The Bureau of Public Affairs

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Monrovia, Liberia

DAILY NEWS SUMMARY FOR THURSDAY, MAY 17, 2018

President George Manneh Weah’s congratulatory message to His Excellency Mr. Mahathir Mohamad following his election and ascendency as Prime Minister of Malaysia, the postponement of 2018/2019 Budget Hearing due to the holding of a President’s Cabinet Retreat in Grand Bassa County and the Proclamation declaring today, Thursday, May 17, 2018 as “World Telecommunications and Information Society Day, among others are stories highlighted in today’s edition of our summary of the local dailies.

President Weah Congratulates Prime Minister Mohamad Of Malaysia

The INQUIRERnewspaper reports that His Excellency President George Manneh Weah has sent a congratulatory message to His Excellency Mr. Mahathir Mohamad following his election and ascendency as Prime Minister of Malaysia. According to a Foreign Ministry release, President Weah, on behalf of the Government and people of Liberia, extended his warmest congratulations and best wishes to H.E. Mr. Mahathir Mohamad, the Government and people of Malaysia on his preferment as the new Prime Minister of that great country. “As you assume the enormous task of shaping the future of your country, I entertain the hope that cordial relations subsisting between our two countries and peoples will be further strengthened in the spirit of friendship and cooperation,” the Liberian Leader hoped.

Budget Hearing Postponed Due to President’s Cabinet Retreat

The 2018/2019 Budget Hearing has been postponed to Tuesday, May 22, following an appeal from President George Weah through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP). Representative Thomas P. Fallah, Chairman of the Joint Committee on Budget, Public Accounts and Audit of the 54th Legislature, made the disclosure yesterday immediately following the opening of the Revenue Component of the 2018/2019 Budget Hearing. The decision of the legislature followed an appeal from Finance Minister Samuel Tweah, who told the Joint Committee on Budget, Public Accounts and Audit that members of the Presidential Cabinet Retreat are “seriously writing a policy for presentation during the retreat as well as matters surrounding the projected US$562.2 million of the 2018/2019 budget.” The Daily Observer asserts that the two-day Presidential Cabinet Retreat will be held on Thursday and Friday in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County.

Related Caption:  House Postpones Budget Hearings-As Cabinet Retreats In Buchanan(The New Dawn)

Today Is World Telecommunications And Information Society Day… To Be Observed As Working Holiday

President George Manneh Weah has by Proclamation declared today, Thursday, May 17, 2018 as “World Telecommunications and Information Society Day” and is to be observed throughout the Republic as a “Working Holiday.” The Heritage newspaper quotes a Foreign Ministry release as saying that World Telecommunications Day has been celebrated annually on May 17 since 1969 to mark the founding of International Communications Union (ITU) and the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention on May 17, 1865. President Weah, therefore, calls upon all government ministries and agencies, business houses, national and international ICT organizations concerned, telecommunications companies and internet service providers, to cooperate with the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications to execute appropriate programs befitting the occasion.

LRA Staff, Others Trained In Customs & Trade Facilitation

According to the In Profile Daily, twenty-One staffers of the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), meanly Customs Officers, and private sector partners working in the areas of logistics and supply chain management, have been awarded professional certificates in Customs and Trade Facilitation. The recognition followed a recent weeklong training course in Monrovia focusing on building effective and efficient supply chains, efficient customs procedures, and supply chain partnerships. It was aimed at creating trade opportunities to facilitate revenue collection.  The daily reads that the Customs and Logistics training conducted by experts from evofenedex and STC-NESTRA was funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Related Captions: LRA Staff, Others Trained In Customs, Trade Facilitation(The INQUIRER), LRA Staff, Others Receive Training(The New Dawn)

France To Host Global Fund Replenishment Conference

The News Dawn newspaper reports that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria expressed tremendous appreciation for President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to host the next Global Fund replenishment conference in France in 2019.The conference aims to raise new funds and mobilize partners toward ending AIDS, TB and malaria by 2030 in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals. Held once every three years, the conference convenes leaders from governments, civil society, the private sector and communities affected by the three most devastating infectious diseases. According to the daily, France is Global Fund’s second-largest donor, committing more than US$4.2 billion to the Global Fund since 2002. France has played a pioneering role in scientific research, promoting human rights and serving people affected by AIDS, TB and malaria.

