The Bureau of Public Affairs

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Monrovia, Liberia

DAILY NEWS SUMMARY FOR THURSDAY, MAY 11 , 2017

News of former Foreign Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan’s decision to pledge his support to the presidential bid of the UP standard bearer, Vice President Joseph Nyumah Boakai, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection’s call for the National Legislature to speedily pass into law the Domestic Violence Act so as to curtail the wave of domestic violence  and the launch of a campaign by the Liberia Electricity Corporation to connect universities, schools and religious institutions to the national electricity grid are stories dominating today’s edition of our summary of the local daily.

DOMINANT STORIES  

Ngafuan Returns To Unity Party

The Monrovia City Hall could not contain the hundreds of supporters who gathered to witness what could be described as the return of the prodigal son, former Foreign Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan, to the ruling Unity Party. It is now official that Ngafuan has abandoned his political quest for the Presidency and made a U-turn to pledge his support to the presidential bid of the UP standard bearer, Vice President Joseph Nyumah Boakai. The return of Ngafuan, announced at the well-organized political event hosted by the Friends of Augustine Ngafuan (FAN), appeared to be a big boost for the VP who also turned out with his huge fan base of the intelligentsia and student community, reports Daily Observer.

Related Captions: Ngafuan Changes Gear… Backs Boakai’s Presidential Bid (Heritage), ‘Political Transfer Market’ Turns Busy….Ngafuan Makes U-Turn to Up; Scott Goes To CDC, as Menipakei Jumps from CDC (INSIGHT), and VP Boakai Promises Ngafuan Place In Government If Elected As President (FrontPage Africa)

Gender Ministry On Rape And Domestic Violence…Wants Domestic Violence Act Passed

The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection says its attention has been drawn to series of rape, domestic violence and child abuse incidences over the last few weeks. The Heritage newspaper quotes a press release from the Ministry as saying these situations are worrisome and it has initiated processes along with the police and the justice system. The Ministry, however, said it is seriously concerned. The Ministry has described the latest rounds of domestic violence as troubling and is therefore calling on the National Legislature to speedily pass in to law the domestic violence Act so as to curtail the wave of domestic violence taking place across the country, reads the Heritage newspaper. 

Related Captions: Gender Min. Wants Domestic Violence Act Passed (In Profile Daily), Appalling and Deeply Troubling…Says Gender Ministry, Speaks On Rape & Domestic Violence; Wants Urgent Passage of Domestic Violence Act (FOCUS)

LEC Launches Campaign To Connect Schools, Religious Institutions

According to Daily Observer, a campaign to connect universities, schools and religious institutions to the national electricity grid has been launched by the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC), a press release said yesterday. The Schools and Religious Institutions Electricity Project started in May as part of the LEC management’s flagship project to improve the learning environment in schools and to create conducive environment for worshipers at their places of worship. The campaign is in fulfillment of the LEC management’s commitment to ensure that every sector of the country has access to reliable and affordable electricity. The management of the LEC is encouraging all academic and religious institutions within the network area wishing to be connected to the national grid to visit the LEC head office at Waterside, henceforth.

Related Captions: LEC To Connect Schools Religious Institutions (In Profile Daily), LEC To Connect Schools Religious Institutions (In Profile Daily)

OTHER STORIES

NHA Buys 12.5 Acres To Resettle West Pointers

The National Housing Authority (NHA) has purchased 12.5 acres at the cost of US$40,000 in D. Wiles Town near VOA to begin the construction of 54 duplexes (108 units) for erosion victims from West Point. Addressing a group of West Point residents displaced by erosion in the township, NHA deputy managing director for technical services yesterday assured them that the construction will begin in about two weeks. He said the cost of a housing unit is estimated at US$18,000 and commended President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and the government for making the initial amount ready for the project, reports the Daily Observer.

Related Caption: West Pointers New Home (FrontPage Africa)

LDEA Destroys 5,000 Marijuana Plants in Tappita

The Nimba County branch of the Liberia Drugs Enforcement Agency (LDEA) last week raided a farm in Seegbeh Town, near Tappita City, Lower Nimba County, and destroyed about 5,000 marijuana plants. According to the LDEA, the owners of the farm, Zlahn Vaye and his wife Bendu, are on the run. Seegbeh Town is situated about five kilometers from the regional city of Tappita. He said the LDEA is adopting a special program in an integrated approach to provide a source of livelihood for communities that are suspected of being involved in the illicit growth of harmful plants in the county. The LDEA is a semi-autonomous agency under the supervisory authority of the Ministry of Justice, responsible for effective and efficient enforcement of laws pertaining to controlled drugs, substances and precursors, including essential chemicals, asserts Daily Observer.

