6 December 2017

LIBERIA MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

UN Backs Legal Process … In Election Stalemate, Source: The NEWS

This paper reports that the Special Representatives of the UN Secretary General for West Africa and the Sahel and head of the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), and head of various UN Missions in West Africa have welcomed the legal trend taken by aggrieved political parties following the conduct of the October 10, 2017 presidential and legislative elections. Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, head of UNOWAS, in a statement read last Friday at the United Nations Mission headquarters in Monrovia, said the UN is impressed with the peaceful nature of the Liberian electoral process, noting that compliance with the rule of law and due process is essential in strengthening the country’s fragile democracy. Dr. Chambas stressed that legal challenges by aggrieved political parties should be legitimate and in good faith, adding that the will of the Liberian people must be respected as enshrined in Article I of Liberia’s constitution.

Dr. Chambas endorsed the importance of complying with the constitutionally mandated date for the inauguration of the new government in January 2018. He said all parties and stakeholders should exercise restraint, uphold the rule of law and to conduct all activities with civility and in a non-violent manner.

Dr. Chambas, flanked by the SRSG of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) Farid Zarif, UN Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), Mahamat Saleh Annadif and UN Resident Coordinator for Cote d’ Ivoire Babacar Cisse, said peaceful, free, fair and transparent elections are prerequisite for peace consolidation and sustainable development in Liberia. However, he assured Liberians of the international community’s assistance to the country’s development beyond the conclusion of the electoral process and UNMIL’s withdrawal. The heads of the UN Missions also expressed the hope that upcoming elections in West Africa will consolidate democratic progress and bring about an increase in women’s participation in politics.

No Defense For National Elections Commission: Hacked Emails Show Correct Dates, Source: FrontPage Africa

According to FrontPage Africa, the National Elections Commission  (NEC’s) only anchor on which it hooked its argument in an attempt to rubbish the ‘leaked emails’ suggesting tampering of voter roll has been trashed by an independent Liberian IT expert, as original screen shot of hacked emails show the correct dates and times the emails were sent. In a tiresome effort to discredit the emails, the NEC Director of Communications, Henry Flomo, pointed to the miss-matched days and dates on the transcribed copy of the email as the solid ground to prove that the emails to and from NEC Chairman, Jerome Korkoya, were fictitious and only intended to plunge the image of the electoral body. 

But a Liberian Information Technology expert, a software solutions architect, George K. Fahnbulleh, who has been following the developments from the inception of NEC admission to challenges with their system, informed this paper that his independent expert analysis of the email shows that the wrongful dates contained in what were initially presented to the public was a result of ‘transitional error’. He challenged NEC to provide all the emails from its sever, if it can defend the falsity of the leaked emails. 

According to Mr. Fahnbulleh, a transcription error is a specific type of data entry error that is commonly made by human operators or by optical character recognition (OCR) programs, while human transcription errors are usually the result of typographical mistakes caused by striking the wrong key on a keyboard, or by striking two or more wrong keys because of finger misalignment with respect to the keyboard. He also noted that electronic transcription errors are generally the result of attempts to scan printed matter that has been compromised, or that is rendered in an unusual font. Many transcription errors, particularly those involving numeric data, are difficult or impossible to detect, he said. The transcribed email was erroneously dated Wednesday, July 28, 2017; 9:19 PM instead of Wednesday, July 26, 2017; 9:19 PM.  The content of the leaked email corroborated allegations of duplication of the voter roll and inflation of number of voters in the voter roll.  Read More

‘NEC Tampered With Results, Not Me’ – Nimba County Magistrate, Source: FrontPage Africa

Princeton Monmia, Nimba County Elections Magistrate shocked many observers Tuesday, 4 December at the headquarters of the National Elections Commission (NEC) during an on-going hearing into complaint of alleged electoral mal-practices in Nimba County District #4. Testifying as one of the two witnesses, who has been in the center of the allegation, Mr. Monmia said that at no time he ever changed any election results in the District’s representative election.

