The Bureau of Public Affairs

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Monrovia, Liberia

NEWS SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2014

The signing of the Book of Condolence for former Chairman Gyude Bryant, adjustment in the Midterm Senatorial Elections, Pres. Sirleaf Honored for Advocating the Welfare of Albinos in Africa and AFL Lauds Ghana’s Role are dominant amongst other related stories in today’s news summary.

Liberian Government Releases Protocol For The Signing Of Book Of Condolence For Former Chairman Bryant

FrontPage Africa Newspaper quotes a Foreign Ministry’s release: The Government of Liberia has released the Protocol for the signing of the Book of Condolence and funeral arrangements for the Former Chairman of the National Transitional Government of Liberia (LNTG), His Excellency Charles Gyude Bryant. The Book of Condolence for the late Former Chairman will be opened on Monday, May 12, 2014 in the Foyer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs beginning at 9:O’clock ante meridian (AM) to 5:O’clock post meridian (PM). A Foreign Ministry release quotes the Protocol as saying that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf will lead Members of the Cabinet in signing the Book of Condolence, to be followed by Vice President Joseph N. Boakai, the Speaker and Members of the National Legislature, and the Chief Justice & Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of Liberia. Former Heads of State and Former Vice Heads of State of Liberia, the Doyen and Members of the Diplomatic Corps, Consular Corps, and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) as well as heads of international organizations will then follow in the signing of the Book of Condolence. According to the release, the Clergy and Imams, other officials of the Government, including Heads of Public Corporations, Autonomous Agencies, Bureaus, and Commissions, former officials of Government, heads of political parties and civil society organizations to be followed by the general public on Tuesday, May 13, 2014. The remains of the Former Chairman will be removed from the Samuel A. Stryker Funeral Parlors at 4 PM and taken to the Trinity Cathedral on Broad Street for one night of wake keeping commencing at 6 PM on Tuesday, May 13, 2014. On Wednesday, May 14, 2014, beginning at 10 AM, funeral rites over the remains of Former Chairman Bryant will be said at the Trinity Cathedral on Broad Street, Monrovia, to be followed by interment at the Crozierville Cemetery in Montserrado County. The Former Chairman of the NTGL died on April 16, 2014 at the John F. Kennedy (JFK) Medical Center in Monrovia. He was Liberia’s last interim leader who led the country to democratic elections in 2005 after serving from 2003 to 2006.

Related Caption: Protocol For Bryant Book Of Condolence Released (The News Newspaper), Protocol for Bryant Book Of Condolence Released (The NEWS), and Bryant Takes Final Journey Wednesday (IN PROFILE DAILY)

 Liberia Elections Commission Adjusting Midterm Elections Timeline

The National Elections Commission (NEC) has begun the process of adjusting the Timeline for the conduct of the Special Senatorial Election. The Commission in a release says the adjustment is triggered by the recent shift in the schedule of the Voter Roll Update Exercise and Exhibition of the Voter Roll which affected other activities on the Timeline. The Commission says the adjustment will only affect minor precursor electoral activities to include the date for the Issuance of the Writ of Election which should have been conducted on Friday, May 9, writes FrontPage Africa Newspaper.

Related Caption: NEC Adjusts Election Timeline (Heritage Newspaper)

President Sirleaf Receives Albinos Award

According to FrontPage Africa Newspaper, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has received the Lifetime Patron Award of ‘The Albino Foundation’ (TAF) for her humanitarian advocacy for the protection and safety of Albinos in Africa. TAF honored the Liberian leader at the First West African Regional Conference on Albinism in Abuja, Nigeria, on May 5. The aim of the conference was to improve regional awareness and response to the challenges of persons with albinism by their families, primary health care institutions, policymakers and the general public. As Chairperson of the High-Level Committee on the Common African Position (CAP) for the Post-2015 Development Agenda, President Sirleaf committed to mainstream the welfare of people living with albinism as a thematic program of the Post 2015 Development Agenda. She also pledged to advocate for the protection of people living with albinism at national and global forums.

