• Liberian Voters Express Confidence in Electing Next President, Source: Daily OBSERVER
• ‘Evil Won’t Triumph This Time’ -Lutheran Pastor Dowah, Source: Daily OBSERVER
• New Trial in Ex-NPA MD’s USD800K ‘Theft Case’, Source: Daily OBSERVER
• Runoff Election Delay Has Markets Going Slow, Source: Daily OBSERVER
• “We Need Medical Attention” Ebola Survivors Network ex-vice president pleads, Source: Daily OBSERVER
• Defeated Grand Cape Mount County Candidate for Representative Dies, Source: Daily OBSERVER

Liberian Voters Express Confidence in Electing Next President, Source: Daily OBSERVER

Annie Dao Leenah, 56, says as a widow, she cannot wait for President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to leave office at the end of her second six-year term. A resident of a slum in the Monrovia suburb of Sinkor, Annie says life is getting unbearable for her and her three children every day. Leenah works in a nearby tailor shop as a dress-maker to pay the children’s school fees. “To pay for elementary school, for example, it used to be about LRD24,000 to LRD30,000, but now everywhere you go, it is up to USD300 to USD500 for a year (at the rate of LRD125/USD1),” Annie told the Daily Observer in a random interview.

Moses Peters, 37, although not voting for the first time, says the candidates in the 2005 and 2011 elections did not come close to his heart, except Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Peters, a petty trader, says his anticipation now is for Liberia to go through a peaceful transition following the end of the pending runoff election, “because as we speak, the living condition is getting difficult.” Peters is of the opinion that it is President Sirleaf who is keeping the country ‘politically hostage’ by taking a side in the runoff, even though the Executive Mansion has denied that belief.

For Johnson Morgan, 41, who lives in one of the slum communities says he is keenly observing the due process because Liberty Party’s Charles Brumskine felt cheated. “We will pray for the betterment of the country to benefit Liberians following the end of the pending runoff,” Morgan said, though he’s not sure whether to vote for a presidential candidate in the runoff.

For some of the older voters, the ghost of the country’s civil war lingers in their choice for president. Others say their biggest concern is keeping the peace in the country. They regard President Sirleaf’s tenure as a positive post-war transition.

Meanwhile, other voters who have not decided to switch their political alliances said that they will decide when they arrive in the voting booth in the upcoming run-off. Read more

‘Evil Won’t Triumph This Time’ -Lutheran Pastor Dowah, Source: Daily OBSERVER

The pastor of the St. Peter Lutheran Church in the Monrovia suburb of Sinkor says it is an open secret that Liberians have had too much to bear as a result of instabilities experienced in the past, and therefore, anyone who wants to plunge the country in any hostility at this time would bear the wrath of God. Rev. Isaac Dowah says those with evil minds are now poised to unleash unnecessary suffering upon the masses, “but evil won’t triumph this time with God above, and we will trample upon evil doers.”

Rev. Dowah made the comment when the Liberia Crusaders for Peace (LCP) and partners led scores of Liberians to the church over the weekend to implore the divine intervention of the Almighty God in the ongoing electoral stalemate. Read more

New Trial in Ex-NPA MD’s USD800K ‘Theft Case’, Source: Daily OBSERVER

The Supreme Court has affirmed the judgment of Associate Justice Jamesetta Howard Wolokollie ordering the disbandment of the jury for former National Port Authority (NPA) managing director Matilda Parker, setting the stage for a new trial on charges that she allegedly robbed the government of USD837,950. A five-judge panel rejected the decision by then Judge Blamo Dixon of Criminal Court ‘C’ where the case was first heard to refuse to disband the jury after the prosecution raised an allegation about jury tampering.

“We hold the writ of certiorari will lie in the instant case to correct the prejudicial and revisable errors committed by the trial judge, especially his refusal to disband the entire jury panel,” Chief Justice Francis Korkpor wrote for the court. He continued: “We affirm the ruling of our colleague, Justice Wolokollie in ordering the disbandment of the entire panel of trial jury.” The chief justice further said: “The case is hereby remained to the lower court with instruction to resume jurisdiction, impanel a new jury and start the trial anew.” Read more

Runoff Election Delay Has Markets Going Slow, Source: Daily OBSERVER

The Daily Observer reports that as the runoff presidential election has encountered legal challenges, major Liberian and foreign businesses have placed a hold on the importation of goods. A tour of several business centers in the three commercial hubs of Red-Light, Duala, and Waterside in Monrovia and Paynesville, revealed most of the stores and shops are literally becoming empty of essential commodities, the Daily Observer report says.

At the Waterside general market vegetable section, several tables were empty and owners said they were not getting supplies from rural parts of the country. For the Red-Light Market, many of the vegetable stalls were also empty as some of the sellers had gone in search of what to sell. At the Duala Market on the Bushrod Island, worried vegetable businesswomen said they have waited for about two weeks and no fresh vegetables are coming from the rural parts. Read more

“We Need Medical Attention” Ebola Survivors Network ex-vice president pleads, Source: Daily OBSERVER

An Ebola survivor and former vice president of the Ebola Survivors Network, Henry Tony  says survivors of the virus are not getting proper medical attention. “Although we have been living our lives the best way we can, we are not still getting the needed medical attention when it comes to our health issues. When we go to public health facilities in the country, we get little attention and worse of all, our medications have to be prescribed. These prescribed drugs required by the hospitals are very expensive such that most of the survivors cannot afford their medication. This situation is very bad for most of the survivors, especially the kind of medical complication they have developed,” Mr. Tony said.

He said many of the survivors do not know yet if their Ebola side effects are only temporary or not, as doctors cannot tell them the exact story of their status. Tony added, “We need to know the severity of our medical complications. And this can only happen when we are receiving quality medical attention. ”Read more

Defeated Grand Cape Mount County Candidate for Representative Dies, Source: Daily OBSERVER

A defeated representative candidate of Grand Cape Mount County Electoral District #1 has died. Mrs. Marayah Miamen Kiadii died 30 October at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in the Monrovia suburb of Sinkor following a period of illness. She was 49. Mrs. Kiadii contested on the ticket of the Grand True Whig Party (TWP).

A medical report from the hospital released to the family confirmed that the female politician died of “renal failure” or kidney damage. But family members on condition of anonymity are not convinced of the cause of death because according to them,  the late Kiadii had no record of kidney problem. Read more