Carrying the Rich Man's Burden
Published: 10 October, 2008
Anxieties have continued to grow in Monrovia about fears the ripples of the global economic meltdown could have on the Liberian economy. Although, with Liberia yet to be affected, some local media have tried to create a hype out of the situation in order to raise awareness with policy-makers and to ensure that there is in place a shock absorber if and when the ripples hit the Liberian economy.
Stop Greedy Business People
Published: 09 October, 2008
For most of the last two weeks, the rice market in Liberia has been experiencing deep confusion. Prices for the commodity had been alternating for various reasons that ranged from shortages, to hoarding and reports of importers seeking price increase from the authorities.
The Problem Facing Ricks
Published: 08 October, 2008
The construction of a refugee camp near a high school institution may not only create insurmountable problems with Ricks Institute, but equally so with farmers and local dwellers in Virginia. Some farmers are already complaining that “they (the refugees) may dig up our cassavas, cut down our palm trees and make other encroachments which might bring about plenty palava…,” one farmer told the Daily Observer in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
Answering a Teacher's Call
Published: 07 October, 2008
On Sunday, October 5, 2008, millions of teachers around the world celebrated the World Teachers' Day 2008, under the theme: “Teachers Matter!” This is a theme that fits well for Liberia, where illiteracy is high and seen as a scourge that needs to be remedied.
Avoiding Short Cuts to Justice
Published: 03 October, 2008
It would appear that after the long period of political upheaval and civil war marred by parochial governing systems, most Liberians have become oblivious that the court is the final arbiter of all matters. People hardly want to take matters before the courts but if they did, they would want their will to prevail against the law.
Reversing the Gloom of the Health Sector
Published: 02 October, 2008
This week, while appearing on a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) television show 'The World Debate', President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf made yet another revealing comment about the deteriorating health conditions Liberians face.
Morlu's Revelations Are Troubling
Published: 01 October, 2008
Since coming out of prison at the National Security Agency (NSA), Mr. Mulbah Morlu of the opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) has been telling tales of torture that no one in these times and under this administration would imagine do exist here and now.
Engender Respect for Your Government
Published: 30 September, 2008
It would seem that Liberians in authority hold high respect for the authority of foreign institutions than they do for their own, and they obviously do so not because of respect but because of their own selfish needs.
Putting TRC Intent Back on Course
Published: 29 September, 2008
There is a need for the Commissioners of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to remind citizens, particularly those who have been called to testify before the TRC, that lying and posturing should stop at the doors of the TRC. Anyone who enters the forum ought to know that truth only is anticipated.
Raise Army Awareness on Change of 'Fortune’
Published: 26 September, 2008
On Friday, August 29, 2008, the Ministry of National Defense and its international partners, including the United States Government, produced a colorful ceremony at Edward Beyan Kessely Barracks, graduating 498; the fifth and last class of nearly 2,000 new army officers. These are men and women recruited under very highly rated vetting standards and tutored by military experts from the United States Army.
Encourage and Protect Whistle Blowers
Published: 25 September, 2008
On Wednesday, September 24, 2008, authorities at the Ministry of Justice were expected to return a young man to his job at the National Port Authority (NPA) where he was dismissed for exposing corrupt practices in October 2007.
Making Sanitation a Guidepost
Published: 24 September, 2008
A report appearing in the Daily Observer this week threw some light on conditions employed by cooks in the marketplaces and on the sidewalks. The “conditions are unsanitary, and badly in need of the recognition of health, cleanliness and safety.”
We Applaud Mbeki for the Unexpected
Published: 23 September, 2008
One of the trickiest mechanisms African politicians have been wrestling with since the wind of change blew in democracy along the continent has been how to get rid of a political leader or a Head of State who had lost his touch without applying a Shakespearean tragedy; and vis-à-vis how a leader should bow to the wishes of the people.
