16 November 2017

LIBERIA MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

US Government: “We Have Confidence in Integrity of October 2017 Elections”, Sources: FrontPage Africa and The NEWS

The United States Embassy in Monrovia says it had not seen no sign of manipulation in last month’s election in Liberia, amid allegations of irregularities and fraud that have stalled a runoff poll.

First-round winner Senator George Weah, a standard bearer of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), was initially set to face the runner-up, Vice President Joseph Boakai, the standard bearer of the ruling Unity Party (UP) on November 7 to determine who will replace current term-limited President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

But the third-place finisher, Cllr. Charles Brumskine of the Liberty Party (LP), contested the outcome of the first round, claiming gross irregularities had occurred and accusing National Elections Commission (NEC) officials of fraud, an allegation the body denies.

"No accredited Liberian, regional, or international observation group suggested that the cumulative anomalies observed reflect systemic issues sufficient to undermine the fundamental integrity of the electoral process," the US Embassy said in a statement. Read more

US urges UP, CDC to focus on runoff, Sources: Daily OBSERVER, The New Dawn, and The NEWS

The US Embassy in Monrovia is urging the ruling Unity Party (UP) and the main opposition Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) to focus on the pending runoff which has been stalled by allegations of fraud and irregularities.

"The US Embassy urges the top two finishers, who collectively received the support of two-thirds of Liberian voters, to focus on constructively engaging each other and voters as they prepare to compete in the runoff," a statement issued Wednesday says.

The Embassy has expressed confidence in the integrity of the October 10 elections, saying, that no accredited Liberian, regional, or international observation group suggested that the cumulative anomalies observed reflect systemic issues sufficient to undermine the fundamental integrity of the electoral process.

"Where issues were identified in the first round of voting, we urge the National Elections Commission (NEC) to undertake corrective actions before, during, and after the runoff election," the US Embassy says. Read more

Senate Appoints Special Committee to Resolve Election Impasse, Sources: Daily OBSERVER, FrontPage Africa, and The NEWS

The Senate has appointed a special committee headed by President Pro-Tempore Armah Jallah to help find an amicable resolution to the current political impasse resulting from the October 10 presidential and legislative elections. The Senate’s decision followed a one-day retreat last Tuesday at the Farmington Hotel in Harbel, Margibi County.

The mandate of the seven-member committee, among many things, is to hold consultations with all relevant political and other national leaders as well as regional and international partners with the aim of resolving disputes arising from the October elections, “and to assure the people of Liberia and the world at large that our country remains at peace and will strictly follow the constitutional course in the transfer of power.”

The Senate’s statement further encouraged the National Elections Commission (NEC) to expeditiously adjudicate all matters brought before it within the constitutional timelines, “mindful that the Liberian people represented by the Senate shall not support nor encourage any actions by any group or institution designed to undermine the Constitution, thereby creating conditions for unconstitutional governmental structures as experienced during the 14 years of war.”

Members of the committee are Senators J. Gbleh-Bo Brown, Maryland; Nyonblee Karnga Lawrence, Grand Bassa; Dr. Peter Coleman, Grand Kru; Conmany Wesseh, River Gee; Oscar Cooper, Margibi; and Marshall Dennis, Grand Gedeh County. Read more

Supreme Court Hears UP’s Case against NEC Today, Sources: Daily OBSERVER and FrontPage Africa

The ruling Unity Party (UP) Wednesday filed papers asking the Supreme Court to demand the National Elections Commission (NEC) to make available to it records of the October 10 presidential and legislative elections.

The high court accepted the request and set today, November 16, to hear arguments between the NEC and the ruling party on whether or not it should compel the electoral body to surrender the requested documents to the complainant (UP).

UP is seeking for a copy of the Final Registration Roll (FRR) for the October 10 elections, and copies of the addenda to the voter roll made at the polling centers nationwide. It also asked for copies of the worksheet of the NEC’s presiding officer who was arrested in Nimba County Electoral District #3 with pre-marked ballots.

They are also asking for records of the investigation conducted by the NEC on a staff in the office of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf who was also arrested with a machine for allegedly printing of Voters Registration Cards and other election materials at his New Georgia home. Read more

Cllr. Allison Accuses Elections Commission of Carrying Out Illegal Practice, Sources: Daily OBSERVER and FrontPage Africa

Former chairperson of the National Elections Commission (NEC), Cllr. Frances Johnson Allison has told the NEC hearing officer, Cllr. Muana Ville that it was criminal to alter the Final Voter Roll (FVR) because, according to her, it is illegal to amend that instrument.

