• Government shutdown?, Sources: The INQUIRER and The New Dawn
• House Inducts Two Additional Members, Source: Daily OBSERVER
• “I’m not qualified” Weah’s foreign minister confesses, Source: New DEMOCRAT
• Include media reforms in “Pro-poor” agenda –PUL urges president, Source: New DEMOCRAT
• Nimba citizens raise LRD110,00 to help ‘chosen’ representative defend win, Source: New DEMOCRAT
• Weah Urged to Prosecute Liberian War Criminals, Source: Daily OBSERVER
• Liberia's youth betting on Weah economic miracle, Sources: AFP, Daily Mail, The St. Lucia Times, and Today

Government shutdown?, Sources: The INQUIRER and The New Dawn

The first few days of President George Weah's administration seems to be confronted by shaky start with an early government shutdown, after creating vacuums in most government ministries and agencies in a mass cabinet removal and nominating just a few officials, some of whom are already controversial figures. Liberia has a weak civil service system with no chief directors at ministries and agencies to hold on during a transition, thus leaving ministries and agencies at the mercy of human resource personnel.

President Weah is yet to have a full cabinet, something that is going to happen in weeks due to slow nominations, leaving him to hope on these human resources directors and ex-cabinet officials in the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf government to hang on till he completes his appointments.

Out of 18 government ministries and numerous agencies, the new Liberian leader has only managed to hold onto three of former President Sirleaf's appointed ministers and two directors, while he searches out for the replacements of the rest of the ministers and heads of agencies that he has asked to turn over to heads of human resource at their institutions. Read more

House Inducts Two Additional Members, Source: Daily OBSERVER

Representatives Joseph Matthew, Jr. (Gbarpolu) and Clarence Massaquoi (Lofa) have taken Oath of Affirmation as the 67th and 68th members of the House of Representatives of the 54th Legislature. The two lawmakers were inducted Wednesday by House Speaker Bhofal Chambers in keeping with the House Rules and Procedures during the 4th day sitting of the 1st session of the august body. Matthew and Massaquoi’s induction followed the receipt of separate letters from the National Elections Commission (NEC) stating that the legal challenges against them had been resolved and they had been duly certificated. In another development, Speaker Chambers has established a Special Committee headed by Representative Samuel Enders to collaborate with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) for capacity training and technical support. Read more

“I’m not qualified” Weah’s foreign minister confesses, Source: New DEMOCRAT

President George Weah’s foreign minister-designate has told the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations that he has no experience in the Foreign Service. At his confirmation hearing Wednesday in Monrovia, Gbehzongar Findley said he would instead rely on the expertise of other staff of the ministry and Liberia’s diplomats at home and in the Foreign Service for guidance. “I made this clear in my opening statement that I am not an experienced diplomat, but I think we have people in the Foreign Service who will rally around me to come up with a foreign policy,” Findley, a former President Pro-Tempore of the Liberian Senate told the committee.

Include media reforms in “Pro-poor” agenda –PUL urges president, Source: New DEMOCRAT

A release from the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) quotes its president, Charles Coffey as congratulating President George Weah on his ascendency and said the union was prepared to work with his administration to improve the professional environment of the union. Mr. Coffey also expressed the need for the new government to include media reforms in its “pro-poor” government agenda.

Nimba citizens raise LRD110,00 to help ‘chosen’ representative defend win, Source: New DEMOCRAT

Reports say the people of Nimba County Electoral District #7 have raised over LRD110,000.00 to support the district representative-elect, Roger Domah’s  expenses at the Supreme Court when his contender in last year legislative election, Evan Koah filed a complaint of irregularities in the poll. A National Elections Commission (NEC) dispute officer and the Board of Commissioners that investigated the complaint ruled that Mr. Koah did not produce sufficient evidence to support his allegation and, therefore, ruled in favor of Mr. Domah. 

Weah Urged to Prosecute Liberian War Criminals, Source: Daily OBSERVER

About 20 human rights groups have written President George Weah requesting him to investigate and prosecute those connected to the commission of atrocities during the 14-year civil war. The rights groups made the request Sunday, a day to Mr. Weah’s inauguration, in an open letter to the president.

The groups called upon President Weah “to fulfill Liberia’s obligations to investigate and prosecute wartime atrocities” and urged him to “make accountability a priority for your administration and ensure the protection of Liberian human rights defenders, particularly those working on accountability initiatives.”

Liberia endured two back-to-back civil wars from 1989 to 1997 and 1999 to 2003, during which some diplomatic sources estimate up to 250,000 were killed, with more than half the country forcibly displaced.

A report by Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released in June 2009 found all sides responsible for serious violations of domestic and international law, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, widespread and systematic rape and sexual slavery, torture, use and recruitment of child soldiers, and mass executions of civilians. Although the TRC recommended the establishment of an Extraordinary Criminal Tribunal in Liberia to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of serious violations of international criminal and humanitarian laws, the only prosecutions to date have been outside of Liberia.

Hassan Bility, executive director of the Monrovia-based Global Justice and Research Project and one of the authors of the open letter, said: “Justice must be one of the cardinal points of the President’s new agenda. There must be justice for war crimes; otherwise, there will be no lasting peace in Liberia.” Read more

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ON LIBERIA

Liberia's youth betting on Weah economic miracle, Sources: AFP, Daily Mail, The St. Lucia Times, and Today

New President George Weah is nothing less than revered among Liberia's youth, who view his rise from the slums to stellar success in European football as proof he can also turn around their fragile economy. In his inaugural address on Monday, Weah thanked young voters for propelling him to power, telling them: "This is your government." But depressed commodity prices, an inexperienced administration, and a straitened budget could cloud their dreams and stir resentment, experts caution. "We know that change will come," said Peter Forkpah, an unemployed man in his early 20s who spends his days kicking his heels in the rural county of Bomi. "I trust this government that the price of rice will come down, the exchange rate will come down." Read more