Negative Signals from the Capitol
Published: 22 September, 2008
It is hoped that members of the Liberian Legislature would have by now learned that their powers are derived from the people. This is because legislators are the direct representatives of the people; they certainly enjoy more constitutional powers than the two other branches of government. Actually, the Liberian Constitution is patterned that way as its framers recognized the need for popular democracy could be felt if only people's power rests with the people's direct representatives.
Hats off to the ‘Blue Helmets’
Published: 19 September, 2008
Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Palestine, Sudan and a couple of other conflict spots around the world dominate global news daily. There are deaths and destruction at scales, some so alarming; they beat the imagination of the average man on just about the level of hatred that drives such madness.
Not Allowing ACC as a Political Tool
Published: 18 September, 2008
Frances Johnson-Morris, chairperson of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), struggled as hard as she could to wipe out the controversy that marred her appointment and subsequent confirmation hearing at the Liberia Senate, as she made her remarks Wednesday, September 17, 2008, following the ACC commissioning ceremony. The ACC head tried to win confidence from every sector of the society by seeking collaboration from civil society, the media and the justice system while assuring Liberians that there would be no “sacred cow”.
Two Wrongs Do Not Make One Right
Published: 17 September, 2008
Legislative contempt has long been a weapon used by both Members of the House and Senate to keep citizens under control or to be subservient and obedient to them. Under the 1847 Constitution, one was dragged before the House or Senate and taken before the Judiciary Committee where a citizen was charged with alleged wrongdoing by a Member and after few questions he or she, at the stroke of the gavel, was held in contempt. Fines or jail sentences were imposed or whatever penalty the Body deemed necessary. That is to say, the Legislative body served as accuser, judge and jury and the accused was never afforded a lawyer.
Fragility of national security needs should be meticulously observed by city authorities, particularly in Monrovia, before certain regulations are put in place, owing to the huge outburst of the city's population and the inadequacy of services with a potential to flare up commotion.
Wrong Guards on Guide
Published: 15 September, 2008
When the announcement to the Western Cluster bid was made late last year, only those who handled the bid, if any, believed that South Africa-based Delta Mining Company (DMC) had indeed won the bid. But things started to get messy for the eventual winner after President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf had announced in her Annual Address last January that the “bid winner” was going be submitted to “due diligence”.
UL Reopening Deserves Urgency
Published: 12 September, 2008
In the last few weeks, different groupings of students at the University of Liberia (UL) have been expressing their frustration over the prolonged closure of academic activities at the government-owned tertiary institution. At least one group has voiced how it was prepared to take the government to court to compel the reopening of the University. This week, another student group, the Student Integration Movement (SIM) threatened it would stage a mid-night march if only to force the hands of the authorities at the University to recommence academic activities.
Market Must Go Beyond Structures
Published: 11 September, 2008
Throughout Wednesday, September, 9, 2008, President Ellen Johnson had gone around Monrovia and its environs dedicating four renovated market buildings that had been refurbished by Sirleaf Market Women Fund (SMWF).
This week, several civil society organizations have vented their stack disapproval to the appointment of members of the Anti-corruption Commission by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on what they termed lack of “broad-based” civil society consultation. The President's action, the groups think, does not only go against the principle of good governance, but also undermines the integrity and independence of the Commission.
Too Much Ado about Nothing
Published: 08 September, 2008
On Wednesday, September 3, 2008, National Elections Commission (NEC) chairman, James Fromayan, sounded a caveat that local elections, which have been pending for technical reasons since 2006 and the 2011 general and presidential elections, face hitches. At least two basics were named; new threshold for constituencies following the 2008 census that puts Liberia's population to 3.4 million and delimiting boundaries. The former would lead to voters' registration.
Fear that the public hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) would open old wounds and spark off renewed conflict among former warring parties, conflicting ethnic groups or perpetrators and victims loomed last week, as key protagonists shared sharp differences over testimony of Senior Senator Prince Johnson, the former leader of the splinter rebel movement, Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL), which captured and slain former President Samuel Doe on September 9, 1990.
