07 February 2018

LIBERIA MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

SRSG Zarif Hopeful of Liberia’s Future -As NAYMOTE Honors Political Youth Leaders, Source: Daily OBSERVER

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) and Head of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), Farid Zarif says he was delighted with the level of participation of youth in the 2017 elections and hopeful of Liberia’s readiness to move forward both politically and in the area of development. SRSG Zarif made the remark on Monday during the honoring program of outstanding Young Political Leadership School (YPLS) campaign fellows of 2018for demonstrating exemplary roles as members of their political party’s campaign team during the just-ended presidential and legislative elections.

The UNMIL boss lauded the young political leaders for their energy and time in acquiring knowledge that helped during the elections, which will continue to help them during their political journey. “Because of your knowledge and commitment, you have the capacity to serve your country and bring the necessary change President George Weah spoke about. I am honored to recognize your role and accomplishments, especially during the elections,” SRSG Zarif said. Read more

President Weah Directs Tenured Officials to Submit Appointment Letters, Certificates of Commissioning…, Sources: Daily OBSERVER, Executive Mansion News, and The New Dawn

President George Weah has directed that all officials of the government occupying tenured positions to submit to the Office of the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs their letters of appointment and Certificates of commissioning on or before Friday, 9 February. According to an Executive Mansion release, the directive was issued in an official circular signed by the minister of state for presidential affairs and chief of staff, Nathaniel McGill.

President Weah Directs Former Officials to Turn Over Government-owned Vehicles, Sources: Executive Mansion News, FrontPage Africa, and News Public Trust

President George Weah has by directive requested that all former government officials still in possession of government-owned vehicles to turn them over to the General Services Agency (GSA) on or before Friday, 9 February without delay. According to an Executive Mansion release, the directive was issued in an official circular signed by the minister of state for presidential affairs and chief of staff, Nathaniel McGill.

President Weah Approved Additional Expenditure to Enhance Banking Operations At Main Campus, Fendell, Source: Executive Mansion News

President George Weah has approved additional expenditure intended to enhance banking operations on the Main and Fendell campuses of the University of Liberia (UL) to facilitate the late registration of students that missed earlier deadline set. According to an Executive Mansion release, President Weah further requested for the semester to be extended by one month in order to accommodate the late registration of students. Meanwhile, the president has urged the university students to remain calm as his administration ensures their concerns are addressed.

President Weah Meets Representatives of the LBA; Calls for Partnership to Achieve Prosperity, Sources: Daily OBSERVER, Executive Mansion News, FrontPage Africa, News Public Trust, and The New Dawn

President George Weah Tuesday met with representatives of the Liberia Bankers Association (LBA) at his Foreign Ministry Office in Monrovia. The meeting was triggered by President Weah’s earlier engagement with the leadership of the Liberia Business Association (LIBA). According to an Executive Mansion release, the president encouraged the LBA representatives to develop a constructive and mutually agreeable conversation in order to improve the processes that will be accommodating to Liberian businesses. The Liberian leader said the government would like to form a partnership with the banking sector to achieve his Agenda for Prosperity and to ensure the market is affordable and reasonable for the Liberian people. President Weah then encouraged the banks to negotiate more in order to encourage borrowers to be able to repay their debts. Read more

Liberia Launches National Center For Coordination of Response Mechanism, Sources: FrontPage Africa and The New Dawn

The Liberian government has launched the National Center for the Coordination of the Response Mechanism (NCCRM) and expressed appreciation to its regional and international partners for such milestone initiative – an early warning response mechanism which alerts relevant authorities of any threats to the peace and security of a country, region or the continent.

According to a release, Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor, who officially launched the NCCRM Tuesday, paid special tribute to those visionaries in the sub-regional framework that conceived the peace-building and peace sustaining initiative. Vice President Taylor recalled that the emergence of the concept of setting up early warning centers in member states triggered by years of work and research study in the area of conflict detection, analysis management, and resolution. Read more

Disenchantment Brewing in Grand CDC Over Appointments in Government, Sources: FrontPage Africa and The New Dawn

The media says it appears that agreement that brought the three political parties together and propelled the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) to a resounding victory in the 2017 elections is dissipating rapidly as a quarrel over the allocation of jobs heightens. The CDC is a conglomeration of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) of President George Weah, the former ruling National Patriotic Party (NPP) headed by Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor, and the Liberia People Democratic Party (LPDP) of former House Speaker J. Alex Tyler.

