive and a united country. ‘We should remind ourselves of where we are coming from, of the social and economic morass we had to endure when we allowed cynicism, personal ambition, nepotism and other vices to override our better values of empathy, fairness and patriotism, leading us to a devastating civil war, he noted.
He stated that almost two decades after the brutal war officially ended in 2002, our nation is still recovering from the vulnerabilities inflicted upon us by that tragedy saying that as we move forward, we must therefore be careful not to sow or knowingly encourage others to sow, the seeds of division and unprovoked anger.
He pointed out that we must avoid a politically charged environment and that we must put aside the blame game and engender positive interface between political ambitions and the real job of addressing our nation’s festering development challenges of reducing poverty; of promoting inclusiveness and of ensuring justice for all as according to him these are the drivers of lasting peace and enduring national cohesion, without which there will be no development.
He furthered that considering that our nation is still undergoing post conflict development, still categorized as a fragile state with all the hallmarks of a relapse to conflict, we owe it to ourselves and to posterity to make deliberate efforts to put our nation’s interest above self so he therefore call upon all compatriots to tone down the rhetoric and to detoxify our politics in order to be able to build a country anchored on Unity, Freedom and Justice, as espoused on our National Coat of Arms.