Anti-corruption Commission’s Task: No Boss, No Pal
Published: 03 September, 2008
Liberia may turn the corner in its drive to stamp out corruption, probably the worst scourge in the public and private sector that is responsible not only for under-developing the resource-rich country but has left it submerged in poverty and bereft with illiteracy. Turning that corner rests with a group of five.
Thing to Tackle but Ignored
Published: 02 September, 2008
Not many Liberians believe that national institutions, policies and laws in this country do work. It is common to hear people at street corners refuse to adhere to public ordinance on the grounds that the regulations may not hold. Sometimes those in authorities tend to blame these acts of public disorder on the breakdown of law and order as a result of war.
Following the Example of Our Friends
Published: 01 September, 2008
The recent event in the United States which has brought to a fulfillment of Martin Luther King's dream should not go unnoticed by us in Liberia. Indeed we are aware that Liberians are watching very closely the current political race in America and as such we ought to relate the American situation to our own recent past and learn from that and as we move forward from NOW we, like Obama, may say loud and clear: “It is not about me; it is about you.”
Dealing with 'Elusion and Denial' at TRC
Published: 29 August, 2008
Testimony on Wednesday, August 27, 2008, by Sekou Damate Conneh, former leader of the defunct Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) thematic and institutional hearings, seemed to enrage most of the audience at the Centennial Pavilion.
Saving a Nation Rife with Conflict
Published: 28 August, 2008
Nimba and Grand Gedeh counties had either been the hotbeds for most of the series of civil wars fought in the country over the last one and a half decades or the people from both counties were made to face each other on opposing sides.
Making Liberia a Better Place
Published: 27 August, 2008
For many years voting in Liberia was done by eligible voters meeting at designated places for election and as the voter's name is called from the voters' roll, he goes and stands behind the candidate he is supporting. In later years, the government dropped the system and adopted voting by secret ballot. This manner of voting was first introduced by South Australia in 1856.
Paying Tribute To Our Leaders
Published: 26 August, 2008
Yesterday, Flag Day celebrations brought to memory the heroic deeds of many of Liberia's stalwart sons. Among them is Edwin Barclay who has been referred to by historian Dr. Joseph Guannu as “A Good Liberian Leader.” To hear a Liberian leader referred to as a “Good Leader” is a rare tribute these days ever paid a Liberian politician by a Liberian citizen.
This is an opportune time to celebrate the hoisting of the Liberian Flag and seriously reflect on its true meaning. As we prepare ourselves to sing the “Lone Star forever” on Sunday, Flag Day, we should ask ourselves whether we have been true to our national emblem in the last 25 years of our lives; ask ourselves whether we have been true Color Bearers.
Liberians are looking for a change for the better and the current administration, though it is fervently striving to effect that change, is yet to meet the expectations of majority of Liberians in several areas. No one is asking for a quick impact or a magic wand but most people look up to a bare minimum impact that available resources at the disposal of the administration could meet.
Truth Is Being Dabbled with
Published: 20 August, 2008
Truth at Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) thematic and institutional hearings is either being wrought or delayed. The Commission has a select list of Liberians, not academicians or professionals, but probably those who were 'actors, players and insiders' during the nation's long drawn civil conflict of acute tribal and ethnic underpinnings. But thus far, with a count that has taken leading political activists, a senior army officer in the military regime and a former key warlord during the war, important issues of what went wrong and who had been responsible for those wrongs are being dabbled.
Lesson from Islamabad to Africa
Published: 19 August, 2008
Democrats and the democratic forces would by now still be celebrating in Islamabad and other parts of Pakistan to the announcement by President Pervez Musharraf on Monday, August 18, 2008 that he was stepping down as the country's leader.
The war in Liberia is long over but the killings, many as a result of firearms that were dispensed as a result of the war, continue. More and more people have continued to surrender their lives to armed robbers that are moving around Monrovia and its outlaying communities unhindered.