According to him, the result was changed at the headquarters of the National Elections Commission (NEC). Monmia further said that after the elections were held in the district and votes counted, he posted all the results in the open and his deputy he didn’t name, scanned his observation report and forwarded it to the Office of the NEC Chairman Cllr. Jerome G. Korkoyah, after he had requested for the report.  “I did not change any election result in the district, the votes were cast, the election results were released and later sent to Monrovia upon the instruction of Chairman Korkoyah. It was in Monrovia the result was changed but not in the district,” Monmia said during cross-examination by the petitioner’s lawyer Cllr. Jallah Barbu.

The Nimba County Election Magistrate stated that the reports he placed on the board was quiet different from the one announced by the National Elections Commission (NEC) for the district’s representative seat in which representative candidate Gunpue Kargon was announced by NEC as a winner defeating incumbent lawmaker Garrison Yealue, which NEC initial election report from the district had placed as winner. According to NEC final representative election result from Electoral District #4 in Nimba County, among 19 representative candidates, Kargon got 6,320 of the total votes representing 24.3% over the incumbent Harrison Yealu, who got 6,153 also of the total votes cast representing 23.8% the result the incumbent lawmaker Yealue has termed as fraudulent and challenged it before the National Election Commission (NEC). Read More

Rep. Yanquoi Wants NEC Declare Him Winner of Nimba District #8, Source: Daily OBSERVER

This paper reports that Nimba County Electoral District #8 incumbent Representative Larry Yanquoi Tuesday pleaded with the National Elections Commission’s hearing office to nullify Saye Miannah’s complaint against the Commission on the recent recount of ballot papers from the 10 October representative and presidential elections and declare him the winner. Taking the witness stand, Yanquoi said although the NEC recount was not wrong, he should, however, be given the chance to continue to represent his people at the House of Representatives. He made the request on grounds that the recount conducted for four days  1-4 November has proven that he is still the choice of the people.

“At first, due to human errors my closest opponent, Mr. Saye Miannah got 19 votes ahead of me, but this time around, with the recount done, I moved forward with 19 votes ahead of him; it means that there is no more need to waste national resources to conduct any further investigation or electoral process. I am the winner and let it be,” Yanquoi said. He noted that after the results of the October 10 election were announced he wrote the Election Magistrate assigned in Lower Nimba, where District #8 is situated, and called for an investigation into irregularities discovered by his agents at the polls, but was advised to visit the headquarters of the NEC and file his complaint to the Board of Commissioners. Read More

 ‘Education Is Weak’ … Ellen Appeals for Support, Source: FrontPage Africa

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has appealed for support to rebuild Liberia’s educational system, which was destroyed during the years of civil conflict in the country. According to a dispatch from the United States, President Sirleaf made the appeal on Monday, 4 December 2017, when she spoke at the Frank and Kula Kumpuris Distinguished Lecture Series of the Clinton School of Public Service of the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Addressing students of the Clinton School of Public Service and hundreds of distinguished guests who crowded the auditorium, President Sirleaf said despite the progress Liberia has made since the end of the civil crisis, the educational system has been one of the weakest areas in the country’s recovery. President Sirleaf noted that progress made in upgrading the educational system has led to an increase of two million students enrolled in school. She, however, added that there is a serious deficit of qualified teachers to properly mold the minds of the young people.

Serving as moderator during the interactive question and answer period, former U.S. President Bill Clinton lauded President Sirleaf and the people of Liberia for the progress Liberia has made in its post-war recovery, and assured that the Clinton Foundation will continue to be a partner in Liberia’s progress. President Clinton expressed the need for Americans to seriously consider developing strong partnership with Liberia, which he described as a beautiful country with many investment opportunities. He also indicated that there is a need for partnership to help improve Liberia’s health system. He assured that efforts would continue to be made to assist Liberia in those two areas of critical needs, which are education and health.

MOVEE Suspends Dr. Mills Jones after Tussle over Party Properties, Sources: FrontPage Africa and Daily OBSERVER

The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Movement for Economic Empowerment (MOVEE) has suspended its political leader, Dr. Joseph Mills Jones for time indefinite. MOVEE’s National Election Commission said it has taken the decision to suspend Dr. Jones based on official complaint of burglary at the party’s headquarters and a physical assault on one of its partisans, James Roberts on alleged orders of Dr. Mills Jones. 

