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On Tuesday, January 16, 1996,

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I walked into the office of the president

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as head of state
of the Republic of Sierra Leone.

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I had not been elected.

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Four years earlier,

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I was one of 30 heavily armed
military officers,

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all in our 20s,

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who had driven from the war front

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into the capital city, Freetown.

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We had only one objective:

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to overthrow a corrupt, repressive
and single-party dictatorship

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that had kept itself in power
for over 25 years.

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But in the end, it wasn't a violent coup.

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After we fired a few shots
and seized the radio station,

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hundreds of thousands of citizens
jumped onto the streets

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to welcome us as liberators.

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If you are thinking this seems
like a movie script, I'm with you.

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I was part of the ruling
military government,

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and I served in several roles.

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Our goal was always to return the country
to democratic civilian rule.

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But after four years,

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those multiparty democratic elections
had still not happened.

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Citizens were beginning
to lose faith in our promise.

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But you know what?

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I like to keep my promises.

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Some of my comrades and I
staged another military coup,

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and this time, against our own
head of state and commander.

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Again, it was a bloodless coup.

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That is how I became the new
military head of state

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on January 16, 1996.

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I was still only 31 years old.

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Of course, power was sweet.

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I felt invulnerable.

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I had thousands of heavily armed men

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and aircraft at my command.

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I was heavily protected,

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and I lived in luxury.

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But my obligations to my nation
were always superior.

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Millions of fellow citizens
were either displaced

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or fleeing the violence
and pillage of war.

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So I engaged in a series
of diplomatic activities

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right across the subregion

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and convinced the reclusive rebel leader
to initiate peace talks

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for the very first time.

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I also called a national
consultative conference

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of civil society organizations
and stakeholders

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to advise on the best way forward.

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In both cases, I shared with them

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what I believed in then and now:

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that Sierra Leone is bigger
than all of us,

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and that Sierra Leone must be a secure,
peaceful and just society

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where every person can thrive

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and contribute to national development.

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And so, I initiated peace talks
with the rebels.

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I organized the first multiparty
democratic elections in nearly 30 years.

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(Applause)

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I handed over power

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to the newly elected president,

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I retired from the army,

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and I left my country
for the United States of America

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to study --

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all in three months.

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(Applause)

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In many a long walk,

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I wondered how we could
get it right again as a nation.

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More than 20 years later,

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in April 2018,

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with a few more wrinkles and grey hair,

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I was again head of state.

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But guess what?

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This time I have been
democratically elected.

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(Applause)

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At the polling stations last year,

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my three-year-old daughter,
Amina, was in my arm.

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She insisted on holding on to
my ballot paper with me.

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She was intent and focused.

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At that moment,

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with my ballot papers in both our hands,

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I fully understood the one priority for me

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if I was elected president
of the Republic of Sierra Leone;

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that is: How could I make
the lives of Amina

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and millions of other young girls and boys

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better in our country?

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See, I believe that leadership is about
creating possibilities that everyone,

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especially the young people,

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can believe in,

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own,

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work to actualize,

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and which they can
actively fight to protect.

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The pathway to power and leadership

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can be littered with impediments,

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but more often, with funny questions
that may seemingly defy answers:

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How does one take on the unique challenges
of a country like Sierra Leone?

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We had mined mineral resources
for over a hundred years,

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but we still are poor.

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We had collected foreign aid
for 58 years, but we are still poor.

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The secret to economic development
is in nature's best resource:

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skilled, healthy
and productive human beings.

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The secret to changing our country
lay in enhancing and supporting

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the limitless potential
of the next generation

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and challenging them
to change our country.

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Human capital development
was the key to national development

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in Sierra Leone.

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As a candidate,

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I met with and listened to
many young men and women

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right across the country

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and in the diaspora

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that were feeling disconnected
from political leadership

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and cared little about
the future of our country.

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How could we engage them

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and make them believe that the answers
to transforming our nation

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was right in their hands?

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Immediately after becoming president,

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I appointed some of Sierra Leone's
brightest young people as leaders,

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with responsibility to realize
our shared vision

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of transforming Sierra Leone.

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I am grateful many of them said yes.

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Let me give you a few examples.

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Corruption had been endemic
in governance, institutions

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and in public life in Sierra Leone,

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undermining public trust

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and the country's
international reputation.

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I appointed a young attorney
as Commissioner

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for the Anti-Corruption Commission.

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In less than a year,

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he had a hundred percent conviction rate

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and recovered over
1.5 million dollars of stolen money.

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That is seed money for building
the country's first-ever

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national medical diagnostic
center in Sierra Leone.

