Liberia’s President George Weah is calling for a removal of a clause in the constitution which restricts citizenship to black people therefore blocking whites from becoming citizens and owning property in the country.
Weah in his first State of Nation address since being elected president has described the clause as “unnecessary, racist and inappropriate”.
“It contradicts the very definition of Liberia, which is derived from the Latin word ‘liber’, meaning ‘liberty’,” he said during the address at the Capitol building in Monrovia.
“These restrictions include the limitation of citizenship only to black people, the limitation of property ownership exclusively to citizens, and the non-allowance of dual citizenship,” he continued. “The framers of the 1847 Constitution may have had every reason and justification to include these restrictions in that historic document. They, as freed slaves, were fleeing from the oppressive yoke of slavery imposed upon them by white slave owners. They therefore wanted Liberia to be a safe refuge and a haven for freed men of color, and so they restricted citizenship only to black people.”
Liberia which was founded by freed US slaves in 1847 as “a refuge and a haven for freed men of colour” in her constitution defines black people in the language of the time, as “persons who are Negroes or of Negro descent”. Citizenship and ownership of property in the country has been restricted only to members of the black race.
But the country also has other communities living there. For instance, an estimated 4,000 Lebanese people live in Liberia. Many Lebanese families have lived in Liberia for generations but are still barred from citizenship and, by extension, land ownership.
“We should have nothing to fear from other races becoming citizens of Liberia. I recommend and propose that consideration be given to removing this clause in the constitution,” Weah emphasised.
The former football star was won the December elections beating then Vice President Joseph Boakai to succeed Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as president.
On Monday, President Weah also announced that he would be taking a pay cut of 25% because the government and the economy were “broke”.
“Our currency is in free fall; inflation is rising, unemployment is at an unprecedented high and our foreign reserves are at an all-time low,” he said.
He encouraged MPs to “follow my lead” and agree to a pay cut.
“Let us all remember that we were elected to serve the Liberian people and not to be masters of them,” Mr Weah said in an address that was interrupted by wild applause.