EPA Gets Support to Ensure Effective Forest Monitoring Campaign

The Liberia Forest Sector Project has donated five Toyota twin-cabin pickup trucks and four Honda motorbikes to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ensure the sustainable management of the forest sector. The Liberia Forest Sector Project is part of the Liberia Forest Program supported by the Government of Norway through a partnership with the Liberian government with respect to the proposed Forest Sector Investment and Technical Assistance Project. The Liberia Forest Sector Project also seeks to support and strengthen regulatory and institutional arrangements for implementation of REDD+; strengthen management of targeted forest landscapes; forest monitoring information system; and project monitoring and management, write Daily Observer.

LNRCS Urged To Uphold Integrity

The Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Mr. Sylvester M. Grigsby, has commended the International Committee of the Red Cross, including its Liberian office, for contributing to the improvement of the lives of people across the world by carrying out useful programs. Serving as the keynote speaker at the program marking the 190th World Red Cross-Red Crescent Day held at the Paynesville City Hall, Minister Grigsby said the Red Cross Society worldwide is helping humanity fight against crises. With particular reference to the Liberia National Red Cross Society (LNRCS), he expressed the government’s satisfaction in reforming the institution’s leadership and functions. “President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is looking forward to an accountable, professional and results oriented Red Cross Society in the country as the change of leadership and systems have affected the Society here in line with the best international standards,” he noted, reports the Daily Observer.

Related Caption: Liberian Red Cross Society Celebrates World Red Cross Day; Vows To Restore Lost Image (Daily Observer)

TSMO Investment Corporation of Liberia Signs Movie Agreement With Silverbird Cinemas Of Nigeria

The TM Cinema in Liberia and Silverbird Cinema of Nigeria has signed an official partnership agreement on Saturday, May 6, 2017. During a red carpet signing ceremony at the roof top of the TM MALL, Coconut Plantation beach, UN Drive, Mamba Point, Mr. Li Sun, CEO of TSMO Investment Corporation, owners of Liberia’s first shopping mall, and Mr. Ekene Nwookolo, Group Head, Corporate services and company secretary of Silverbird Group, owners of Silverbird Cinemas in Nigeria and Ghana, affixed their signatures to a movie distribution deal that will thrill movie goers and significantly boost the development of the movie industry in Liberia, reports Daily Observer.

GIABA Strategizes To Contain ‘Money Laundering’

According to Daily Observer, the Inter-governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) has commenced its 27th plenary meeting (May 7-13) to develop strategies to contain money laundering. Antoine Gouzee Deharveen, European Union (EU) envoy, explained that money laundering in the West African region needs urgent intervention to protect countries. Mr. Deharveen said Liberia will benefit if the citizens combine efforts to search for what they want to be accomplished to achieve the country’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With regard to money laundering, Deharveen said it is one of the contributing factors that leads to corruption, and prevents the state from functioning properly. Money laundering, he said, also has a negative impact on the government, the society and the economy.

Related Caption: ECOWAS brainstorms against money laundering (New Dawn)

For  Obstructing Justice: 2 LMA Official Fined

The Resident Judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit Civil Law Court, Yussif D. Kaba, has imposed a fine of US$300 each on to senior officials of the Liberia Marketing Association (LMA) for obstructing the workings of the court. According to Judge Kaba, the two officials, Francis S. Saryon, LMA Deputy Manager for Operations and Dao Wonkulah, Superintendent of the Ma Juah Market have been fined for obstructing a bailiff from the court from serving a writ intended to halt the induction of the new corps of officials elected to steer the affairs of the association. The writ according to the Heritage newspaper was prayed for by the former Vice President of the LMA who was defeated in the Association’s election through his lawyers.

