|
Liberians United for National Reforms, (LUNAR), held its 2nd Annual Convention and Good Governance and Effective Leadership Conference from July 31- August1, 2009 in the City of Chicago, Illinois. The Conference commenced with a LUNAR members-only governance meeting on Friday, July 31, 2009. At that meeting, members reviewed LUNAR’s activities of the past year and an agenda for the coming year was discussed and adopted. Also, a financial review was held with a view of making LUNAR more financially viable.
The LUNAR members-only governance meeting ended with the holding of elections of managers of LUNAR for the next two years. Mr. William G. Nyanue was re-elected as President; Mr. George Weah was elected as Vice-President; Mr. Sampson Toe was re-elected as Secretary-General; Mr. T. Momolu Massaquoi was re-elected as Treasurer, and Mr. Artemus Gaye was elected as Chaplain. A new Board of Directors was constituted with Mydea Reeves-Karpeh as Chairperson; Mr. Melvin Ngwayah Co-chairperson, and Mr. James Kaye as member. Mr. Gaye Sleh retained his position as Chairman of the Membership Committee. The governance meeting was followed by a welcome reception which was held in the beautiful home of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac G. Vowal. On the second and final day of the convention, LUNAR launched its annual Good Governance and Effective Leadership Conference. The program commenced with invocation by Rev. Dr. Amos Miamen, Pastor of the International Bible Fellowship. This was followed by welcome remarks by Mr. Gaye Sleh, Chairman of the Convention Committee. Mr. William Nyanue, President of LUNAR, then gave an overview of the conference. The main feature of the opening program was Dr. Emmanuel Dolo’s keynote address. Dr. Dolo spoke on the topic “Uprooting Mediocrity and Cultivating High Expectations”. As part of the speech, he admonished his audience to desist from doing things the “Liberian way” which basically has a negative and mediocre connotation. He called for a paradigm shift that would lead to high expectations for every Liberian. He averred that Liberians should no longer be satisfied with the status quo; but rather they should strive for and demand high expectations of themselves and others. The keynote speech was followed by remarks from leaders of participating organizations. They included Mrs. Adolphine Kannah, National President of the Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas (GGAA); Dr. H. Momo Fahnbulleh, National Secretary, National Association of Cape Cape Mountainians in the Americas (NACA) and Founder and President of Liberian Children’s Education Fund (LICEF); Mr. Joe Flomo-Matthew, National President, United Bong County Association in the Americas (UBCAA); Mr. Alfred Dousuah, National President, United Bassa Organization in the Americas (UNIBOA); Mr. Albert Morweh, Vice President of Organization of Liberian Community in Illinois (OLCI); and Mr. David Karwo, National President of Niao Development Association. Others who made remarks during the opening program included the Consul General of Liberia, Hon. P. Alexander Gbayee; Mr. Musa Mansaray, President, Chicagoland Sierra Leone Community; Mr. John Henry Assabill, President, Ghana National Council; Mr. Alie Kabba, Executive Director, United African Organization (UAO); and Mr. Patrick Woodtor, President & CEO, African International House. Leaders of Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas (ULAA) and United Nimba Citizen’s Council (UNICO), who could not be present because of logistics reason, sent greetings. Following the opening program, the conference continued with the focus-group session. The session began with presentation of results of LUNAR’s Good Governance and Effective Leadership survey. Participants were divided into three focus groups to brainstorm about problems affecting Liberian organizations in the Diaspora and the Liberian nation as a whole as it relates to good governance. The survey results and the keynote address were used as guide for the discussion. The issues identified and the solutions proposed by the focus groups were discussed in plenary and formed the basis for the conference resolution. In summary, participants at the LUNAR Good Governance and Effective Leadership Conference agreed that failure to uphold the rule of law; the lack of integrity in public service; the lack of positive role models; the lack of adequate leadership skills; and nepotism, cronyism and sectionalism are the major reasons for poor governance in Liberia and within Liberian Diaspora organizations. They proposed a number of actions to be taken by participating organizations, including LUNAR, to address the problems identified. They agreed, for example, that Liberian organizations be engaged, encouraged, and assisted to uphold the equitable application and enforcement of their organic laws/constitution as a means of building the foundation required for good governance and effective leadership; and that LUNAR convenes an annual meeting of Liberian organizations to be held on a rotational basis to assess good governance and effective leadership practices within those organizations (See conference resolution). The LUNAR 2nd annual convention and Good Governance and Effective Leadership Conference ended with a ball and dinner on Saturday night at the Corpus Christi Center for the participants and guests of the convention. LUNAR and the participants all agreed that the conference was a resounding success. George Weah |
