monday, january 26, 2014 edition
TRANSCRIPT
-
8/9/2019 Monday, January 26, 2014 Edition
1/18
Corruption Probe Likely For Speaker,
Oil Company, Finance Ministry
Ofcials, 90 Days After Ultimatum
www.frontpageafricaonline.com
PRICE L$40FrontPage
TOP
STORIES pg 12pg6 War Crimes Life Style
VOL 9 NO.16 MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015
CENTRAL BANK OF LIBERIA
MARKET BUYING AND SELLING RATES
LIBERIAN DOLLARS PER US DOLLAR
These are indicative rates based on results of daily surveys of
the foreign exchange market in Monrovia and its environs. The
rates are collected from the Forex Bureaux and the commercials
banks. The rates are not set by the Central Bank of Liberia.
Source:
Research, Policy and Planning Department,
Central Bank Liberia,
Monrovia, Liberia
SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2014 L$84.00/US$1 L$85.00/US$1
BUYING SELLING
L$84.00/US$1 L$85.00/US$1
L$85.00/US$1L$84.00/US$1
FRIDAY , JANUARY 23, 2015
SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 201 5
County News - pg.12
The LAC management has said the cost of the damage is unknown and insist
that currently it is only interested in the health condition of the victims.
LIBERIA AGRICULTURE COMPANY MANAGEMENT PREPARING TO FLY
REMAINING BURN VICTIMS TO GHANA FOR FURTHER TREATMENT
4 VICTIMS DEADAFTER LAC EXPLOSION
p 6 p 9&10
LACC POISEDTO BITE
Despite His Transformation From Rebel General
Transformed To A Man Of God, Joshua Milton
Blaiye, Famously Known As General Butt
Naked Still Looking for relevance, Forgiveness
Ebola Handshake
New Sensation
Liberians weigh on Hash
Punishments for Rapists
LIBERIANHANDSHAKE
GOING EXTINCT
FROM DEATH SENTENCE
TO CASTRATION
HAUNTED BYHIS PAST
-
8/9/2019 Monday, January 26, 2014 Edition
2/18
Page 2 | Frontpage Monday, January 26, 2015
Monrovia-
Mr. Henry Costa, host of the highly-rated
Henry Costa Morning Show is reportedly
the subject of an ongoing investigation by
the National Security Agency(NSA) in the
recent deportation saga of Mr. Sam Fawaz, a Lebanese
national whose mysterious deportation sparked a political
frenzy.
Fawazs surprising return to Monrovia on January 11, 2015
after he was reported to have died in a prison in Lebanon
last year raised questions about the nature of his purported
deportation.
Sources at the NSA conrmed to FrontPageAfrica late
Sunday night the interest in Costa is based on a complaintled by Mr. Sam Fawaz. That is true. There is an active
joint criminal investigation that is ongoing with police and
immigration on how the young man was illegal deported
from Liberia without court proceedings. The basis of this
is a complaint that was led by Mr. Fawaz. Mr. Fawaz
alleges that Mr. Costa played a central role in his illegal
deportation, a senior NSA ofcial speaking on condition
of anonymity told FrontPageAfrica.
The source said a joint investigative team is looking into
kidnapping and criminal conspiracy charges against Mr.
Costa and soon-to-be identied immigration ofcers.
Costa told FrontPageAfrica Sunday that he will not submit
to the probe. I will not submit myself to an NSA-led
politically motivated witch hunt under the guise of a
human trafcking investigation. They will have to use forceor other means to compel me. Its up to them.
Following Mr. Sam Fawazs return to Liberia earlier this
month, Mr. Lemuel Reeves, the relieved Commissioner
of the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization said the
return meant that the investigation would resume in the
case.
Fawaz reportedly arrived on January 11, 2015 via Royal
Air Maroc using his Lebanese passport. Fawaz who had
earlier claimed that he was a Liberian, reportedly arrived
in Liberia using a Lebanese passport with a Liberian visa
reportedly issued in Morocco. He had reportedly used the
same passport to depart Liberia last June.
It is unclear whether BIN commissioner Reeves and
other BIN ofcials who had been accused of forcing the
deportation of Sam Fawaz will also form part of the NSA
probe. But NSA sources say many have already been called
in for questioning under the supervision of the Ministry of
Justice.
But Reeves did tell FPA after Fawazs return that he felt
vindicated after numerous reports had suggested that the
BIN had kidnapped and deported Mr. Fawaz from Liberia.We will continue with our investigation, but this will clear
my name. It is now clear that I did not deport Mr. Fawaz as
was reported. The fact that they said he was deported and
even died in Lebanon speaks volume. So I am glad that he
is alive and we can continue with our investigation and all
the facts and allegations surrounding his case can be laid to
rest, Reeves said.
Sam Fawaz had alleged that BIN ofcers handcuffed him
and took all his money away while en route to the airport.
When I got to the airport in Lebanon and they have written
a paper in Arabic that I was deported from Liberia. I am
scared of my safety here; I feel they could jail me at any
time for whatever reason that my uncle could make up to
keep me away from Liberia and SSF..
Sam Fawaz claimed that his uncle Shawki Fawaz of SSFhad denied him (Sam Fawaz) his legitimate share of the
company. He said the company (SSF) was registered in
his name because his uncle wanted the company to be a
Liberian-owned. Sam said he is a Liberian by birth, because
his mother is a Liberian and his father who is now deceased,
was a Lebanese and the senior brother to Shawki Fawaz.
Sam had complained that his Uncle Shawki Fawaz robbed
him of carrying his biological father's name when he was
a child. "My uncle got me a Liberian passport when I was
under aged following the death of my father. He gave me
his full names, making me to be his son and his junior boy.
My biological name was changed, I did not carry my dad's
name, I was compared to carry Shawki Fawaz full name
because he wanted to benet from my God's given birth
rights as a Liberian".
Sam said when he reached the age of maturity and decided
to engage his uncle on the matter and demanded that he
be given his share of the company, his uncle refused and
threatened to use his money and contact in Liberia to
deport him. "My uncle, Shawki and his media agent Costa
arranged for my deportation; they bribe the immigrationcommissioner, my poor Liberian mother and deported me
midnight on Air Maroc. The BIN ofcers used a weapon to
threaten me while they were taking me to the airport," he
claimed.
The issue of Human Trafcking has of late been a major
international issue for Liberia.
According to the 2014 U.S. Department of State Trafcking
in Person (TIP) report on Liberia, GoL was taken to task for
not fully complying with the minimum standards for the
elimination of trafcking but that it is making signicant
efforts to do so as it pointed out that Liberia remains a
source, transit and destination country for men, women, and
children subjected to forced labor and sex trafcking.
The report said most trafcking victims originate from
and are exploited within the countrys borders, wherethey are subjected to domestic servitude, forced begging,
sex trafcking, or forced labor in street vending, rubber
plantations, and alluvial diamond/gold mines.
In the wake of that report eyebrows were raised over
the sudden release from the Monrovia Central Prison of
Anthony Kassabli, 44, and his father Edmund Dib Kassabli,
81. The older Kassabli is reportedly back in Lebanon.
-
8/9/2019 Monday, January 26, 2014 Edition
3/18
FrontpageMonday, January 26, 2015 Page 3
FrontPagev
v
Commentary
EDITORIAL
THE LIBERIA ANTI-CORRUPTION Commission has
done a remarkable job in recent time, investigating and
making recommendations for individuals to face prosecution
for their alleged role played in acts of corruption and other
related offenses.
AN ONGOING INVESTIGATION by the LACC involving
the Speaker of the House of Representatives, J. Alex Tyler
regarding a payment through the National Oil Company of
Liberia was recently used as a basis by some lawmakers to
push for the removal of the speaker.
MORE THAN TWO regular sessions of the House of
Representatives were disrupted by lawmakers calling
for Speaker Tyler to clear his name from the LACC
investigation before presiding over the deliberations by the
rst branch of government.
TRULY THE CONCERNS by these lawmakers were
legitimate as the allegations involving the speaker has
bearing on the integrity of the National Legislature and not
Tyler as an individual.
WITHIN FEW DAYS the LACC again invited Deputy
Speaker Hans Barchue and Representative Edwin
Snowewho are believed to have received an amount of
US$1,200,000 from NOCAL on behalf of the Legislature
for the nationwide consultations on oil laws for reform in
the countrys emerging oil sector.
THE LATEST SERIES of LACC investigations come
after the Commission recently released a long list of
individuals including Speaker Alex Tyler, Mr. Clemenceau
Urey, J. Milton Teahjay, David Kortee, amongst others
and forwarded the names to the Ministry of Justice for
prosecution.
