As she completes her tour of duty in Liberia
Madam Marie Goreth Nizigama, the Country Representative of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), was awarded the CHIEF MAMA TORMA HONOR OF DISTINCTION for her outstanding service to the women of Liberia as she ends her tour of duty in the country.
Madam Nizigama has been in Liberia for the last 5 years since 2017 when she began her tour of duty in the West African county of Liberia.
According to Liberian tradition, the UN envoy will now be called “CHIEF MARIE MAMA TORMA GORETH NIZIGAMA”.
The CHIEF MAMA TORMA HONOR OF DISTINCTION is in living memory of a fallen great traditional woman from Lofa, CHIEF MAMA TORMA, whose service to humanity is outstanding in Liberia. According to the traditional women, the honor was bestowed upon the female diplomat for her distinct achievements for Liberia’s development.
Outlining the significant contributions of Madam Nizigama, Liberia’s Culture Queen, Ambassador Juli Endee intimated that the UN Women, during the stay of Madam Nizigama, made great positive changes for the traditional women, naming the promotion of empowerment for traditional women and enhancing the fight against gender based violence, as well as, increasing the fight to end female genital mutilation.
Making her acceptance remarks, the outgoing country representative of UN Women expressed her desire to see young girls and boys taught the positive aspect of Liberia’s rich culture, and the zoes to get engaged into economic activities and not to stay in the bush all through their lives.
She said from the beginning it was difficult to convene the zoes to leave those harmful traditional practices: “They were not happy but eventually, it is now a history in Liberia”, she said, “The traditional people are now focused on economic activities, business and education for girls, I am very proud and humble”.
In remarks, Madam Satta Fofana Saah, the National Coordinator of the National Traditional Council of Chief and Elders of Liberia, recommended to the departing country representative that UN Women consider supporting the Traditional Council to reach out to the remaining ten counties. She doing so would enable deal with the issue of genital mutilation (FGM) in totality, emphasizing that there should zero tolerance of FGM in Liberia.
While encouraging the traditional leaders to take charge of their responsibilities, Madam Satta at the same time called on the politicians to give to the traditional people what is rightly belong to them.
