• President Sirleaf to chair last major confab here, Sources: Executive Mansion News, Journal du Cameroun, New DEMOCRAT, The INQUIRER, and The New Dawn
• Ellen Lauds Police-Community Partnership, Source: Daily OBSERVER
• ‘We Should Not Wait and See but Get Involved’ Murrayville citizens challenged, Source: Daily OBSERVER
• Women politicians blame defeats on lack of collaboration, Source: The New Dawn
• Ellen’s Government Asked to Disclose Assets, Liabilities, Source: The INQUIRER
• Experts Hold Weah To Education, Job in Tackling Country’s Problems, Sources: Devex and New DEMOCRAT
• ‘We Need Selfless Speaker’ – Incoming Bong County Lawmaker, Source: FrontPage Africa
• DJ Blue for Senate – Liberian Entertainer Pitches Interest in Promoting Culture and Creative at Liberian Senate, Source: FrontPage Africa
• Cameroonian Church Leaders Empathize with Liberia, Source: GNN Liberia

President Sirleaf to chair last major confab here, Sources: Executive Mansion News, New DEMOCRAT, The INQUIRER, and The New Dawn

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf will next week host and chair the inaugural meeting of the High-Level Panel on Migration (HLPM), which is expected to be the last major international conference she will host as President. The meeting will take place in Monrovia on Monday, 15 January. The HLPM was established at the Ninth Joint Annual Meetings of the AU Specialized Technical Committee on Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration and the ECA Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, which took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in April 2016.

In a statement issued by the Executive Mansion Wednesday, the overall objective of the High-Level Panel is to affirm Africa’s commitment to global objectives and values on migration, and harness migration for Africa’s development in the context of international cooperation. The Panel is composed of 15 eminent persons, all appointed in their own capacity, and include representatives of government, the private sector, academia, and civil society. Members of the Panel are drawn from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.

Participants at this HLPM meeting will include the UN Under-Secretary-General and ECA Executive Secretary, Vera Songwe; ECA Deputy Executive Secretary, Abdalla Hamdok; the President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina; former Norwegian Foreign Minister, Knut Vollebaek; Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Chairman of Coronation Capital Limited Nigeria; the founder of the African Diaspora Network in the USA, Almaz Negash; Danisa Baloyi, Black Business Counsel, South Africa; and ILO Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Africa, Cynthia Samuel-Olonjowon.

President Sirleaf will continue to chair the HLPM until July 2018, when the Panel shall submit its report to the Assembly of AU Heads of State. Read more

Ellen Lauds Police-Community Partnership, Source: Daily OBSERVER

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Wednesday commended collaboration between officers of the Liberia National Police (LNP) and community dwellers across the country. Dedicating the newly constructed Zone 6 Police Station in Brewerville, Montserrado County, President Sirleaf said, “What we are witnessing here today is an example of good cooperation between the citizens and the police. We are proud of you for what you have achieved.” The President also commended the people of Brewerville for providing the land for the construction of the Police Station,  saying they did well because that is one way to demonstrate a strong spirit of partnership and cooperation. Read more

‘We Should Not Wait and See but Get Involved’ Murrayville citizens challenged, Source: Daily OBSERVER

Citizens of Murrayville, Sinoe County residing in Monrovia and its environs have been called upon to unite and work together for the betterment of the country. Speaking to the Daily Observer recently, Koon Sneh, Sr., general chairman of the Murrayville Township Union (MTU), said Senator George Weah’s election as the new president of Liberia should behoove all Murrayville citizens to get ready for the reconstruction of the country. “While we are commending Senator Weah for his victory in the recent elections,” Mr. Sneh said, “it is our responsibility as citizens and the various groupings to recognize what we must do to move the country forward.”  Read more