SINCE THE LACC made the recommendations last
October, the rubber stamped Ministry of Justice
is yet to act; supporting the culture of impunity in the ght
against corruption as some of those named for prosecution
including, former Superintendent Teahjay has won as
senator of Sinoe County.
FORMER JUSTICE MINISTER, CLLR. Christina Tah in
her letter of resignation boldly stated that the Ministry was
not getting the needed resources and cooperation to do its
work and she could not hold on.
THE PERVASIVE TREND now in Liberia is awarding
individuals accused of corruption with elective and other
high prole appointed positions, a slap in the face of the
ght against the age- old menace.
INACTION BY THE Ministry of Justice on
recommendations by the LACC is reducing the entity to a
mere paper tiger entity but we believe that the commission
must not waiver in its ght against corruption, whether its
recommendations are implemented or not.
THE LACC MUST push further with more investigations,
making public its nding as the Liberian public and the
world at large will have the opportunity to judge the
commission based on its work and not what the Ministry of
Justice fails to do with the Commissions recommendations .
IN THE SAME vein, while we call on the commission to
COMMENTARY
LACC MUSTREMAIN ABOVE
THE FRAY
Martin K. N. Kollie Youth Activist,[email protected], Contributing Writer
A MARRIAGE BETWEEN PROMISE AND PRETENSE:
CABINET RETREAT WITHOUT ACTION IS WORTHLESS
Retreat for cabinet members and heads of public
agencies is a regular phenomenon in almost every
country. During this time, key stakeholders within
the Executive Branch of government meet to
review governments overall performance with specic focus
on sectorial successes and challenges. In addition, forecasting
of achievable development targets and operational goals
is done. Unfortunately in Liberia, our cabinet ministers and
heads of agencies are best known for setting undoable targets
and projecting unrealistic plans. False impression is taking us
nowhere. Deception only creates more harm for those who are
at the very bottom of the economic ladder.
Liberia is a country of pseudo dreamers whose vision is
driven by unfruitful promises and pretense. Every time they
congregate at such meeting, most of them give fake progress
reports that do not even reect existing realities. The major
concern of some of them is how they will be retained after the
"Step Up or Step Down" policy is applied by the President.
Instead of giving more attention to the essence of the retreat,
they are found searching for unmerited favor by creating false
impression about who they are and what they intend to do. This
is really sad and our leaders must graduate from this stage!
During each cabinet retreat, a marriage between promise and
pretense does exist. Everyone becomes concern about who
stays or goes. What good does it make for Senior Ministers,
Deputy, Assistant Ministers, and heads of agencies to attend
retreat every year when they make no big difference or impact
after such an event is held? I thought occasion like this is
intended to critically review the past and advance realistic
strategies to improve the present and prepare for the future.
It makes no sense to misuse taxpayers money to conduct an
annual retreat that continues to bring fruitless outcome. It is
just unwise to do one thing over and over without reaping any
positive result.
Where are the socio-economic dividends as a result of this
retreat? What can Liberians show from past retreats? Nothing
new for Liberians has come out of this occasion since its
inception. This gathering in my mind is only meant to satisfy
the socio-economic appetite of top government ofcials and
deceive those who are unaware about their sinister agenda.
Liberia does not need bunch of copy and paste theories, but a
genuine recovery plan that reects a total semblance of public
participation and grassroot identity.
The people need action and not empty promises. They are
weary with sweet words and accurate pronunciations. Good
governance goes beyond education and until those who call
themselves leaders can recognize this fact, our countrysdevelopment agenda will forever shift downward. It is no
longer about what you have learnt, but it is about what people
can benet from what you have learnt.
The rst precondition to national leadership is Patriotism. An
unpatriotic educated President is the most dangerous citizen
of any country. An unnationalistic educated Minister or
Lawmaker is the most terrible steward any nation can have. I
careless about how many degrees a person has, but care more
about what impact those degrees can make to elevate ordinary
lives out of acute poverty and abject adversity.
The real meaning of cabinet retreat has lost its taste in Liberia
as key State actors within the Executive Branch continue to
misuse this medium to merry-make and exhibit self-seeking
characters. Even though there has been series of such
assembly, but nothing has changed substantively. Almost
every sector of government remains weak today as a result of
non-implementation and non-adherence to public policy. The
development objective of Liberia is far from realization due to
policy failure and scal indiscipline.
The two-day retreat that was held in Julijuah Town, Bomi
County on January 20, 2015 was not only a mere bluff, but
another means for this regime to further expose its real image
of dishonesty, deception, and insincerity to its people. Nothing
new was said that we have not heard since 2006. The same old
story was told by those same unreliable voices, but this time
around in different location. Solution to any national problem
cannot come through rhetoric, but genuine deed.
Liberians are anxiously waiting to benet from the Poverty
Reduction Strategy, Lift Liberia, Agenda for Transformation,
Vision 2030, and other socio-economic plans of this
government, but to no avail. Poverty is increasing daily as
access to basic social services remains a serious challenge. The
purchasing power, life-expectancy, and food security of our
people remain very low while the rate of unemployment, social
insecurity, and illiteracy remains high. I need not to mention
health and sanitation! Our concern now is, why must they
continue to attend cabinet retreats when nothing is changing?
Are they not aware that Liberia is one of the four poorest
countries on earth? We are tired about too many meetings and
plenty talks that are not germinating into concrete deliverables.
The creation of more policies without implementation is not
helping us. Policies can only become good when policy-makers
ensure they are fully implemented. What good does it make to
develop an excellent framework without achieving its targets?
It is time for our leaders to rethink their strategy in order to
liberate Liberia from its current status. The accomplishment
of people-driven initiatives will help promote economic
expansion, political sustainability, and social coherence. The
paradigm needs to change if our nation must make genuine
progress.
It is time to end a longstanding marriage between promise and
pretense. The period to nally divorce deceit and falsehood
is now. The primitive relationship between deprivation and
discrimination must cease to exist. It is time to bury greed and
unpatriotism forever. For too long hypocrisy and conspiracyhave slept in the same bed. For more than nine (9) years now,
corruption and nepotism are still dinning together. After two
successive democratic elections, elitism and sectarianism are
marching hand in hand. We must do all we can to put a halt
to bad governance. The chain of poverty and unemployment
must be broken if Liberia must once more be seen as sweet
land of liberty.
Above all interests, Liberia is Supreme!
Politics Should Not Get In
The WayLiberia
continue its good work, we also caution the LACC to remain
above the fray and not allow its work to turn political where
the commission will be used by politicians to go at each
others throat.
IN LIBERIA, POLITICS stands in the way of every good
thing as politicians use their power and wealth to manipulate
and change the course of everything, even making a credible
and independent entity to revert to politics.
THE PRESIDENCY OF Liberia is so powerful that the
interest of the president is always protected at all levels, and
we caution the LACC to not allow its work get contaminated
by politics , its investigation must be based on necessity and
not otherwise.
THE STRINGS OF investigations currently being done by
the LACC are welcoming but must not in any way become a
tool for lawmakers to begin in house ghting using the work
of the LACC as a tool. The Commission must work to ensure
that its work is not wrongly used to feud internal wrangling
but rather one that i s necessary.
ADDITIONALLY THE LACC must avoid commissioning
investigation based on the wishes of people; politicians must
not use the LACC to conduct investigations to suit their quest
for something.
ON THIS NOTE, we are calling on the LACC to continue its
work and at the same time avoiding politics from inuencing
its duciary responsibilities to the Liberian people.
-
8/9/2019 Monday, January 26, 2014 Edition
4/18
-
8/9/2019 Monday, January 26, 2014 Edition
5/18
FrontpageMonday, January 26, 2015 Page 5
FRONTPAGE
CORRUPTION WATCHMonrovia -
The Liberia Anti-
Corruption
Commission (LACC)
is poised to undertake
the prosecution of all those
indicted for corruption by the
Commission if the JusticeMinistry fails to do so. This,
according to the Chairman of the
Anti- Corruption Commission,
Attorney James Verdier Jr. in
an exclusive interview with our
staff writer. This could mean thatSpeaker Tyler, RepresentativeAdoph Lawrence, newly-elected
Sinoe County Senator Milton
Teahjay and others could get
booted from the legislature
to face trial. The prosecution
dragnet could also include
the Managing Director of theLiberia Petroleum Rening
Company (LPRC) executives
of the National Oil Company
(NOCAL), and ofcials at the
Ministry of Finance.
Verdiers declaration, if
carried out, could shake up thegovernment and breathe a new
breath of life in the publics
quest for corrupt ofcials to
be brought to justice and for
the problem of widespread
corruption in government to
be addressed. Corruption hasremained a serious problem in
government and continues to
undermine the countrys post
war recovery and reconstruction.
