MONROVIA – The Civil Law Court has issued a writ of summons for an Ex-LURD General, Oforee Diah. The summons is in connection to a US$99,000 truck that is believed to be for Madam Lucretia Turnquist. Defendant Diah was contacted because he was a friend to the complainant’s daughter, and later took delivery of the truck to his house for safekeeping, after Madam Turnquist’s lawyers had prepared a legal document. After some time, defendant Diah then demanded, that she takes delivery of the truck, for fear that parts would be missing, but when they went to collect the truck, it was nowhere to be found, and he refused to say where the truck was. The Civil Law Court has ordered Defendant Diah to respond on or before September 10, and that upon his failure judgment by default will be rendered against him.

MONROVIA – The Plenary of the House of Representatives has concurred with a Senate endorsed bill for the creation of the Trehnbo Vocational Institute (TVI) in Grand Kru County. The bill was submitted Tuesday, August 3, by President Pro-Tempore Albert T. Chie and subsequently passed by the Senate’s Plenary. The institute is expected to offer livelihood skills in masonry, carpentry, plumbing, general agriculture, home economies, electricity, small scale mining and environmental technology. Also, to create, promote and implement co-educational institute of vocational learning within Grand Kru and to grant certificates and diploma. The Trehnbo Vocational Institute shall have Board of Trustees, Director and Deputy Director for Administration, Deputy Director for Academic Affairs, Assistant Director for Fiscal Affairs, Assistant Director for Records, Registration and Admission, Assistant Director for Students Affairs and Heads of Department and Programs.

MONROVIA – The Liberian Senate has congratulated the national team, Lone Star, for its vital victory over the Central African Republic in the 2022 World Cup qualifier match. Senate Pro-Temp Chie further acknowledged the allocation of US$725,000 by the Liberian Senate in the Special Budget for preparation toward the World Cup qualifier games which, according to him, was one of the major steps in helping the national team to fully prepare itself in the prestigious encounters. He noted that the Senate remains committed to help ensure that the national team is up to the task financially so as to bring smiles on the faces of the citizenry through its performance on the continental and world stages. Senator Chie also challenged the national team players to see the victory as a step forward to greater performances that will subsequently lead to the end-result of qualifying for the World Cup for the first time. With a sense of determination, the Pro-Tempore said, the Senate remains confidence that the Lone Star will definitely qualify for the upcoming World Cup.

Even societal stigma and the lack of unemployment are additional factors that frequently lead visually impaired individuals in isolation. Sadly, out of this huge number, there is no visually impaired student. It is not because the visually impaired do not want to enroll at the school. It starts with training teachers to master the Braille and followed by erecting the right structures to accommodate the visually impaired students so that they can have a comfortable learning environment,” she said. The demand from Gibson and co. comes at the time the University of Liberia is experiencing disruption in enrollment due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

MONROVIA – Revenues generated from Liberia’s extractive industries in the first half of last year dropped by more than US$5 million due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to in the latest report by Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI). LEITI’s Multi-Stakeholder Steering Group (MSG) release the entity’s 12th EITI report a few months ago following years delayed in releasing the report. “Covid-19 has slowed down activities in the extractive sector and that is affecting revenue generation in the sector,” told in a forum in Monrovia recently, “but the Liberia Revenue Authority is doing well in other areas. The government received more extractive revenues within the 2018/19 fiscal year than last time around, according to LEITI report. This initiative is in support of the government’s effort to promote transparency and accountability over the management of revenues from Liberia’s extractive resources, ensuring that all citizens benefit from such resources.

Todee District, Montserado – The Kids Education Empowerment Program’s (KEEP) quest to provide reading rooms for Liberian students in disadvantaged communities reached another milestone when the organization dedicated a reading room at the Goba Town Public School in Todee District, Montserrado County. The reading room, the 24th constructed by KEEP since its establishment, was made possible through the support of OXFAM, the British aid agency. “Today we are dedicating the 24th reading room since we started. The event was attended by education stakeholders and community leaders, who thanked KEEP and its partners for selecting the Goba Town public School. It can be recalled on August 23, KEEP, with support from the Gbowee Foundation dedicated a modern reading room at the J. F. Clarke Elementary School in Gbarnga, Bong County.

When President George Weah appointed Mr. J. Aloysius Tarlue Jr., as Executive Governor of the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) on November 8, 2019, critics claimed that he was unfit for the job. The CBL has been able to contribute to macroeconomic stability through achieving low inflation, maintaining broad exchange rate stability and promoting financial stability. From a financial stability perspective, the CBL continues to maintain robust regulatory and supervisory systems to promote a safe and sound financial system. The financial system remained resilient during the period under review, but has been negatively impacted by COVID-19, leading to rising of non-performing loans (NPLs). The CBL is taking steps to address this situation and ensure that the financial system continues to support the private sector to create jobs and income.

However, the focus of the military coups has changed today. Military coups are now seen as a way to end corruption, bad governance, a bankrupt economy, and injustice. Despite this, history has many examples where soldiers launched military coups to side with the masses, rather than the authoritarian government. Military coups in Africa don’t pave the corridor to a successful and efficient path to democracy or civilian administration. Democracy in Africa:The tenets of democracy continue to face serious crises in modern African societies: Democracy in Africa is often fragile, especially in states recovering from civil conflict.