Cllr. Allison stated that under her chairmanship there was nothing like addendum list as was done during the October 10, 2017 elections. She claimed that during her days at the NEC, the final list of eligible voters was published and not given to the political parties on USB pen drive.

According to the former NEC boss, going into an election without any voter Final Registration Roll (FRR) was something strange to her because the FRR is the single most important document the electoral commission needs to conduct a successful election.

“I was alarmed by the kinds of things I have heard. How could this have happened? We have an election and all these irregularities are being reported,” she said. Read more

UP claims 79 missing polling places, Source: The New Dawn

A ruling Unity Party (UP) expert witness Jeff Blebo says there were more missing polling places of 79 across 10 precincts not recorded on the previous USB flash drive presented by the National Elections Commission (NEC) to seven political parties in September, and 31 precincts with more polling places missing from the data. Mr. Blebo told the NEC hearing officer, Cllr. Mauna Ville on Wednesday that these missing polling places amounted to 35,237 registered voters with 10 duplicated voters ID numbers.

He says the USB flash drive presented by the NEC executive director, Lamin Lighe is different from the previous USB flash drive that was given to seven political parties in September. “As an expert in data analysis it is very strange to have a system in which you have a leak data for each vote, one ID number could be used by multiple voters,” Blebo says.

He notes that in the short period of time that he carried on his finding, he was able to run over two thousand names that were duplicated, noting that the FRR is distinct and different from the online system, and the flash drive that was given shows a real discrepancy in their data. Read more

Supreme Court halts NEC again, Sources: FrontPage Africa and The New Dawn

The Supreme Court has with immediate effect halted an ongoing hearing of elections fraud and irregularities filed by ruling Unity Party (UP) before the National Elections Commission (NEC).

An officer from the Supreme Court walked in the James Fromayan Conference Hall at the NEC Headquarters in the Monrovia suburb of Sinkor on Wednesday to serve a writ of summon on all parties before the Commission while the electoral house was entertaining witnesses from the UP.

According to the writ of summon, both the lawyers representing the UP headed by Senator Varney Sherman and former justice minister Benedict Sannoh and the NEC legal team headed by Cllr. Musa Dean are to appear before the Supreme Court Bench today, Thursday. Read more

Interim Government Lacks …Constitutional Backing; Tiawon Gongloe Insists, Source: The NEWS

Human rights lawyer Tiawon Gongloe says there is no constitutional backing for the formation of an interim government should President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s tenure expired, in the absence of an elected president to succeed her.

In recent times, there have been discussions in the public about the formation of an interim government to succeed the president when her successor is not elected before the expiration of her tenure on 15 January 2018. But appearing on Farbric Radio in Monrovia Wednesday, Cllr. Gongloe said the constitution is very clear as to who should succeed the president in this present situation.

He quoted Article 64 of the Liberian Constitution which says: “Whenever the office of the President and of the Vice-President shall become vacant by reason of removal, death, resignation, inability or other disability of the President and Vice President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall be sworn in as Acting President until the holding of elections to fill the vacancies so created. Should the Speaker be legally incapable or otherwise unable to assume the office of Acting President, then the same shall devolve in order upon the Deputy Speaker and members of the Cabinet in the order of precedence as established by law. The Commission shall within ninety days conduct elections for a new President and a new Vice President.”

The human rights lawyer explained that considering the current situation where the tenures of the President, Vice President, and Speaker will all expired, the Senate President Pro-Tempore will have the constitutional backing to take over as acting president, pending the holding of elections in 90 days as provided for in Article 64 of the Constitution. Read more

Weah support backfires among Australian-based Liberians, Source: The New Dawn

The Australian-based Liberian Community has trashed as "misleading, false, and complete lies," claims by its former president Ambassador Bobby Whitfield that the Community with an alleged over 10,000 population in Australia is overwhelmingly supporting the main opposition Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) presidential candidate, Senator George Weah.

