26/04/2019
*Sir Milton Margai's Independence Message (April 27, 1961)*
Men, women and children of Sierra Leone, I greet you all on this historic day, and I rejoice with you.
Sierra Leone today becomes a unified and independent nation to take her place as an equal partner in the Commonwealth of nations and as equal entity in the world at large. For this we rejoice, and may your own rejoicing wherever you are be really full of happiness.
We must also face up squarely to the problems which will confront us, and I want you all to understand clearly that the Sierra Leone Government in future will depend very greatly upon the active support and assistance of each one of you. The aim will certainly be to make a our country a land worth living in, a land worth serving; but this can only be done by wholehearted service and hard work now. I have told you this before, and I call upon you to give the Government your active help and support.
I ask you to deal fairly and honestly with your fellow men, to discourage lawlessness, and to strive actively for peace, friendship and unity in our country.
We have much to do to bring improvements to all parts of our country. I am fully aware of this and I assure you all that my Government is determined that general progress shall be made as fast as possible.
But there is also much that can be done by yourselves to meet your own needs, and I shall continue to support and encourage voluntary local support, whether it is directed to the building of a road, a bridge, a school, or a community centre, a sports field, a water supply, or any other communal requirement.
I would like to make it clear that independence will not result in any sudden changes in our day-to-day life. Whether you are a farmer, a clerk, a trader, an artisan, a daily wage worker, a fisherman, a lawyer or a judge, life will go on just the same, with the same rights and privileges safeguarded, the same type of laws, the same justice in our courts, the same taxes and other respo