ADB Approves US$20 Million Facility To Boost Lending To SMEs In Liberia

The African Development Bank has approved US$ 20 million facility to boost lending to small and medium-sized enterprises in Liberia. The loan, approved by the Board of Directors of the Bank on Wednesday, May 16, 2018, is a trade finance package for three Liberian commercial banks: Liberian Bank for Development and Investment (LBDI); International Bank of (Liberia) Limited (IBL) and Afriland First Bank Liberia Limited.  The New Dawn newspaper reads that it consists of a composite funded and unfunded package under which the African Development Bank will provide funding to the three banks and a guaranty facility to allow international banks to extend confirmation lines to Liberian local banks.

Weah Receives Special Presidential Review Committee’s Report On Nocal

The Heritage newspaper reports that President George Weah has officially received a formal report from the Special Presidential Review Committee that was constituted to probe into the Global Witness Report on NOCAL. The report was presented to the Liberian leader on Wednesday, May 16, 2018 at his Foreign Affairs Office.  President Weah is reviewing the findings and recommendations made by the committee and is due to come up with an appropriate course of action shortly. He however commended the committee for their work and due diligence. It can be recalled that the Liberian President set up a five-member Special Presidential Committee on April 17, 2018 to examine allegations made by Global Witness in its reports on Liberia involving the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL).

“Liberians Best Suited to Design Development, Poverty Alleviation Strategies for Liberia”-USAID Mission Director Anthony Chan

USAID Mission Director to Liberia, Anthony S. Chan, says ending poverty in Liberia will require financial resources that can only be generated from broad-based and sustained economic growth. Director Chan made the remarks Wednesday in Monrovia during the launch of the Development Matters TV and Radio, which brought together media executives, development partners, among others. He said Liberians are best positioned to design and implement the growth-inducing policies needed to end the biting poverty that afflicts many Liberians, asserts the Daily Observer.

Water & Sewer Corp. Water Producers Hold Discussions on Boreholes and Wells Metering

The Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC) and the Liberia Water Producers Association (LWPA) have found a common ground on how to proceed as partners in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene sector of Liberia over the implementation of the New LWSC Act of 2017. The LWSC Act of 2017 empowers the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC) to amongst several things issue license for the development, operations, production and maintenance of commercial wells and boreholes in urban cities and towns; to exercise powers in accordance with the economic, social and environmental policies of the government and to determine the tariffs to consumers for the operations of commercial wells and boreholes. The new LWSC Act which was passed by the 53rd Legislature on 27 December 2017 and printed into handbill on 2 January 2018 according to the FrontPage Africa newspaper.

Related Caption: LWSC, Mineral Water Producers Fins Common Ground To Partner On Boreholes, Wells Matering(Daily Observer)

Gas, Fuel Prices Go Up

According to the In Profile Daily, the Government of Liberia, through the Ministry of Commerce & Industry and the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC), has announced with immediate effect a twenty United States cents increase in both prices of gasoline and diesel fuel on the Liberian market. According to a petroleum price circular issued by the government, the retail pump price for a gallon of gasoline is US$3.61 or its Liberia dollar equivalent L$485 while the retail pump price for a gallon of diesel fuel is now sole at the US$3.70 or its Liberian dollar equivalent LRD$495.00.

Three Die Of Lassa Fever in Liberia – NPHIL Confirms

The FrontPage Africa newspaper reads that the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) and the Ministry of Health (MoH) have confirmed 3 Lassa fever cases from two counties: Montserrado (2) and Nimba (1). The daily says all three confirmed cases have died. The 3 cases have undergone safe and dignified burials and the county health teams are conducting contact tracing on both healthcare workers and community members who had high-risk (i.e., direct) contact with the patients during their symptomatic periods. Lassa fever is a viral hemorrhagic illness caused by a virus that is transmitted through contact with the urine or feces of infected rodents and through direct contact with body fluids of symptomatic human cases.

Monrovia Breweries Workers’ Union Sign CBA

Last Weekend marked a spectacular program of the opening ceremony of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the Liberian Industries Workers Union and the Monrovia Brewery Company launched at the Corina Hotel. The essence of the agreement was to protect, respect and promote Labor Rights in Liberia which had been a major challenge that workers are faced with especially under the former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s administration. Scores of workers and union leaders were wrongfully dismissed, both with the public and private sectors, reports the INQUIRER newspaper.