The Bureau of Public Affairs

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Monrovia, Liberia

DAILY NEWS SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2017

Stories highlighted today in our dailies summary include the presentation of credentials to the Secretary General of the State of Qatar by Ambassador John Ballout of Liberia;  President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s condolence and congratulatory messages sent to the Government and people of the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany; the passage of the Presidential Transition Act by the Liberia Senate as well as the resumption by the World Health Organization of the school feeding program in Liberia.

Amb. Ballout Presents Letters Of Credence To Secretary General Of The State Of Qatar

The Heritagenewspaper quotes a Foreign Ministry release: Liberia’s Ambassador accredited to the State of Qatar, Mr. John Akel Ballout Jnr., has presented his Letters of Credence to the General Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar, H.E. Dr. Ahmed Bin Hassan Al Hammadi. According to a dispatch from the Liberian embassy near Doha, the State of Qatar, the ceremony took place on Thursday, September 28, 2017 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar. Presenting his credentials, Ambassador Ballout expressed gratitude to Dr. Al Hammadi on behalf of the Government and People of Liberia and assured him of Liberia’s commitment to renew ties and expand cooperation with the State of Qatar. Ambassador Ballout further reiterated Liberia’s readiness for a continuous partnership with Qatar on the ratification: enforcement of Articles 21 of the Air Services Agreement and the completion of the Double Taxation Agreement between the two countries. H.E. Ahmed Bin Hassan Al Hammadi told Ambassador Ballout that the Government of Qatar was pleased to have him as Ambassador of Liberia representing the Liberian Government in Qatar, adding the Government of Qatar is willing and ready to sign agreements with Liberia for the mutual benefits of the two nations.   

Related Captions: Amb. Ballout Presents Letters Of Credence To Secretary General Of The State Of Qatar (INSIGHT), and Amb. John Ballout Presents Letters Of Credence To Secretary General Of The State Of Qatar(Daily Observer)

Ellen Sends Consolation To Trump

The Heritage newspaper quotes a Foreign Ministry release: President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has sent a message of consolation to Mr. Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America, following tragic news of a mass shooting which left more than fifty-seven (57) persons dead. The shooting incident, which occurred on Sunday, October 1, at Mandalay Bay Resort, Las Vegas, also left at least five hundred and twenty-seven (527) others injured, some very seriously. It happened during a country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip. The shooter fired from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel. According to a Foreign Ministry release, in the message to her U S counterpart Donald Trump,  President Sirleaf stated, “During this time of sorrow and burden, I extend to you and the American People, especially those affected by this atrocious act, the warmth of friendship and condolences from the people of Liberia and in my own name.” The Liberian President condemned, in the strongest term, the cowardice act perpetrated against innocent lives. She also used the occasion to console the families of those whose lives were taken and pray for the speedy and full recovery of the injured.

Related Caption: President Sirleaf Sends Consolation President Trump(INSIGHT)

President Sirleaf Congratulates Germany on Unity Day

According Heritage newspaper, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has extended her sincere best wishes to His Excellency Mr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of the Federal Republic of Germany, on the occasion marking the German Unity Day. According to a Foreign Ministry release, President Sirleaf  on behalf of the Government and people of Liberia, and in her own name, extended sincere best wishes, to the German leader,  and through you, to the Government and people of Germany, as the celebrate this historic milestone, ”the German Unity Day”. She further stated that as the people of Germany celebrate their Unity Day, Liberia reflects 27 years ago, when the world received the thrilled news of the reunification of Germany after several decades of painful artificial separation.

Related Caption: Liberia Applauds Germany On Unity Day(INSIGHT)

Orange Launches Major New Offer

According to the INQUIRER newspaper, Orange Liberia Corporate Communications Strategist Dr. Kimmie Weeks Tuesday announced that the company has launched a major new offer in the Liberian telecommunications market called the Digital Pack. Speaking at a major press conference held at the company’s Head Quarters on Capital Bypass, Dr. Weeks said that the new offer was a packaged product which included free facebook and whatsapp, unlimited SMS to Orange numbers, 60 minutes to Orange numbers, ten minutes to other networks and 300 MB of data for US$1 for a period of 3 days. “This is an incredibly amazing offer and it is a gift from orange to the Liberia people,” said Dr. Weeks who went on to outline that the package could be activated by dialing *341#.

Related Caption: Orange Launches Major New Offer(INSIGHT)

Senate Passes “Presidential Transition Act”

According to the INQUIRER newspaper, despite the President of the Republic of Liberia, Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s withdrawal of her “Presidential Transitional Act”, the Liberian Senate believes that Liberian needs a Transition Law and as such, the Body via its statutory committee on Judiciary Headed by Sen. Cllr. Barney Sherman has developed its own Transition Law and as such, the Body via its statutory committee on Judiciary Headed by Sen. Cllr. Varney Sherman has developed its own Transition Law. After the submission of its report to the plenary of the Senate regarding the developed “Presidential Transition Act”, on Tuesday October 3, 2017 the Senate voted to pass said Act. The Transition Act from the Senate has been forwarded to the House of Representative for concurrence.

ECOWAS, NEC Conduct Civic Education, Voters Awareness

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) national office in Liberia, in collaboration with the National Elections Commission, has commenced a week-long civic education and voter awareness in three of Liberia’s 15 counties, namely Nimba, Bong and Margibi, which started yesterday in Ganta, Nimba County. The civic education and voter awareness on non-violent and conflict free elections will be held under the theme: “Promoting non-violence in the 2017 general and presidential elections in Liberia.” According to an ECOWAS press statement, the civic education is part of efforts aimed at ensuring that voters receive specific information in order to enhance an effective voting experience. The civic education will also focus on the rights and responsibilities of voters as citizens to participate in the political process, the importance of elections, the concept of free and fair elections and the importance of not just participating but voting as well, writes the Daily Observer.

