Thursday, 22 February 2018

LIBERIA MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

President Weah Appeals to France to Improve Liberia’s Sports Sector, Source: Daily OBSERVER and News Public Trust

President George Weah has appealed to the Government of France and international partners to support the Liberian government for the improvement of Liberia’s sports sector. He made the appeal during his visit to the network of French businesses, the Movement des Enterprise de France (MEDEF), and his subsequent visit to French President Emmanuel Macron Wednesday. MEDEF is a business network that consists of over 750,000 members and firms that places job-creation and sustainable growth at the heart of its actions.

According to President Weah, investing in the Liberian sports sector will serve as a conduit to empower more Liberian youths who can positively contribute to the sustainable growth and development of the country. “Sports was my driven tool and I was in search of a single opportunity to travel out of Liberia. Through sports, I traveled to Cameroon and later to France. Through sports you can build character and create wealth,” he said. Read more

Weah wants Air Liberia back, Sources: Daily OBSERVER and The New Dawn

The media reports that President George Weah appears to be asking for all at once. President Weah who arrived in Paris, France is seeking among dozens of investments the reintroduction of the Liberian Air carrier, Air Liberia. The Liberian leader speaking to members of the French business network comprising of over 750,000 members and firms on Wednesday said the investment opportunities include agriculture, healthcare, education and sports but emphasized Liberia needs to fly its own airliner, Air Liberia, as some of the immediate investments.  Weah’s meeting with the French investors closed with an invitation to them to send a delegation to Liberia anytime soon.  Read more

Acting Speaker Reminds Lawmakers to Fulfill Electoral Campaign Promises, Source: Daily OBSERVER

Acting House Speaker Prince Moye has challenged his colleagues to be resolute in the fulfillment of their electoral campaign, which would help them in their reelection bids in 2023. Representative  Moye also admonished his colleagues that in order to be reminded of their ‘electoral campaign promises’ they need and must give attention to the views and comments of their office staff, who will serve as their reminder. The Deputy House Speaker made the statement on Wednesday during the opening program of a three-day orientation session for members of the House of Representatives organized by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) with support from USAID. He stressed the importance of working together with their office staff, who are their technical arms. Read more

Lawmakers Vote for Audit on LACE, Source: FrontPage Africa

The plenary of the House of Representatives Tuesday mandated its Public Accounts and Expenditure Committee (PAC) to look into a concern raised by Grand Bassa County Representative, Thomas Goshua, calling for an audit of the Liberia Agency for Community Empowerment (LACE) over the unfinished Legislative projects across the country. Read more

Representative Gray Calls For Scrutiny of Civil Servants Payroll Amid Sudden Surge, Source: FrontPage Africa

Montserrado County Representative, Moses Acarous Gray, has drawn the attention of his colleagues at the House of Representatives to what he described as “rampant salary discrepancy and deliberate overnight transfer of managers, contractors and so-called professionals to certain government ministries and agencies into civil servants.” In a communication to Deputy House Speaker Prince Moye, the Montserrado lawmaker asked his colleagues to demand a careful scrutiny of the payroll of civil servants, which he noted would enable the Legislature to help government curb wastes and remove ghost names. According to Representative Gray, most of the managers, contractors, and other professionals transferred to the civil service maintain their salaries up to USD3,000 in some cases.  Read more

Public Works Minister Presents 150-Day Plan to Vice President Taylor, Source: FrontPage Africa

Public works minister Mobutu Nyenpan has presented his ministry 150-day action plan to Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor and promised to timely execute same provided the necessary supports are given. Minister Nyenpan indicated that the plan was earlier presented to President George Weah, who expressed delight and reiterated his fullest support to the infrastructure development of the country. The public works minister made the submission on Wednesday when the vice president along with a high-level government delegation visited the ministry to follow-up on infrastructure activities of priority to the new administration.  Read more

LACC Welcomes Court Ruling Against Senator Teahjay, But…, Source: Daily OBSERVER

The Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) has welcomed the ruling of the 14th Judicial Circuit Court of River Cess County that found former Sinoe County superintendent, J. Milton Teahjay, now Senator of the county, guilty of violating the procedures and processes of the Public Procurement and Concessions Commission (PPCC) in the awarding of contracts for the implementation of county development projects, an LACC release said Wednesday. While the LACC welcomed the ruling, however, it said it is gravely concerned about the judge’s decision to ignore other charges in the indictment against Senator Teahjay that carried greater magnitude, including Economic Sabotage, Criminal Conspiracy, Criminal Facilitation, and Misapplication of Entrusted Property. Meanwhile, the court has fined the Sinoe lawmaker USD50,000 to be paid into government’s revenue within the period of nine months; failure to do so would lead to his arrest and imprisonment until the amount is paid and a clerk certificate obtained. Read more

Fire Wrecks Warehouse in Vai Town, Source: Daily OBSERVER

Less than 48 hours following the fire disaster destroyed properties and rendered several people homeless on Randall and Mechlin Streets in central Monrovia, a similar fire incident occurred Wednesday in Vai Town in Monrovia destroying a warehouse that contained goods including building materials worth thousands of United States dollars recently imported into the country. Businessman Upjit Singh Sachdeva who is also honorary consul general of India in Liberia said he did not know the cause of the fire. According to him, the fire began at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday and he and neighbors tried to extinguish it, but there was too much smoke that made their efforts unsuccessful. “We then called the Liberia National Fire Service (LNFS) for help,” Mr. Sachdeva said. The Indian businessman said the series of fire incidents in Monrovia in recent time should claim the attention of the Liberian government and everyone.  Read more

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ON LIBERIA

France's Macron grants 10 mln euros to Liberia, Source: Xinhua

At a meeting with the newly-elected visiting Liberian President George Weah, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a 10-million-euro (12.31 million U.S dollar) grant to help support development in West Africa's poorest country. "So far, we have not done much for Liberia...In this perspective, we wish to change things," Macron said. Macron pledged 10 million euros to help Weah's government, "whose election opens a new era for Liberia," to improve youth training and employment, develop infrastructure and raw material processing.