Related Caption: Pres. Sirleaf Honored For Advocating The Welfare Of Albinos In Africa (INSIGHT)

Ghana’s Chief Of Staff Visits B.T.C

The Acting Minister of National Defense, Joseph F. Johnson, has noted that the Armed Forces of the Republic of Ghana played a pivotal role in the restructuring process of the Armed Forces of Liberia. Minister Johnson said the Ghanaian Army provided training opportunities and seconded some of its brilliant military personnel as mentors to the AFL over the past years. He praised the strong military relations existing between the Armed Forces of both countries.
He also lauded Ghana for its role in sustaining the ten-year peace that Liberians are now enjoying. According to him, Ghana has always been by Liberia even during the heat of the civil war, dating back to 1990. Minister Johnson made these remarks on Thursday when a Ghanaian delegation headed by Major General Bobson Gbemmieh Saagbul, Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of Ghana paid him a courtesy visit at the Ministry of National Defense in the Barclay Training Center, Monrovia. He thanked the Ghanaian Chief of Staff and his delegation for the visit, noting that he personally benefited from ECOMOG rescue mission during the civil war in 1990. For his part, Major General Saagbul said the visit to Liberia is intended to be a part of the honoring ceremony of Ghanaian troops serving in UNMIL. He added that as a military personnel, he first thought to identify with his root, which is the Armed Forces of Liberia because military in the world over is universal. Major General Saagbul praised Liberia for sending troops to Mali which showed that Liberia is now up to the tasks of international peacekeeping.  He thanked Minister Johnson for the warm welcome received from the authorities of the Ministry and the Armed Forces of Liberia. A Ghanaian General Arnold Quinoo (rtd) served as the first Force Commander for the West African Peace Monitoring Group or ECOMOG to Liberia in 1990 during the peak of the civil war here, New Dawn reports.

Related Caption: AFL Lauds Ghana’s Role (New Democrat), Ghana Army Commended (IN PROFILE DAILY)

Fire Guts 11-Bedroom House

Another fire incident has occurred; this time razing to its foundation an 11-bedroom building in the Plumkor community in Sinkor. The fire disaster late Wednesday evening around 7PM up to yesterday morning before it was extinguished by firefighters from the National Fire Service Agency. Eyewitnesses told this paper that the fire started when an occupant of the building was putting gasoline in his generator and that while in the process the generator sparked and burst into flames. Speculations have it that the fire got in contact with some combustible items and then the furious fire gutted the building, reports the Inquirer Newspaper.

LWSC wants US$1.9m

The Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation says it needs US$1.9 million for the supply of water and taking care of the sewer system throughout Monrovia. Mr. Charles Allen, Managing Director of LWSC said that public hearing in the William Richard Joint Chambers of the Liberian Legislature on Monday, said his corporation is struggling to meet the demands for water of the population of the Capital. LWSC Managing Director, looking serious, set allowance for the LWSC spent US$ 30,000 on the purchase of fuel on a weekly basis and US$122,000 on salary for employees of the cooperation and other expenditure and of that amount only USD$50,000 for chemical and US$30,000 fuel weekly is being provided by the Government of Liberia. Mr. Allen told members of the Senate Committee on Public Corporations that the under performance of the corporation in meeting the expectation and needs of the public is due to lack of adequate funding. He stressed the need for government to allocate US$1.9 million for the Corporation in the National Budget to do things he described as absolutely necessary. He promised to use five hundred thousand of the 1.9 million to purchase pipes that will supply communities in need and willing to pay bills for services rendered. According to Mr. Allen, before the civil crisis, the LWSC supplied Monrovia with a population of five hundred thousand people withUS$6 Million gallons of water on a daily basis but is unable to pump six Million gallons to Monrovia now with a current population of over one million. He said, though the Government of Liberia provided funding that was used to purchase a new machine that is capable of pumping 12 Million gallons of water to Monrovia on a daily basis the LWSC cannot pump that amount of water because it does not have the funding to pump 24 hours.  At a public hearing held in the joint chambers of the Capitol Building, he told members of the committee that the African Development Bank has provided 40 million United States dollars grant under the urban water and sanitation project of which 6.5 million which will be used for Zwedru, Kakata and Buchanan to refurbish the water plants that were operational before the war. “Most of the money is for the refurbishment of the facility at White Planes that component is currently under designed review to make some modification. We hope that by June we will be finished with the design review and by August we should have tender the contract to allow construction works to begin,” Allen said. He promised that by the end of 2015 the construction works would be completed on the water plant which would give it the ability to pump 15 million gallons of water to Monrovia on a daily basis. According to him at the moment, the government is currently assisting the LWSC with funds for only fuel and chemical. He furthered: the monthly expenditure runs to US$465,000 and their revenue US$390,000 noting that corporation has the monthly lost of US$72,000, New Dawn reports.

