THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Monrovia, Liberia

NEWS SUMMARY FOR MONDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2014

Liberia’s Foreign Minister Augustine Kpehe  Ngafuan and the work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were appreciated by some of the media institutions in their respective year-in-review analyses. For some, the Foreign Minister is the ‘Personality of the Year’ while others graded him and his team as doing well, especially in the aftermath of the lead that was taken in the fight against Ebola.

The Government of Liberia acquisition of 50 acres of land as the new burial site for all Ebola related deaths, President Johnson Sirleaf’s visit to Mission School in Careysburg and the United Nations Population Fund and Health Ministry two-week fistula prevention awareness engagement campaign in Grand Bassa County are also stories dominating today’s summary of the local dailies.

DOMINANT STORIES

‘Minister Of The Year’

Under the caption ‘Personalities Of The Year 2014’, Foreign Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan has been named Minister of the Year. According to the Microscope newspaper, when everyone dispraised Liberia during the Ebola crisis Minister Ngafuan was not tired convincing bilateral and multilateral partners to assist the Country.  When the country and its citizens were termed as a virus, he did not relent in galvanizing the necessary support that enabled the country to fight the virus to a point that it is now reduced. The daily reports that Minister Ngafuan has ably represented the country at international gatherings and has preached the foreign policies of the country.

For the FrontPage Africanewspaper, under the caption “2014 Grade are In Who Made It”, the Foreign Minister obtained a B+ average.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS' ACHIEVEMENTS FOR 2014 UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF MINISTER AUGUSTINE KPEHE NGAFUAN:

EFFECTIVE INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENTS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST THE EBOLA VIRUS DISEASE (EVD)

The In Profile Daily in its Monday, December 29, 2014 edition summarized the major activities of the Foreign Minister Agustine Kpehe Ngafuan. Among highlights of the Minister’s activities were his involvement in the country’s ebola crisis. According to the daily, Minister Ngafuan approached the elevated responsibility with passion and commitment and mobilized the entire machinery of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs including Liberian Ambassadors accredited abroad in the fight. His articulate and conscience-pricking views were propagated via international media outlets, including poignant speeches delivered at an extraordinary meeting of African Foreign Minister held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on September 8, 2014,to the UN Security Council in New York on September 18, 2014, and to the UN General Assembly on September 29, 2014 brought to the fore the nightmarish situation obtaining in Liberia and victimization of Liberians due to stigmatization and unwarranted restrictions. His rally for the international community to take bigger, bolder and speedier actions in helping countries affected by Ebola to contain and eradicate the disease all attributed to his recognition as ‘Minister of the Year’.

GoL Secures New Bury Site  For Ebola Victims And Others

The Government of Liberia has secured 50 acres of land as the new burial site for all Ebola related deaths. Twenty-five acres of the land have been landscaped and is ready for use. According to an Executive Mansion release, the 25 acres of land, situated behind the Disco Hill Community, was secured through the intervention of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in collaboration with the Council of Chiefs and Elders, and the United States based non-governmental organization, Global Community, and the citizens of the Disco Hill Community along the Robertsfield Highway, Margibi County. The burial site, which will eventually become the new national cemetery, will enable relatives and loved ones to identify the graves of Ebola victims instead of the earlier format where Ebola victims were cremated. peaking to journalists following a tour of the site by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf recently, the Coordinator of the Incidence Management System, Mr. Tolbert Nyensuah said the areas have been demarcated for Christian burials and Muslim burials; while a place has been earmarked to erect a memorial monument for those victims of the Ebola virus disease that cremated before now. He said the victims will be identified by tombstones and relatives, friends, and even pastors and imams will be allowed to perform burial rites at the site, but void of touching. Mr. Nyensuah said as a new national cemetery other people who might want to bury their loved ones there can come as it will not only be for Ebola victims but anyone that dies. Already, the government has paid an initial amount of US$25,000 to secure the land and has committed to making a final payment of US$25,000 once a Memorandum of Understanding has been reached between the government and the people of the Disco Hill Community, according to the Analyst newspaper.