The party, in its communications, ordered Dr. Jones to stay off all MOVEE’s properties pending an investigation by the grievance and ethics committee of the party. “First partisan Dr. Joseph Mills Jones is hereby suspended with immediate effect for time indefinite as standard bearer and political leader of the Movement for Economic Empowerment (MOVEE) pending conclusive investigation." "In so doing, partisan Joseph Mills Jones is hereby mandated to turn over all party properties in his possession and must avoid all primacies of the party until otherwise ordered by the National Executive Committee of MOVEE or cited by the Grievance and Ethics Committee of MOVEE for the investigation in the complaint brought against him - Partisan Joseph Mills Jones by Partisan James Roberts,” the statement mentioned. Read More

Liberia’s ECOWAS Parliamentarians Highlight Progress in Country Report, Source: FrontPage Africa and The NEWS

This paper reports that Liberian legislators at the ECOWAS Parliament have represented their Country Report, bordering on progress and challenges the country has faced since its last report in May of this year. A release from the Liberian Embassy in Abuja says the December Country Report, presented on Tuesday, 5 December 2017, covers the political and security situation in Liberia, the status of the implementation of the ECOWAS Community Levy, the ratification of the community protocols and conventions, and the implementation of the ECOWAS’ community programs.

The Country Report also touched on Liberia’s status of implementation of the ECOWAS infrastructural and transportation policies and programs, the status of implementation of the ECOWAS macro-economic program as it relates to level of achievement of convergence criteria and the sensitization activities carried out by parliamentarians. According to the release, Montserrado County Representative Edwin Melvin Snowe, Jr, read the Country Report on behalf of the Liberian Delegation. The members of the Liberian ECOWAS Parliamentarian Delegation are Montserrado County Senator George Manneh Weah, who is the head of the Delegation and Nimba County Senator Prince Yormie Johnson. Others are Representative Jefferson Karmoh of Sinoe County who is the Third Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament and Representative Haja Fatta Siryon of Bomi County.

On Liberia’s political situation, the Country Report reports that the situation is relatively cordial despite the current electoral process. The Report than commented on the ongoing legal process surrounding the electoral process, disclosing that the Liberian Supreme Court is expected this week with a ruling on the status of the stay-order it placed on the process last month following a complaint from the Liberty Party which finished third in the first round of votes. “To this end, Liberians and the world are watching the legal process to see its logical conclusion. There has been a general atmosphere of calm amongst the parties and citizens”, the release quotes the Country Report.

Relative to the drawdown of the United Nations Missions in Liberia, (UNMIL) couple of months ago, the Report explains that the Government of Liberia through its relevant institutions that are responsible for dealing with security and combatting terrorism including the National Security Agency (NSA), the Ministry of National Defense and the Liberia National Police (LNP) have been working together to maintain peace and security in order to prevent terrorism throughout Liberia. Read More

USD14.2M Police Salary Allotment Raises Eyebrows - UNPOL, EU Reps Alarm, Source: Daily OBSERVER

According to the Daily OBSERVER, the USD14.2M out of the USD16.3M allotted to the Liberia National Police (LNP) in the 2017/18 fiscal budget for compensation to include salaries for civilian and paramilitary personnel overshadowed the release of a report on the Security Actions for Everyone (SAFE) Project Tuesday. An honorarium and special and general allowances were also captured in the USD14.2 million, with USD3.1 million accounting for “non-financial assets.” The USD3.1 million, the police said, was intended for support and operations during the 2017 presidential and legislative elections.

The report, released in Monrovia, covered police facilities and operations in four of the 15 counties, including Bong, Lofa, Montserrado, and Nimba, as well as police-community engagement. It was jointly conducted by International Alert, Liberia National Law Enforcement Agency (LNLEA), and the Center for Justice and Peace Studies (CIPS) with funding from the European Union (EU). It comes in the midst of the reported deplorable condition of prison facilities and other logistical situations experienced by the police. Tuesday’s forum was attended by representatives of the EU, United Nations Police in Liberia (UNPOL), and authorities of the LNP, among others.