Following the publication of Whitfield's claims in The New Dawn on Wednesday, the Liberian Community in Australia immediately communicated with The New Dawn to clarify that members of the Community in question support various political parties in Liberia including the All Liberian Party (ALP), Alternative National Congress (ANC), Liberty Party (LP), ruling Unity Party (UP), as well as the CDC. Read more

Peace Dialogues Create PRCs in Bong, Margibi, Source: Daily OBSERVER

The Daily Observer reports that peace and reconciliation dialogues across districts in Bong and Margibi counties continue amid the ongoing political ‘wahala‘ in the country. An initiative of NAYMOTE Partners for Democratic Development, the objective of the dialogues is to consolidate peace during and after the 2017 presidential and legislative elections. “These events have been implemented at the county, district and community levels with the participation of diverse members of the county,” NAYMOTE program director Aaron Weah-Weah said in a statement Wednesday.

These dialogues have led leaders in some of the project districts to set up Peace and Reconciliation Committees (PRCs) to take on peace initiatives including the organization of reconciliation dialogues especially between defeated representative candidates and those elected in their districts. Read more

Bong residents appreciate Senator Taylor, Source: The New Dawn

Residents of Bong County have expressed appreciation to the main opposition Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) for the level of development and awareness it has created regarding the electoral process. The residents have also expressed excitement and joy by the visit of the CDC’s vice standard bearer, Senator Jewel Howard Taylor, saying it is time for Bong to rally around the CDC to ensure that the county gets its first vice president – who is a women’s rights champion.

“We are happy to see our daughter and believe in her leadership. This is the best chance we have as a county to have a vice president from our county and her constant engagement with us proves her readiness to take on the country’s second most powerful seat,” a prominent citizen said. Read more

UL Students, Police Clash, Sources: FrontPage Africa and The News

Normal academic activities on the Fendell Campus of the University of Liberia (UL) were on Wednesday disrupted when students and riot officers of the Liberia National Police (LNP) clashed. The riot began when thousands of students were reportedly denied by UL authorities to complete their registration process.

The head of the affected students, William Dee said it is frustrating for the UL administration to close the registration process after they have paid their fees at various banks, waiting to complete the registration process. He said they communicated twice with the UL administration appealing for the reopening of the registration process but to no avails. Student Dee said their quest for the university administration to reopen the process has been peaceful. Read more

10 Slovenian Doctors in Nimba to Perform ‘Free Surgery’, Source: Daily OBSERVER

Ten Slovenian medical doctors are in Nimba County as guests of the Esther and Jereline Medical Center in Ganta to perform ‘free of charge’ hernia surgeries and related cases. Over 400 patients including women, children, and mostly elderly men have registered so far.  The chief medical doctor at the hospital, Dr. George Peters said the ‘free hernia surgical project’ is sponsored by the UK-based “Hernia International.” Read more

LADA Facilitates USD44K Loans From LEAD for Farmers’ Cooperatives, Source: Daily OBSERVER

The Liberia Agribusiness Development Activity (LADA) recently facilitated loans worth USD44,000 from Liberia Entrepreneurial Asset Development (LEAD) for six farmer cooperatives in Montserrado County to improve farm productivity. The six farmer cooperatives are Tononvapolue, Mawah, God’s Grace, Zota Estate, Garden Fish and the Low-Cost Village farming clusters. They received loans ranging from USD3,000 to USD10,000.

Access to loans still remains a challenge for smallholder farmers and other agribusinesses in Liberia as they lack collateral to borrow money from commercial banks. Also, most commercial banks charge high-interest rates on loans making the loans very difficult for many smallholder farmers.

LADA has partnered with LEAD, a microfinance institution that is being supported by the United States African Development Foundation (USADF) in Liberia to promote access to loans for smallholder farmers. Read more

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ON LIBERIA

U.S. embassy defends credibility of Liberia presidential poll, Sources: Daily Mail Online, GNN Liberia, Reuters, The Bush Chicken, and US News and World Report

The U.S. embassy in Liberia on Wednesday defended the credibility of last month's presidential election there, amid allegations of irregularities and fraud that have delayed a runoff poll.

First-round winner George Weah, a former international football star, was initially set to face the runner-up, Vice-President Joseph Boakai, last week to determine who will replace current term-limited President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

But the third-place finisher, Charles Brumskine, contested the outcome of the first round, claiming gross irregularities had occurred and accusing NEC officials of fraud, an allegation the body denies.

"No accredited Liberian, regional, or international observation group suggested that the cumulative anomalies observed reflect systemic issues sufficient to undermine the fundamental integrity of the electoral process," the U.S. embassy said in a statement. 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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