Although the Constitution of Liberia vested power in the President of the Republic to make appointments, most of the coalition members including the NPP national secretary-general, Bolton Dennis are citing an agreement that brought the three parties together. The NPP and LPDP are expressing serious discontent over appointments made so far by President Weah. Mr. Dennis argues that members of the former ruling Unity Party (UP) are enjoying more appointments than members of the ruling coalition party.

“We are not a collaborating party so we shouldn’t be seconded to fourth or fifth place; we shouldn’t be the ones that after you have appointed 85 percent of the jobs than you think about us,” the NPP national secretary-general told FrontPage Africa on Tuesday.

For LPDP, the current trend of political appointments contravenes Article 7, Section 1 of the 2 November 2016 Coalition Agreement, which provides that “after the Coalition’s electoral victory, all members of the Coalition shall have the right to be part of a National Unity Government where all interests of Coalition members shall be considered first and foremost on first-choice preference for nomination for position in government.” Read more

Senate Confirms 3 at Ministry of Finance, Source: Daily OBSERVER

The Liberian Senate Tuesday held an impromptu special sitting during which recommendations for the confirmation of three Finance Ministry officials were recommended. In its recommendation, the Senate Committee on Ways, Means, Finance, and Budget informed the Senate plenary that Samora Wolokolie, deputy minister-designate for fiscal affairs; Tanneh Brunson, deputy minister-designate for budget and development planning; and Janga Kowo, comptroller general-designate are qualified and deserve to occupy the positions for which they were nominated. Meanwhile, a source in the leadership of the Senate says the three nominees were reportedly confirmed during an executive session held in the conference room of Senate President Pro-Tempore. Read more

Defense Minister, Chief of Staff Receive Senate Blessings, Source: Daily OBSERVER

The Senate acting upon a recommendation from its Statutory Committee on Defense, Security, Intelligence and Veteran Affairs, Tuesday voted to confirm defense minister-designate, Retired Major-General Daniel Dee Ziankahn, and the chief of staff-designate of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL), Brigadier General, Prince C. Johnson, III. Read more

“Sports Tax, President Weah’s Contacts Can Develop Sports” –MYS Ministers-designate Disclose, Source: Daily OBSERVER

In an effort to develop and promote sports across the country under the President George M. Weah-led government, youth and sports minister-designate D. Zoegar Wilson says he would propose a ‘Sports Development Tax,’ the Daily Observer reports. Mr. Wilson said if confirmed, and the ‘Sports Development Tax’ is approved, a lot of sporting infrastructure will be constructed in the 15 political subdivisions of the country. He also told the Senate Committee on Youth and Sports Tuesday that while sports is one of the components of the ministry, youth development and vocational training are two driving forces behind the ministry.

For his part, deputy youth and sports minister-designate for sports, G. Andy Quamie said that there can be a guarantee in sports development if President George Weah, the 1995 FIFA World Best Player, could call on “Real Madrid, Barcelona, PSG, and other teams” to assist the country. Read more

Health Officials Vow to Improve Health Workers Benefits and Salary, Source: FrontPage Africa

At their confirmation hearings, Vaifee Tulay, deputy health minister-designate for research and Dr. Francis Kateh, chief medical officer-designate Tuesday said if they are confirmed by the Senate’s Health Committee, they will work in collaboration with the health minister to develop a medium and long-term health manpower capacity building mechanisms. In separate comments, they promised to build a resilient health sector by improving the lives of health workers.

Tulay, when confirmed, promised that he will continue coordinate the development and update of sector policies and plans at the national and decentralized levels. He also promised to advocate for improved services at health facilities, with specific emphasis on equipping tertiary health institutions to meet international best standards.