Liberian Red Cross In Financial Squeeze

The Liberia National Red Cross Society or LNRCS, says funding it received from international partners are now being diverted to the donor nations’ citizenry, as a “global financial-squeeze” has touched most of those partners. While partners are now said to be diverting their funds toward their citizens’ benefit, the LNRCS President, Emmanuel O. Kparh has disclosed that the support his institution receives from the Liberian Government is meager. “If you look around today, there is a global financial squeeze that has touched most of our partners; in fact the very disasters that we have around our country today are going around in European Countries,” he said at the Slip Way Community Field in Central Monrovia during celebrations of 150 years of the First Geneva Convention. Citing an example, Mr. Kparh said the Spanish Red Cross which supported the Liberian Red Cross is now diverting to the Spanish citizenry, noting further that the Spanish Red Cross is now feeding almost 10,000 people in Spain on a monthly basis, and as such, funding earlier sent to Liberia will now have to be diverted to the Spanish citizenry.  “In this kind of situation, it is the government that has the sole responsibility to provide the kind of needed services and financial backing that the national society needs in order to do those things that the government may not be in the position to do; not that the government cannot do it, but we have the expertise based on our movement connection,” said Mr. Kparh. Notwithstanding, the LNRCS boss thanked the Legislature that, he said, provided some support during the last fiscal year, announcing that the Red Cross was in discussion with the government for more collaboration.  During the occasion, graced by government officials, LNRCS partners, as well as students, among others, the head of delegation of the International Committee on Red Cross or ICRC, Mr. Jean-Jerome Cassabianca thanked the Liberian Society for what it has achieved.  Though, he said, one important step remains to be made by Liberia, Mr. Casssabianca observed that since last year, the ICRC and the LNRCS have worked with the International Humanitarian Law or IHL Committee in order to support Liberia in domesticating the Geneva Conventions.  “A draft law is being finalized and hopefully, it would be presented soon to the Liberian Legislature for adoption,” he said, thanking the LNRCS for its support of the vulnerable populations of Liberia. Earlier in a statement, the LNRCS Secretary General, Mr. Fayiah Tamba noted that most recently, the government, through the Liberia International Humanitarian Law Committee, took a giant step towards the ratification of the Geneva Conventions. “To date, the Geneva Conventions Act of 2014 has been drafted pending validation and legislative enactment,” he said.  Among other things, Mr. Tamba recalled that since March 2014 when the Ebola disease outbreak was announced here, the Red Cross, with support from its movement partners and other sister national societies, have been active, carrying contact tracing, social mobilization, as well as giving key messages in Lofa, Bong, Nimba, Margibi and Montserrado Counties, New Dawn says.

19 LNP Officers Return From Training In Ghana

Nineteen officers of the Liberia National Police (LNP) have returned home after completing a three month Post-Graduate Diploma program at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) in Ghana. In an interview with the Liberia News Agency Thursday, Police spokesman Sam Collins said the training was part of a capacity building program for the LNP organized by the United Nations Development Program and IRISH AID in conjunction with the Liberian Government, INSIGHT reports.

Game Changers Applaud MOC Contribution To Entrepreneurs

FrontPageAfrica reports that Game Changers Liberia, program designed to promote Made in Liberia products says it applauds the support of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for supporting all initiatives of the program. “The idea of the "Made in Liberia Trade Store" was galvanized from nearly two hundred participants of the National Trade Fair held in September 2011 by the Enhanced Integrated Framework National Implementation Unit (EIF-NIU), a unit under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI). The EIF-NIU and the MoCI saw the establishment of the store as a way to enhance and develop the capacities of SMEs and empowered the private sector”, the organization stated. In a statement signed by Yvette Nyamadi, Program Officer, Game Changers Liberia (GCL), the group said in April 2013, the Ministry of Commerce hosted the first ever MSME conference in Monrovia with more than 800 people attending the event, the majority of whom were small business owners. The objective of the conference, the group stated was to promote a culture of “buy Liberian and build Liberia.” The conference also discussed challenges facing Liberian MSMEs including access to markets, market access and entrepreneurship and marketing skills and competencies. Additionally, the group indicated that to address some of these challenges, the idea of a Made in Liberia Store was further built upon. There are more than 150 MSMEs that receive support from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s MSME Department. Stated game Changer Liberia: “As part of a public, Private Partnership arrangement, through the instrumentality of the Ministry of Commerce, a recommendation was made by the Ministry to Chevron for Game Changers Liberia to Chevron, to receive funding to furnish and create public awareness about the store, in the amount of US$10,775.  This amount is also meant to the launch of the Made in Liberia Store as part of the climax of the recently held Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s 2nd Annual MSME Conference held on April 29 and 30th 2014”, New Dawn writes.

