Africa-Press – Liberia. In a significant national gesture toward reconciliation and historical reckoning, President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr. has confirmed plans to travel to Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County, later this month to attend the official reburial ceremony of former President Samuel Kanyon Doe. The multi-day schedule of ceremonies will as well include the funeral and interment of former First Lady Nancy Bohn Doe, who died recently in Monrovia.
The President announced the plan over the weekend, while receiving a courtesy call from members of the Doe family at his residence in the Rehab Community. During the meeting, Boakai emphasized the importance of honoring past leaders with dignity and giving families and the nation the opportunity for closure and healing.
“This moment is not just about honoring the lives and service of two prominent Liberians,” President Boakai told the Doe family. “It is about taking meaningful steps toward healing the deep wounds of our past, promoting reconciliation, and strengthening the bonds of national unity.”
He called on Liberians to use the solemn occasion as an opportunity to reflect, reconcile, and build bridges across historical divides.
“We must confront our past not to relive it, but to draw lessons, to heal, and to move forward in unity,” the President said.
Speaking on behalf of the bereaved family, Ms. Veronica Mamie Doe, daughter of the late President and First Lady, expressed deep gratitude to the President for his compassion and leadership during their time of mourning.
“We are truly grateful to you, Mr. President, for your presence, your support, and your commitment to honoring our parents in a dignified and national manner,” she said.
Ms. Doe informed President Boakai that funeral and reburial arrangements are progressing, with the ceremonies slated to take place in late June 2025 in Zwedru, the birthplace of the late President Doe. She was accompanied by her brother Mr. Fallah Varney Doe, and their uncle, Mr. Isaac W. Nyenabo, former Grand Gedeh County Senator and former President Pro-Tempore of the Liberian Senate.
As a symbol of solidarity and cultural respect, President Boakai donated five cows to support the funeral and reburial ceremonies in Grand Gedeh County. The Doe family received the gifts.
The gift giving scene posed a stark contrast to the public blow former President and fellow Grand Gedehian, George Manneh Weah, sustained last week. Weah had sent a truck load of gifts, including a cow, as a gesture of sympathy in the wake of Former First Lady Doe’s death. Ms. Veronica Doe returned the gifts, decrying them as insincere and accusing Weah of having disrespected her mother while alive.
President Boakai, who served as Minister of Agriculture during the Doe administration in the 1980s, reflected fondly on his personal and professional interactions with the former First Family. He reaffirmed his government’s commitment to dignifying the legacies of past leaders as part of a broader national healing process.
“It is not enough to simply remember; we must act to repair and reconcile. These ceremonies are part of a long-overdue process to bring national closure and respect to those who once led us,” Boakai added.
This initiative aligns with the President’s declaration during his State of the Nation Address on January 27, 2025, where he pledged to ensure proper reburials for former Presidents William R. Tolbert, Jr. and Samuel K. Doe, whose deaths occurred under tragic and controversial circumstances during Liberia’s years of conflict.
Following that announcement, on February 19, 2025, President Boakai constituted the National Committee for the Reburial of Former Presidents, chaired by Minister of Education, Dr. Jarso Maley Jallah. The committee has since been working closely with the families of Presidents Tolbert and Doe to ensure that the planned ceremonies are conducted with the highest degree of dignity, coordination, and national significance.
Former President Samuel K. Doe, who hailed from Grand Gedeh County, seized power in Liberia on April 12, 1980, following the military coup he led that ended decades of Americo-Liberian rule. He became Liberia’s 21st President and led the country until September 1990, when he was captured and killed by the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL), during the civil war. His body was never accorded a formal national reburial.
His wife, Nancy Bohn Doe, remained a revered figure in Grand Gedeh and the broader southeast, recognized for her quiet resilience and dedication to family and country.
The upcoming reburial and funeral ceremonies are being described by national leaders and observers as a major milestone in Liberia’s long road toward national unity, historical acknowledgment, and transitional justice.
As preparations continue in Zwedru, President Boakai’s participation is expected to draw citizens from across Liberia and the diaspora, making it a powerful moment of collective remembrance and reconciliation.
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