Women politicians blame defeats on lack of collaboration, Source: The New Dawn

The Coalition of Political Parties Women has seriously blamed women candidates’ defeats in the 2017 Presidential and Representatives Elections on lack of collaboration among themselves. The head of the group, Regina Soka-Teah, a former lawmaker, said Liberian women are not politically and financially strong to defeat their male counterparts in any elections, stressing the need for collaboration, if they must surmount this challenge. "We have found the secret and we are going to deal with it. Women are not really strong politically and financially and they can have up to twenty men in a race competing, but the women are always two, three which makes it very difficult," Ms. Soka-Teah said. Read more

Ellen’s Government Asked to Disclose Assets, Liabilities, Source: The INQUIRER

The former Governor of the National Bank now Central Bank of Liberia is urging the outgoing Unity Party (UP)-led government of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to make public its domestic and foreign debt stock to the Liberian people, this paper reports. Mr. Raleigh Seekie, in a statement issued in Monrovia Tuesday said, “We are very happy for the victory of the Liberian people in the 26 December 2017 Presidential Run-off Election but we are concerned to know the liabilities (Domestic and Foreign Debts Stock) we are inheriting from the UP-led government.

Experts Hold Weah To Education, Job in Tackling Country’s Problems, Sources: Devex and New DEMOCRAT

According to the New Democrat, just two weeks after the country’s presidential runoff election, experts argued that in order for Liberia to advance towards industrialization and recover from the legacy of its decade-long civil war, policy shifts and job creation are essential. Yet President-elect George Weah’s relative lack of lengthy political experience means many observers are uncertain of the country’s future trajectory under his leadership. According to Prof. D. Elwood Dunn, “The lack of opportunities for the bottom two-thirds of the population needs to be addressed.” Prof. Dunn suggests that the country’s education system should be revised to meet the current demands of the economy and that President Weah should focus on constructing additional vocational training learning centers. “That’s where the jobs are, he argued. Dunn continued “We need a trained core of Liberian electricians, masons, engineers, and carpenters.” Read more

‘We Need Selfless Speaker’ – Incoming Bong County Lawmaker, Source: FrontPage Africa

With the House of Representatives set to elect its new Speaker and Deputy Speaker, Bong County Electoral District #6 newly elected lawmaker, Moima Briggs Mensah has called on her colleagues to elect leaders that will seek the interest of the Liberian people. “We expect to have a Speaker that will take a decision that benefits the greater portion of the population of our beloved country; we don’t want to see a Speaker that will seek self-interest,” Mrs. Mensah told FrontPage Africa on Tuesday in Monrovia. Mrs. Mensah said Liberians have come a long way to keep being disappointed in the lawmakers they elect, saying, “The House of Representatives should be a place where the citizens will find hope when society or the executive disappoint them.”

DJ Blue for Senate – Liberian Entertainer Pitches Interest in Promoting Culture and Creative at Liberian Senate, Source: FrontPage Africa

Liberia entertainer, media executive and radio host, Bernard Benson, alias DJ Blue, has expressed his interest in filing the seat of outgoing Montserrado County Senator and President-elect George Weah. Mr. Benson joins a list of several other popular Liberian entertainers who have also switched to politics. He said it is frustrating that most of those who are elected to the House of Representatives and the Senate do not show key interest in improving Liberia’s culture and creative industry. “For over a decade, our culture and creative industry of Liberia have been dormant, there has not been a single legislation passed in the last 12 years to impact our culture and creative industry, the radio personality said, adding that his quest to replace President-elect Weah at the Capitol would, among other things, is to improve Liberia’s culture and creative industry.

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Cameroonian Church Leaders Empathize with Liberia, Source: GNN Liberia

A Cameroonian online news outlet Crux has been quoting Father Dennis Cephas Nimene as saying Senator George Weah’s surprise win is due to his “perseverance,” according to the secretary-general of the country’s bishops’ conference. “His victory can also be seen as a reaction to the status quo,” Father Nimene told Crux. “After 14 years of civil unrest [the Liberian civil war took place from 1989-2003] and the elections of Madam Sirleaf, Liberians wanted ‘so much’ from the government. Not meeting their perceived aspirations ultimately led to the change of government,” the priest said. Read more