After taking the oath of office, President Ernest Bai Koroma thanked the people of Sierra Leone for voting him in as president stating “I accept this enormous responsibility with a profound sense of pride and modesty” He thanked the NEC “for conducting free fair transparent and credible parliamentary and Presidential elections.”
And registered his thanks to the NEC Chairperson Dr Christiana Thorpe to whom he said “you personally demonstrated your commitment to the ideals of democracy, the transparent and fair manner in which you conducted the election will go down in history as the best so far.”
President Koroma also thanked outgoing President Kabbah “for the fair manner in which you have managed and supervised this process, no doubt a reflection of your deep sense of commitment to public duty”
“The long journey is over” he said and we the people “must congratulate ourselves in our historic resolve to ensure the victory of democracy and in the free exercise of the will of our people”
He went on “Let us view this victory not as a victory for any particular group or political party or region or religion but a victory of all Sierra Leoneans”
“Let us now begin the process of healing the wounds that suddenly and unnecessarily appeared in the course of this political campaign,” he urged.
Furthermore he said “let us endeavour to reconcile ourselves as one nation under God sharing our joys and our sorrows together.”
He appealed to the people saying “Let us put aside forever the things that divide us and build on those good things that unite us in our cultural and ethnic diversity.”
“To this end” he said “I pledge to all Sierra Leoneans my commitment to bringing this nation and its people together” adding “I will therefore call on everybody to go back to work in peace and tranquility and continue serving the nation to the best of their abilities”
President Ernest Koroma stated “My government will support and stand by all those who make a honest contribution to the welfare of their families and to the nation in general.”
He however warned “we shall however not hesitate to deal firmly with those who chose to operate outside the framework of the law”
He ledged that his government will be “a government of national unity in which nobody should feel threatened,” adding that he “will adopt zero tolerance on corruption and the mismanagement of state resources”
The new President stated that he was “aware of the task ahead of us and I know it will not be easy but” promised that he will “exert maximum effort and energy to make our nation a pride in our sub region and the international community as a whole.”
He sympathised with the people saying “You have suffered for too long and we will endeavour to ease your pain and lighten your burden” assuring them that “for this government failure is not an option.”
For his part outgoing Vice President and leader of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party said that after the results were read he rang up President Koroma and congratulated him, after which they met and discussed as two Sierra Leoneans. He stated that what came out clearly was that Sierra Leone cannot live on politics
Mr Berewa pledged that he and his party “will be available to render to him whatever assistance he will need”
“I have acquired quite a lot of experience in governance over the period I will like to devote that to the service of my country and through him I will like to make that available to the people of Sierra Leone” he said.
Mr Berewa went on “I also told him that my party will be prepared at all times to contribute to the development of this country that we are at his beck and call that we are anxious to ensure that he succeeds and that his success will be my success and the success of all Sierra Leoneans”
Politics he said “tends to accentuate the differences between people” stating that “politics is over as from today now what we have is government … government to pursue the interest of all Sierra Leoneans and I reminded him that he is President of all Sierra Leoneans therefore the welfare of all Sierra Leoneans should be his concern, the happiness of all Sierra Leoneans should be his concern”
The outgoing Vice President said “Like a good father he should ensure that no one of his children maltreats the other child they should all be treated fairly equally without intimidation, without threat without violence without injustice.”
He stated boldly “My not becoming President was not the matter the fact that somebody who seems to subscribe to the views that I hold about the future of this country and about the presidency is in charge that’s enough comfort for me I wish you every success in your endeavours.”
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