The countrys infrastructure and
social services remain in ruins
as government ofcials continueto amass personal wealth, amid
government failure to hold
anyone accountable. Many
commentators even blame the
failure of the countrys health
care system to address the recent
Ebola outbreak on corruptionthat has siphoned resources away
from building a robust health
care system.It has been about 90 days
since the Anti-Corruption
Commission presented its
ndings to the Ministry ofJustice with recommendations
for prosecution. And, as has
happened in the past, the Ministry
has taken no action towards
charging and prosecuting the
ofcials. Several ofcialsindicted in the past, either by the
Anti-Corruption Commission or
the Auditing Commission and
presented to the Justice Ministry,
escaped prosecution due to the
Ministrys failure to prosecute.
Verdiers determination topursue prosecutions in spite of
the Justice Ministrys decision
aims to change this situation
and may lead to a major shake-
up in government, including
the removal of House Speaker
Alex Tyler and several otherlegislators and government
ofcials including the Managing
Director of the Liberia Petroleum
Rening Company (LPRC) and
executives of the National Oil
Company (NOCAL). It could
also force the hand of a reluctantMinistry of Justice to actually
prosecute.
Citing the law that established
his commission Verdier noted
that the LACC Act of 2008
(Sections 11.3 & 11.4)gives
the LACC the authority to take
seize of the cases submittedto the Ministry of Justice after
the expiration of 90 days if the
Ministry, for whatever reasons
fails, neglects or reneges on
prosecution. So, the LACC can
on its own prosecute these cases.And we are determined to do
so, we are prepared to proceed
with all of the cases presented to
LACC POISED TO BITE
the MoJ after three (3) months
of non- action on them by
the Justice Ministry, Verdier
declared.It can be recalled that in a press
conference on October 23, the
Chairman of the Liberia Anti-
Corruption Commission, Mr.Verdier revealed the names of
House Speaker Alex Tyler and
Representative Adolf Lawrencefor their role in a questionable
contract and payment deal to
private contractors amounting
to $125,000.00. The LACC boss
also revealed an alleged bribery
scheme involving members of
the Legislature and ofcials ofthe National Oil Company of
Liberia (NOCAL) and named
several government ofcials,
including the Managing Director
of the Liberia Petroleum
Rening Company, Nelson
Williams II, and former SinoeCounty Superintendent and
recently elected Senator Milton
Teahjay. Teahjay was indictedfor nancial irregularities
involving the Sinoe County
development funds while he
served as Superintendent of thatCounty.
SPEAKER TYLER AND
REPRESENTATIVE
LAWRENCE
In the contract deal involving
Speaker Tyler, the House of
Representatives reportedly hired
three lawyers, one Ghanaian (for
$75,000.00) and two Liberian
lawyers for (25,000.00 each) to
review the Petroleum law thatwas passed by the Senate and sent
to the House of Representativesfor concurrence. According to
Speaker Tyler, the National Oil
Company (NOCAL) should
have paid the contractors but
when NOCAL said it was notprepared to pay, Speaker Tyler
said he paid the three contractors
from his personal nances.
According to chairman Verdier
of the LACC the purported
contracts with the three lawyers
were entered into withoutgoing through the public
bidding process as required by
law, to ensure transparency,
equal opportunity and that the
government got the best services
for the least amount. The LACC
also questioned why Speaker
Tyler allegedly used his personalmoney to pay the contractors.
It is a violation of the Financial
Management Law of Liberia for
anyone to use his or her personal
money to nance public activities,
if that is what was actually done.Additionally, the contract was
not opened to a public bidding
process, as required by the
Public Procurement Law. As
you may know, the amount in
question (125,000.00) exceeds
the threshold at which a publicbidding process is required.
In fact the decision to pay the
contractors before any work was
performed is also in violationof government contracting rules
that payments be made only after
performance.Responding to the LACCs
indictment, Speaker Tylers ofce
issued a statement noting that
the decision of the Chairperson
of the LACC to select the court
of public opinion as opposed
to following the powers andfunctions as enshrined in the Act
is inappropriate and outside the
spirit of good governance.
But in an interview with our staff
writer LACC Chairman Verdier
rejected those claims by Speaker
Tyler and RepresentativeLawrence that they were not
contacted by the LACC and that
the Commission chose the courtof public opinion. All of those
accused by us and recommended
for prosecution are people we've
interrogated including the caseinvolving Speaker Alex Tyler and
Rep. Adolf Lawrence. Verdier
emphasized that the LACC under
his leadership will not engage in
the business of making back door
deals and covering up corruptacts. Corruption is a matter that
affects the public therefore acts
of corruption will be brought to
the public, not handled through
back-door dealings.
Meanwhile, according to a
source with knowledge of theLACC'S case against Speaker
Tyler, the corrupt deal wasexposed in a tip- off to the
LACC. The source who asked
not to be named because of his
relationship with the legislators
involved said RepresentativeAdolf Lawrence was arrested by
ofcers of the LACC at a local
bank where he had gone along
with one of the contractors to in
cash one of the checks involved
in the deal. I dont know what
they are arguing about but theman was caught red-handed right
in the bank", our source said.
REPRESENTATIVES
DEMAND SPEAKER
REMOVAL ON
CORRUPTION
ALLEGATIONS
Recently several legislators
including former Speaker Edwin
Snowe, Montserrado County
representative Henry Fahnbulleh,
among others called for the
Speaker to step aside and tomake himself available to answer
to the allegations by the LACC.
They also disrupted the session
of the House of Representatives
when Speaker Tyler refused to
recognize them and to include
the corruption allegations onthe Houses agenda. Several
community and social justice
activists have hailed the efforts
of the legislators to bring theircolleagues to account for their
corrupt actions.
NOCAL- LEGISLATORS
BRIBERY SYNDICATE
Addressing what appeared to
be a bribery syndicate between
some lawmakers and ofcials
of the National Oil Company(NOCAL) that could also
implicate other legislators,
Verdier said the case involves
about $168,000.00 allegedly paid
to legislators by the National Oil
Company to get the lawmakers
to ratify oil contracts, describingthe payments as bribes.
According to the LACC
Chairman former NOCAL BoardChairman Clemenceau Urey and
Counselor Stephen Dumbar are
to be charged and prosecuted
for bribery, misapplication ofentrusted properties, criminal
facilitation, criminal conspiracy
and economic sabotage for the
amount of $50,000.00, while
Dr. Foday Kromah and Mrs.
Marie Parker, all membersof the NOCAL Board, are
recommended for prosecution
for bribery, criminal facilitation,
criminal conspiracy and
economic sabotage for the
amount of $118,400.00 also paid
out to lawmakers. The reportalso recommends that former
representative Alomiza EnnosBarr be charged for criminal
facilitation and misapplication
and bribery for the amount of
$40,000.00.
Urey admitted to payingUS$50,000.00 to un-named
members of the legislature
and revealed that other oil
company executives also paid
U.S$118,000.00 to legislators to
vote for oil contracts.
SENATOR MILTON
TEAHJAY
Recently elected Sinoe County
Senator Milton Teahjay,
who previously served
as Superintendent of that
county, was recommendedfor prosecution for the
Misapplication of Entrusted
Property; Misuse of Public
money, property or Record; Theft
and/or Illegal Disbursement
and Expenditure of PublicMoney for un-authorizingly
using, disbursing and expending
without any evidence and or
documentation relating to the
usage of the following amounts
while serving as Superintendent
of Sinoe.(a)US$50,000 representing
30% SHARE OF LAND
RENTAL fees paid by Forestry
concessionaire for developmentpurposes;
(b) US$12,000 representing part
of proceeds realized from salesof rubber seized from illegal
tappers from the SRC plantation;
Teahjah, according to the
LACC also violated the Public
procurement Act of 2005 and its
Regulation #003 of the Schedule
of Threshold by awardingcontract without going through
the legally required public
bidding process. Some of the
contracts:
(a)Greenville City Electrication
Contract, (b)James E. Greene
Sports Stadium (c)DiyankpoAdministration Building (d)
Kunwiah Clinic (e)Pyne Town
Administration Building (f)Numonpo County District
Administration Building.
LPRC MANAGING
DIRECTOR
The LACC also recommended
that the Managing Director
of the Liberia Petroleum
Rening Company Mr. T.Nelson Williams, II be charged
and prosecuted for violating
Section 138 of the PPCC Act
for awarding a 13,000,000.00
(thirteen Million U.S. Dollars)
contract to Aminata & Sons for
the sale of petroleum productsunder a Japanese Oil Grant
without public bidding, asrequired by law. In March
2014 the Government of Japan
provided a grant of one billion,
one hundred million Japanese
Yen (1,100,000,000), to theGovernment of Liberia as part of
its contribution to the economic
and social development of
Liberia.
