THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Monrovia, Liberia.

NEWS SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015

Stories of the ongoing National Constitution Conference in Gbarnga, and Liberia’s expected benefit of US$101M from Liberia Coordinating Mechanism (LCM) Secretariat of the Global Fund for HIV, TB and Malaria are the dominant stories in today’s media summary.

Dominant Stories

National Consultation Shows Strong Desire -President Sirleaf

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf says Liberians, through a series of national consultations, have shown and made clear their strong desire to see adjustments made to the country’s 1986 Constitution. Highlighting some of the national consultations where these views resonated, she named Vision 2030, Land Reform and the Decentralization Initiative as a few of the many national consultations where Liberians have expressed the resilient desire to see modifications to the Constitution in consonance with the reforms emanating from the various national initiatives. The New Dawn newspaper quotes an Executive Mansion release as saying that the Liberian leader made the assertion when she delivered the Keynote Statement at the opening of a five-day National Constitution Conference at the Administration Building in Gbarnga, Bong County, Monday, March 30, 2015.

Related Caption:Ellen Craves Participatory Democracy (New Democrat), and President Sirleaf recognizes strong desire to amend 1896 Constitution(INSIGHT)

Liberia To Benefit US$101m To Fight HIV/ AIDS

According to the INSIGHT newspaper, Mrs. Paulina Doe Hilton, head of the Liberia Coordinating Mechanism (LCM) Secretariat of the Global Fund HIV, TB and Malaria has disclosed that Liberia stands to benefit from the global organization an amount of US$101 million until December 1, 2017 to response to HIV, TB and Malaria. According to Mrs. Hilton, Global Fund has committed to contribute USD$45million, USD$9.5million and USD$47million respectively for the three diseases programs, but noted that said amount will only be approved for Liberia, if a concept note is developed and submitted. She made the disclosure Monday, March 30, 2015 in Kakata City, Margibi County; while giving an overview of a-two day dialogue and prioritization workshop organized by the LCM.  The dialogue, she said is an ongoing nationwide initiative, targeting key stakeholders including religious, civil society, health practitioners at the county level.

Related Captions:HIV, TB Must Go Too!...Lofa Calls For Action(The Inquirer), Liberia Stands To Benefit US$101M (Heritage), and Tuberculosis Incident Rate On Increase in Liberia(FrontPage Africa)

Other Stories

25 'Robbers' Freed on Bond

Judge Sikajipo A. Wollo, presiding over the Criminal Court “D” yesterday admitted to bond some 25 individuals who were indicted for allegedly committing armed robbery. The 25 were among 60 names filed with the court by the Justice of Peace commission (JPC) on grounds that they have been in prolonged detention without trial. At least some of those released were indicted in 2009 and 2010 respectively, but up to present, they have not been prosecuted for the crimes they allegedly committed. The individuals include: Jacob Kanneh, Andrew Cooper, Emmanuel Kennedy, Emmanuel Koffi, Fatumah Ray, Jerry Kamara, Mathew Green, Michael Harris, Mohammed Donzo, KollieJallah and Junior Joseph. Others were: Berry Gontee, Junior Cooper, Kelvin Wolo, Kegan Tarpeh, Daddy Boy Gongbaye, AlieyFosene, Fred Blay, BoimaGaway, Bill Mensah, Charles Gray, Rahim Affarge, Alison Wowah, Austin Tarr and Anthony Togba. According to the motion filed with the court to ensure that the alleged robbers be admitted to bail, the individuals have remained behind bars for a prolonged period which was a violation of their constitutional rights to speedy trial and freedom, reports INSIGHT newspaper.

Related Caption:23 Armed Robbery Suspects Out(New Democrat)

UC urges Ebola-Affected Nations To Uphold Preventive Measures

The Chairperson of the African Union commission (AUC), Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, is urging the three Ebola-effected mano River union countries to continue Ebola preventive measures to bring an end to the health crisis. Dlamini-Zuma wants the people of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone not to be complacent, especially when positive results in the fight against the Ebola disease are surfacing. According to the release, Dr. Dlamini-Zuma made the statement shortly after Guinea declared a 45-day “health emergency”, the death of Liberia’s lone Ebola patient last week, as well as Sierra Leone’s 48 hour lockdown to search for Ebola victims who are afraid to come forward. She added that it requires the cooperation of everyone to control the outbreak and treat those who have been diagnosed with the Ebola disease, In Profile Daily writes.