Meanwhile, participants agreed for the establishment of a Policing Trust Fund to provide support for needed police operations that are not reflected in the national budget. In separate remarks, European Union representative Agniesille Napierala and UNPOL’s Tabitha Mbugua said they believe that the allotment was unfair and unbalanced to make the country a safer place. “The Government of Liberia needs to improve on the budget to settle the imbalance and unfair distribution in it,” Mbugua, who proxy for the UNPOL commander, noted. “Such an imbalance in the budget would make it very difficult to have a strong partnership with the community in terms of support,” she said.

Police Deputy Inspector General for Manpower and Training, William Mulbah admitted the huge financial difficulty posed by the budgetary allotment. “With the over 5,000 police officers, to set aside USD14.2 million for salaries is unfair and demeaning, and we had to work on it,” Mulbah assured. Despite the huge salaries, Mulbah said, they have made significant efforts in improving the relationship between the police and the community to make the country peaceful and safe. Read More

Government of Liberia Confirms Increment in Prices of Petroleum Products, Source: FrontPage Africa

The government of Liberia through, the Ministry of Commerce & Industry and the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC), has announced with immediate effect a 12 United States cents and 13 United States cents increment in the prices of gasoline and diesel fuel respectively.

According to a petroleum price circular issued by the government, the retail pump price for a gallon of gasoline is now being sold at USD3.37 or its Liberian dollar equivalent LD440.00 while the retail pump price for a gallon of diesel fuel is now sold at the USD3.44 or its Liberian dollar equivalent LDD450.00. The decision to increase the prices of gasoline and diesel fuel on the Liberian market is a result of a shift in the perimeters that are frequently used to determine the prices of these products in the country.

Meanwhile, the circular warmed that the Ministry of Commerce inspectorate will closely monitor the approved ceiling prices to avoid the arbitrary hike in the pump prices of gasoline and fuel on the local market. The circular further warned that the Ministry will also be closely monitoring the effectiveness of the price circular to ensure that importers do not undercut fellow competitors on the market.

Corruption Pervasive in Mining Sector - New report on sector discloses, Source: Daily OBSERVER

The media reports that a new research report has also highlighted the many irregularities continue to overwhelm the sector since the release of a previous report, with no corrective measures being put in place. According to the research conducted by the Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL) as part of Transparency International’s Mining for Sustainable Development (M4SD), there is widespread corruption across the entire mining value chain, especially the licensing and concession granting processes.

Launched Tuesday at a local resort in the presence of heads and members of several anti-graft and transparency groups, the research report highlighted that collusion, extortion, facilitation of payments/bribery, manipulation, abuse of power and vested interest are major corruption risks and identified vulnerabilities. “This is particularly common among public officials and powerful industrial executives who connive to exploit the system for personal gains,” the research consultant, Randall M. Makor, said at the launch.

In spite of the emergence of President Sirleaf, a Harvard trained economist and international civil servant, and the establishment of numerous anti-graft institutions such as the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), LEITI, General Auditing Commission (GAC), the Public Procurement Concession Commission (PPCC) and Internal Audit Agency (IAA), set up to support the process to address the scourge of corruption and other vices in society, corruption in the sector, many believe, has become grossly multiplied—thereby stifling development of the sector and hardly any noteworthy dividend to the country.

Statistics from the LEITI (2012-2013) report shows that the mining sector attracted massive foreign direct investment totalling USD7.6 billion from the extraction of iron ore since the end of the civil unrest in 2003. Read More

“Libya Is Terrible” – A Liberian Returnee Laments Ordeal, Source: FrontPage Africa

“I am a living witness of the ill-treatment in Libya. The maltreatment in Libya is very terrible. I am a living witness of the ill-treatment in Libya. The maltreatment in Libya is very terrible. They do not treat blacks as human beings but animals; even pets in their homes are living far better than us black Africans. There is insufficient food; they beat on you at any time they like” – T. Franklin Teah, a returnee from Libya has told journalists in Monrovia, this paper reports.