House Passes Law To Provide Additional Judges At Circuit Court

The House of Representative has passed an act seeking to provide three (3) additional relieving judges for the Circuit Court of Liberia. The Act seeks to amend Section 3.6 of the Judiciary law, Title 17 of the Liberian Code of Laws Revised. Section 3.6 of the Judicial Law, Title 17 of the Liberian Code of laws Revised Currently provides for two (2) relieving judges to serve at the Circuit Court of Liberia.  The Heritage newspaper reads that the Lawmakers took the decision to increase the number of relieving judges at the Circuit Court from two (2) to five (5) on Tuesday, May 29 following the submission of a report from its committee on Judiciary.

Carter Center Outlines Interventions

The In Profile Daily says the Chief of Party of the Carter Center, Pewee Flomoku has outlined a number of activities the institution is focusing in Liberia which include access to justice, information and the provision of healthcare services for the unprivileged. Mr. Flomoku said the institution works with a group of people trained in the area provide legal information to local people, noting that the group is called the Justice and Peace Commission (JPC). This group he explained consists of 55 persons who are working in 470 communities in eight counties in Liberia. The Carter Center Chief of Party also said the JPC workers works in the communities to provide information on rape, violence, land disputes, tax and other legal information which the citizens need to know and understand.

Concession Communities Pledge Co-Existence

Affected Communities in concession areas have resolved to maintain a peaceful and harmonious relationship with concession companies operating within their counties. Representatives from project affected areas in Sinoe and Maryland counties made the resolution recently during two separate training workshops organized in their respective counties under the Accessed Funding Project, being implemented by the United Nations Development Program in collaboration with the United Nations Mission in Liberia in partnership with the National Bureau of Concession (NBC) and the Peacebuilding Office (PBO). The project, according to the In Profile Daily, is a peace building and community cohesion project in four land conflict-prone concession sites around Liberia to include Sinoe, Maryland, grand Cape Mount and Nimba counties.

Quality Education is the Greatest Gift for Children says President Sirleaf

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf says quality education is the greatest gift one can give his or her children as it is critical to the foundation for national development and transformation. The President there encouraged all Liberians to make it their responsibility to provide quality education for their children, an Executive Mansion release said. The President also challenged graduates of the African Bible Colleges University to share knowledge acquired to transform Liberia. According to the release, President Sirleaf made the statement when she delivered the keynote address at the Fifteenth Commencement Convocation of the African Bible Colleges University on Saturday, May 6, 2017 in Yekepa, Nimba Country, the INSIGHT newspaper reads.

WHO Backs Investigation In Liberia After Mysterious Deaths

The World Health Organization (WHO) noted today that it supports epidemiological and laboratory investigations in Liberia to identify the microorganism responsible for an outbreak causing mysterious deaths.  We have been working closely with Liberian health authorities and other partners in surveillance, monitoring, social mobilization, prevention and control, emphasized the United Nations specialized agency. In a statement circulated here to update on the situation in the African country, WHO recalled that on May 8, the Ministry of Health was informed that four of the samples taken to deceased patients gave positive C meningitis, the INSIGHT newspaper reads.

‘Supreme Court Not Supreme Joke’ An Undisputable Fact Establishes That Only 75 Persons Will Be Declared Winners In 2017 Elections; President, Vice President & 73 House of Representatives

Former Foreign Minister Augustine K. Ngafuan has sounded a caveat in which he pointed out that it is even worse still, when we cannot be pursuing our individual ambitions or supporting our preferred candidates by treading on paths that have the net effect of making our Supreme Court to be regarded a a Supreme Joke. Ngafuan adding that all political parties and political actors as well as other stakeholders in the 2017 elections must therefore retreat into their chambers of introspection and reflection and commit to taking the right actions that will advance the national interest and demonstrate respect for the rule of law, the FOCUS reads.

Agro-Dealers Complete Mobile Inputs Delivery Training

At least 45 agro-inputs dealers have completed a one-day intensive training on inputs delivery through a mobile transaction system that will benefit smallholder farmers in the fifteen counties of Liberia. The training was conducted on Monday at the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) sub-office in Fendell, outside Monrovia. It is an initiative that is being supported by the MOA under the Liberia Agriculture Transformation Agenda (LATA), which seeks to empower local farmers with key inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides to increase yields in the various value chains to make the country self-reliant in food production. Launched in March 2017, ADAL is the umbrella organization of trained and qualified agro-dealers across the country involved in providing agro-inputs and educating farmers on how they can properly use the inputs, reports Daily Observer.