21 December 2017

LIBERIA MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

Senate, NEC Hearing Ends in Deadlock …As Some Senator Ends in Deadlock, Source: INSIGHT

According to the Insight, with six days to the conduct of the runoff presidential election, there are growing concerns as to whether or not the National Elections Commission (NEC) will fully implement the mandate of the Supreme Court most especially the cleaning up of the controversial Final Registration Roll (FRR) before the conduct of the polls on 26 December. This paper said a hearing in the chambers of the Senate on Tuesday sparked serious confusion among Senators over the 26 December  runoff date set by the NEC when Senator Jonathan Kaipee proffered that the Senate sets up a specialized committee to work closely with the electoral commission to ensure that the mandate of the High Court is implemented by the NEC before the conduct of the runoff.

Senator Kaipee’s motion did not, however, go down well with some Senators who insisted that said motion be denied and a new motion proffered. After several minutes of confrontations among the Senators, the presiding officer, Senate president pro-tempore Armah Jallah was constrained to adjourn Tuesday session, indicating that the hearing will resume during today, Thursday’s session.

It can be recalled the NEC Board of Commissioners was summoned last week by the Senate to brief it with respect to the High Court’s mandate handed down during the electoral hearing disputes at there.

NEC Gives Update on Voter’s Cleaning Exercise, Source: The INQUIRER

The National Elections Commission (NEC) chairman, Cllr. Jerome Korkoya has said that a total of 274 voters were removed from the voter’s roll due to further duplication. Speaking at a press conference Wednesday at NEC’s Headquarters in the Monrovia suburb of Sinkor, Cllr. Korkoya said the 274 voters are from 13 counties. The counties are Montserrado-141, Lofa-37, Nimba-33, Grand Bassa-13, Bong-12, Maryland-12, Grand Gedeh-7, Margibi-6, River Gee-4, Sinoe-4, Grand Kru-2, Gbarpolu-2 and Grand Cape Mount-1.

The NEC chairman also disclosed that 988 voters were flagged as those sharing multiple voting identification cards and that further analysis of these voters show that 158 of the 998 voters were resolved without having to issue new voters identification cards. He said 87 of them had to be deleted from the roll because their OMR forms were scanned twice, which resulted in the multiplicity of the voter ID card in the roll. Korkoya also said removing 158 records have reduced 998 to 840, the 840 records are shared by 420 voters.

The NEC boss further said new voter ID cards were created for 420 records; all the 840 records now have distinct voter identification cards. The distribution of the 420 issued with new voter ID cards are from 15 counties. Chairman Korkoya explained that with the foregoing, the new FRR is now 2,183,268 following the former FRR (Pre-cleanup) – 2,183,629, removal from de-duplication process-274, Deletion from records of Shared Voter IDs-87, the total deductions from FRR-361.

According to him, this is the implementation of the Supreme Court’s mandate that was issued on 6 December. The NEC boss was ordered by the High Court to clean up the voters’ roll and that printing and posting of the voters’ roll be done at each polling place few days before the election.

‘We erred by endorsing Boakai’ … Senator Francis Paye Asserts, Source: INSIGHT

“For the fact that we pledged our support to the vice president’s bid for the Liberian presidency, we don’t have the ground to question the credibility of the National Elections Commission (NEC), said Senator Francis Paye. Senator Paye, a member of a group of 19 Senators who pledged their support for the presidential bid of Vice President Joseph Boakai of the ruling Unity Party (UP) told journalists Tuesday that the 19 of 30 Senators who openly pledged their support made a “serious mistake.” His statement was in reference to the hearing with the NEC Board of Commissioners by the Senate on Tuesday which ended in deadlock.

Expressing regrets, the Rivercess lawmaker said: “Some of us made a very serious mistake by taking a side from the initial stage, forgetting to know that any complaint from the election will come to us. So if the people who we are representing here say that they want an election, we don’t have any choice but to honor their request and whoever wins is our leader.” The Rivercess Senator indicated that he believes the action of his colleagues to push for the setting of a new date has the propensity to further delay the upcoming runoff process, something he thinks is totally wrong and must not be given credence.

Runoff Must Take Place … Chiefs Insist; Warn against another Postponement of Polls, Source: INSIGHT

The National Traditional Council of Liberia (NTCL) has called on the ruling Unity Party (UP), the main opposition Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), and other stakeholders to ensure that the runoff election scheduled for Tuesday, 26 December are held, this paper reports.

Chief Zanzan Karwar, NTCL chairman said the traditional and indigenous people of Liberia will ask President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and other stakeholders in the country “some difficult questions” if the presidential runoff is not held on Tuesday. Chief Karwar warned against another postponement of the much-awaited presidential runoff involving the CDC and UP of which Senator George Weah and Vice President Joseph Boakai serve as political leaders respectively.

