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A NEW DIRECTION FOR UNITY, EFFICIENCY AND TRANSPARENCY
THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS of
The President of UNIBOA
Newark, New Jersey - September 22, 2007
Mr. Al Gbi Toe, Guest Speaker I like to draw your attention to the definitions of the key leadership terms I wish to stress tonight. These terms are Unity, Efficiency and Transparency.
UNITY:
TRANSPARENCY:
Our administration commits itself to a democratic leadership by which we will seek the participation of others. Democratic leadership leads to higher levels of membership satisfaction and creates a better working environment. This is the type of leadership, which is highly recommended for complex, non-profit organizations like UNIBOA.
Please allow me a few moments to elaborate on the type of leadership we are committed. We wish to practice a “Contingency and a Managerial Grid Leadership”. A Managerial Grid involves equal concerns for getting the organization’s work done and maintaining good relationships with the board, officers, staff and members. A Contingency Leadership assesses each situation and acts appropriately and accordingly.
In essence, the Dousuah and Mandeh Administration will strive to restore and maintain an environment within UNIBOA that is conducive for cooperation and growth. As the great writer Daniel Webster puts it, “Man is a special being, and if left to him, in an isolated condition, would be one of the weakest creatures; but associated with his kind, he works wonders”. Ladies and gentlemen, we need to unite in our strive to bring education, healthcare and social well-being to our people, particularly our children.
To continue and increase the level of much-needed assistance we provide our people in Liberia, UNIBOA will initiate an agricultural project aimed at improving the method of food production. This program will target subsistence farmers, and other rural dwellers in our villages and towns. The farming system is the bedrock of community development; but, it needs to be upgraded and supported in order to build and sustain our viable society. As Bob Marley puts it best, “A Hungry Man Is An Angry Man”.
For the benefit of our people residing in the United States, we intend to strengthen the ties that bind us, including but not limited to the noble ideals of cooperation, friendship and kinship. We will cement them by promoting our cultural and traditional values. Most importantly, we will initiate programs of benefit to our children and elders.
The preservation of our cultural heritage and traditional values was not given the attention it deserves during previous administrations. The Dousuah and Mandeh leadership intends to prioritize Bassa cultural consciousness because it is a fundamental responsibility of our Organization. My administration will identify and select individuals with relevant background and significant interests in Bassa culture and traditions to help us accomplish this task.
We strongly believe it is about time to place the needs of our children and seniors at the top of the UNIBOA Agenda. Yes, the time has come to replace the rhetoric of empty promises with genuine inclusiveness of our children and elders. It is a great humanitarian gesture that must be extended to our children and elders in Liberia and the United States of America. Our administration will work diligently to make UNIBOA more receptive and responsive to our children and seniors within the next 2 years.
Meanwhile, the first priority of this administration will be focused on the strengthening the capacity of chartered chapters and the expansion of UNIBOA to other regions in the Americas. We are of the belief that building a stronger union is the core mission of our very existence as an organization. With your continued support and dedication, our administration will accomplish these goals within the appointed time. Certainly, the plan to strengthen chartered-chapters and expand UNIBOA can be realized in the spirit of unity, efficiency and transparency. We must remain committed to the implementation of ongoing programs and projects of UNIBOA.
Obviously, we cannot achieve our paramount objective of impacting situations in Liberia without a permanent establishment on the ground. The Dousuah and Mandeh administration will give priority to the establishment of a permanent home-office in Liberia within the next 2 years. To effect this plan, we will appoint an effective Home Affairs Committee comprising of capable individuals from both sides of the Atlantic.
The United Bassa (Liberian) Organizations in the Americas was organized in 1991 in response to the Liberian Civil War. It was our overwhelming consensus that we exercise our duty and respond positively to the calamities in our homeland; and that we create an environment conducive for reflections, dialogue, and commitment.
We have proven ourselves over the years to be great achievers by making tremendous deliverance on our promises to our people. At this critical point of our existence, while reflecting on the past, we should begin to prepare to undertake a greater responsibility- becoming useful to our society and people and utilizing our problem-solving skills and conflict resolution techniques to promote peace and unity, and not war and hatred.
