Finance and Development Planning Minister, Hon. Amara M. Konneh, is ushering in the New Year by thanking members of his team for their combined efforts, energy, resilience and commitment in tackling the challenges of 2015, while urging them to enter 2016 with a renewed sense of determination and leadership.
Read the full text of Minister Konneh's message below:
Happy New Year, everyone! I want to wish you and your family members a very happy New Year and hope you have a wonderful, successful and prosperous 2016.
Last year was a challenging year; thank you for your effort, energy, resilience and commitment. As we start this New Year with greater clarity, a greater determination to succeed and a renewed commitment to providing exceptional leadership, we ask just one thing from each of you - be better.
- Be better in your work – think creatively, efficiently and get the details right.
- Be better with taxpayers and spending entities, our customers – in how you prepare, how you communicate and how you add value.
- Be better with your teammates – in how you support each other, how you communicate and how you care about them as people.
- Be better in your community – in how you give of your time and effort to make your workplace, village, church, mosque or neighborhood a great place to work, live and worship.
- Be better in your relationships out of the office – in how you communicate, encourage and support.
- Be better to yourself – in your self-talk, in your personal expectations and in your commitment to being all that you can be.
You control how you approach your days in and out of the office. Commit to being better every day. Learn more. Be more responsive. Be more connected. Be more aware. Be tougher. Be more resilient. Be more creative. Be more present. Just be better.
I'm here in the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning on the ninth floor - a place you know well. I can make strong arguments in Cabinet meetings, give speeches, testify to lawmakers, and I represent Liberia’s economic interests abroad. You're the ones who, every day, and in every way, carry out the decisions that help move Liberia forward. You do it so brilliantly. I'm so proud of you, and I wish each and every one of you a most successful 2016, as you help the President, as you help me and more importantly, as you help the Liberian economy deal with the twin turbulences of slow post-Ebola recovery and commodity price decline.
Thank you for your loyalty and effort; we look forward to a great, productive and successful New Year. God bless you.