20 February 2018

LIBERIA MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

Senators Fear Inexperienced Ministers Could Undermine Weah’s Plans, Source: New DEMOCRAT

President George Weah’s plans to rebuild Liberia’s economy, make it prosper, and end poverty risk not being achieved given the quality of cabinet nominees, Senators have expressed, according to the New Democrat. Foreign minister Gbehzohngar Findley is amongst nominees who admitted to lacking knowledge about the jobs they have been appointed to perform. On Thursday, members of the Senate Committee on Health expressed fear deputy health minister for administration-designate lack of experience with the nation’s health sector.

“I will not bow to political prosecution” –Justice Minister-designate Dean, Sources: New DEMOCRAT and The INQUIRER

Justice minister-designate Cllr. F. Musa Dean told the Senate Committee on the Judiciary during confirmation hearing Monday that he would not bow to government’s politics to prosecute without evidence. “I can assure you that in the event where politics comes into conflict with the rule of law that cannot be harmonized, we will insist that the law takes its course,” Cllr. Dean said. The justice minister-designate told the Senate hearing that more than 1,200 inmates are languishing at the Monrovia Central prison without substantial evidence to prosecute. He vowed to present legislations to the legislature gear toward improving the justice system. Meanwhile, Cllr. Dean has informed the Senate that arresting power will be taken from magistrates and be given to city solicitors, the police and county attorneys.

Sable Mining, Groves Strengthen Evidence against Sherman in Bribery Trial, Source: FrontPage Africa

FrontPage Africa reports that Cllr. Varney Sherman is not off the hook in the high profile bribery case involving him and other ranking past officials of government, Sable Mining Africa Limited and its UK-based CEO, Andrew Groves. About a week ago, the Liberian government dropped charges against Sable Mining and Groves based on the condition that they’ve agreed to serve as state witnesses in the prosecution of Cllr. Sherman and his cohorts, including former House Speaker J. Alex Tyler, former lands, mines, and energy minister and his principal deputy, Eugene Shannon and ECB Jones, respectively.

The sworn affidavit by Groves that led to the dropping of charges against him, shows in detail how Sherman maneuvered in encouraging Sable Mining to invest in Liberia, promising to use his expertise as lawyer and his then portfolio as chairman of the then ruling Unity Party (UP) to win mining exploration bids from the government. The company and its CEO from the onset of the case maintained their innocence and that of Sherman, indicating that the Global Witness’ report – The Deceivers – was an absolute witch hunt against Sherman for political reasons.

But Sable Mining and Mr. Groves somersaulted in the affidavit, claiming that Cllr. Sherman was solely responsible for all their activities in Liberia as he presented himself as a very strategic personality in the government, who could have helped them win mining bids. According to the affidavit, after presenting a towering image of himself, Cllr. Sherman convinced the company and Mr. Groves to establish a Liberian corporation, open an office space, hire a skeleton staff to enable him to help the company participate in any possible bid for mining exploration and acquire mining licenses…

Two officials recently nominated to the Ministry of Lands, Mines, and Energy as deputy and assistant ministers, Emmanuel Sherman and Bloatey Scere, respectively, told the Senate during confirmation hearing recently that they were among several persons who worked on the amendment of the PPCC Act of 2005 by inserting Section 75 as part of the amendment of the Act, which eventually became the 2010 PPCC Act. Section 75 of the Act provides for some areas to be declared non-bidding areas in the mining law. This would have enabled Sable Mining to obtain the iron ore deposits at the Wologizi Mountain in Lofa County.

In their testimony, the two officials explained that action was taken in collaboration with those who were at the PPCC at the time, and also with the assistance of international experts, who were clothed with the authority to supervise the process at the time. For Sherman, the assertion by the nominated officials is a vindication of him of the charges… Read more

Senator Sherman Calls for Justices Pension Budget Inclusion, Source: The INQUIRER

The chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Cllr. Varney Sherman has requested the Senate to work along with President George Weah to ensure that pension benefits for justices of the Supreme Court, judges and stipendiary magistrates are included in the 2017/2018 recast budget. In a communication to the Senate plenary, Cllr. Sherman said in 1988, the legislature enacted into law, approved by the president, and printed into handbill an Act to amend section 13A of the new judiciary law.