EPA Takes Actions To Correct Environmental Pollution…Donates Several Items To MVTC

Authorities of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Liberia have corroborated that uncontrolled amount of slurry containing cyanide (A toxic chemical compound) from MNG Gold Liberia’s Tailing Storage Facility (TSF) has been discharged in Sig Creek, a tributary of St. John River and surrounding wetlands in Kokoya, Bong County. EPA’s Deputy Executive Director, Urias S. Goll told a news conference on Monday that, an uncontrolled amount of slurry containing cyanide from the company’s TSF was discharged in the creek and other nearby wetlands on Wednesday, September 27, 2017, when a section of the geo-membrane layer of the tailing storage dam rupture. EPA has turned over several pieces of refrigeration technicians training items to the Monrovia Vocational Training Center (MVTC). EPA through its Deputy Executive Director, Urias S. Goll, turned over the items yesterday at a brief ceremony held at the offices of the EPA, reports the INQUIRER newspaper.

Related Caption:EPA Donates Training Tools Equipment to MVTC (INSIGHT)

Africare Receives USAID Award for Innovation

According to the Daily Observer, Africare’s Mwanzo Bora Nutrition Program (MBNP) team received one of three USAID Global Development Lab’s “Innovation to Action Awards” last week in Washington, D.C. USAID is United States Agency for International Development. The award, according to a dispatch, recognizes the impact this innovation will have, including breaking the cycle of malnutrition and anemia passed from mother to child, and engendering good nutrition and health in the crucial first 1,000 days of life, to ensure that children grow, learn, and thrive. Africare’s MBNP team was honored for this breakthrough mobile application at an award ceremony during Global Innovation Week held at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center in Washington, D.C., the dispatch has said.

MOH Appeals For Help To Provide Welfare Support For Children

The Ministry of Health (MOH) through its Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Francis Kateh, has called on humanitarian organizations and philanthropic individuals to immediately assist the kids of a woman, who survived from Ebola, but died lately from complications at child birth. Dr. Kateh said the call by the ministry comes on the heels to establish a foundation to be called Salome Karwah Foundation in memory of the deceased. According to him, the foundation would provide welfare support for children that lost their parents from Ebola and at the same time for children who lost their mothers while giving birth to them. The Chief Medical Officer disclosed that the Ebola survivor died since February 21, 2017 at the ELWA Hospital while giving birth to her fourth child writes the Heritage newspaper.

Half Million New Housing Units Needed By 2030… NHA Discloses

The National Housing Authority (NHA) has said that about 512,000 new dwellings are needed in Liberia by 2030 to address the country’s housing needs, especially in the capital Monrovia. The NHA’s Slum Upgrading Unit (SUU) Coordinator, Es-Samir Bropleh, made the statement at the launch of the SUU and Innovative Competition for urban slump communities across the country over the weekend. Bropleh disclosed that about 70 percent of Monrovia’s population lives in slums and under devastating housing conditions, which includes poorly constructed housing, lack of basic social services and infrastructures, as well as inadequate finance and severe over crowdedness. The NHA SUU program, which will go over a period of five years, will involve in-depth consultation, community infrastructure, partnership and technical assistance, investments with organized civil society groups, urban local authorities, national government bodies, international development partners and research training, asserts the Heritage newspaper.

WFP Resumes School Feeding For Four Months

According to the INSIGHT newspaper, the World Food Program (WFP) has disclosed that it would resumed the school’s feeding program for public school kids in Liberia. “The Ministry of Education in conjunction with the World Food Programme undertook an assessment in early 2016, which led to the expansion of the number of students benefiting from school meals from 127,000 to 300,000. Unfortunately, the school program was critically short of funding, according to WFP. WFP Head of School’s feeding program, Johnson Kolubah, however, revealed yesterday that the program will resume this academic year after it was temporarily shut down during the last school year.

30 Hospitalized From Gold Mine Chemical Leakage

Thirty persons were admitted at the Phebe Hospital for exposure to a chemical spill-over from MNG-Gold reservoir in Bong County over the weekend. The incident took place on Friday, September 29, at one of the mining sites of MNG-Gold in Sayeweta Kokoyah Statutory District after a heavy downpour of rain. Hospital sources told this newspaper that twenty of those affected were discharged based on the gravity of their conditions. However, the other ten persons are expected to remain in the hospital for further medical examinations for few days. Some of the chemical victims who spoke to this newspaper complained of stomach ache, skin rash, multiple body pain and constant vomiting and other strange symptoms. MNG–Gold is a Turkish Mining company working in several parts of Kokoyah District in Bong County. reports the Daily Observer.

Related Caption: Ground & Surface Water ‘polluted’ in Bong…As 26 residents who allegedly develop health problems have been sent to Phebe Hospital for test(INSIGHT)

PUL Boss Raps On Visit To USA

The Heritage newspaper reports that what appears to be a promising future for the Liberian journalists is nearing following a successful trip of the President of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL), Mr. Charles Coffey to the United States of America (USA). It can be recalled that recently, Mr. Coffey travelled to the USA to attend a convention of the Association of Liberia Journalists in the America (ALJA). Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Heritage on Tuesday, October 3, 2017, Mr. Coffey disclosed that at the end of the meeting a resolution aimed at improving the lives of local journalists was signed. “The purpose of the trip was to participate in a convention organized by ALJA. The overall outcome of the meeting was successful and of great interest to local Liberian journalists, Mr. Coffey further disclosed.

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