Reject unprepared Weah –Boakai, Source: New DEMOCRAT

The ruling Unity Party (UP) presidential candidate, Vice President Joseph Boakai has told voters that his rival, Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) candidate, Senator George Weah should not be voted because he is not prepared saying  those who are prepared have workable policy prescription to address the country’s problem and make its economy competitive. Vice President Boakai said Liberians should not entrust the governance of the country to someone who is not prepared for the task at hand. He made the comment Wednesday when the opposition All Liberian Party (ALP) declared its support for his presidency Monday.

Humble Boakai is the change, Kofi Woods, Sources: New DEMOCRAT and The INQUIRER

Rights advocate, Samuel Kofi Woods has accused President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of deceiving the Liberian people for too long.  “You cannot have superintendents’ endorsing candidate in their office and remain in office while you dismiss other people,” Atty. Woods, a former government said. Speaking in Monrovia at an endorsement ceremony of Vice President Joseph Boakai, Woods said the ruling Unity Party (UP) presidential candidate was the man to change the country.

Flawed voter’s roll blamed on printing company, Source: New DEMOCRAT

The National Elections Commission (NEC) has cleaned up the final voters’ registration and identified 488 extra duplicated numbers that were shared with different profiles, the electoral commission said in adherence with the Supreme Court’s instruction to do. NEC chairman, Cllr. Jerome Korkoya told a news conference Wednesday in Monrovia that it did so with the consent of the main opposition Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) and the ruling Unity Party (UP).

Liberty Party youth wing suspends 3, Source: The New Dawn

The opposition Liberty Party (LP) has suspended three of its members. The National Executive Committee of the National Youth Wing of the party announced the suspension of the vice chairman for administration, Chernoh Jalloh, vice chairman for political affairs, and the deputy secretary for administration, Ephraim Nyumah for time indefinite for misconduct, a press release said Tuesday. Read more

CDC enjoys mass endorsement in District #12, Source: The New Dawn

It has been reported by The New Dawn that more than six representative candidates from Montserrado County who lost the 10 October elections have promised to support the main opposition Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) in the runoff presidential election due 26 December. They say the CDC presidential candidate, Senator George Weah is the alternative person for the presidency. Read more

Mary Broh Hints Possible Brain Drain Due to Increase in Demand for Birth Certificate, Source: FrontPage Africa

FrontPage Africa reports that since the director-general of the General Services Agency (GSA) took over the Bureau of Vital Statistics at the Health Ministry nearly seven months ago, the number of people going to obtain their birth certificate has increased dramatically. According to Ms. Mary Broh,’ this is good as Liberians are coming in to obtain a piece of a very important document that they need to have. She, however, sounded an alarm suspecting a single motive behind getting the piece of document which is an essential piece of paper one needs to travel out of Liberia. 

“It is your right to travel but the situation is alarming because I am doing 200 to 300 birth certificates a day. From June 15 to now, we have done over 21,000 birth certificates and we might hit 23 to 24 thousand if we continue this trend,” Ms. Broh.  She continued: “My concern is the exodus of people because it is causing a brain drain for Liberia. I say it is a brain drain because they are young, educated and are leaving Liberia.” Read more

Montserrado County Service Center, oil terminal dedicated, Sources: Executive Mansion News, FrontPage Africa, INSIGHT, The INQUIRER, and The New Dawn

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has commissioned several projects in Montserrado County as she draws closer to the end of her tenure in January 2018. Among the projects dedicated on Wednesday were the Montserrado County Service Center in Bentol, USD15.3 million International Development Association funded oil terminal on Bushrod Island, and the Seventh-Day Adventist Church Millennium Guest House in Congo Town. Read more

Liberian leader should set the stage for effective and efficient law enforcement in a country, Cecil Griffiths, Source: New DEMOCRAT

The president of the Liberia National Law Enforcement Association says if a country wants to become resourceful, the President of Liberia should be the one to set the example for others. Speaking at a media roundtable training on criminal justice highway Monday, Mr. Cecil Griffiths cautioned fellow Liberians to be careful when they talk about enforcing the law to the letter. Mr. Griffiths added that if the law enforcement community will dedicate its selves to enforcing the law to the letter the country will move forward.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ON LIBERIA

FIFA probes Liberian corruption finding fake docs, forged signatures and a battling Bility, Source: Inside World Football

After months of damning stories and rumors surrounding financial corruption in the Liberian FA and its controversial president Musa Bility, the investigatory chamber of FIFA’s Ethics Committee has stepped in to investigate. Early reports are that their findings are explosive. Bility called a meeting yesterday informing first and second division clubs that FIFA was carrying out an audit and that FIFA Ethics had sent a three-man delegation to investigate.

He told the clubs that LFA Treasurer Jallah Corvah had admitted sending fake accounts documentation to FIFA. Bility said that he had not signed the documentation sent to FIFA but that his signature had been forged. Corvah has reportedly admitted to sending $600,000 to Bility’s wife Denise for their Stone Haven guest house and more than 100,000 to his son Sidiki Bility. Both sums were from the LFA account. Bility says his signature was forged and he didn’t authorize any money.

The FIFA investigation team is being led by Jonathan Brown, a partner at specialist business risk consultancy Control Risks, Brown is a forensic accountant and leads the firm’s forensic practice for Europe and Africa. 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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