Fellow members, the Dousuah and Mandeh administration strongly believe that UNIBOA is equipped with the necessary manpower and resources to remain a viable contributor to the social and economic development of our people in Liberia and within Liberian communities in the United States of America. Our administration is on track; we are a New Direction leadership prepared to make the organizational transformations with your continued participation and support.
In this public manner, I am calling upon all of our old and new members, our supporters, and our friends to join this administration in meeting our organizational challenge to succeed in this new millennium with a better vision and a fresh problem-solving approach for UNIBOA activities. The Dousuah and Mandeh administration fully understands the constitutional dynamic of the balance of power and its significance to the progress of UNIBOA. We sincerely value the governing structure of UNIBOA with respect to the distribution of roles and responsibilities as scripted in our constitution.
My thoughts are with Mr. Joseph Sinyan, our immediate predecessor. I want to tell him that I have respect for him and for his ideas in which some people saw their own ideas reflected. Respecting Mr. Sinyan is respecting those who voted for him. As UNIBOA president, I love all the members regardless of their opinions; and I respect all the people who did not vote for me. I want to tell all of you that beyond the presidential elections and the differences of opinion, for me there is only one UNIBOA.
I want to assure all of you that I will be the president of all the people, that I will represent everyone justifiably. I want to remind all of you that the victory of the New Direction Leadership is not the victory of “Bassonians from Rivercess against Bassonians from Grand Bassa or Bassonians from Montserrado against Bassonians from Margibi. We are all Bassa people in the Republic of Liberia and the United States of America.
The members of UNIBOA have voted for change, new directions. My administration will implement the desired changes because this is the mandate we have received from the people of UNIBOA. However, we will carry out our mandate with all of the Bassa people on both sides of the Atlantic. We shall do it in a spirit of unity, efficiency and transparency; and no one will be excluded, or left on the sidelines. I call on all Bassonians, irrespective of their county of origins, to join with my administration in moving UNIBOA forward. But, members of UNIBOA must not allow themselves to be enfolded in prejudice, selfishness and disunity. We must remain united and dedicated to our people and humanity, as a whole.
The Bassa people have spoken and have chosen to make a break with the ineffective ideas, customs and behavior of the past. We are now on path to restore to our Organization the principles of unity, efficiency and transparency based on respect and values. Recognitions will be given to those who honestly deserve it. My administration intends to solicit the participation and support of our members, patrons and all others who identify with our core values and humanitarian mission. We must all join hands to give back to all the people within the Bassa counties in Liberia.
I want to appeal to our partners in leadership, to whom our destiny is profoundly linked, that the social and economic well-being of our people should never be taken for granted. We deeply care about the education and health care of our people, both in Liberia and in our community in the United States of America. I plead to our political leaders in Liberia to hear the voice of the people who want to be protected, people who want to be educated, and people who want to live healthy.
On this occasion, I want to issue an appeal to our American friends to continue their unwavering support to our mission. I also appeal to the National Government of Liberia as well as the leaderships of the Bassa counties to remain supportive of UNIBOA’s humanitarian programs and projects. I can assure you that under my leadership, UNIBOA will achieve some of the mission goals and purposes for which it was established 17 years ago. Indeed, UNIBOA will be at the side of our members, our families, children, our elders, and our people in Liberia and the United States.
We, as officers, are cognizant of the responsibility and challenges we face as the executive committee. We are prepared to meet those challenges with your continued support. Under no circumstances are we prepared to undermine the constitutional mandate granted to the Board of Directors and the General Assembly of UNIBOA.
However, we are prepared to challenge any policy, practice or activity that aims to undermine the mission of UNIBOA, which is founded on the pillar of unity. We will pursue and promote genuine dialogue, negotiations, and compromise in achieving our goals for a New Direction in UNIBOA.
To our family, friends and supporters, we sincerely thank you for your votes and ask for your continued support. With your support and God’s guardian, this administration will take UNIBOA to the next level in the spirit of unity, efficiency and transparency.
I feel great and emotional as I speak to you this evening. At a young age, I felt incredible pride at belonging to a great people, great nation, and a great organization. I love my people dearly; and it is the love for my people that has given me the passion to serve. Now it is my turn to give back to my people what they have given me.
I want to leave you with these words by the great statesman, Sir Winston Churchill: “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened”.
God bless UNIBOA, God bless Liberia, and God bless America.
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