CRC Accepts participants’ Contention To Include All Recurring Views For Discussion

The Constitution Review Committee (CRC) has accepted requests made by participants at the Constitutional Review Conference in Gbarnga, Bong County to include all of the recurring views collected from Liberians across the country. Before the start of the second day sitting of the conference on Tuesday, March 31, several participants protested against the continuance of the ongoing constitution review on grounds that the CRC extracted 16 of the recurring views that were expressed by Liberians. The agitating participants, some of whom were mainly members from the youth, students and religious communities and women group, argued that  the extracted views were also significant to the review process, and as such, there was need to discuss them too instead of deleting them, Heritage writes.

 Legislature Goes For Easter  Break

Ahead of the official observance of Easter which is slated for the first week of April each year, the Liberia national Legislature (House of Senate & House of Representative) has close all of its sessions to resume the 7^th day of April 2015.On Tuesday, members of the House of Representatives jointly reached a decision to suspend all of its legislative activities until the observance of the Easter Week. Members of that august body at the 22^nd day sitting which was presided over by Senate Pro-tempore Armah Zolu Jallah consented to deferring all legislative proceedings to the 7^th day of April 2015,FOCUS reports.

School Complex Dedicated In Bong

The Ministry of Education has dedicated the Zeansue Basic Education School Complex in Zeansue Clan, Jorquelleh District, Bong County. Zeansue has over 1,500 inhabitants and 15 surrounding towns. The new facility comprises 12 classrooms, latrines, hand washing facilities for males and females, library, kitchen, cafeteria, administrative building, science laboratory, computer room, hand pumps and teachers’ quarters. Assistant Education Minister Augustine Kimber told the Liberia News Agency at the ceremony that funding for the project was a grant received by the Ministry from “Global Partnership for Education” to improve easy access to education in poor and remote areas, New Democrat reports.

 Senate Concurs With House Over Passage Of Maritime Agreement

The Plenary of the Liberian Senate has concurred with the House of Representatives over the passage of the Amended and Restated agreement between the Government of Liberia (GOL) and the Liberia Shipping and Corporate Registry (LISCR). The Senate concurred with the House over the passage of the agreement on Tuesday, March 31, following the presentation of a report on the document by the Senate’s Joint Committee on Maritime, Judiciary, Human Rights, Claims and Petition. The joint committee was mandated to peruse the document and report back to Plenary, Heritage writes.

U.S. Liberia Team Plans Study Of Ebola Survivors

The Partnership for Research on Ebola Vaccines in Liberia (PREVAIL), a Liberia U.S. research team, plans to launch a natural history study of Ebola survivors to better understand the after-effects of Ebola virus disease.  The study is pending regulatory review and approval, according to statement issued by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). PREVAIL is currently conducting trials of two experimental Ebola vaccines in Liberia with more than 600 people in Liberia participating in the first stage and about 1,500 volunteers are expected to enroll in Phase Two, In Profile Daily reports.

African Leaders Call for Increased ownership, Continental Integration

Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Haliemariam Dessalegn and Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda joined Carlos Lopes, Executive Secretary, UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson, AUC, and Mr. El Moctar Djay, Minister of Tax, Mauritania in the opening of the Conference of Ministers 2015 at the UN conference centre in Addis Ababa. There was a strong call for action to the ministers of finance present for policy makers to do more to push for industrialization, In Profile Daily reports.

 Muhammad Buhari Wins Nigeria Election

Former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari has become the first opposition candidate to win presidential elections in Nigeria. Gen. Buhari’s party said his opponent, incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, has admitted defeat and congratulated him. Mr. Jonathan trailed Gen. Buhari by about two million votes when he conceded, Heritage reports.