• Liberia Senatorial By-Elections Timetable Face Setback, Source: News Public Trust
• UN Special Rapporteur Calls on Liberia to Abolish Defamation Laws, Source: FrontPage Africa
• President Weah “Overstepped The Limits Of His Authority” In Leiti Action -CENTAL, Source: News Public Trust
• Representative Youngblood 'Abandons' Sessions to 'Serve President Weah' - Constituents Express Concern, Source: FrontPage Africa

Liberia Senatorial By-Elections Timetable Face Setback, Source: News Public Trust

The National Elections Commission (NEC) has announced the postponement of the date for the nomination of candidates for the by-elections for the senatorial seats in Montserrado and Bong Counties, which was originally set for today, 15 March. The ascendency of Senators George Weah and Jewel Howard Taylor of Montserrado and Bong Counties to the presidency and vice presidency will cost the bleeding national coffers nearly USD4 million to get their replacements. NEC chairman Jerome Korkoya said the postponement is due to the funding of these by-elections still not been agreed by the Finance Ministry. Addressing a press conference in Monrovia on Tuesday, Mr. Korkoya added that the government has not responded to the budget of USD3.9 million the electoral commission has submitted. Read more

UN Special Rapporteur Calls on Liberia to Abolish Defamation Laws, Source: FrontPage Africa

The UN special rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Mr. David Kay, says Liberia must align her local laws on free press and expression with international laws in order to consolidate gains made in granting free speech in Liberia. Mr. Kay made the recommendation after his recent visit to Liberia where he had meetings with President George Weah, House Speaker Bhofal Chambers, Senate President Pro-Tempore Albert Chie, Chief Justice Francis Korkpor, amongst a host of government officials. His visit to Liberia was aimed at accessing freedom of expression in the country.

He observed that Liberia’s criminal code contains provisions that are not in line with the country’s obligations under international human rights standards. Kay cited Sections 11.11, 11.12 and 11.14 of the Penal Law which criminalize defamation of the President, sedition, and defamation of public authorities. Read more

President Weah “Overstepped The Limits Of His Authority” In LEITI Action -CENTAL, Source: News Public Trust

The Liberian transparency watchdog group, Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL) has taken President George Weah to task for appointing the head of Secretariat of the Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI), saying that the move is “in violation of the Act creating the integrity institution.” On Monday, the man who was appointed to this post defeated Montserrado County District 11 Representative Gabriel Nyenkan took armed police to the offices of LEITI and demanded the office keys and vehicle from the incumbent LEITI boss Kona Karmoh for his refusal to hand over to him. Karmoh gave in but said he could not voluntarily hand over his office because President Weah’s move was not in order, as his position requires vetting and that he had a tenure contract.

The action of the former lawmaker to use armed police to take over the office has prompted a big debate in Monrovia, but the Executive Mansion has not made any comment on the latest developments at the LEITI offices. But in a press release issued on Tuesday, CENTAL quoted Section 6.5 of the LEITI Act of 2009 reserves the authority of appointing members of the Multi-Stakeholder Steering Group (MSG), which oversees LEITI, to the president. The Liberia transparency group said Section 6.3d grants the MSG the “power to recruit and dismiss the Head of Secretariat, Deputy and approve the recruitment of other staff members”. Read more

Representative Youngblood 'Abandons' Sessions to 'Serve President Weah' - Constituents Express Concern, Source: FrontPage Africa

Montserrado County District #9 residents are accusing Representative Munah Pelham Youngblood of reducing the District Representative office to a mere “protocol office.” According to them, she has abandoned all the developmental projects she promised during the 2017 Presidential and Representative elections. Cyrus Mongar, a resident of the Matadi Community, told FrontPage Africa that since Representative Youngblood was reelected, she hasn’t taken a day to go back to hold community or district meeting in which development and issues affecting the district will be discussed. “We don’t know what has happened to our lawmaker all we see is our lawmaker acting like one protocol officer behind the President. We are not against her ambition to work as a Protocol officer for President [George Manneh] Weah. I think if she is not interested in representing our interests, she should do the honorable thing to resign and give the district a chance to elect another person,” Mongar said. Read more