15 February 2018

LIBERIA MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

Liberia's new president orders review of concession agreements, Sources: Daily OBSERVER, Executive Mansion News, News Agency of Nigeria, News Public Trust, and Reuters

President George Weah has ordered a review of concessions entered into by previous administrations, the presidency said in a statement on Wednesday. Concessions generally cover government grants of rights, land or property. The statement said a committee would “review and ensure that all contracts entered into by the government of Liberia and concessionaires are executed according to agreed principles in accordance with the laws of Liberia.” The nine-member panel will also determine if the government’s partners in those agreements had been fully implemented and met their performance requirements. Read more

CDC Government “Pro-Poor Agenda” Priorities Top USD8bn in Six-Year -Finance Minister, Source: News Public Trust

Finance minister Samuel Tweah has outlined the government’s priorities in the pro-poor agenda in the sum of eight billion United States Dollars in the first six years. Minister Tweah disclosed that in the first step President George Weah is considering a petition to the Legislature purposely to slash the salaries of senior officials of government by 25 percent. The finance minister made the disclosure during a meeting with development partners and donor countries held at the headquarters of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) in Monrovia. Read more

Senate notifies NEC, Source: The New Dawn

The National Elections Commission (NEC) Tuesday said it has received a communication from the Senate notifying the Commission of the existence of two vacancies in the Senate, created by the election of former senators: George Weah of Montserrado County and Jewel Howard Taylor of Bong County, as president and vice president respectively. Article 37 of the Liberian Constitution provides inter alia: “in the event of a vacancy in the Legislature caused by death, resignation, expulsion or otherwise, the presiding officer shall within 30 days notify the National Elections Commission (NEC) thereof. The National Elections Commission (NEC) shall NOT later than 90 days thereafter cause a By-Election to be held… ”. Read more

Pres. Weah’s Former Teammate Accuses CDC of Wrongful Arrest, Police Intimidation, Source: FrontPage Africa

President George Weah’s former teammate, Dionysius Sebwe, is claiming he’s being witch-hunted by the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) and has already faced intimidation from the Liberia National Police (LNP) due to his political differences with the president. Mr. Sebwe was arrested by the police last Saturday in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County for alleged misapplication of entrusted property. But the former national football team’s defender believes his arrest was orchestrated by members of the governing CDC as a means of humiliating him due to his political views about President Weah during the campaign trail in 2017… State for presidential affairs minister Nathaniel McGill said he asked the police to intervene having received a complaint that Mr. Sebwe was extorting money from a Ghanaian company, BCM International and holding their equipment hostage. Read more

Advocate Group Condemns President Weah’s Call for Citizenship to Non-Negro Descents, Source: FrontPage Africa

A local group Economic Freedom Fighters of Liberia (EFFL) has reacted sharply to President George Weah’s first State of the Nation address to the Legislature. In a release issued Wednesday, the EFFL referring to the president’s call for citizenship to be granted to non-Negro descents said President Weah’s view and understanding of the constitution is flawed, unrealistic, unfortunate, and totally out of the spirit of Pan Africanism. “Fellow Liberians, as if insulting, molesting and denigrating our citizens by these people are not enough, our President is calling on us to grant the Lebanese citizenship as a token of gratitude for treating us like foreigners in the land of our birth and rewarding them for sponsoring his campaign during the 2017 elections. Even as wicked as former President Sirleaf might have to us, at no point did she endeavor to enslave us by giving our land to Lebanese and Indians through citizenship,” EFFL avowed.  Read more

Liberia’s Health Minister-Designate Promises to Revamp Sector, Source: FrontPage Africa

Liberia’s health sector is seriously challenged and needs massive interventions in order to resuscitate the system. Health institutions in the country are grappling with issues ranging from lack of specialists, drugs, equipment and nearly all suffer from administrative flaws. However, the health minister-designate, Dr. Wilhelmina Jallah, believes there’s still chance to revamp the sector. In an exclusive interview with FrontPage Africa, Dr. Jallah acknowledged the country’s broken health sector, but praised former health ministers for keeping the resilience. “All of the people that have been working in the health sector, the past ministers, the chief medical officers and all of the doctors and health professionals who have been working in the hospitals have done their best,” the health minister-designate said.  Read more

AFL lacks modern weapons, Source: The New Dawn

Retired Captain Jerry Kollie, spokesperson for disbanded security personnel here claims the new Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) lacks requisite weapons to protect the country. “I think the AFL needs more weapons that will enable them to carry out their mandate of protecting citizens of this country, because a country without thorough security open doors to all types of crimes”, Retired Captain Kollie said. He told a local radio Wednesday that if the security sector should effectively execute its constitutional mandate, an adequate measure should put in place to address various constraints that are facing the sector. The retired army captain said weapons displayed during the recent parade by soldiers of the AFL to commemorate Liberia’s 61st Armed Forces Day are just backyard weapons to protect the Commander-In-Chief alone, noting they are not weapons the state could rely on in fighting external enemies.  Read more

USD300k for each Governor at CBL, Source: The New Dawn

The New Dawn reports that while Liberians are yawning in a broke economy, governors at the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) seem to be in joy as reports have indicated that CBL governors took home USD300,000 each as car loan in December 2017 under the administration of executive governor Milton Weeks. According to inside sources, the amount was dished out to senior bank officials just about the time President George Weah was preparing to take office the Liberian presidency. But CBL head of Communications Cyrus Badio Wednesday defended the governor’s action saying the bank has in place a car loan scheme under which the employees can request a loan. Read more