We’ll Defeat Corruption – Deputy Commerce Minister Vows, Source: The ANALYST

Deputy commerce minister for administration, Wilfred Bangura has vowed that the newly appointed team of officials at the Commerce Ministry in close collaboration with the employees and workers would do everything to defeat corruption and ensure that Liberians get what they are entitled to on the market. Speaking at a turnover program recently, Mr. Bangura said the Ministry’s new leadership will dismantle the defenses of corruption throughout the commerce sector, adding corruption does not walk alone as there interlockers and gang of empires that make corruption a pandemic in the Liberian society, but those wings will be broken with determined and resolved minds to fight corruption in the commerce sector.

CBL Refutes ‘Misleading’ USD300k Car Loan Report, Sources: Daily OBSERVER, New DEMOCRAT, News Public Trust, The ANALYST, and The INQUIRER

The Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) has described as unfounded and misleading reports published by a local daily that alleged that the CBL gave USD300,000 to each of its governors as car loans. A press statement, CBL head of communications, Cyrus Badio denied the allegation and classified it as “unfounded, misleading and a calculated attempt… to tarnish the reputation of the CBL and its Governors.” The CBL, Badio said, “has in place a car loan scheme/policy which began in 2013 for its senior staff to buy their own cars with repayment over a maximum five-year period.” He said the scheme has been a cost-effective measure to mitigate the high maintenance cost of assigned bank vehicles. The CBL challenged The New Dawn that published the report, to produce evidence to support “its wild and fictitious claim” and meanwhile, cautioned news houses to ascertain facts and avoid publishing falsehoods. Read more

LPRC Managing Director Outlines Plans, Challenges, Source: The INQUIRER

The new managing director of the Liberia Petroleum and Refinery Company (LPRC) is calling for vigorous system audit of the company to establish its current financial standings and assets. Ms. Nyemade Pearson said her management is concern about what they are inheriting at the LPRC in order to make a full determination on the future progress of the entity. Ms. Pearson said her administration major priorities are workers’ welfare and the protection of products at the company’s storage terminals. The new LPRC managing director has meanwhile disclosed of inheriting huge liabilities that she intends to jointly collaborate with the board of directors to speedily investigate and resolve.

NPA acting Managing Director Says ‘She Did Nothing Wrong at Freeport’, Source: FrontPage Africa

The deputy managing director for administration at the National Port Authority (NPA) has denied behaving wrongly at the NPA in order to be “vilified” by the media. “I did nothing wrong here as acting Managing Director (MD) for people to say I am taking unilateral decision in the absence of an MD. I work at the will and pleasure of the President and whatever decision I take here I consult my boss before I go ahead with it,” said Celia Cuffy Brown.

FrontPage Africa, quoting credible sources, recently reported that in the absence of a managing director proper, Mrs. Brown was exercising unauthorized powers that threaten to destabilize the NPA and set the institution back from years of recent gains and improvements. Amongst several authorized decisions, Mrs. Brown is accused of expanding employment and promotions that are not accommodated for in the existing budget and has increased the salaries of few employees, including her sister, Rebecca Teta Cuffy.

But the acting NPA managing director claimed that her sister, Rebecca was not employed by her, but instead by the former managing director, Matilda Parker. She argued that her sister has a college degree and has been working as a laborer in spite of a degree.  Mrs. Brown said it was necessary that employees, who had worked for the NPA and are qualified, to get a promotion, noting that there are many individuals who signed contracts with the port and make huge salaries although they do not go to work.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ON LIBERIA

Evaluating Ebola: Liberian healthcare four years after the crisis, Source: PLOS Research News

Nearly four years have passed since the beginning of the deadly outbreak of Ebola virus in Africa in 2014. Concentrated in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, the epidemic resulted in over 11,000 deaths and nearly 30,000 reported cases of Ebola over two years. Until now, it was unknown how such an intense outbreak affected access to primary health care in the region during and after the crisis. A new study by Bradley Wagenaar and colleagues, published in PLOS Medicine this week, attempted to understand the long-term effects of the epidemic on health care systems.

The researchers analyzed seven years of routine health information system data from public health care providers across Liberia, using indicators of primary care such as vaccines, clinic visits, pre- and post-natal care, and malaria treatments, to determine how the outbreak affected access to health care for people without Ebola. They found that by September 2014, these health services had decreased by as much as 67 percent compared to the month preceding the outbreak. The researchers found that the crisis accounted for 776,110 missed clinic visits and nearly 10,000 missed malaria treatments. Though the primary health care system had recovered to pre-outbreak levels by November 2016, it is still unknown how the disruption in services due to the virus will affect health outcomes for years to come. Read more

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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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