President Weah Gets Standing Ovation at 64th Ordinary Summit of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government in Abuja

(Abuja, December 10, 2023): History was made in Abuja, Nigeria, where the 64^th Ordinary Summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) convened on Sunday, December 10, 2023.

The Chair of the Authority and President of Nigeria, His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other high level officials, including the Chair of the African Union Commission and the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General for the Sahel and West Africa successively commended Liberia’s President, His Excellency Dr. George Manneh Weah, for his pace setting concession and congratulatory message to the Liberian opposition leader,  His Excellency Ambassador Joseph Nyuma Boakai, President-elect of Liberia, for winning the November 20^th presidential run-off election of Liberia.

President Weah received a standing ovation by his colleagues at the request of President Tinubu, who noted that the laudable  action of President Weah will be etched in history as an exemplary democratic practice for other political leaders to emulate.

Delivering his farewell message, President Weah thanked his colleagues for the accolades accorded him and the high-level ECOWAS support of the October 10^th and November 20^th general and run-off elections respectively.       He invited his colleagues to accord President-elect Boakai the same level of support they accorded him throughout his tenure as President of Liberia.

The valedictory of President Weah was part of a compact agenda on the peace, security, and humanitarian situation in the ECOWAS region bedeviled by terrorism, and unconstitutional changes of government in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, and recently in Niger.  The recent attempted coups in Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau also received the attention and condemnation of the ECOWAS Heads of State.

It was against this backdrop that President Tinubu requested the audience at the opening ceremony of the Summit, including ECOWAS Heads of State, invited dignitaries and the Diplomatic Corps, to give a standing ovation to President Weah for ushering in a new vista of electoral breakthrough in democratic governance to be copied in West Africa.

Minister Kemayah Anchored President Weah’s Ovation

In his own valedictory message to his colleagues, for which he also received a standing ovation, Liberia’s Foreign Minister and Dean of the Cabinet, His Excellency Ambassador Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah, Sr., reiterated Liberia’s zero tolerance for unconstitutional change of government and uncompromising stance against terrorism at the 91^st Ordinary Summit of the Council of Ministers, which preceded the ECOWAS Summit in Abuja on December 7 and 8.

“I wish to inform all of you – My Dear Esteemed Colleagues of this Council of Ministers of ECOWAS and further reaffirm my profound unconditional and unflinching practical support of the stance of, simply put, categorical unreserved universal decision and concession and congratulations of His Excellency Dr. George Manneh Weah, President of the Republic of Liberia, an inarguable global grand champion of democracy, good governance, satesmanship, peace, constitutional order,  development and comprehensive and integrated human empowerment, to His Excellency Ambassador Joseph Nyuma Boakai,  Sr. , President-Elect of the Republic of Liberia,” the Minister stressed.

Minister Kemayah continued: “By the singular undisputed, gracious democratic gesture of His Excellency President Dr.  WEAH, which is of universal-wholesome unimaginable and unprecedented unending impacts and dividends, especially for the Republic of Liberia’s peace and democracy, and that of our West Africa region and Africa, and to be very frank and honest, our global village and world, Liberia is now undoubtedly, the beacon of hope, peace, democracy and good governance, and moreover, a shining exemplar of the core values and tenets of genuine peace and democracy in West Africa, Africa and the World at large.

The Minister averred that “Liberia and His Excellency President Dr. Weah stand out and will continue to stand out in the global hall of fame of democracy, exemplary leadership of global peace, democracy and good governance in the Mano River Basin, West Africa, Africa in general, and our One World.”

The Minister told his colleagues that he was extremely grateful for the opportunity to have known, and worked with them in pushing the agenda of regional integration and economic development of ECOWAS.

He further stressed: “Under the astute leadership of your predecessor, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Guinea Bissau, Her Excellency Madame Suzi Barbosa, Mr. Chair, we as a Nation and People – the Republic of Liberia and the resilient Liberian People, under the esteemed Leadership of His Excellency President Dr.  WEAH, played our part in ensuring the pivotal active role of Liberia in the Affairs of ECOWAS, whether it was supporting  and implementing all the Decisions of the Council and the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS regarding regional integration, or in  supporting ECOWAS Vision 2050, titled “ECOWAS of the Peoples Peace and Prosperity for All,” or in the hosting of ECOWAS meetings and facilities such as the delocalized meetings of the ECOWAS Parliament, the ECOWAS radio or a National Center for the Coordination of Early Warning and Response Mechanism, or in promoting other initiatives, including the ECOWAS Joint Border Post with Liberia and Sierra Leone and the implementation of the CLSG Interconnection Project’s electricity sharing scheme that is now up and running in our border region of the Mano River Union, that is part of the West African Power Pool (WAPP) Program.

The Minister concluded his speech by making a strong case to the ECOWAS Council of Ministers and the ECOWAS Commission for urgently addressing the grim working conditions, salary delays and welfare of the otherwise dynamic and hardworking staff of ECOWAS Radio, which the Government of Liberia hosts in Monrovia, Liberia.

After the close of the Summit, the Heads of State and Government issued a Communique in which they commended Presidents George Weah and Macky Sall respectively of Liberia and Senegal, “for their strong leadership in the regional integration process and contribution to the entrenchment of the values of peace, democracy and solidarity in West Africa.”

The Chair of the Authority will announce the date and venue of the 65^th Annual ECOWAS Summit in due course.