Liberia just needs to go through this one political transition and it can really take off. Everything's in place now. We cannot afford to put the country in the hands of someone that lacks the experience.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I will go on my knees and ask the Liberian people to participate in bringing peace and stability to our country.
The United Nations should come in and take over Liberia, not temporarily, but for life. To make Liberians believe in democracy, to make us believe in human rights, they need to go in and just seize control of the country. That is the only way Liberia will ever become the kind of country it was supposed to be.
I think the majority of the Liberian people want peace.
Around 80% of Liberians are unemployed and only half of all children go to primary school. Just one in 20 go on to secondary school. Young children are on the streets instead of in the classrooms. We are not giving them the opportunity to learn and they will struggle to get jobs when they grow up.
When I took office, Liberia began to recover from years of neglect. Our people have brought clean water into the heart of Monrovia to children who have never known water from a tap. Efforts are underway to expand water projects as much as possible throughout the country.
They say I do not have the qualifications to be president, that I do not have education. Well, I would never divide the Liberian people.
Going to Liberia really changed a lot for me. I didn't realize what was happening on the same planet. My understanding that in the world everything is interconnected really grew - to go to one of the poorest countries from one of the richest countries in the world. It was two worlds apart.
If Liberia has failed, then, it is no evidence of the failure of the Negro in government. It is merely evidence of the failure of slavery.
The whole thing about elections in Liberia - it's not about the way you take care of people, it's not about the heart, it's about education, according to the perception of some people.
What is so striking about Liberia is that in a place where there is so much to be done, I have never seen so many people with nothing to do.