PUL Vice President Blast Colleagues for ‘Handling over’ Journalist to the Senate for Investigation, Source: GNN Liberia

The vice president of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) has described the recent decision by his colleagues in the leadership of the PUL to turn over two legislative reporters to the Liberian Senate for an investigation into reports of maltreatment as ill-fated. Mr. Octavin Williams told a news confab Tuesday that the decision manifests an utter lack of professionalism and a clear violation of the PUL constitution. According to Mr. Williams, the decision also undermines the importance and function of the National Media Council, which was established to mediate between state actors and the media, aimed at resolving crisis even following a highly expensive international reform process with support from USAID and Internews. The PUL vice president said he’s appalled that some members of the PUL leadership led by the president, Charles Coffey would subject two Liberian journalists to a Senate probe when in fact the Senate itself is a party to an assault case linking Senator Nyonblee Karnga Lawrence to allegedly ordering the flogging of the journalists. Read more

Another Legislative reporter assaulted, Source: The New Dawn

The Legislative Press Pool has condemned another alleged insult and assault against one of its members, journalist Henry Karmo of FrontPage Africa by Representative Munah Pelham Youngblood. A release issued by the press pool accuses the Montserrado District #9 lawmaker of allegedly insulting and assaulting journalist Karmo openly in plenary. The press pool claims that Representative Youngblood’s attack against the FrontPage Africa reporter was on the basis of an alleged story reported that she says was against her.  Karmo is said to have written a story indicating that Youngblood had double roles as alleged protocol officer and representative at the same time when President George Weah delivered his first Annual Message at the Capitol Building in Monrovia. Read more

Government Loses Millions over Unaccounted for Work, Resident Permits, Source: Daily OBSERVER

A growing population of illegal aliens is hampering the government’s revenue collection because the Labor Ministry and the Liberia Immigration Service (LIS) are unable to track them down to ensure that their documents are legalized, an investigation conducted by the Daily Observer has revealed. The Labor Ministry and LIS, unfortunately, have no central database with information on the work and status of aliens lawfully present in Liberia. The overall problem of estimating the illegal alien population is further complicated by the fact that the majority of available sources on immigration status rely on self-reported data. Read more

Liberian Insurance Companies File Lawsuit against Government, Source: FrontPage Africa

Two separate lawsuits have been filed against two government ministries and several insurance companies for failure to account for over a million USD allegedly collected as sticker fees from vehicle owners in the country. One of the lawsuits has been filed at the Commercial Court and the other at the Civil Law Court seeking an injunction and restraining order on the insurance companies linked to the missing funds to prevent them from holding leadership elections. The lawsuits are filed against both the Finance and Transport Ministries and other respondents including Mutual Benefits Assurance, Family Dollar Insurance Company, Accident and Casualty Insurance Company, and the Palm Insurance Company. Read more

Former Employees of LACC Opting For Court Action against Executive Chairman, Source: FrontPage Africa

Lawyers representing seven former employees have given a five-day ultimatum to the executive chairperson of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), Cllr. James Verdier, to remit salaries belonging to their clients. The legal counsel of the aggrieved former LACC employees is threatening to “take stringent legal action” against Cllr. Verdier and the anti-graft commission. In a letter to the LACC executive chairperson, the legal counsel said Verdier “wrongfully appropriated” tax remittance of the ex-employees – Daniel Tipayson, Embree Sirleaf, Comfort Wotorson, Aaron Aboah, Roosevelt Doe, Wonderr Freeman, Robertha Kamah, and D. Blama Kofa. Read more

Arts and Culture Advocates Implore President Weah to Remember the Sector, Source: Daily OBSERVER

The president of the Liberia National Culture Union, Keikura Kamara and former assistant information minister for culture, Louise McMillian Siaway have implored President George Weah to remember the development and promotion of both sectors. In a joint statement, Mrs. Siaway and Mr. Kamara explained that they are compelled to beg President Weah because, since he took office, he has not acknowledged the potential of these sectors, which is an early sign of neglect. The statement said the promotion of the creative industries will ‘harness diversity, harness national talent, monetize creativity, and accelerate innovation.’ Siaway and Kamara continued: “For too long, Article 5 (b) of the Liberian Constitution, which calls for preservation, protection, and promotion of positive Liberian culture, has been neglected and nothing much done to ameliorate the situation.” Read more

New Passport Director Named, Sources: Daily OBSERVER and News Public Trust

Foreign Minister Gbehzohngar Findley has appointed Andrew Wonploe as the new director of passports and visas, a release from the ministry has said. Mr. Wonploe’s appointment, according to the release, was approved by President George Weah. Foreign minister Findley challenged Wonploe to ensure an effective and efficient management of the division to provide quality services to Liberians. He replaced Ms. Marian Sandi, who has been transferred to the Liberian Mission accredited to the Court of Saint James, the United Kingdom. Read more

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ON LIBERIA

Is Ellen Johnson Sirleaf a worthy Ibrahim Prize winner?, Source: Daily Maverick

Finally, after a three-year drought, the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership has a winner: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first-ever female head of state and, until recently, the president of Liberia. “Ellen Johnson Sirleaf took the helm of Liberia when it was completely destroyed by civil war and led a process of reconciliation that focused on building a nation and its democratic institutions. Throughout her two terms in office, she worked tirelessly on behalf of the people of Liberia. Such a journey cannot be without some shortcomings and, today, Liberia continues to face many challenges. “Nevertheless, during her 12 years in office, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf laid the foundations on which Liberia can now build,” said Salim Ahmed Salim, the former Tanzanian prime minister who is also chair of the Ibrahim Prize Committee. 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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