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(Applause)

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The Millennium Challenge Corporation
recently gave us a green scorecard

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for the Control of Corruption indicator,

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and multilateral development partners
that had left Sierra Leone

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are now beginning to return.

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We are determined to break
a culture of corruption

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and the culture of impunity

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that is associated with corruption.

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Before I became president,

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I met a skinny, dreadlocked
MIT/Harvard-trained inventor

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in London.

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Over coffee, I challenged him
to think and plan along with me

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how innovation could help
to drive national development

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in the areas of governance,
revenue mobilization, health care,

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education, delivering public services

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and supporting private sector growth.

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How could Sierra Leone participate
in the digital economy

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and become an innovation hub?

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Guess what?

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He left his cozy job at IBM,

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and he now leads a team
of young men and women

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within the newly established Directorate
of Science, Technology and Innovation

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in my own office.

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(Applause)

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That young man is right in here.

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I challenged another
young Sierra Leonean woman

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to set up and lead the new Ministry
of Planning and Economic Development.

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She consulted widely with Sierra Leoneans
and produced, in record time,

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the medium-term national development plan,

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titled, "Education For Development."

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We now have our national development needs

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in easily understandable clusters,

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and we can now plan our budgets,

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align development partner contributions

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and measure our own progress.

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But the story of my government's
flagship program

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is even more daring,

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if I can call it that.

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Today, three out of five adults
in Sierra Leone cannot read or write.

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Thousands of children
were not able to go to school

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or had dropped out of school

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because their parents could just
not afford the $20 school fees per year.

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Women and girls, who constitute
51 percent of our population,

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were not given equal opportunity
to be educated.

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So the obvious answer is to put in place
free, quality education

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for every Sierra Leonean child,

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regardless of gender,
ability or ethnicity.

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(Applause)

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Great idea you've clapped for.

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Right?

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But the only problem is we had
no money to start the program.

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(Laughter)

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Absolutely nothing.

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Development partners wanted to see data
before associating with my vision.

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Of course, political opponents
laughed at me.

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But I campaigned that a nation

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that invests in human capital development

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through free, quality education,

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affordable and high-quality
health care services

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and food security

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will accelerate its national
development program.

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I argued that for Sierra Leone
to produce a highly skilled,

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innovative and productive workforce

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fit for the 21st century global economy,

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we needed to invest heavily in human
capital development in Sierra Leone.

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But we had no money,

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because the previous government
had virtually emptied the coffers.

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We clamped down on corruption,

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closed up the loopholes
for fraud and waste,

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and we watched the money build up.

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We successfully launched
a free, quality education program

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in August last year,

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four years, four months later.

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Today, two million children
are going to school.

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(Applause)

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Twenty-one percent of the national budget

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supports free, quality education.

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In close collaboration and in partnership
with development partners,

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we have now provided teaching
and learning materials,

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safe spaces for girls,

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and started implementing
school feeding programs

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across the entire country.

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We have even paid backlogs
of salaries for teachers.

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Any girl admitted to university
to study science, technology,

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engineering, mathematics
and other related disciplines

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receives a full scholarship
in Sierra Leone today.

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(Applause)

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And here is why this matters:

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in a few years, we will have
a healthier, better educated

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and highly skilled young population

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that will lead and drive the country's
national development.

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They will be well-equipped to deploy
science, technology and innovation.

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Then we'll attract investment
in diversified areas of our economy,

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from tourism to fisheries

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and from renewable energy
to manufacturing.

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That is my biggest bet.

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In my mind, this is what
leadership is all about:

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a mission to listen with empathy

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to the craziest of ideas,

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the hopes and aspirations
of a younger generation,

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who are just looking
for a chance to be better

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and to make our country better.

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It is about letting them know

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that their dreams matter.

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It is about standing with them
and asking, "Why not?"

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when they ask seemingly
impossible questions.

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It is about exploring, making

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and owning a shared vision.

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The most audacious
and nation-changing events

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or policies or even personal choices

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happen when we ask, "Why not?"

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then make bold choices and ensure
those bold choices happen.

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I wake up every day believing

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that our country should no longer be
defined by the stigma of the past.

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The future offers hope
and opportunity for all.

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It matters to me that young men and women
right across the country

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can imagine for themselves
that they, too, can be and are

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part of the story of our nation.

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I want to challenge them to build a nation

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where three-year-olds
like my daughter, Yie Amie,

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can grow up in good governance,

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quality education,

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health care

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and good infrastructure.

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I want our children
to become young men and women

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who can continue nourishing
the trees that will grow

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from the seeds that we are planting today.

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Now can someone tell me

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why we should not dare imagine
that future in Sierra Leone?

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Thank you.

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(Applause)