Related Captions: Liberia Secures New Site To Bury Ebola Virus Victims(FrontPage Africa), GoL Secures New Site To Bury Ebola Victims(INSIGHT)

EJS Visits Mission School - Applauds Work In Molding Minds

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has expressed delight at the exceptional work being done at the Liberian Mission, and especially the skills they are imparting in the young people of this country. “I just want to say how pleased we are to have a group of young people like you that have come together and are applying your time learning a profession and doing well; being able to prepare yourself for leadership of the country; and the way you are doing it is so different and so pleasing,” the Liberian leader told the crowded assembly during a familiarization visit. According to an Executive Mansion release, the Liberian leader made the comments during a pre-Christmas visit to the school’s campus in Caryesburg District. President Sirleaf further praised the efforts of the volunteer staff headed by Joseph Sehnert, for bringing up these young students in the way they should grow and prepare themselves. She also commended them for the exceptional work they are doing in preparing the young students towards a brighter future. There are currently 105 (75 boys and 30 girls) beneficiaries. The Mission runs a school and residential program. The residential program includes the students’ work and an agriculture program. Under the work program, the students work 20 hours a week with a monthly salary of LD$3,500. The program offers skills development and training in plumbing, masonry, electrical and civil engineering, cooking animal husbandry, horticulture, small machine repair, painting, carpentry, tile installation, among others. The Mission operates on 25 acres of land with five acres, writes FrontPage Africa newspaper.

Related Captions: Ellen Visits The Liberia Mission(In Profile Daily), Pres. Sirleaf Visits The Liberia Mission(Daily Observer), Pres. Sirleaf Visits The Liberia Mission(INSIGHT)

UNFPA, MOH Takes Fistula Awareness To Grand Bassa County

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MOH) is running a two-week fistula prevention awareness and community engagement campaign in Grand Bassa County. The campaign, which started December 22, 2014 in Bokay Town, is to create massive awareness about the fistula condition in that part of Liberia. Fistula is an abnormal connection between two or more organs.  It occurs mostly in women, especially after difficult childbirth (obstetric fistula) or as a result of rape (traumatic fistula). During the awareness in Bokay Town, Grand Bassa County Reproductive Health Supervisor, Comfort Boyee Wiles, said the campaign is to educate the people about the danger of fistula and the way forward to prevent it and how it can be cured. She said fistula has destroyed many women, leading them to being abandoned by their husbands, friends and family members due to uncontrollable leakage of urine and feces. She disclosed that due to the high prevalence of fistula among women in the country, UNFPA along with MOH organized a program called Liberia Fistula Project, so as to give hope and provide medical treatment as well as skills training to those who are affected by Fistula, according to the Daily Observer.

Related Captions: MOH Launches Festula Awareness(The Inquirer), UNFPA Conducts Fistula Awareness(The New Dawn)

OTHER STORIES

Declared Winners For 2014 Elections

According to the New Dawn newspaper, the National Elections Commission (NEC) last weekend officially announced the winner of the December 20, 2014 Special Senatorial Elections held across the country. The commission, through its Chairman Jerome George Korkoya at its headquarters in Monrovia, said the 15 winners will be certificated on January 3, 2015 and subsequently declared constitutional Senators to serve a nine-year term. Those declared winners by NEC are Morris Saytumah of Bomi, Incumbent Senator Jewel Taylor, Bong County, Senator Daniel Nathan of Gbarpolu Jonathan Kaipay of Bassa and Cllr. Varney Sherman of Grand Cape Mount County. Other are Marshall Dennis of Grand Gedeh, Albert Chie of Grand Kru,Stephen Zargo of Lofa and Pastor Jim Tornonlah of Margibi County. Still other are J.Gleh-bo Brown for Maryland, George Mannah Weah of Montserrado, incumbent Prince Johnson of Nimba, Francis Paye of Rivercess and Amb. Conmany Wesseh of River Gee County.

All China Federation Union Identifies with Liberian Labor Congress

The All-China Federation Union has presented a symbolic check in the tune of thirty thousand United States Dollars ($30,000.00) to the Liberian Embassy in Beijing as a solidarity contribution to the Liberian Labor Congress   as part of efforts to support Liberia’s fight against Ebola. Speaking at a well-attended program at the Union’s head office in Beijing, Mr. Li Yubing, President and Party Representative of the Congress averred that the contribution was his Union’s way of identifying with the Liberian Labor Congress, during this time of the Ebola Virus Epidemic. Mr. Li Yubing indicated that the decision on the part of his Union to identify with the Liberian Labor Congress was due to the fact that the Ebola Virus Epidemic had a devastating effect on the activities of the Liberian Labor Force, which was compelled to halt all of its activities. Similar donations in the amount of 30,000 U.S.D each were made to the Guinean and Sierra Leonean Embassies in Beijing. Receiving the symbolic check on behalf of the Liberian Labor Congress, the Liberian Ambassador to China, Mr. Dudley Mckinley Thomas expressed sincere gratitude on behalf of the Government and people of Liberia, most especially the Liberian Labor Congress, for the humanitarian gesture made by the All China Federation Union. The Ambassador further went on to state that this donation will assist in a long way in helping to reawaken the activities of the Liberian Labor Congress that have been lying idle since the outbreak of the epidemic, reports the In Profile Daily.