MINISTRY OF FINANCE
DON KAN GAS STATION
DEAL
The LACC also recommended
the prosecution of Hon.
Sekou Kanneh on the charge
of FORGERY (Subchapter E
subsection 15.70 of the Liberian
Penal Code relating to Forgery orCounterfeiting, and Amos Kun,
Director of Compliance/ASU/
at the Ministry of Finance for
Criminal Facilitation in keeping
with 10.2: Criminal facilitation
for his failure to properly advisethe Comptroller General on the
deciency of the voucher despite
the fact that he was aware that
Corruption Probe Likely For Speaker, Oil Company, Finance Ministry Ofcials, 90 Days After Ultimatum
Cllr. Verdier
the voucher was fraudulent.
Mr. Boom Wilson, former
Comptroller General was also
recommended for prosecution
for Gross Negligence of Dutyfor his failure to exercise due
diligence in the performance of
his duty relating to the payment
of a fake voucher.
The Commission is also
recommending Mr. David Kortee
for prosecution for allegedlyreceiving money from the
Government of Liberia through
the Ministry of Public Works to
carryout public relations work
which the LACC says was never
performed.
According to Mr. Verdier hiscommission is also investigating
among other cases, a.) Contract
and payment for alleged dredging
of Liberia Sea Port by the
NPA; as well as circumstances
surrounding transportation of
US$30,000 by an ofcial of theLAA.
AMENDING LACC LAW
Verdier said his Commission is
also pushing to amend the anti-
corruption law so as to givehis commission the authority
to initiate prosecution without
having to wait for 90 days for
the Ministry of Justice to act
or not act. This provision is a
bad law because within 90 days
all kinds of things can happenthat can undermine effective
and successful prosecution;
besides this is an unnecessary
bureaucracy that underminesthe ght against corruption
and creates duplication in the
functions of the LACC andthe Ministry of Justice, with
unnecessary costs to taxpayers.
Many anti-corruption and
community activists and
observers have expressed doubts
that Verdiers efforts to amendthe law will succeed. They
expressed doubts that President
Sirleaf or the Legislature
will move to change the law.
Changing the law requires the
support of President Sirleaf and
she or her administration has notdemonstrated that commitment to
ghting corruption. It mostly has
been lip service; said Alphonso
Nyenuh, a Liberian human
rights activist based in the US.
Mr. Nyenuh noted that though
there is separation of powersbetween the Executive and the
Legislature, the Executive sets
the tone and if the Executive
shows, as it has done, that it
is not committed to ghting
corruption, the legislature
and the other branches willfollow suit. Remember, it is the
Executive that must prosecute so
if people nd that they will not
get prosecuted for corruption
then they can go ahead and
commit corrupt acts. If President
Sirleaf wants to change the lawand give the LACC more teeth
she can do what she has done inthe past to pass laws she favored.
She can get legislators from her
party and others she has used in
the past, to pass the amendment.
Nyenuh noted that this case is amajor test to the government's
seriousness about ghting
corruption. He praised President
Sirleaf's recent statementssee page 6
-
8/9/2019 Monday, January 26, 2014 Edition
6/18
Page 6 | Frontpage Monday, January 26, 2015
Tecee Boley, [email protected]
FRONTPAGE
LIFESTYLE
ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY, INC.
Eta Epsilon Lambda ChapterMonrovia, Liberia
West Africawww.APA1906.net
Phone: 077600-1906
T. Nelson Williams, II
President & Area Director, West Africa
Emmett Walker
Vice President
Founders
Henry A. Callis Charles H. Chapman Eugene K. Jones George B. Kelley Nathaniel A. Murray Robert H. Ogle Vertner W. Tandy
Alpha Phi Alpha Press Release
A National call Against Rape & Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV)
MONROVIA, January 26, 2015, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Eta Epsilon Lambda Chapter of Liberia, isdeeply saddened by the news of the brutal and violent rape of a little 12 year old female, resulting in her death
on January 18, 2015 and all other rape victims and survivors. Alpha Phi Alpha condemns this brutal andinhumane act predicated upon the most vulnerable among us.
The alleged perpetrator is reported to be a man in his 40s. He must be exposed and dealt with to the fullest
extent of the law.
While the nation slowly struggles to defeat the deadly Ebola virus which has taken all our energy, resources and
time, wicked persons have seized the moments to perpetrate senseless and violent crimes against women and
girls, including toddlers and infants. As a nation experiencing 11 years of peace, we cannot and must not allow
this to continue and will must and act loudly against it.
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. re-echoes its message of NO MEANS NO and emphatically declares yet
again, that there is no place in our society for rape and other sexual and gender based violence. Rape and sexualabuse are unacceptable and intolerable at all times and must remain so in Liberia!
We will work to see that justice is carried out to the full extent of the law against the perpetrator(s) of this
heinous crime and will not stop until we see justice is carried out. We will employ all measures legally availableto see that justice is served, including tapping the available legal minded Brothers of our noble Fraternity to
ensure that due process of law in protecting the rights of victims and their families are adhered to. Alpha will
also make recommendations to the government of Liberia which will focus on sex education and prevention.
Today, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. has decided to reach out to support victims and families of sexual
gender based violence in Liberia through partnerships with other members of the National SGBV Taskforce.
For the violent rape and death of children of Liberia, our Fraternity says loudly and clearly, "NO to sexualgender based violence", "NO MEANS NO, and Leave Our Innocent Children Alone or face the full force
and weight of the law!
Alpha World Policy Council
at the Justice Ministry aboutprosecuting corruption but
said what the Liberian people
need now is prosecutions; the
President needs to ask her
Minister of Justice to bring
charges against and to vigorously
prosecute these people.Nyenuh also lamented what he
called the absence of the civil
society in this ght. "This is thetime when students, women,
teachers, children and families
affected by EBOLA, etc. -
those who are the victims ofcorruption- must be mobilized
to pressure the President and the
legislature to have these people
charged and presented to court
for prosecution. Where are the
demonstrations, the calls and the
letter writing campaigns, etc., topressure the President, the Justice
Ministry and the legislators to
take action? Nyenuh said.
GOVERNMENT TRACK
RECORD ON FIGHTING
CORRUPTION
Though President Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf labeled
corruption, particularly public
sector corruption, as Public
Enemy Number One, heradministrations record on
prosecuting corruption has been
dismal and many in government
integrity agencies who sought
accountability had their efforts
frustrated by lack of support fromthe Executive. Several ofcials
accused of corruption through
audits and investigations by the
corruption agency are never
removed or at the very least,suspended, by the President to
face prosecution.
Government ofcials have used
the contracting and procurement
processes to extract bribes and
kick-backs from contractors.
The Director of the PublicProcurement Commission Peggy
Meres resigned the Sirleaf
administration in May last
year for lack of support fromthe President to enforce the
guidelines of the Commission,
especially regarding the
awarding of contracts , the
public bidding process, and
transparency in governmentcontracting.
Corruption in the Sirleaf
administration has affected
every facet of social services
and society in general- from
undermining the rehabilitationof water and electricity supply,
to education and healthcare.
Corruption is said to be a major
contributing factor to the poor
state of the countrys healthcare infrastructure and thus its
failure to address the Ebola
outbreak; leading to thousands
of deaths. Experts also cite the
poor health infrastructure for the
death of thousands to treatable
conditions such as malaria, andto infant mortality and the death
of mothers in child birth.
EBOLA FUNDS
AND OTHER
RESOURCES
Meanwhile
the LACC
chairman says
his Commission
is committed to
holding public
ofcials and othersaccountable for
the use of Ebola
related resources.
Chairman Verdier
noted that the LACC
would undertake
investigations into the use of
funds and resources related tothe ght against Ebola. We are
aware of the reports of alleged
mismanagement of the rst
contribution from the Liberian
government in the amount of 5
million; we have not commencedan investigation because we
are engulfed with monitoring
and investigating other matters
but we are committed to and
will investigate the ow,
disbursement and application offunds and resource related to the
ght against Ebola.
LACC POISED TO BITE
Monrovia
A
n exceptional way
of handshake in
Liberia is being
replaced by newforms of salutation dubbedEbola Handshakes. These
new handshakes are becoming
popular even as Ebola cases
reported daily appear to be
on the decrease. Liberians
adopted a social distance form of
greetings when the World HealthOrganization[WHO] made
recommendation for people in
Ebola-hit countries to avoid
any body contact including
handshakes to contain the spared
of the virus that has claimed the
lives of over 6,000 persons in theworst Ebola outbreak in recorded
human history.
