Democracy opens new vistas and opportunities. We should use the opportunities it offers to correct past mistakes not to blunder anew.

At the same, we need to remain sensitive to the reality that we are still an African society in which the majority of the people and communities live under severe deprivations and afflictions that are no fault of theirs.

Even now, we make no apologies for the choice we made. The sacrifices we made were selfless. The options we offered were patriotic while the paths we chose were well thought out.

It is only through books that we partake of the great harvest that is human civilization across the ages.

I am not sure that you, the younger generations, will like to go to war that we went through. So, we learn as the mistakes are being committed.

It is of course the nature of historical contraction that the shortest distance to a historical destination is never a straight line.

There are no doubts that, the situation in the country today, indicates that there is much more work to do in the process of reforming the political economy and improving the quality of life of our people and communities.