Amb. Fahnbulleh In Solidarity With Kidnapped Nigerian Girls

Liberia’s Ambassador for Maternal health has added her voice to the global outcry for the return of 223 Nigerian school girls abducted three weeks ago by an Islamic extremist group, Boko Haram. Ambassador Miatta Fahnbulleh presented the solidarity statement at the Ministry of Information weekly press briefing in Monrovia on Thursday. She described the situation in Borno, Nigeria as sad and asserted that such incident brings home the message that all should stand up in the fight against terrorism, INSIGHT writes.

As MOHSW Celebrates Int’l Children Mental Health Day: Parents Urged To Monitor their Children

The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW) Thursday, May 8, celebrated the International Children’s Mental Health Day under the theme: “Inspiring Resilience, Creative, hope”. The event, held on the compound of the Health Ministry, brought together government officials students and community dwellers. Speaking at the occasion, Yeetich Niapeh, a Medical health practitioner at the John F. Kennedy Medical Center (JFK) urged parents to promote resilience amongst their children in order to help them solve their mental challenges, adding that they (Parents) should be resilience in their speeches and activities, Daily Observer reports.

AU To Hold Big Internet Exchange Workshop

A 5-day capacity building workshop for high level engineers towards establishing the Liberia Internet Exchange Point is expected to get under way in Monrovia May 12 to 16, 2014. The seminar will be conducted by the African Union (AU) in collaboration with the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and the Internet Society. According to a Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication release, the workshop is part of the African Union’s Communication African Internet Exchange System (AXIS) Project to support the establishment of IXPs across Africa. The workshop is also intended to create the requisite local expertise to support the IXP interconnections and operations, INSIGHT reports.

UNICEF Rep. Wants “Frank” Approach To Rape Fight

UNICEF Country Representative Sheldon Yett has said Liberians should be frank in addressing the issue of rape to move from being outraged over child rape and abuse to actually making the difference. The UNICEF official said, “There has been no shortage of campaigns against rape, but the problem is still there; the Ministry of Gender has done an outstanding job, but I think we all need to ask ourselves whether we are being as effective as we need to be.” He made the statement at a three-day “Violence against Children” training workshop, organized by NIICEF, in collaboration with PCI media impact and the Ministry of Gender and Development (MOGD) which started Wednesday in Monrovia. In remarks, Deputy Gender Minister for Administration, Andrew Tehmeh, said he believes Liberians are making a lot of noise about what they see and hear about rape, but are doing little about it, noting, “We are just groaning and crying and after two days we forget it. “Rape does not happen to only poor people and leaves the rich folks out; it comes to all of our doorsteps, INSIGHT reports.

Former Agriculture Minister Dies

The former Minister of Agriculture during the regime of the late Samuel K. Doe, S. Gblorzuo Toweh died in the United States of America on this week following a brief illness. Mr. Toweh, a former member of the Liberia Action party, took part in the 2005 presidential election on the ticket of the National Democratic Party of Liberia (party established by the late president, Samuel D. Doe). Prior to becoming member of the NDPL, he was tipped by some top officials from the Unity Party to become the running mate of Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, The New Republic reports.

Lightning Kills 4 In Lofa – One In Critical Condition

To the shock and outright disbelief by relatives and friends, lightning from a thunderstorm that struck the home of the Dorbor family in Lofa County on May 7,, 2014 left four persons dead and one in critical condition. The fateful incident took place in Zeyeakpala Town about 12 miles from Zorzor City in Lofa County. The thunderstorm, which struck early Wednesday evening left a 68-year-old Youngor Dorbor Beyan dead instantly. One of the victims as Gibson Beyan is reported to be in a very critical condition in Zeyeakpala Town, Zorzor District in Lofa County, Daily Observer reports.