Knocking the elbows,
knocking the shoes and
hitting the arms while theyare covered with garments are
spreading like wildre amongstyoung people especially men.
The popularity of the Ebola
handshake can be traced to
October when Liberian President
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was seen
knocking elbows with visiting
United States Ambassador to theUnited Nations Samantha Power.
But as the West African Nation
looks forward to being declared
Ebola free, it seems the Liberian
handshake may be consigned to
the dustbin of history.
The fact that we still see Ebolaaround in our corridors, I have
thought to adapt the new form of
greeting by just hitting the shoestogether and going my way. By
doing that, in my mind, I will
not get Ebola, says Jeremiah
BarclayBehaviors such as the Ebola
handshake, regular hand washing
with soap and clean water,
keeping a distance from sick
people, and not touching anyone
who has died - all help to lower
the risk of infectious diseases.During this Ebola epidemic in
West Africa -- the largest in
history -- the combination of
behaviors among a large part
of the population are helping
raise and maintain awareness ofEbola, and reduce the spread of
the disease, says the Center for
Disease Control (CDC).When Ebola was really killing
people I was doing nothing like
that [handshaking] but now I
can hit the elbows when I amwearing a long sleeves shirt or
coat to greet my friends. I feel
safe that way. Body contact in
the form of handshake is a part
of our culture, says Andrew T.
Sokan.
In Liberia the way of shaking
hands often shocks and amazes
visitors to the West African
nation. It is done by shaking thehand as normally done but whenreleasing the hand; the middle
nger robs against that of the
partners to click at the same
time using the thumbs to make a
snapping noise. This simple and
exciting trick of greeting carries
more signicance in Liberianculture.
In our towns and villages if you
do not shake hands with that
click sound it means you are not
welcoming. They will call you
to ask what they have done to
you. Some people will even takeyou to the council of elders and
say this person did not shake my
hand properly. It looks like he
has something against me, says
former Liberian InformationMinister and Historian
Emmanuel Bowier.The history of this unique
handshake predicts any written
history in Liberia. Even its
top powerful secret societies
such as the freemason and
Poro [traditional society
for indigenous males ofnorthwestern and central regions]
use this handshake as a form of
greeting, a consummation of an
agreement and a ritual to show
personal level of achievement
called degree.
Those free slaves came and metthis clicking handshake and they
adapted it, Bowier emphasizes.
You can see how this commonact of handshake is important
in Liberia even at the top our
body politics today. During
the certication of victoriouscandidate of the 2011 polls by
National Election Commission
[NEC], representative B
Chambers refused to shake hands
with President Sirleaf; signifying
unfriendliness, Bowier stressed.
But the Liberian handshake is atrisk of being wiped away for fear
of contracting the deadly Ebola
virus disease. This is having huge
impacts on the society as whole.
LIBERIAN HANDSHAKEGOING EXTINCT
Ebola Handshake New SensationMost Liberians are Christians
and the Liberian handshake
forms huge part of worship. Incompliance with Ebola safetymeasures, there is omission of
certain parts of Christian worship
service. For example the Roman
Catholic Church in Liberia used
this handshake in the Sign of
peace a particular part of the
mass celebration intended togreet fellow parishioners.
We are trying to follow the
advice of the health workers.
We also do not give Holy
Communion on the tongue or in
the mouth because while doing
so, your hand may touch theirsaliva and then you could become
a medium of transmission, says
the Administrator of the Sacred
Heart Cathedral on Broad Street,Rev Father Alphonsus Momo.
He said for traditional Catholics,
this is a big change. Imaginedoing something since you were
a baby until you are old and
one day you can no longer do
it. When we come together to
celebrate the mass we are one
family that handshake is to tell
your brother that you love him,Father Momo stressed.
Young Catholic Thomas S.
Norris is one of few among his
peers who are critical of the
Ebola-handshake.
In our Liberian setting thathandshake was used to build
relationship with people but now
it is gone and nothing can replace
it. I dont think hitting theelbows or the arms is safe at all
so I just avoid it. What do they
call Ebola handshake? We arestill in this crisis so lets avoid all
those things, Norris advised.
However the CDC says the act
of knocking elbows is a better
way to buttress good hand
sanitization.
CDC does not have anofcial position on this "Ebola
handshake," but it is consistent
with good practice of avoiding
skin-to-skin contact during the
Ebola outbreak. The practice
of bumping elbows in Liberia
is done to reinforce good handhygiene behavior. This is a well-
established way for preventingthe spread of germs from person
to person, the CDC Liberian
Ofce told this paper.
Restraining from body contacts
is just one of several forms theoutbreak has affected the way
of life of the Liberian people.
With the disease on the brink
of complete elimination, doubts
hang over whether or not the
people of Liberia will restore
their culture of handshake, orallow this era sweep it into
oblivion.
-
8/9/2019 Monday, January 26, 2014 Edition
7/18
FrontpageMonday, January 26, 2015 Page 7
2015 CALL FOR PROPOSALS
The Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) is a grant making and advocacy
foundation that is part of the global Open Society Foundations Network. OSIWA
works to support the creation of open societies in West Africa marked by functioning
democracy, good governance, the rule of law, basic freedoms, and widespread civic
participation. Its headquarters is in Dakar and it has ofces in Abuja, Monrovia,
Freetown and Conakry.
OSIWA seeks proposals aimed at achieving the following specic objectives:
* Strengthen the institutional and operational capacities of civil society
organizations,
* Advance the inclusion and legal empowerment of women, youth and people with
disabilities,
* Strengthen regional economic integration processes as well as tax, investment
and trade justice
* Promote the use of transitional justice mechanisms
* Improve Criminal justice and the Administration of justice
* Strengthening the health system's capacity to respond to emergencies
* Reforming the governance of health care systems: improving access and quality
of health services
* Enhance citizens' social demands for accountability and effectiveness in public
service delivery, especially in the health and education sectors
* Support alternative, ICT and arts-based means for anti-corruption enforcement
* Increase the effectiveness of natural resource management frameworks
* Reduce the impact of drug trafcking on governance
* Strengthen prevention and early warning information systems to reduce militancy
and violence; and
* Ensure inclusive constitutional review processes.
* The detailed OSIWA strategy is available here.
ELIGIBILITY
OSIWA primarily awards grants to local organizations based in West Africa. In rare
and limited circumstances, it provides support to West Africa-based international
organizations with a strong commitment to transfer knowledge to local groups they
partner with. It provides grants to government institutions as well as regional and
sub-regional organizations working in its core priorities areas. OSIWA requires all
organizations seeking funding to submit a two page concept paper using the template
available on the OSIWA website.
If this concept is in line with OSIWA's strategic objectives, applicants will be
asked to submit a detailed proposal, budget, work plan monitoring and evaluation
framework and other relevant documents including leadership information (list of
Board members, trustees and management), staff who will be involved in the project,
proof of registration and banking details. Applications that are not submitted with all
the relevant documentation will be delayed. A request to submit a detailed proposal
does NOT necessarily mean the project will be approved and funded by the Board.
SUBMISSION AND DEADLINES
The concept must be received by March 30th 2015. Detailed proposals will NOT
be accepted after May 30th 2015. The concept and the detailed proposal should be
sent to: [email protected]. OSIWA encourages
the early submission of proposals. Submitted proposals will be reviewed on a rst-
come, rst-served basis.
The time required to review a proposal varies according to the complexity of the
proposal, the problem being addressed, and the number of proposals being reviewed.
Generally, it can take up to three to six months from the time a proposal is received
to the dates a nal decision is made. OSIWA strives to be as expeditious as possible
in its review of inquiries and proposals. Please keep this in mind when planning.
Invitation for Bids(FOR THE PROCURERMENT OF STATIONERY)(IFB. No. LPRC/NCB/001/2015)
1.) The Liberia Petroleum Rening Company intends to apply portion of funds
allotted in its 2015 Fiscal Budget toward the procurement of Stationery;
2.) The Liberia Petroleum Rening Company now invites sealed bids from eligible
registered bidders for the supply of Stationery for Fiscal Year 2015;
3.) Bidding will be conducted through the National Competitive Bidding Process as
enshrined in the PPCA
4.) The quantity and minimum specications of the assorted stationery items are
contained in the Bidding Document:
5.) Qualication Requirements include:
I. Valid Business Registration Certicate
II. Valid Tax Clarence
III. Article of Incorporation
IV. Past performance records including names, addresses and contact numbers
6.) All interested eligible bidders may obtain copy of the bidding document from theLPRC Procurement Unit for a non-refundable fee of US$100.00 beginning Monday
January 21, 2015 from 10:00 am to 2:30 pm daily.
