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Claim: The orator of Liberia’s 2025 Flag Day has said, “Liberia is the only country in Africa that has set aside a special holiday to commemorate the making and hoisting of its flag.”
Verdict: False. Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, also has a national flag day holiday.
Full Text
Since October 1915, August 24 has been set aside as a national holiday, to be observed as Liberia’s national Flag Day.
The day follows legislation approved by Liberia’s 16th President, Daniel Howard, declaring the 24th day of August each year as “National Flag Day.”
It is a testament to Liberians’ allegiance and loyalty to the national ensign, which embodies the nation’s existence as a sovereign entity and fosters national pride and patriotism.
The flag was first hoisted on August 24, 1847, which was 29 days after the nation declared Independence on July 26 of the same year.
It consists of six red and five white stripes, totalling eleven stripes. Each represents one of the eleven signers of the Declaration of Independence of Liberia.
A blue field, in the upper left corner of a rectangular form with a single white star in the centre of the blue field, depicts Liberia as the only independent African state. The colour red symbolises the blood of those who died in the struggle for independence.
The colour white indicates the purity of mind of all of its forebearers toward each other, and the blue for the dark continent of Africa, as it was then depicted.
Serving as the orator of this year’s Flag Day, the Office’s Executive Director for the Establishment of War and Economic Crimes Court, Cllr. Jallah Barbu questioned whether Liberia is still the Lone Star of Africa.
He claims the country is still the Lone Star of Africa, saying “Liberia is the only country in Africa that has set aside a special holiday to commemorate the making and hoisting of its flag.”
Barbu spoke under the theme: “The Flag We Raise, The Values We Uphold.” He can be heard from 1:10:54 to 1:11:05 of his oration.
Given the historical importance of these commemorations to a country, DUBAWA verified Barbu’s claim.
Verification
DUBAWA conducted multiple searches and found that Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, has a national flag day set aside.
Located on the southern side of Africa, bordering Mozambique and South Africa, Eswatini commemorates its national Flag Day on April 25th of each year.
On this day in 1967, the country’s flag was hoisted for the first time.
Since then, the country has celebrated 58 National Flag Day commemorations.
Conclusion
Therefore, Cllr. Jallah Barbu’s claim that Liberia is the only country in Africa that has set aside Flag Day as a holiday is false.