They do not treat blacks as human beings but animals; even pets in their homes are living far better than us black Africans. There is insufficient food; they beat on you at any time they like. I remembered how they used to come in our prison cell and collect 10 or 20 persons, soak our feet into water and beat the sore of our feet. They used to make us stand and face the wall; they will beat our backs,” narrated T. Franklin Teah, another returnee from Libya. 

Teah is one of the luckiest Liberians, who was stranded in Libya but managed to make his way back home. He had to become a Guinean in order to make his way back through that sisterly republic on 1 November 1 2017. According to him, because Liberia doesn’t presently have an embassy in that North African country, it is hard to know the total number of Liberians, who are residing or stranded there. He, however, confirmed that many young Liberians are stranded in that country. Read More

SDN Executive Director Fears for Liberia Ahead of Pending WASSCE, Source: FrontPage Africa

The Executive Director of the Sustainable Development Network-Liberia Incorporated (SDN-Liberia), Blamo Nimle, has expressed fear that there could be massive failure for Liberian students in the pending West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE). WASSCE is a type of standardized test, which is administered by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to only candidates residing in Anglophone West Africa—Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Gambia and Liberia, this paper reports. 

Blamo Nimle believes Liberia’s transition from WAEC exams to WASSCE is a future educational crisis needing urgent attention. He said for the past three years, Liberia’s education sector has been preparing students through a pilot phase, for the transition from WAEC to WASSCE, according to reports the performances of those students have been poor. The SDN Executive Director said based on reports he gathered from Principals, County Education Officers and District Education Officers, the three pilot exams never reached the entire southeastern region.   

Nimle also named the lack of qualified teachers for the sciences (Biology, Chemistry and Physics) in many counties, lack of relevant text books, lack of equipped laboratories in many schools and the inability of students to take their lessons serious plus the more subjects required under WASSCE as contributing factors for a poor performance. Read More

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ON LIBERIA

Many Deaths in Liberia’s Hospital Due to Neglect, Lack of Passion – Says Health Minister, Source: New Public Trust

Liberia’s Health Minister has joined the public and patients who continue in criticizing a growing number of health workers for poor patien care in hospitals around the country. Dr. Bernice Dahn says many health practitioners here lack the passion and enthusiasm for the job, something she says is undermining efforts to build a strong and resilient health sector. “Most new born babies die because their mothers do not get proper care from health workers at various health facilities across Liberia,’’ Liberia Health Minister Dr. Dahn notes. “The passion for the job is not seen by health practitioners as a results individuals come to the profession without passion which is affecting the system,’’.

The Liberian Health Minister was speaking at a ceremony marking the launch of Skills laboratory facilities at six Midwifery and medical laboratory pre-service Institutions on the grounds Tubman National Institute of Medical Arts (TNIMA) on Monday, 4 December 2017. It is located at the main government referral hospital, John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Monrovia. Many health practitioners or medical staffers are often seen in hospitals and at other health facilities on social media (FACEBOOK) and on cell phones during regular working hours, instead of catering for patients. Some claim that this sort of attitude is demonstrated by some of them even if patients are in desperate need of their help.

This situation has sparked serious public outcry, with some members of the public even venting their anger by speaking out against such practice on local radio stations to call the attention of Health authorities, who have acknowledge receipt of complaints. “I challenge you, health workers to cultivate passion for the job to save lives as we strive to build a resilience and quality health sector in Liberia,” Health Minister Dahn told the gathering comprising many health workers. According to her,’’the quest to reduce maternal and new born deaths requires the active role of all health workers across Liberia if the country should have better health care system in the country’’.

The Liberian Health Minister is however encouraging medical students to take advantage of learning opportunity that will make them fit for the job market. The government is said to have invested huge amount of money in the health sector, and Dr. Dahn said now is the time for individuals to take the profession seriously by using wisely the opportunity. 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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