7.) All bids must be accompanied by a Bid Security of US$5,000.00 from a reputable
bank.
8.) Sealed Bids must be delivered to the LPRC Procurement Unit not later than
February 23, 2015 at 1:00pm. Late bids will be rejected and returned unopened
to bidders unopened. Bids received will be opened in the presence of bidders who
choose to attend or their representatives on February 23, 2015 at 1:00 pm. In the
LPRC Training Hall. Bids must be submit in six sets. One Original and ve copies.
9.) Bids must be clearly marked Bid for LPRC Stationery Supply, (IFB No. LPRC/
NCB/001/2015) and delivered to the below address:
10.) The address referred to is:
Procurement Unit
Liberia Petroleum Refning Company
Product Storage Terminal
Bushrod Island
Monrovia, Liberia
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.lprclib.com
Mobile#: 231886523397
Signed: __________________________________
T. Nelson Williams, II
Managing Director
LIBERIA PETROLEUM REFINING COMPANYP.O. Box 10-0090
1000 Monrovia 10
Liberia, West Africa
Tel: 077-859-002
Web: www.lprclib.com
-
8/9/2019 Monday, January 26, 2014 Edition
8/18
Page 8 | Frontpage Monday, January 26, 2015
EDITORIAL
Actionaid Liberia (AAL), a charitable INGO, promotes the
enhancement and protection of women, girls, and other vulnerable
cases in Liberia. The organization focuses on skills training and
empowerment of beneciaries and duty bearers in Liberia. Theorganization also builds the capacity of its local partners in the areasof womens rights, rights of young people, children and vulnerablecases, advocacy, program, administration, nance, etc. It is based onthis approach that AAL and its partners continue to provide capacity
building initiatives and support for women at community levelsthroughout the counties in which the NGO operates.
During the Christmas holiday ActionAid Liberia contributes tohumanity1. ActionAid Liberia empowers young people to take control
of their health
ActionAid Liberia established Boys and Girls Forums in the countieswhere it works to empower young people to take control of mattersconcerning their lives and welfare. Through the forums, youngpeople are given a safe forum to discuss and advocate for issues
impacting their lives. Last year, ActionAid Liberia invited membersof its Boys and Girls Forums around the country to develop a policydocument which called for access to family planning solutions.
One of the issues highlighted by the Boys and Girls Forum in BongCounty was the issue of access to free family planning solutions.
It was noted that young people have to purchase family planningsolutions, such as birth control pills and many cannot afford to doso. The result of this is young girls are seeking out illegal abortions
which are cheaper and unsafe. This has led to loss of lives. The
young people also raised the issue of lack of access to free HIV/AIDs treatment in the county.
Following the formulation of the policy document, ActionAidLiberia held a meeting with the Bong County Health Team to presentthe document. In response, an ofcial of the County Heath Teamsaid that family planning solutions and HIV and AIDS treatmentsshould be free of charge at all the health facilities in the county,including Phebe Hospital and local clinics.
The Bong County Boys and Girls Forum will be monitoring the
dispensation of free family planning solutions and HIV/AIDStreatment and will be feeding back to AAL if the situation remains
unchanged.
The Boys and Girls Forum has now embarked on an Ebolaprevention and awareness campaign on Ebola in their variouscommunities throughout Bong County.
2. Providing emergency relief to people affected by Ebola
during the holiday.
While it was Christmas for the re st of the world, for many aroundLiberia, the Ebola outbreak remained a scary and horrifying reality.Many lives have been lost or destroyed by the virus. Peopleslivelihoods have been affected: families of Ebola patients andcontacts were under placed quarantine to minimize the spread of
the virus, meaning that they risked not being able to get food and
losing everything; survivors were discharged from the ETUs to facegrim circumstances (stigmatization, loss of livelihood, etc) as theyreturned home. That is why, during the festive period, ActionAidLiberia continued to carry out vital emergency relief to suppor tpeople facing dire circumstances.
In early December, we donated food (one three gallon containerof oil, one 25kg bag of rice, one 50kg bag of cornmeal, and one
pack of seasoning cubes) and sanitary items (one carton of clorox,one hand washing bucket, powdered soap, and sanitary pads) to twoaffected families in Clara Town.
One of the families, the Kabah family, lost their daughter WokieKabah to Ebola at the ELWA hospital in October. She left fourchildren ages 7 to 16. The items were donated to for the children
who are being cared for by their maternal aunty, Siata. Whileshe received the items on behalf of the children, Siata thanked
ActionAid Liberia for the donation. She said that Actionaid Liberiahas made the difference in the community. She stated her hope that,the gesture will continue towards all affected children, and families.
ActionAid Liberia also supported four survivors who were
discharged from the ELWA II ETU on December 9. According toDr. Ian Pabs-Garnon, the survivors had been successfully treatedand were now being sent home Ebola free. He thanks ActionAidLiberia for the support to survivors from the ETU.
One of the survivors, Patience told ActionAid that she had lost
her mother and a friend to the virus. She said when she began toshow symptoms of the illness, she was taken to the ELWA II ETU.She recounted the horrible experience pf watching people die andshe expressed joy and gratitude that she survived. She thanked
ActionAid Liberia for the items she received and she said that it was
much needed at the time as she did not know what she was going
home to.
The items donated to the survivors in the survivor packs were:
one 25kg bag of rice, one three gallons container of cooking oil,
two large bottles of Clorox, hand sanitizers, bath gel, toothpaste,washing soap one hand washing bucket and clothing.
AAL is now conducting a weekly donation of food, and sanitarymaterials to families under quarantine and survivors. Through this
effort, AAL is making a signicant impacted in the lives of overhundreds affected households and survivors. Considering the
importance of the work carry out by the nurses and doctors at theETU, AAL has donated several items to the County health Team, insupport of the work at the various ETUs in the County and Rural
Women Association
3. Actionaid Liberia celebrates 16 Days of Gender-Based
Violence Against Women
Between November 25 (International Day for the Eliminationof Violence against Women) and December 10 (InternationalHuman Rights Day), ActionAid Liberia joined other ActionAidorganizations and other NGOs (focused on the rights of women)
around the world to celebrate 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based
Violence Campaign was a time to galvanize action to end violenceagainst women and girls around the world.
In Liberia, ActionAid Liberia and partners including its Womens
Forum members (under the Safe Cities initiative banner), partneredwith the Ministry of Gender and Development and other nationalwomens rights organizations to create awareness on gender sensitive
issues in the work place, public spaces, and in communities.
~ Advertiser Supplement ~
-
8/9/2019 Monday, January 26, 2014 Edition
9/18
FrontpageMonday, January 26, 2015 Page 9
The 16 Days campaign kicked off with a parade from the ZoneIII Police Station in Congo Town, Monrovia. Participants, carryingbanners and placards walked to the populated ELWA junction
where the public space was used as a platform to engage pedestrians,
market sellers and buyers, commuters and a wide range of audiences
trafcking through the area with iers and messages highlighting therights of women, girls as well as stats on violence against women.
During the event, the women used the time to promote womens
rights issues. Because Ebola has impacted more women than men,the team also used the opportunity to carry out Ebola awareness anddistribute sanitary materials.
The 16 Days of Activism was also marked by a policy dialogue withthe mayors of two major cities (Monrovia and Gbarnga) and twocounties (Gbarpolu and Grand Gedeh) where ActionAid Liberia has
its full local rights program in operation. In addition to the mayors and
AAL Womens Rights team, other participants included members ofActionAid Womens Forum (Safe Cities campaign participants) andmembers of the Activista youth group. During the session, topicsdiscussed included issues of violence against women occurring in
each mayors constituency, how the cases were investigated andresolved; and how the handling of cases of violence against womencould be improved. The mayors spoke about the constraints andchallenges they faced in their various areas of responsibilities. Onekey issue shared was the lack of adequate support to facilitate their
work on women sensitive issues.
~ Advertiser Supplement ~
-
8/9/2019 Monday, January 26, 2014 Edition
10/18
Page 10 |Frontpage Monday, January 26, 2015
Monrovia-
In recent months Liberia has witnessed
prevalent number of rape cases resulting
in the deaths of minors, with the latest
in Brewerville, a suburb of Monrovia
involving a 12 year old girl who died, after being
allegedly raped by a 45 year old man and another
11 year old girl who was brutally sodomized by
a 40 year old man angering many Liberians.
Cross sections of Liberians have expressed their
dissatisfaction over the incidents, and are asking
the government to take drastic actions in dealing
with rapists.
Several women are demanding that rapists behanded harsh punishments including death, life
imprisonment and castration. Out of ve women
who spoke with FrontPageAfrica, three are
calling for death sentence; one of them wants
life imprisonment while another is calling for
rapists to be left with God to face punishment.
