THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Monrovia, Liberia.

NEWS SUMMARY FOR THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015

The launching of the National De-concentration Plan by President Johnson Sirleaf and her planned visit to the United States are stories dominating today’s edition of the summary of the local dailies.

DOMINANT STORIES

Pres. Sirleaf Launches National De-Concentration Plan

Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has officially launched her government National De-concentration Plan that seeks to give local people and traditional leaders at the community level greater power and participation in the governance process of the country. Launching the Plan in Gbarnga, Bong County in central Liberia on Wednesday, February 18, 2015, the Liberian leader said the launch of the project “sends out a strong message that Liberia is on course.” She said the launch of the project also indicates that the capital, Monrovia is not Liberia where socioeconomic developments have longed been concentrated since the formation of the Liberian state to the disadvantage of the rest of the country. Speaking in a jam packed hall comprising of local chiefs, women, youth and the elderly from across the country, President Sirleaf said the launch of the landmark program is a fulfillment of a promise she made years ago to bring the government closer to the people, and give local people greater saying in the running of the government, as well as to afford them the opportunity to increase their participation in the development processes and ensure provision of basic services. She said the de-concentration project which is a forerunner to the full implementation of the National Decentralization Plan will ensure that local people become key partners to the government in its drive to accelerate and deliver socioeconomic development after many years of civil conflict and the recent Ebola epidemic outbreak that has shattered the economy and other fabrics of the society. Punctuated by occasional loud applauses from the audience in the central Liberian city of Gbarnga, President Sirleaf said the launching of the program will immediately be followed by the movement and provision of basic social services to the county and community level for the benefit of local residents, reports the FOCUS newspaper.

Related Captions: President Urges Supt. Council To Serve With Integrity (INSIGHT), Ellen Gives Superintendents More Power -As decentralization kicks off in Gbarnga(The New Dawn), Pres. Johnson-Sirleaf Launches De-concentration Platform(FrontPage Africa)

Ellen Goes To US Next Week

The President of Liberia will visit the United States later this month, her first trip to the country since the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf plans to speak Feb. 26 at an event hosted by Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware and the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Senator’s office said Wednesday. This is part of three days of meetings with Obama administration officials and lawmakers,  New Democrat reports.

Related Captions: Ellen Speaks At US Capitol Hill February 26(In Profile Daily), Liberia Leader To Visit US, 1^st Visit Since Ebola Outbreak(FrontPage Africa)

OTHER STORIES

Pres. Sirleaf Submits US$27.3m Agreement

The New Dawn newspaper reports that President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has submitted a US$27.3 million loan agreement to members of the House of Representatives. If approved by both the House of Representatives and the Liberian Senate, the funds, which emanate from the European Investment Bank, will be used to rehabilitate the runway of the Roberts International Airport, the RIA, in Margibi County. A communication read in the plenary of the House on Tuesday in Monrovia, appealed for an urgent passage of the document so that the Government can commence rehabilitation work at the nation’s only international airport. In the President’s communication, she informed the Lawmakers that the ratification of the Loan Agreement will address the urgent need to recondition the runway, which is in a poor state.

EU To Finance Post-Ebola Reconstruction

The Daily Observer reports that the Chairman of the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Kadré Désire Ouédraogo, has disclosed that the European Union (EU) is considering financing post-Ebola reconstruction initiatives in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, the three worst affected countries. Buttressing comments from the ECOWAS Regional Supervisor on Response and Eradication of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe of Togo, Commissioner Ouedraogo disclosed that upon meeting with ECOWAS partners in Accra recently, the EU had consented to host a high-level meeting in Brussels, Belgium on March 3, to help the three countries in the post-Ebola development drive. Commissioner Ouedraogo made the disclosure last Friday when he and the Togolese President paid a one-day solidarity visit to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and the Liberian people. He was one of the three who addressed a press stakeout following the meeting with President Sirleaf.

Foreign Doctors Back At Jackson F. Doe Hospital

According to the INSIGHT newspaper, report from Tappita, Nimba County says the eight foreign specialized doctors who left the country due of contracting Ebola have returned to the Jackson F. Doe Hospital to resume. The eight doctors, seven of which are from Ethiopia and one from the United States of America are back in full. Speaking to the Insight newspaper via cell phone Wednesday February 18, 2015 the Assistant Administrator of the Jackson F. Doe Hospital Ebenezer T. Strother said doctors arrived in the country two weeks ago and have started full operation at the Jackson F. Doe Hospital in that part of the country.

200 Meet On Anti-Ebola Protocol

A conference of more than 200 persons on the anti-Ebola protocol jointly released by the Ministries of Health and Education has ended in Fish Town, River Gee County, Southeastern Liberia. The meeting, under the auspices of the County Administration, was intended to discuss the official protocol released by the Government of Liberia, through the Ministries of Health and Education, against the spread of the Ebola virus disease in the county. District Education Officers, Commissioners from the six districts of River Gee, parents, as well as 130 school principals from across the county were in attendance. At the end of the meeting, a resolution was reached for parents and teachers to spearhead clean-up campaigns on all school campuses before the March 2, 2015 reopening date for schools in the county, writes the New Dawn newspaper.

Senator Taylor Heads Female Legislators – Induction Today

Bong County Senator Jewel Howard Taylor has been elected as chairperson of the Women Legislative Caucus of Liberia (WLCL). Madam Taylor is expected to be inducted into office tomorrow along with other officials-elect on February 19, 2015 to manage the affairs of that organization for the period of two years. Also to be inducted Wednesday are Geraldine Doe-Sheriff of Montserrado County as Vice Chair/Administration, Nyongblee Karngar-Lawrence of Grand Bassa County as Vice chair for National Affairs. The rest of the officials are representatives Mariamu Fofana of Lofa County as Secretary General, Gertrude Lamin as Treasure and the youthful Representative, Munah Pelham-Youngblood as financial secretary while Representatives Josephine George-Francis and Mary Karwor would also be inducted as advisor and chaplain general, the Analyst reports.

Africa Best Practice Business Forum  To Kick-Off In Lome

The Africa Best Practices Forum which is also intended as an exchange and a business platform will bring together African and international experts, public and political officials, private sector executives and stakeholders to Lome, Togo to share their experiences with reforms that stimulate growth and employment in the sub-region. The forum is organized by the Pan-African bank Ecobank, recruitment agency AfricSearch and company Ellipse Communication which are working together with support from the World Bank and the West African Development Bank (BOARD), which is dedicated exclusively to improving the business framework and environment in Africa. “This forum will be an arena for discussions among public and private sector decision-makers in Africa. It will deepen a dialogue on the dissemination of best practices, one that is more important now than ever before,” asserts Didier Acouetey, founder of the recruitment agency AfricSearch, Daily Observer writes.