Monrovia – Delegates at a gender stakeholders’ conference are reviewing and strengthening an existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on women’s political participation, signed between the National Elections Commission (NEC) and nineteen (19) political parties in 2017. The MOU supports the 30% gender quota, as per section 4.5 of the new elections law and its proposed amendment. It contains five pillars with specified actions to be implemented by political parties, toward achieving the 30% benchmark set by the National Elections Commission. Conference participants are expected to re-enforce the MoU with concrete actions that address the current challenges confronting women’s political participation and the measures needed to prevent violence against women in elections. The conference brings together Political Party Executives, women-focus civil society organizations, members of the Women Legislative Caucus, Commissioners of NEC, the Women Coalition of Political Parties of Liberia and advocates on women’s rights.

MONROVIA – The Center for Media Studies and Peacebuilding (CEMESP) on Tuesday, September 7, 2021, conducted intensive training for female bloggers and journalists on ‘Women’s Rights Online Issues’ in Liberia. He said the training which is implemented in Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone seeks to increase public awareness and respect for online rights, particularly women’s rights online rights as well as improve the digital literacy of least 200 women (female journalists, women’s rights activists, among others) to advocate for women’s rights online in the three West African countries. “As a first step for the intervention in Liberia, a database of female journalists, bloggers, and activists in Liberia has been built,” Mr. Joseph said adding that a one-day training workshop on women’s rights online issues was earlier held in Liberia to train 40 female journalists, bloggers, and activists. Participants at Tuesday’s training were introduced to Digital Rights, Social Media and Online Privacy, Identifying and Dealing with Online Abuses against Women, Digital Storytelling, and Digital Content Creation. At the end of the training CEMESP setup a WhatsApp group which will serve as a platform to enable the participants to continuously engage and also support each other in times of promoting women’s rights online and countering violation of women’s rights online.

The military coup in neighboring Guinea undoubtedly took many Liberians by surprise. In Monrovia, there was a visible presence of beefed-up security around the Paynesville home of President Weah as if in ready stance to ward off an imminent attack. Such corruption and abuse of human rights were some of the key precipitating factors that propelled the country into civil war. Again, human rights abuse and corruption were reasons proffered for his overthrow. Under President Weah, public complaints about the spate of corruption including corruption in the electoral process have been treated with benign concern.

Sherman’s late goal restores hope for Lone Star in Group CKpah Sherman scored a late goal Monday to earn Liberia their first win in the CAF second round 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against the Central African Republic (CAR) at the Japoma Stadium in Cameroon. Both Liberia and CAR appeared to have settled for a draw, missing a couple of chances available to either side during the match. The President lamented what he described as "two soft goals" the team conceded against Nigeria despite their superior performance. The win moved Liberia second in Group C with three points, level on points with leaders Nigeria, who will take Cape Verde today in Praia, Cape Verde. Up next for the Lone Star is a back-to-back tie against Cape Verde during the next qualifiers window from October 6-10, 2021.

A survey report from NAYMOTE Partners for Democratic Development has unveiled that public trust in the Army Forces of Liberia (AFL) has grown considerably, while citizens’ views and perception of the quality of governance in Liberia is on the negative trajectory. The survey, which can be accessed on the NAYMOTE website, notes that the trust in the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) has increased as 92% of respondents rated the AFL as the most trusted or fairly trusted security institution in Liberia, a remarkable increase from 2019 when 78% of respondents described the AFL as most trusted. It is conducted every year by NAYMOTE to assess what citizens across the country think about the quality of governance in the country. In the 2019 survey report, 57% of respondents said they were very satisfied and satisfied with the way democracy was working in the country. This suggests a sharp increase in citizens’ level of satisfaction with the quality of democracy in the country,” the report added.

… in US$5M Theft CaseJudge Ousmane Feika of Criminal Court 'C had dropped all criminal charges against Senate Secretary Nanborlor Singbeh, who was charged with economic sabotage, theft of property forgery, and criminal conspiracy. The Czech Republic-owned company was owned by the Miloschewsky brothers, with 35 percent shares each, while Singbeh held the remaining 30 percent share. And barely one court term after Armstrong was indicted during the May 2020 Term of Court, it was when Singbeh was indicted along with his co-defendants, Ecobank and Afriland First Bank, in the US$5 million case for economic sabotage, theft of property, forgery, and criminal conspiracy. By the Court ruling, it could likely take months or even years for the Miloschewsky brothers to get justice. Mulbah’s argument came when Judge Feika was in the process of arraigning Singbeh and his co-defendants to answer to the Indictment the State drew against Singbeh.

-- As CHI Executive Director Calls for investment in traditional medicineBong County District #6 Representative, Moima Briggs Mensah has called for the use of both traditional and western medicines in the country. Rep. Mansah called on health authorities to look at sustaining traditional midwives who continue to make sacrifices for pregnant women and Liberia. Traditional medicine or indigenous medicine is the oldest form of the healthcare system in Liberia and many people are still believing in it. Mrs. Tulay-Solanke said the study does not just challenge colonialism and describes it as bad, but shows the importance of recognizing the traditional health practitioners and highlights the need for strengthening their capacity. Juston Kiamue, Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator of Plan Liberia, lauded CHI and pledged the organization’s commitment to working with CHI.