Men are also not in favor of the action of their
fellowmen and are also suggesting similar harsh
punishments including death, life imprisonment
and hard labor. In separate interviews with three
men, two are suggesting that rapists be killed
while another one is requesting hard labor.
Oretha Flomo, a char coal seller in Mamba Point
Monrovia wants the penis of men who rape to
be cut off.
I want government to lay men who rape penis
over a stick and beat it fty lashes because it is
the penis that can do the raping. If we beat their
penis fty lashes, it wont function to rape any
child again, Oretha says.
She believes the acquittal of Hans Williams who
was accused of rape but tried and set free by the
court is one of the reasons for the increase in the
number of rape cases.
Said Oretha The reason why this rape is
happening is because Ma Ellen freed Hans
Williams from prison, so men are saying if Hans
Williams can be freed, they can also be freed
when they rape. It looks like women in other
communities are not together, so the men are
raping their children, but if any man try to rape
in Mamba Point, they will kill him before Ellen
or the police can come in, because it will already
be late.
She is blaming President Sirleaf whom she
believes is doing nothing to come down hard on
rapists.
Ellen does not have time for the women problem
because she does not have a girl child and all of
her grandchildren are in the US. I voted for Ellen
for nothing because she is not doing anything
for us, so my vote went in vain. Because rightnow, we dont have any good government on the
ground, because Ma Ellen is not protecting us,
if she was protecting us, these things will not be
happening to us, Oretha continued.
The char coal seller says Liberians made a
mistake by electing President Sirleaf.
She said God please forgive us, because we
made mistake to put a woman in the seat. So, I
just want to tell the Liberian people to look up to
God, until Ellen time can nish, because we are
just hanging and anybody can do anything to us
and nothing will come from it. I want to tell the
mothers to mind their girls and not send them to
sell, if you want to sell, put the market in front of
your house where you can monitor your child.
A Nigerian is in sympathy with Liberians over
the widespread rape case describing it as painful.
Mrs. MonyeiFranasca says it is a painful
experience for a parent to see their child get
raped.
This is a very painful case to see your child
raped, in Nigeria, it is not like this. A case of
rape is taken more seriously. In this case, where
there is no capital punishment in Liberia, the
men would keep on doing this, and the poor
people will be affected. If the government does
not protect the people who these things happen
to, the people will take the law into their hands
and deal with the rapists, she said.
Mrs. Franasca vowed that she would take matter
in her own hands whenever she sees her child
being raped.
She vowed As a mother, I will not look at my
child suffering or dying in pain and just stand, I
will take anything that I can grab at that moment
and deal with that person. I will retaliate and call
others to help me also and deal with the rapist.
Mrs. Franascais calling on the Government of
Liberia to rethink the decision to ratify the treaty
against capital punishment.
At least the government should rethink and
cancel the capital punishment treaty and beginimposing capital punishment on these men.
And mothers lets try to be mothers and keep
our children out of the streets and out of danger.
Lets educate them and open up to them, so
that they can tell us things affecting them, she
intimated.
Audrey Dunbar,a resident of Mamba Point
wants rapists killed.
I want these men who rape to be killed, because
this will continue to go on if action is not taken.
I do not want government to take these rapists
to jail, because when they break jail, they will
get out and
furthermore,
other people
will do it and be
willing to go to
jail and rest, he
expressed.
Like others,
Audrey wants
the Government
of Liberia to
revisit the law
against capital
punishment.
Said Audrey
The government
should revisit
the law and
include capital
punishment, and
have these men
killed. Because
when rapists are
killed, it will
serve as a lessonto other men not
to do the same,
and rapes will
decrease. To
President Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf,
we are asking her
to take real action
and kill these
men and forget
about capital
punishment treaty, so that this act can cease in
our country. My advice to mothers who sent
their children out to sell, or buy during late hours
is they should stop because it is risky for girls.
Hawa Abu, owner of a food kiosk popularly
known as Ma, Hawa wants rapists to be taken
to the infamous BellehYallah prison and put to
jail for life.
The government should take these men who
rape to BellehYallah prison and jail them for
life so that they cannot be able to run away,
because these kinds of men are killers and are
not supposed to be among good people Ma
Hawa said.
Despite being owner of a food kiosk she says she
does not send her children to sell on the street.
FROM DEATH SENTENCETO CASTRATION
FRONTPAGE
GENDER ISSUES
Liberians weigh on Hash Punishments for RapistsMae [email protected]
-
8/9/2019 Monday, January 26, 2014 Edition
11/18
FrontpageMonday, January 26, 2015 Page 11FRONTPAGE
GENDER ISSUES
She asserted As for me, my children
cannot sell, but I can sell for them, because
I only want them to go to school. So, I
want to tell mothers to stop sending their
children to sell, but they should sell for
them. Let the mothers struggle for the
children before the men spoil them for us
because they are our future. I am feeling
bad for my friends who children were
raped. I want for the women to cometogether and stand so the government can
take action against rape.
Mrs. Sarah Doteh also describes rape as
something that was rare during the 1960s
and said she is surprise with the recent
trend in rape.
During the sixty, I never heard about men
raping children because men were lover of
children, but I do not know what kind of
desire these men who rape have, to engage
in such evil act. Nobody has to tell us how
to protect our girl children because we are
seeing and hearing it for ourselves, so we
have to keep our children in the house to
prevent this devilish act. I do not know
if these men are raping the little girls for
position or they do not have women or
what? Mrs. Doteh averred.
She believes that killing the men, whorape, wont help due to a verse in the Holy
Bible that speaks against taking away life.
Mrs. Doteh said killing these people wont
help because the Bible says thou shall not
kill, but we should leave them so that God
can deal with them. God knows what to do
with them or what kind of punishment to
give them. I think these men are possessed,
because the devil is going around, because
this is the time the bible talked about.
Mens take on rape
With majority of the rape cases in Liberia
committed by men, other men are against
the actions of their fellowmen.
Mathias Young, of Monrovia wants death
punishment for men who rape.These rapists should be punished by death,
if the President says we signed the UN
treaty not to partake in capital punishment,
but even according to the same UN treaty,
when someone is found guilty of rape and
send to prison, they should serve their term
in jail. But what we see around here, is
convicted rapists who are sent to jail,
are out after few months and are raping
another person. I think we need to revisit
that law and call for death penalty, said
Young.
Young recounted several instances in
which rapists get out of prison and commit
the same offense.
Said Young I will not say it is the war
that is making men to rape children, but I
would say it is the governments inability
to strengthen the judicial system in dealing
with rape cases, because rapists always get
out of jail. Cllr. Tiawon Gongloe spoke
about a rape case involving a man who
raped a girl in Bong and when he was
sentenced to jail, during a prison break,
the man ed and raped another nine year
old boy. So I think if the death penalty
was issued on rapists, this would not be
happening.
He is also blaming the widespread rape
cases on street selling by young girls.
Another thing I see in my district, little
girls are just all on the streets selling little
things which is risky for them. If these little
girls are not sent on the streets to sell, it
will help reduce rape. If parents are saying
it is due to hardship that they are sendingtheir children to sell, they should be the
ones selling and not the little child because
the child cannot protect him or herself. We
need to take serious action against these
rapists he observed.
In his community Young said a community
meeting is being organized to sensitize
people about rape.
Young disclosed We are organizing a
community meeting in my district to
sensitize our community on the issue of
rape. If a rapist is caught in my district, the
police have to be there one minute after
you are caught, because the angry mob
will kill you, and you will become history
by the time police gets there.
Another issue Young frowned on is the
alleged refusal rape victims by some
medical institutions.One thing I want to speak to is that
when these rape victims are taken to the
hospitals, they are refused. I have learnt
that the Senate has summoned the chief
medical ofcer at Redemption Hospital
who refused little Musu who died of rape,
for questioning, he disclosed.
Young wants the Redemption Hospital
ofcial to be relieved off his post.
I think he should be removed from his
post. We have past the stage where Doctors
and Nurses should run away from patients
who are bleeding for the fear of Ebola,
because there are enough PPEs provided.
The doctors who refuse these patients are
doing it on purpose, because they have
not been punished, for doing so, but if
the Legislature can set an example onthe Chief medical ofcer of Redemption
Hospital, other hospitals and clinics would
be mindful. People who are charged with
the responsibilities to save lives are not
doing their jobs. So we hope that the
government will take this thing seriously,
Young appealed.
Oliver Nelson believes that punishments
against rapists are not holding.
The punishment for the rape cases is not
holding because many of the perpetrators,
who go to jail, are out in no time, while
others still continue to carry on this act.
