The Bureau of Public Affairs

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Monrovia, Liberia

DAILY NEWS SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2017

Today’s edition of our summary of the local dailies highlights the Liberian Senate’s call for an investigation into Executive Order 84 issued by President Sirleaf. The Summary also includes Foreign Minister Madam Marjon V. Kamara’s Message of Congratulations to His Excellency Mr. Jean Yves Le Drian, on his preferment as Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs of the Republic of France and Liberia hosting four mid-year statutory meetings of the Economic Community of West African States beginning tomorrow, Thursday, May 25^th.

DOMINANT STORY

Fishermen Protest Executive Order #84

An association of small scale fishermen and women from nine coastal counties under the banner of the Liberia Artisanal Fishermen Association (LAFA) has expressed disappointment with Executive Order 84, issued by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. Executive Order 84 reduces Liberia’s Inshore Exclusion Zone (IEZ) from six nautical miles to three, and is among other measures aimed at revitalizing commercial and semi-industrial fishing in Liberia. The group, with a reported membership of 350,000 and headquartered in West Point, said in a letter to House Speaker J. Emmanuel Nuquay, which was read in Tuesday’s session, that Executive Order 84 is not in the their best interest. Members of the House of Representatives have voted unanimously for the letter to be forwarded to the leadership and to meet with the President, because of the gravity of the complaint, which involves the livelihoods of 350,000 fishermen and women who are from nine coastal counties, namely: Grand Cape Mount, Bomi, Montserrado, Margibi, Grand Bassa, Rivercess, Sinoe, Grand Kru and Maryland counties, reports the Daily Observer.

Related Captions: Senate Angry, Disappointed…Over President Sirleaf’s Executive Order (Daily Observer), Executive Order No. 84 Headache Senate Lows Investigation Whistle (In Profile Daily) and Fight Against Illegal Fishing Intensifies EU Warns Liberia (FrontPage Africa),

OTHER STORIES

Foreign Minister Kamara Congratulates French Foreign Minister

Foreign Minister Madam Marjon V. Kamara has sent a message of Congratulations to His Excellency Mr. Jean Yves Le Drian, on his preferment as Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs of the Republic of France. According to a Foreign Ministry release, in the Message to her French counterpart, the Liberian foreign minister stated how pleased she is, on behalf of the Liberian Government, to congratulate Mr Le Drian as he assumes his new posts in the European continental body and his country, The Inquirer newspaper says.

Related Caption: Min. Kamara Congratulates French FM (New Dawn)

Liberia Hosts ECOWAS Mid-Year Statutory Meeting

Liberia will host four mid-year statutory meetings of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) beginning Thursday, May 25th which will be climaxed by the 51th Ordinary Summit of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government on Sunday, June 4th, 2017. A Foreign Ministry release said, the first in the series of statutory meetings, the 21th Meeting of the ECOWAS Administration and Finance Committee (AFC) takes place at the Monrovia City Hall in Monrovia from Thursday, May 25th – Sunday, May 28th, 2017. The second statutory meeting, the Ministerial Ad-Hoc Committee on Institutional Reform takes place at the Farmington Hotel in Robertsfield from Monday, May 29th – Tuesday, May 30th 2017.  The third statutory meeting, the Mediation and Security Council Committee takes place at the Farmington Hotel on Wednesday, May 31st, 2017. The 78th Meeting of the Council of Ministers, the meeting that precedes the 51st Ordinary Summit of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, takes place at the Farmington Hotel from Thursday, June 1st – Friday, June 2nd, 2017. Meanwhile, the 51th Ordinary Summit of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government takes place at the Farmington Hotel in Robertsfield, lower Margibi County on Sunday, June 4th, 2017. All sub-regional Heads of State and Government are expected to be in attendance, reports the New Dawn newspaper.

President Sirleaf Consoles Queen Elizabeth Following Terrorist Attack in Manchester

An inside story of the INQUIRER newspaper reads that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has sent a Message of Condolence to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, following the terror attack in Manchester Arena on the night of Monday, May 22, 2017. Reports coming out of Manchester say that an ISIS suicide bomber of a North African descent, by the name of Salman Abedi, was the culprit, the paper says.

Ellen, Others To Appeal Mass U.S Deportation

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf says countries including Liberia that are affected by a U.S. mass deportation of foreign nationals are all working together collectively through their leaderships in their representations in New York and in Washington and many other places to see if they can make an appeal. “We’re all working together in a collective way - the countries that are affected - through our leaderships, in their representations in New York and in Washington and in other places to see if they can make an appeal”, Mrs. Sirleaf told journalists Tuesday, 23 May at the Roberts International Airport upon return from the U.S. Mrs. Sirleaf says the issue of deportation is not just Liberians, but there are so many others from different countries in Africa and Asia that are being deported by the new administration of President Donald Trump. “I think it’s a new administration in the U.S., and that new administration has its own policies, its own practices. We got to just keep working at it, trying to convince them why. But at the end of the day, this is the home for Liberians”, she adds. She argues that Liberians cannot reject their homes, suggesting that at some point they got to accept the fact that they got to come home on grounds that only Liberians can build Liberia. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here, Liberia will host four mid-year statutory meetings of ECOWAS beginning Thursday, 25 May and expected to be climaxed by the 51st Ordinary Summit of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government on Sunday, 4 June, reports the New Dawn newspaper.