Pulling on a Cap of Wisdom at the Capitol
Published: 15 August, 2008
The concept of moving Liberia back into the path of self-reliance has certainly dawned on several representatives on Capitol Hill. At least 20 members of the House are co-sponsoring a bill emanating from Lofa County legislator Eugene Fallah Kparkar. The bill seeks to establish a census fund.
Heeding the Surgeon General's Order and Saving Lives
Published: 14 August, 2008
Liberia's health sector faces a daunting challenge of delivering healthcare to a country that does not only lack infrastructure and human resources capacity but its inhabitants also have an inherent attitude to downplay medical prescription and advice.
Guiding Public Perception for Respect of the Law
Published: 13 August, 2008
On Monday, August 11, 2008, riot sparked off in Paynesville, Red Light, Liberia's biggest business district, with a loss of nine lives and cash and goods and several items.
Senate's Actions Need Legal Remedy
Published: 12 August, 2008
The Liberian Senate has been a place of hullabaloo for much of last week. Lawmakers of the Upper Chamber of the Legislature are bickering over the removal of the President Pro-Tempore, Isaac Nyenabo. Discussion on a petition, styled 'resolution', signed by 20 senators, finally surfaced as a legal means to remove the Pro-Temp. The attempt to remove the Pro-Temp failed after two of the signatories to the 'resolution' withdrew their intent.
Too Early for Citizen-Soldier Brush
Published: 11 August, 2008
Over the weekend, local people in the vicinity of Edward Beyan Kessely Barracks complained of actions unbecoming of their soldier neighbors camped in the Barracks.
Beijing 2008, a Global Challenge
Published: 08 August, 2008
Beginning today, at least four billion, nearly two-thirds of the world population would be following the Olympics in Beijing, where 11,000 athletes from more than 200 countries will compete for 1,000 medals in 302 events in the next 17 days.
Africa is finding itself more and more as a continent of unceasing woes. There is the unending conflict in Somalia, inflamed by the brush between their former colonial master Ethiopia and the freed colony of Eritrea in the Horn of Africa.
Firestone: Yet Not A Good Workers' Deal
Published: 06 August, 2008
The workers of Firestone and the management of the company will finalize a collective bargaining agreement by affixing signatures and making it binding on the parties today, Wednesday, August 6, 2008.
A Sham for Tax Exemption
Published: 05 August, 2008
Former Foreign Minister Monie Captan, now General Manager and Chief Executive Officer of COMIUM GSM, has put up a fluid defense for a 20-year tax holiday that his company enjoys.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) had acted to endanger its work on Thursday, July 31, 2008, when it released 'inaccurate' information about the appearance before it of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf tomorrow, Tuesday, August 5, 2008.
We Accept a New Partnership of Mutual Interests and Benefits
Published: 01 August, 2008
On Wednesday, July 30, 2008, United States of America Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. introduced the Liberia Stabilization, Economic Empowerment, Development and Security Act or the Liberia SEEDS Act to the US Congress. The Act is to help Liberia, battered by decades of civil war and political strives, “to sow the seeds of a better and brighter future.”
Ending Western Global Trade Dominance
Published: 31 July, 2008
Reducing poverty, especially in Third World countries does not seem a prerogative for developed countries, mainly the United States of America and the European Union, judging from how the latest round of trade talks collapsed in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday, July 29, 2008.
Clear the Doubts Surrounding BRE Deal
Published: 30 July, 2008
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has already sentenced to death the deal that grants 100 percent tax waiver to Buchanan Renewable Energies (BRE) by the National Investment Commission (NIC) and before the House of Representatives under scrutiny.
Last week the city was alarmed by the uncivilized behavior of some students at the AMEU campus - behavior which had to be put under control by inviting the police on the campus to set free the Minister of Education Dr. Joseph Korto and the Chairman of the National Elections Commission (NEC), Mr. James Fromoyan, who had been forcibly held hostage by disgruntled students.