For his part, Dr. Kateh said if confirmed, he would do all to reduce maternally and under-five mortality. According to him, the Health Ministry and partners have developed the Reproductive Maternal Neonatal Child and Adolescent Health Investment case aimed at improving maternal and child health and reducing mortality. The chief medical officer-designate also told the committee that emphasis will be placed on the achievement of results by enhancing accountability through effective leveraging performance incentives, optimizing efficiency through improved productivity and integrating reproductive service delivery with other vertical programs such as HIV, Tuberculosis, and Malaria amongst others. Read more

Labor Minister-Designate Accuses LRA of Bad Labor Practice, Source: Daily OBSERVER

Moses Kollie, the labor minister-designate has accused the commissioner-general of the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), Elfrieda Stewart Tamba of ‘bad labor practice,’ and said if he is confirmed, he would ensure that no one is above the law.

“As a Representative, upon investigation, Tamba refused to adhere to the mandates of the Legislature, as well as the Ministries of Labor and Justice, and even the Supreme Court to reinstate employees who were (wrongly) dismissed or retired,” Kollie said. He continued: “I observed as a lawmaker over 12 years that the LRA commissioner-general Elfrieda Tamba exhibited bad labor practices,” the labor minister-designate told the hearing committee. More so, Mr. Kollie said: “If I am confirmed as a minister, I will ensure that nobody is above the labor law including authorities at the LRA. The act that created the Ministry of Labor gives me the authority to go on the field to inspect, so I too will be on the field.” Read more

GAC Audit Uncovers Several Financial Improprieties At JFK Hospital, Source: FrontPage Africa

A recent audit report on the John F. Kennedy Medical Center (JFKMC) reveals several financial malpractices and discrepancies in the accounting system at the hospital. The audit conducted by the General Auditing Commission (GAC) covers the fiscal years July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2015 and has been submitted to the Legislature. For the periods under audit, Dr. Wvannie Scott-McDonald served as general administrator and CEO, while Ms. Munah Tarpeh was the deputy.

According to the audit findings, there was a discrepancy in the revenue receipt resulting to a variance of USD1,776,672.00 between the total amounts disbursed to JFKMC as per the Fiscal Outturn Report and the total amount received as per the Financial Report prepared by the medical center, which could not be justified. By this, the GAC noted that the inconsistencies between the JFKMC Financial Report and the Finance Ministry Fiscal Outturn Report could cast doubt on the reliability of the financial report and recommended that the hospital provide justification. Read more

‘Liberia takes over chairmanship of African Group of Ambassadors at United Nations’, Source: GNN Liberia

Liberia’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Lewis Brown on Tuesday took over the chairmanship of the African Group of Ambassadors to the United Nations for the month of February. According to a dispatch from the United States, Ambassador Brown took over the chairmanship from the permanent representative of Equatorial Guinea, Ambassador Anatolio Ndong Mba who served for the month of January.

Handing over the gavel of authority, Ambassador Mba expressed confidence in his Liberian colleague’s leadership and pledged his full support to ensuring success during his tenure. In response, Ambassador Brown thanked his colleague from Equatorial Guinea for his commitment and dedication to the work of the African group. Read more

Former Police Chief To Receive African Security Watch Award, Source: Daily OBSERVER

Liberia’s former Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Gregory Coleman will this week receive an African Security Watch Award. The award is intended to recognize the valuable services that the men and women of the Liberia National Police (LNP) have rendered over the years. Mr. Coleman told journalists Monday that the award means a lot to the hard-working men and women of the LNP and the people of Liberia, adding that the leadership of the LNP has over the years exemplified what he called “excellent performance.” The award, Coleman said, “recognizes how resilient the LNP has been in its operations; it means that people in and outside of Liberia appreciate the police.” Read more

Disclaimer
 

This media summary consists of selected local media articles for the information of UN personnel. The public distribution of this media summary is a courtesy service extended by UNMIL on the understanding that the choice of articles included is exclusive, and the contents do not represent anything other than a selection of articles likely to be of interest to a United Nations readership. The inclusion of articles in this summary does not imply endorsement by UNMIL.

 

 

 

 

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