At a joint press meeting with Weah, the French head of state told the retired soccer player he would also create a "platform for transformation through sport in Africa" which will be headed by the French Development Agency and the African Development Bank. "We have targeted 15 million euros at this stage," the French president said, adding that the goal was for as many states as possible to be involved.  Read more

Liberia’s new president pays visit to France, Sources: ABC News, AP, Seattle Times, and US News and World Report

Newly-elected Liberian President George Weah and French counterpart Emmanuel Macron have announced the creation of a fund to support sport projects in Africa. Weah, a former international soccer star, on his first trip out of Africa as head of state, had lunch Wednesday with Macron and top sport personalities at the Élysée Palace. Macron and Weah said at a news conference that they want to revive the relationship between their countries. Liberia, one of the poorest countries of Africa, mostly relies on close ties with the U.S. Weah became a star soccer player when he was playing in France in the 1990s. Read more

Smoking Gun:  Why Former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Travelled To Beirut After Her Tenure, Source: Modern Ghana

Political intrigues are not new to Liberian politics; they are as old as the age of this republic. And it became very visible and a strategy for outsmarting opponents in the early days of the republic. Edward James Roye was a victim of such callous maneuvering. Even during the misrule of the True Whig Party, Williams V.S. Tubman effectively used this sadistic strategy to embarrass or eliminate opponents who were critical of his misrule of the state. Du Fahnbulleh, William D. Coleman, D. Twe were some of his victims.

The soft and the hard powers have been used by elements of the ruling class in Liberia to execute such toxic tactic against their political opponents and others who disagree with their misrule. While Tubman used hard power to consolidate his rule, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf used soft power to maintain her grip on power and manipulated the election for her preferred candidate in George M. Weah. She effectively used her poster boy at the National Elections Commission in (NEC) Jerome Korkoyah to orchestrate the electoral rigging.

People wondered why she chose to play dirty in a way that robbed her party of the result and deceived other credible individuals who were vying for the highest seat in the homeland. The fact is Madam Sirleaf created a lot of dirt during her twelfth years of misrule. She wanted a regime which will be subservient to her and doesn’t undo most of the garbage of concession agreements she signed while she was the head of the state. Read more

Chinese drones in Liberia for geological survey, Sources: APA News, Daily OBSERVER, and Journal du Cameroun

Two modern drones have been brought into Liberia by the Chinese to conduct a geological survey of the country’s mineral resources. It is under the Liberia-China Geological Project, Liberian Geologist at the Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy, Gabriel Saydee told journalists on Wednesday. Saydee said the mapping survey is intended to develop a modern mineral map for Liberia. The current survey is the final stage of the National Geological Mapping Program under which a physical geophysical survey is being conducted across the country. The survey which will commence in early March 2018, and completed at the end of May will be conducted with the use of an unmanned ‘drone’ equipped with specialized instruments to pick up magnetic anomalies. According to Mr. Saydee, samples will be picked up in every river and stream across the country and sent to China to determine their mineral content.  Read more

Ebola effects on Liberia health system 'killed more than virus', Sources: AFP, Daily Mail, Jamaica Observer, and The Citizen

The devastating effect of Ebola on Liberia's fragile health system may have killed more people than the virus itself, a new study says, many of them pregnant women and malaria patients. The West African nation was the worst-hit by the haemorrhagic virus during the 2014-16 outbreak, leaving 4,800 dead and thousands more with lingering symptoms.

The study in the journal PLOS Medicine conducted by a team from the University of Washington and released late Tuesday found that up to 67 percent of essential primary care disappeared during and immediately after the epidemic. "Pregnant women weren't getting essential antenatal care. Those in labor weren't going to the clinic to give birth but were instead birthing at home," said Bradley Wagenaar, the study's lead author. Read more

PSG's Kylian Mbappe dines with France's Macron, Liberia's Weah, Source: ESPN

Paris Saint-Germain attacker Kylian Mbappe was at the Palais de l'Élysée on Wednesday to have lunch with French president Emmanuel Macron and his recently elected Liberian counterpart, as well as 1995 Ballon d'Or winner, George Weah. The France international was invited, along with the likes of former Chelsea star Didier Drogba and FIFA president Gianni Infantino, to attend the event in the French capital. Speaking with Le Parisien outside of the venue afterwards, Mbappe -- who was born to a Cameroonian father and an Algerian mother -- admitted that he enjoyed the experience. "I learned a lot during this lunch," the 19-year-old said of the lunch that was hosted in English. "There were a lot of lessons and it was a really rewarding experience. 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.

 

 

 

 

Online Headlines