Know Yourself to Change Yourself
Published: 28 July, 2008
Another July 26 Orator has come again to challenge his fellow Liberians on the need for change, especially name changing. In 1972 Dr. Edward Kesselley aroused Liberians to change the Liberian flag; downgrade Matilda Newport. Two days ago Orator Sakui Malakpa during his Independence Day Discourse, called upon Liberians to “rise from their intellectual slumber… reflect on our national reality and reverse history by renaming our capital.”
Learning Again to Be Self-reliant and Independent
Published: 25 July, 2008
On Tuesday, July 22, 2008, the President led an array of her officials to break grounds for a new US$700,000 cultural center in Ben's Town, Marshall, Lower Margibi County.
Lending Steam to Corruption Control
Published: 23 July, 2008
The current administration is basking in the glorious light of honor having been patted on the back by the World Bank on progress made in the fight against corruption, which has been a commitment along with “papa na come” that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf made during her inaugural address as key to her Government's pursuits.
Peace before Justice, a Better Way
Published: 21 July, 2008
A debate has arisen in international forums regarding the action of the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague of seeking to indict the President of Sudan on charges of war crimes and genocide.
These Are Not Robbers, They Are Destabilizers
Published: 18 July, 2008
After terrorizing citizens for almost 10 days and 10 nights, stealing what they can and beating up whom they wish, a group of armed individuals who operate under the cloak of darkness, have brazenly attempted to put citizens on their guard by serving notice of their nocturnal visitations. The purported armed robbers are now dropping leaflets into communities telling them that they will visit the area next week for their “26”.
A Foothold on Remembering the Ugly Past
Published: 17 July, 2008
On Tuesday, July 15, 2006, many survivors of the Sunday, July 29, 1990 St. Peter Lutheran Church massacre gathered at the Church's 14th Street edifice in Sinkor, where 600 of nearly 2,000 displaced people were massacred by troops loyal to slain President Samuel Kanyon Doe.
End the Terror, Liberians Deserve Peace
Published: 16 July, 2008
There is a grave mood of frustration, growing fear and anger building up in the residents of Paynesville as the entire area has become a nightly hunting ground for thieves, murderers and rapists.
Recently in his political rambling of what those in power are doing as compared to what other politicians not currently in power are planning to do in the future, Milton Teahjay said that US$13.7 million is finding its way out of the country on a monthly basis. This amount, according to Teahjay, is sent out of the country by Liberian Government officials.
Several hundred thousand students throughout the nation were let out on the streets last Friday to begin a two-month vacation. A few of them have begun vacation jobs in workplaces in the city but the majority of them has found nothing to do and may while away the time doing nothing.
Give Police Training, Logistics, Incentives and Nothing Else
Published: 11 July, 2008
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's pronouncement at her press conference Wednesday that the Americans and the British had carried out assessment at the Liberia National Police (LNP) in preparation for a planned re-vetting of the 3,500 officers in the restructured police force may have surprised only a few.
At her Press Conference on Wednesday conducted at her Foreign Ministry's office, the President dealt at length on the security condition in the country, particularly covering complaints by many citizens relative to armed robbery and the capability of the police to respond to emergency situation.
J. Milton Teahjay's statement a week and a half ago was received with many reactions from nearly everyone mentioned and others not mentioned in it but it was the reaction from the National Elections Commission (NEC) that should wrack the nerves of those who believe in the principles of democracy.
We Savor a Freedom for Growth
Published: 08 July, 2008
Liberians are relishing their newfound civil liberties so much so that they are, in some regard, over-exercising their rights to these 'freedoms'. At the state-owned University of Liberia, where salaries were delayed in the past for as many as 12 months, instructors last week were threatening strike action because their salaries for June 2008 were being only delayed for a few days. A faculty representative was quoted as saying they were contemplating halting administering the ongoing final exams to nearly 12,000 students, until their salaries were released.
Standards in Liberian schools have been lowering for many decades now but they have, no doubt, worsened in these post-war times. There have been countless complaints from tertiary institutions and other quarters about poor performances of high school graduates bearing genuine credentials.
