The Bureau of Public Affairs

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

 Monrovia, Liberia

DAILY NEWS SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2017

Dominant stories in today’s summary are Vice President Joseph N. Boakai’s assertion on the formation of the Mano River Parliament, the mandate from the House of Representative requesting Liberia Telecommunication Authority to investigate Lonestar Cell MTN and the Central Bank of Liberia’s warning against the increased exchange rate in Liberia.  

VP Boakai Says MRU Parliament Will Foster Regional Integration

According to FrontPage Africa newspaper, Vice President Joseph N. Boakai has described the idea of forming a Mano River Parliament as an excellent undertaking and emphasized that it is a way of bringing the peoples of Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast closer together. Vice President Boakai said the constitution of such a body and its passage into law will serve as a basis for other instruments to be enacted by the various nations of the sub regional body for the benefit of the MRU. Vice President Boakai was speaking Tuesday when he received the President of the Guinean Parliament, His Excellency Claude Kory Kondiano who is in the Country to discuss the concept of a Mano River Union Parliament, a press release from the Office of the Vice President said.

Related Caption: MRU Parliament Concept ‘excellent – VP Boakai(Insight), and VP Boakai Praise MRU Parliament Concept(In Profile Daily)

House Asks LTA, MOJ To Review Lonestar Cell MTN Action

The House of Representatives has mandated the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA) to review the recent action by Lonestar Cell MTN to determine any wrongdoing and appropriate “maximum punishment.” The Justice Ministry and the LTA are expected to submit their review to the House on Thursday, January 26. The House has also mandated Lonestar Cell MTN to restore the three-day free calls promotion. House Speaker J. Emmanuel Nuquay said the halt or the adjustment of the three-day promotion by Lonestar, after the company’s public pledge to continue the promotions without transferring the burden of the “tax increment” to consumers, is tantamount to perjury and wants the Ministry of Justice to investigate it. The Speaker said Lonestar’s action also has the propensity to inspire political insurgence and insecurity in the country as well as risk the re-election of lawmakers.

Speaker Nuquay, in a troubled mood in Tuesday’s session, said Lonestar’s action further hurts the Legislature – bringing the honorable House into public disrepute. The Speaker made the “clear-cut assertions” after hours of debate among lawmakers, about the “adjustment” of the Lonestar Cell MTN’s three-day free calls promotion to only “20 minutes per day” as of January 15, 2017, reports the Daily Observer.

Related Caption: House Nails Lonestar for ‘lie’ –orders restoration of 3-day promotions calls(Insight), Lonestar Cell MTN Accused of Lies(In Profile Daily) and House Mandates Lonestar To Restore 3-Day Free Calls (Inquirer)

CBL Warns Against Exchange Rate Increase

The Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) has observed with concern that some foreign exchange dealers and users have recently been in practice of arbitrarily increasing the Liberian Dollar – US Dollar exchange rate by significantly increasing the spread between the Buying and the Selling rate. The CBL says it takes this opportunity to reconfirm its policy on the L$1 spread between the Buying Rate and the Selling Rate. While the CBL is currently reviewing this spread to determine if there is a need to amend it, until the review is completed the spread remains L$1. Given the current level of volatility that is being observed in the foreign exchange market, the CBL intends to continue to intervene in the market through its Foreign Exchange Action Window, a smoothen out volatility, reports to Heritage newspaper.

Related Caption: CBL Detects ‘Volatility’(Insight), and CBL Warns Against Arbitrary Exchange Rate Increase(In Profile)

SMILE Liberia Targets 5,000 Unprivileged Children

According New Dawn newspaper, the communication officer at Smile Liberia Mr. Prince Parker says his organization has embarked on education program targeting students from Montserrado and Grand Bassa Counties respectively. He told UNMIL Radio on Monday, 24 January that by 2020, the organization wants to impact 5,000 unprivileged children with the educational program. In order to reach their goals, he said Smile Liberia is engaged in several strategic and highly sustainable projects. Mr. Parker spoke of more than 50 full scholarship for unprivileged children, and announced the distribution of school bags, books and other school materials to the Indiana School in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County and to several other schools in West Point here in Monrovia. He said they have donated more than more than 2,500 educational and school supplies. Smile Liberia was formed on May 15, 2006, it is a nonprofit organization. The organization believes that education can be used to reduce the devastating poverty rate in Liberia as well as rehabilitate the children who have been directly affected by the Liberian civil war. Mr. Parker said Smile Liberia’s Mission is to bring smiles to children in the poorest areas of Liberia by providing them access to quality education and to use the power of quality education to eliminate extreme poverty.

Related Caption: SMILE Liberia Provides Cash, School Materials To 150 Students(Focus)

PUL Welcomes Ellen’s Commitment to Repeal Anti-free Speech Law

The Press Union of Liberia says President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s renewed commitment to repeal anti free speech legislations is welcoming and impressive. In her final State of the Nation Address to the Legislature on Monday, President Sirleaf urged lawmakers to enact the bills which seek to promote free expression. The Press Union of Liberia is currently leading efforts to repeal exiting anti speech laws like Criminal Malevolence against the President, Sedition and Libel, the In Profile Daily reports.

