Ghanaian Ambassador to Liberia, H.E. Ernest Barte Asare-Asiedu has urged graduates of the Kofi Annan Living Memorial COHORT TWO Young Diplomats Training Program at the Kofi Annan Institute for Conflict Transformation, University of Liberia to make integrity the hallmark of their profession. He reminded them that being an ambassador transcends titles and portfolios.

Amb. Asiedu said diplomats are people who speak less and speak at the right time.

“The ambassador is a man of integrity who a country can send out because what he says will be the voice of what his country speaks,” Amb. Asiedu stated.

He informed the graduates that what they do in the performance of their duty will be the representation of what their government and people are and stressed that integrity is an important principle for emerging diplomats to uphold if they must represent their profession well.

The Ghanaian Ambassador challenged the graduates to emulate the selfless role of the late Former U.N. Secretary General, Dr. Kofi Annan, who championed Global Peace and Security, Good Governance and Human Rights. He also admonished them to be patient, studious and knowledgeable.

“If you want to be the ambassadors of peace of Liberia, Africa and the rest of the world, please cultivate and inculcate in yourselves the principle of integrity,” Amb. Asiedu cautioned.

Amb. Asiedu concluded his remarks by paying tribute to the Former U.N. Secretary General Dr. Kofi Annan for championing and promoting conflict prevention and maintaining global peace.

“The Kofi Annan Living Memorial is a real living memorial and young graduates are the significance of that living nature of Kofi Annan. The man will never die. Kofi Annan will never die. Kofi Annan — the first black African to head that big organization that ensures our peace and security — will never die,” Amb. Asiedu eulogized. 

He spoke Tuesday, August 18, 2020, on the Capitol Hill Campus of the University of Liberia at a ceremony for the certification of 49 graduates of the Kofi Annan Living Memorial COHORT TWO Young Diplomats Training Program.

The training duration was three months and organized to educate and train young people to serve as messengers of peace. 

The program was attended by the Former Vice President of Liberia, Amb. Joseph N. Boakai; UL President, Dr. Julius S. Nelson; ECOWAS Commission Representative to Liberia, Amb. Babatunde Ajisomo; Former Foreign Minister of Liberia, Olubanke King-Akerele and Cllr. Yvette Chesson Wureh, Establishment Coordinator, Angie Brooks International Center.