4 October 2017

LIBERIA MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

Poor turnout at DJP political rally in Nimba, Source: Daily OBSERVER

Reports from Ganta, Nimba County speak of poor turn out at the Democratic Justice Party (DJP) rally held recently in the county. The Daily Observer said it was due to poor publicity as supporters of the party were disappointed with the organizers of the rally. “We are very disappointed in the leadership of this party for their failure to fully support us as partisans in this vote-rich county,” the party’s chairperson in the county, Nathan Suah said.

“CDC not a factor in Bassa” –Senator Lawrence claims, Source: Daily OBSERVER

Grand Bassa County Senator, Nyonblee Karnga Lawrence, who is also a member of the Liberty Party (LP), said the campaign of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) in the county recently will not change the resolve of the Bassa people to vote LP’s presidential candidate, Cllr. Charles Brumskine. In an interview Tuesday, Senator Lawrence said the CDC is not a factor in Grand Bassa. “My party is sure of taking 125,000 of the over 140,000 registered voters in the country,” she stated.

CDC Promises Civil Servants Better Living Conditions, Source: FrontPage Africa

The Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) says it is keen on its campaign promises of bringing a change to the livelihood of Liberians by encouraging a government of inclusion if its quest to unseat the current ruling establishment is backed up by Liberians through the ballots. CDC vice chairman for mobilization, Mulbah Morlue told supporters at the party’s headquarters in Monrovia on Tuesday that it will encourage the participation of civil servants in its government if successful in the coming days.

Noble Laureate Gbowee Rubbishes ANC Cummings Endorsement Claims, Source: INSIGHT

Nobel Laureate Leymah Gbowee says at no time did she endorse the candidacy of Alexander Cummings of the Alternative National Congress (ANC) for the Liberian presidency following widespread reports on the social media that she had endorsed Cummings’ presidential bid.  Reacting to the news upon her return to Liberia Tuesday, Madam Gbowee said it was irresponsible for anyone to use her image to promote themselves without her knowledge. She revealed that the picture which is being used in the Alexander Cummings campaign video was taken four years ago at a non-political gathering in Rivercess County.

Fearing violence, women pray for peaceful elections, Source: New DEMOCRAT

The New Democrat reports that hundreds of women are fasting and praying for a peaceful election on 10 October. The women’s prayer vigil started on 23 September and is expected to end on 9 October, the eve of the election. Reports say the women are being camped across the country and sometime carry placards calling for a peaceful election.

“Amb. Sheriff’s Action Was Unbecoming – President Sirleaf Clarifies, Source: The INQUIRER

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has sharply reacted to recent comments made by former Liberian Ambassador to the UK, Dr. Mohammed Sheriff saying that the Ambassador’s action in the UK was unbecoming. President Sirleaf said the recalling of Amb. Sheriff from the UK has brought great relief to other staff at the Liberian Embassy in that European country as he was a thong in the flesh of other staffers including a senior diplomat assigned at the Liberian Embassy. “Let me say here that Amb. Sheriff has a serious problem and must check himself,” the president said.

Former EPS officers frown on pension program, Source: Daily OBSERVER

Some 29 former officers of the Executive Protection Service (EPS) have complained to the House of Representative of wrongful retirement. They have asked the House to intervene and put a halt to their pension ceremony scheduled for Wednesday.

Africare receives USAID award for innovation, Source: Daily OBSERVER

Africare’s Mwanzo Bora Nutrition Program team last week received USAID Global Development Innovation to Action Awards in the United States, a dispatch has said. The award came in recognition of the impact and innovation in breaking the cycle of malnutrition anemia passed from mother to child and engendering good nutrition and health.

USD23M Capitol Building Expansion Project … Legislative Modernization Chair Access Construction Work, Source: INSIGHT

With seven months to the completion of the Capitol Building expansion project being implemented by China at the cost of USD23 million, the chairman of the Legislative Committee on Modernization, Senator Conmany Wesseh, has praised the level of work done thus far on the two extended annexes of the building. The expansion is a 19-month project that started in October 2016 by a Chinese-owned construction firm, Jiang Su Saing Su.

EPA Donates Training tools, Equipment to MVTC, Source: INSIGHT

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has donated several refrigeration technician training tools and equipment to the Monrovia Vocational Training Center (MVTC) aimed at building the training capacity of the institution. According to EPA ozone officer, Sete Marshall, the donation was in line with the agency’s technical and social responsibility, and hope that the MVTC uses the items to build the technical capacity of the students.

US Rate Going Up Again … Price of Commodities Skyrocketing, Source: The INQUIRER

According to The Inquirer, Liberians in the past few days have again begun to see the inflation of the Liberian dollars (LRD) against that of the US dollar. Up till press time Tuesday, the paper reported that the exchange rate between the LRD and the USD was LRD124 to USD1 in the Sinkor area. Many Liberians blamed the unbearable hardship in the country to the high exchange rate in the economy.

President Sirleaf consoles Trump, Congratulates Germany, Sources: INSIGHT and New DEMOCRAT

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has sent a message of consolation to US President Donald Trump following the tragic news of a mass shooting in a Las Vegas Mandalay Bay Resort that left more than 50 people dead and many more injured. “I extend to you and the American people especially those affected by this atrocious act, the warmth of friendship and condolences from the people of Liberia,” a Foreign Ministry release quotes President Sirleaf as saying. Meanwhile, the president has sent a congratulatory message to Germany on the observance of that country’s national day.

WFP Resumes School Feeding for Four Months, Source: INSIGHT

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has disclosed that it would resume the School Feeding Program (SFP) for public school kids in Liberia, following a temporary halt due to funding. WFP head of SFP, Johnson Kolubah, revealed Tuesday that the program will resume this academic year in nine of the 15 counties for a period of four months.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ON LIBERIA

Liberia has a big election next week — and a true test of democracy in Africa’s oldest republic, Source: The Washington Post

In landmark elections slated for Oct. 10, Liberians will vote in the country’s third postwar presidential and legislative races. Incumbent Ellen Johnson Sirleaf — Africa’s first female president — is ineligible to run because of constitutionally mandated term limits. So January 2018 will mark the first time in recent memory that a democratically elected Liberian president will hand power to a similarly elected head of state.

A nation of 4.5 million people, Liberia is a sliver of a country in West Africa “founded” in 1847 by black migrants from the United States, the Caribbean, and the Congo River basin. Clashes between these settlers and the 16 ethnic groups already occupying the territory spiraled Liberia into more than a century of political upheavals.

As a country of many firsts, Liberia is in Guinness World Records as administering the most-rigged election — in 1927. Africa’s first black republic, Liberia has also been described as the continent’s first one-party state. Elections in the 19th and 20th centuries were more like selections — largely engineered and manipulated by the political elite.

Mixed Reactions Trail the Exit of Africa’s First Female President, Liberia’s Ellen Sirleaf, Source: The Fertile Click Online

With fewer than ten days until Liberians go to the polls on October 10, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is preparing to step down as the first female president elected in Africa. While her actions to restore peace to the fragile nation over the past 12 years have been lauded by many across the globe—including the Nobel Peace Prize committee—she also has her critics, especially when it comes to female empowerment.

When Sirleaf came to power in 2005, rape, murder and mutilation had been endemic across the country. The new president had the formidable task of upholding peace in Liberia, two years after the end of a 14-year civil war where more than 250,000 people were killed and another million displaced.

While Sirleaf herself admitted she could have done more in her tenure, at her final address to the United Nations General Assembly last month she outlined her government’s positive impacts. Under her rule the government had “reshaped” security services, she said, adding that “Liberia has remained stable, peaceful and secured”.

 
  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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