Related Caption: PUL Applauds Bills to Trash PRC Decree 88A, Other Anti-speech laws (Insight)

MVTC Wants Female Prioritized For Vocational Skill Training

The Director of the Monrovia Vocational Training Center (MVTC), Wilfred Payne is calling on Liberians to prioritize vocational education (Tvet) for economic growth. Serving as guest speaker at the third joint graduation programs of the Thomas P. Fallah Institute of Academic and Vocational Education (T-Five Academy) in Paynesville City, on Saturday, Wilfred Payne said the easiest way for a nation to become a middle income country is for its citizens to acquire basic skill training. “When citizens acquire vocational skills, the dependency syndrome on government to find jobs for its citizens will be reduced. Secondly, the essence of vocational education is to help breach the capacity gap in our dear country and reduce insecurity, according FrontPage Africa newspaper.  

Illegal Drugs Worth L$50K Seized In Nimba 

The Observer Daily newspaper writes that the Nimba County detachment of the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA) over the week seized about 2,000 grams of illegal drugs in Ganta Nimba County from two Nigerian nationals with the street value of about L$50,000. The LDEA has reported that one of the suspects is on the run. According to the LDEA–Nimba, the two men entered the country through one of the porous border posts in the Buutuo area, bypassing the Buutuo main border crossing point. LDEA County Commander Julius C. Kanubah told this newspaper that the two men, Chidi Obi and Sam Eze, entered through the Buutuo Town, where they hired a motorbike to transport their bag ahead of them to a nearby Gbanwea Town.

MIA Mobilizes County Officials On V.R. Exercise

In response to the National Elections Commission’s (NEC) ambitious target of registering 2.5 million voters for the 2017 Presidential and Legislative elections, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) convened a strategic meeting in Monrovia yesterday. In a communication dated January 23, MIA responded to an earlier communication from NEC dated January 10, in which NEC sought the MIA’s help to ensure the successful execution of the nationwide voter registration drive, scheduled for February 1 to March 7, 2017. The MIA communication under the signature of Minister Henrique Flomo Tokpah, requested promotional materials, some of which were distributed to county officials at yesterday’s meeting. The meeting with superintendents and other county officials was designed to discuss strategies and methods in maximizing the use of local authorities that would ensure that 2.5 million Liberians are registered to vote in October’s presidential and legislative elections, , reports Daily Observer.

CSA Ends 4-day Working Group Workshop in Ganta

The Civil Service Agency (CSA) has conducted a four-day technical working group workshop in Ganta City Nimba County aimed at effectively decentralizing its activities and improving performance in government ministries and agencies. The Workshop, which ended at the weekend, was also meant to strengthen the country’s payroll system. Participants were drawn from the CSA, Governance Commission and the Liberia Institute for Public Administration, reports the Insight newspaper.

WAEC Extends Deadline for 2017 Examination Registration Date

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has extended its deadline for the 2017 examinations registration date from the previous to February 28. According to WAEC authorities the extension is due to the collaborating efforts between the Ministry of Education and the West African Examinations Council’s head office in Liberia. WAEC also indicated that the extension of the examinations’ date was due to several appeals from parents and students during the few visits of Ministry of Education officials, the Focus newspaper reports.

 Make Agriculture Priority Number One

According to the Focus newspaper, the Liberian Chief Executive, Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has called on Liberians to promote agriculture as a number one priority, if the country is to achieve its transformation goals. The Liberian leader pointed out that the country is endowed with natural resources such as minerals, fisheries, forestry, and agricultural land but has relied essentially on the export of iron ore, rubber and logs, through the operations of concession agreements for support to the economy, noting that this will enhance the government’s reform agenda.

Ellen Still pushing Dual Citizenship

The Inquirer newspaper reports that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf says the support of the National Legislature for dual citizenship will enable citizens abroad participate and support national development efforts. She wondered why the country has enjoyed over a decade of sustained peace and a large-scale return of refugees over the years apparently as her government’s efforts, yet Liberians in the Diaspora are not returning home to contribute. “This continuing effort aims at enabling Liberians abroad  maintain their links with their country and even participate in the national development efforts,” she expressed.

 Police Arrest “Notorious” Armed Robber

The Liberia National Police is continuing its step up of security in and around Monrovia, and elsewhere around the country with the arrest of a leading and notorious armed robber suspect Joseph Sonpon, who has been the mastermind behind series of Armed Robbery incidents across Monrovia and its environs of recent. A police preliminary investigation according to a LNP release indicates that the suspect who is also known as “Jean Papie” has been operating along with other criminal gangs in Central Monrovia and is known for opening fire to subdue his victims, raping and at times shooting his victims to take away valuables, the Inquirer writes.

Security Heightened in Rivercess

 Citizens and residents in Liberia’s southeastern county of Rivercess can now move about peacefully due to the high presence and patrol by state security officers in the area. Reports say security officers are patrolling in nearly every village and town on a daily basis. The heightening of security presence followed reports of several mysterious deaths in the county. Rivercess County Superintendent Matthew Daniels, in an interview with the In Profile Daily, said security situation has improved not only reducing reported murders, but also other crimes in the county, the In Profile newspaper asserts.