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MONROVIA-The President of the Republic of Liberia, His Excellency. Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr., has by Proclamation declared Saturday, July 5, 2025 as “National Healing, Reconciliation and Unity Day” and is to be observed throughout the Republic as a Working Holiday.
The Proclamation directs and invites all citizens, and families to attend the program organized by the committee to give prominence to the observance of the day.
Following a pronouncement by His Excellency President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr. on Monday, January 27, 2025, regarding the official reburial of two former Presidents of the Republic of Liberia: Rev. Dr. William Richard Tolbert, Jr. and Dr. Samuel Kanyon Doe, a national initiative was launched through a special committee, the Presidential Reburial Committee, to ensure that the two former presidents were provided a reburial befitting their statuses.
The Proclamation added that the National Reburial and Reconciliation Committee being aware of other individuals who were deceased as a result of the coup d’etat, the civil crisis, Ebola and Corona pandemics and who were not given proper reburials and whose relatives have not experienced closures, proposed that July 5, 2025 be proclaimed as National Healing, Reconciliation and Unity Day.
The Proclamation also indicated that honoring the day is intended to provide a space for collective reflection, national mourning, and healing, and to renew our share commitment to peace and reconciliation.
The Proclamation stresses that the formal designation of this day will not only honor the memories of our fallen leaders who were prominent figures but other fallen citizens.
The Proclamation states that observing this day aim is to also honor the thousand ordinary Liberians who are unnamed, who suffered and lost their lives during the country’s most painful moments and to give their families some form of closure.
The day symbolizes the resilience of our democracy and the enduring strength of our national identity.
According to the Presidential Proclamation, this celebration will be executed by the Presidential Reburial Committee on Saturday, July, 2025, with Rev. Dr. Antoine Rutayisire, an internationally recognized expert in healing and reconciliation serving as the Keynote Speaker at the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ministerial complex in Congo Town, Montserrado County, Liberia.
President Boakai further recounts that being mindful of the years of civil strife in the country and its harmful impacts on the people of Liberia, it becomes imperative that all Liberians embrace the noble ideals of the National Healing and Reconciliation program to promote genuine reconciliation, unity and peace among all Liberians.
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.