As for me, I think the punishment for
these rapists should be death penalty,
because raping has intensied. When one
or two persons are killed, it will serve as
deterrence to other rapists and the act will
reduce, Nelson intimated.He wants the government to reinforce
the rape law by adding death penalty for
rapists.
Said Nelson My advice to the government
is to reinforce the rape law by adding death
penalty and forget about this UN treaty
signed by Liberia, because our children are
dying. And Parents, who are in the habit of
sending their children on the streets to sell,
should stop it because harm is coming to
the children.
Musa Konnehis calling for rapists to be
sentenced to life in jail.
These rapists should be sentenced to jail
for life instead of the previous ve years
imprisonment. But if these rapists are
sentenced to jail for life with hard labor;
this will serve as a lesson to many peopleout there. While they are in jail, they
should be subjected to hard labor to the
extent that they will regret doing what they
did, Konneh said.
Konneh is cautioning parents to avoid teen
age marriages especially people from his
Mandingo tribe.
And my advice to our parents, they should
stop encouraging teen marriages because it
is also rape. Because I am from a Muslim
background, and we the Mandingo people,
always give our little 13, 14, 15 and 16
year old daughters and sisters to a very
potential man. So, I believe little
Musu Fofana who was raped, was given
to Musa as wife because by 12 midnight,
what was she doing outside at that hour
if she did not go to sleep with him, but
unfortunately she died? While we allregret the situation of the childs death,
the family knows about their daughters
rape, so they should be investigated also,
Konneh stated.
Few months ago, Gender and Development
Planning Minister Julia Duncan Cassel,
suggested that rapists be castrated as
punishment for the act, which she believes
would serve as a deterrent to others not to
rape.
Minister Cassel insists that men are
exploiting the weak rape law, and still
raping young children.
Liberia is a signatory to the international
convention against capital punishment
such as death sentence, which would make
it difcult for the punishments suggested
by several Liberians to be implemented.But with the wave of murder and rape
in the country, citizens are calling on
the government to hand murderers and
rapistsdeath sentence in order to serve
as deterrence to would be murderers and
rapists.
-
8/9/2019 Monday, January 26, 2014 Edition
12/18
Page 12 |Frontpage Monday, January 26, 2015
ALPHA DAFFAE SENKPENI, [email protected]
Henry Karmo (0886522495) [email protected]
Buchanan, Grand Bassa County
-
The workers union
of the Liberian
Agricultural Company
and the management
have completed talks for the
remaining victims of the recent
LAC rubber factory explosion tobe own to Ghana, where they
are expected to get extended
medical care.
The request to y the remaining13 victims to Ghana became
critical after four of the 17
victims died in successionless than two days following
the incident on Monday night,
January 19.
The management of LAC had
earlier announced that they were
considering all options to ensure
that the victims get intensivemedical care including the hiring
of a specialist from France into
the country. But after the rst
death on Wednesday, January
21, demands to refer the patients
heighten while family members
and the workers union insistedthat ying the victims out of the
country is the best option.
According to hospital sources,two of the victims died at the
LAC hospital while the other
two died at the Firestone run Du-
Side hospital in Margibi County.Following two separate meetings
on Thursday and Saturday, the
management of LAC agreed to
the Union demand and according
to sources have already started
making preparations for the
victims to travel.The Monday night explosion
at the LAC plantation has
prompted many government
and county ofcials including
the county legislative caucus to
assess the impact of the incident
on Wednesday, January 21.
Headed by the caucus Chair, Sen.NyounbleeKarnga-Lawrence,
the others included Senator
Jonathan Kaipay and District #3
LIBERIA AGRICULTURE COMPANY MANAGEMENT PREPARING TO FLY
REMAINING BURN VICTIMS TO GHANA FOR FURTHER TREATMENT
4 VICTIMS DEAD AFTER LAC EXPLOSION
representative, Hon. Jeh Byron
Browne. They held a meeting
with the management of the
company, assessed the scene of
the blast at the factory, and latervisited victims at the companys
hospital as well as chatted with
families of the victims who had
earlier gathered at the hospital.
Senator Karnga-Lawrence
described the incident as
devastating while District#3 representative, Jeh Byron
Browne said the situation istroubling.
Up to now, the cause of
the explosion of the rubber
processing factory is unknown
and the caucus has demanded
that the company launched an
investigation into the incident.
On Sunday, January 25, thecounty caucus held discussions
with families of the victims to
decide several issues surrounding
their wellbeing.
FINDLEY WANTS CARE
FOR VICTIMS
Meanwhile, the President Pro-Temp emeritus and former Grand
Bassa senator, Gbehzongar
Findley has expressed concerns
over the incident. In a press
release, Findley described the
incident as horric and called
for a swift medical care the
victims of the explosion.He also extended condolences
to the families of those who
lost their lives as the result of
the injury. The former Grand
Bassa Senator asserted that it is
imperative that LAC goes a step
further beyond what is currentlyobtaining by getting the proper
medical care for the remainingvictims. The former Pro-Tem has
also called on concessions and
the government to work along
in putting in place the necessary
safety measures to prevent the
reoccurrence of such accidents
and assure the safety for all
employees across the country.
COST OF DAMAGE
UNKNOWN
The LAC management has
said the cost of the damage is
unknown and insist that currentlyit is only interested in the health
condition of the victims.Harry Attoh, the companys
Human Resource and
Administration Manger
described the cause of the
accident as complex and
disclosed that it will be difcult to
know the cause of the explosion
unless the investigation is doneprofessionally and technically.
17 persons, on Monday night
became victims of an explosion
at a rubber processing plant own
by the Liberian Agricultural
Company (LAC) based in
District #3, Grand Bassa County.The Liberian Agricultural
Company is Liberias secondlargest rubber company
established in 1959 and operates
a land space of 13,699 hectares.
HAUNTED BY HIS PAST
FRONTPAGE
COUNTY NEWS
FRONTPAGE
WAR CRIMES
Despite His Transformation From Rebel General Transformed To A Man Of God, Joshua Milton
Blaiye, Famously Known As General Butt Naked Still Looking for relevance, Forgiveness
Monrovia-
Liberias almost two
decades of civil war
ended ten years ago
but the scars still
remain and victims of the war
are reminded of the horrors
they experienced through the
eyes of the many warlords and
ex-combatants who inicted
them.
Some of the most feared
warlords and rebel generals
have relatively transformed
themselves into good citizens.
Some have become men of
God now spreading the good
news of Jesus Christ to the lost
ock of humanity.
Joshua Milton Blaiye,
famously known as General
Butt Naked is now a preacher
of the gospel. In an interview
with FrontPageAfrica, Blaiye
explains that besides being
a Preacher, he now runs an
organization that teaches
formers combatants against
violence. He said his aim is to
create in them skills to enable
them to earn a living.
Blaiye says despite his
transformation, there are still
people who do not trust him
because of his past.
They still see me as that man
who once took off his trousers
on the streets of Monrovia,
killing people in the name of
defending his people, the
former ghter says.
Adds Blaye: Sometimes when
I enter a supermarket and am
recognized by one person, I see
people standing, looking at me
because of my past, he said.
Blaiye says the US Embassy in
Monrovia has denied him visa
twice because of his past. He
said he had wanted to attend a
seminar in the US but he could
not because, he did not have a
visa.
The former ghter still sends
shivers down the spines of
many who remember the
dark days when he used to be
butt naked raining terror on
Monrovia, thus the name he
inherited.
But today, Blaiye says he is
transformed, evidenced by
his actions. He runs a factory
making blocks out of clay soil
used to construct special kind
of buildings with brick walls.
He says he holds nothing
against the people who still
have not forgiven him of his
past transgressions.
The truth is that lot of people
are not convinced yet; even if itwas me, I will still doubt such
a person, until I am personally
convinced, he said. I think
the delay in receiving support
for my project is because of my
past.
-
8/9/2019 Monday, January 26, 2014 Edition
13/18
FrontpageMonday, January 26, 2015 Page 13
REGULATOR STILL IN LACC DRAGNETCommission on Higher Education Director General long Corruption tale
Bettie Johnson /
bettiejohnson89@
gmail.com
LNP
INVESTIGATES
PARENTS
OVER BABY
HANGING
GBOWEE FOUNDATIONREAFFIRMS VOW TO EBOLA FIGHT
Grand Gedeh-
T
he Liberia National
Police says parents
of a one year old
baby have beenarrested for questioning in
Grand Gedeh County.
Suspect Mohammed Jalloh and
wife Jallatu Jallah was arrested
upon a complaint led by them
to the police station in that
county.
The parents told that police
that their child Isatu Jalloh,
one year nine months old was
found hung in their yard with
a yellow rop