FAO Rep Presents Credential And Signs Livestock Development Project Document

The new Country Representative of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) assigned to Liberia, Marc Abdala, recently presented his Letter of Credence to Liberia’s Foreign Minister, Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Monrovia. The new FAO Country Representative said he was in Liberia to join the Country Office team in working alongside the Government of Liberia (GoL) to fight hunger, poverty and malnutrition through the development of agriculture in its broad spectrum, youth empowerment and the fight against the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). He added that Liberia is a great country with hard working and committed people eager to take the nation to higher heights, especially in the areas of food security, fishery, forestry and support to rural women. He then pledged FAO’s continued collaboration with the government and people of Liberia in the New Year 2015. For his part, Foreign Minister Ngafuan recalled FAO’s enormous contributions to food security and agriculture, as well as the Organization’s current efforts, aimed at combating the Ebola virus. “You can be assured of stronger collaboration between FAO and the government during your tenure as head of mission of your Organization”, the Minister stated. He said the government and people of Liberia are grateful for “FAO’s assistance to the country in the days of crisis.” The Liberian Foreign Minister expressed concern over effects of Ebola on farmers and agriculture, adding the government will be looking forward to FAO’s increased support in the New Year and beyond. At the same time, the Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and FAO signed a two-year project document for the survey and characterization of livestock breeds in the country. The project, titled, “Survey and characterization of livestock breeds and their production systems in Liberia for the development of a National Strategy and Action Plan for animal genetic resources”, is worth USD 337,000. This proposal is to support the survey and characterization of the genetic resources of livestock (cattle, goats, sheep and pigs) in Liberia. In addition, this project will support the establishment of a National Strategy and Action Plan for the sector. Agriculture Minister Dr. Florence Chenoweth, speaking during the signing ceremony, lauded FAO for supporting the development of livestock in Liberia. She said the effort is in consonance with Government’s decentralization and capacity development across the country. Minister Chenoweth said the Ministry of Agriculture remains committed to the cordial working relationship subsisting between FAO and MoA. “The more we present ourselves as one group working together, the more it’s better for farmers and agriculture,” the Minister added. For his part, FAO’s Representative Mr. Abdala, reiterated the Organization’s desire to support a vibrant agricultural programme in line with FAO’s Country Programming Framework and the government’s priorities. He praised the people of Liberia “for achieving a lot and doing quite well in recent years. He then expressed confidence that the country will soon overcome the Ebola Virus Disease for a fresh start in 2015. A career agronomist, the newly FAO Representative has vast professional and working backgrounds in agriculture, agro chemistry, agriculture industry development and diplomacy. He joined FAO in 1998 and has served in several countries and portfolios, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, la Côte d’Ivoire, Sudan, Chad, Central African Republic as well as Ethiopia, where he worked with the African Union through the FAO Representation based in Addis Ababa in addressing food insecurity in the Horn of Africa. He is a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, reports the Daily Observer.

Related Caption: New FAO Boss Joins Fight Against Hunger(New Democrat)

UNICEF Partners with PCC, MCC to end Ebola Here

The United Nations Children’s Fund has begin a partnership with the Paynesville City Corporation (PCC) and the Monrovia City Corporation in a joint effort to eradicate the Ebola Virus Disease. According to the Heritage newspaper, as part of the partnership, UNICEF will provide funding for initiatives of the two city corporations to increase sensitization against the virus. The program which will last for the next 90 days (Three months) is named and styled“Operation stop Ebola”. 

LEC Promises Improved Power Supply to Monrovia Soon

 Maintenance work has begun on the Liberian Electricity Corporation (LEC) Power supply generators which provide electricity for the residence of Monrovia and its environs the utility provider said in a release on Sunday, December 28. According to the Daily Observer, the work began on Monday after spare parts for several generators   which broke down at the height of the Ebola Crisis arrived over the weekend to boost LEC’s power generation capacity. According to the management, LEC’s engineer and technician are working aggressively to ensure the restoration of improved power supply in a reasonable time. The company is commending the public for their continued understanding of the   company’s challenge and is calling on them to exercise patience as the company is doing everything possible to ensure that customers receive improved electricity supply.