Ellen Submits Agreement Value Over US $ 70 M

According to the New Dawn newspaper, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has submitted a bill on the Investment Incentive Agreement between the Government of Liberia and Musons Group Inc. to the House of Representatives for ratification. In a communication addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emmanuel Nuquay, on Tuesday, 23 May President Sirleaf notes that the agreement worth over US$70 Million. The President says the purpose of the investment is to actualize government’s initiative of attracting and encouraging investors to Liberia, saying this investment incentive contract is for the construction, development and maintenance of state of the art hotels and resorts in Marshall, Margibi County that will consist of 210 rooms and other recreational facilities. She adds that when completed, the facilities will develop the tourism sector, provide jobs, and generate revenues as well as opportunities for Liberians to showcase their talents and improve the livelihood of the citizenry. Meanwhile, the plenary of the House of Representatives has forwarded the communication to the Committee on Investment and Concession, Judiciary, Information, Broadcasting and Tourism and Ways, Means and Finance, to report in two weeks.

Liberia’s Ebola Heroine Wins Global Award

A volunteer of the Liberia National Red Cross Society, Roselyn Nugba-Ballah, is among 39 outstanding nurses honored with nursing’s highest international distinction, the Florence Nightingale medal, in Switzerland. Florence Nightingale medal recognizes exceptional courage and devotion to victims of armed conflicts or natural disasters. It also recognizes exemplary service or a pioneering spirit in the areas of public health or nursing education. Madam Nugba-Ballah served as a volunteer for the Liberian National Red Cross Society. She is nationally and internationally recognized for supervising the Safe and Dignified Burial (SDB) team, during the Ebola outbreak in Liberia 2014, reports the INSIGHT newspaper.

Human Trafficking Proceeds Hit $32b… Says ECOWAS Chair, Sirleaf…Seeks Strict Policy Implementation

According to the INSIGHT newspaper, the proceeds of human trafficking in West Africa has risen to $32billion yearly, Chairman, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Permanent Representative and Liberia President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has said. She warned that unless member states take bold steps to implement policy measures put in place by the body, human trafficking in the sub-region will continue to increase. The Liberia leader spoke in Abuja this week during the opening ceremony of the three-day ECOWAS Annual Technical Meeting of Member States Focal Institutions on Counter Trafficking in Persons. President Sirleaf said: “Despite the progress globally and in our region, trafficking remains a serious human security challenge that defies collective,

Senate Sends Mental Health Bill to House

The Liberian Senate has forwarded to the House of Representatives for its concurrence a new Mental Health Law. Accordingly, the Senate’s engrossed Bill is entitled: “An Act to Amend the Public Health Law, title 33, and Liberian code of laws revised to add part five  health and related rights Chapter two, mental health.” It is stated in the engrossed bill that every person has the right to enjoy the best attainable state of mental health and that the protection of the rights of persons with mental disorders including persons with intellectual disabilities is an obligation of the State. The bill states that there must be equal access and right to health care or all persons and persons with mental disorders or mental disabilities have the right to treatment of the same quality and standard, the INQUIRER newspaper reads.

Nat’l Dialogue On Social Protection Opens

The Head of the International Labor Organization (ILO) for English speaking West African States (Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, and Liaison Office for ECOWAS), Mr. Dennis Zulu says the ILO as one of the UN agencies responsible for the promotion of social protection of workers is working to ensure that Liberia has in place a social protection regime that protects it workers even when they left employment. He said social protection is mechanism that provides for individuals in a country to mitigate against social risk, vulnerability and other social factors, the INQUIRER newspaper reads.

LACE Turns Over Police Station In Lofa

The Liberia Agency for Community Empowerment (LACE), has been featuring prominently in projects dedication and inspection by the Liberian Leader, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, as he crisscrosses the Country district-by-district, appreciating citizens for supporting her two terms as the ‘Last Mile’. Accompanying the President on these tours are development arms of the government in close consultation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The LACE which is implementing some basic infrastructural development projects of the Government, mainly the Legislative Support Project limelight of the President’s tour. On the latest leg of her ‘Last Mile’ appreciation tour of Lofa, Rivercess and Grand Bassa Counties, President Sirleaf dedicated and inspected a number of LACE implemented projects. In Lofa, President Sirleaf cut ribbon to and dedicated the Sorlumba Market Building, Vezala Police Station and inspected ongoing construction works on the Dormitory to the Lofa County Community College, the In Profile Daily asserts.

EU Sounds Caveat To Liberia On Illegal Fishing

The European Union has sounded caveat to Liberia and its fishing industries that under the EU’s regulation to fight and deter illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, as Liberia has been pre-identified that Saint Vincent, Grenadines and the Comoros have been identified as non-cooperating third countries Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Karmenu Vella. In a release the EU maintained that it is showing its commitment to fight illegal fishing globally. The EU’s actions in the past years created an incentive for states to take their responsibilities seriously, and implement reforms to their fisheries sector, the FOCUS newspaper writes.

Gov’t Allots US$19.8M for 2017 Elections

The Government of Liberia has appropriated in the fiscal year 2017/2018 national budget US$19.8 million for the conduct of the 2017 Presidential and Legislative elections. The amount, reflected in the overall draft national budget of US$526.5 million submitted to the Ways, Means and Finance Committee of the House of Representatives Tuesday, is US$4.2 million short of the US$24 million appropriated in the budget earlier. The draft budget was presented to House Speaker Emmanuel Nuquay by the Deputy Finance and Development Planning Minister Tanneh Brunson, at the Capitol Building, the FOCUS newspaper reads.