Liberia: 'A Big Mistake: ' Sen. Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence Describes Bility's Chairmanship
“We submit that indeed a mistake that makes you humble is better than an achievement that makes you arrogant." Senator Nyonblee Kanrnga-Lawrence has claimed that the opposition Liberty Party made a “big” blunder by electing business tycoon Musa Bility as party chairman a few years ago. The Senator, who in 2020 defended Bility's election against public outcry, now claims that his leadership has caused unwarranted confusion and chaos in the party after. “We submit that indeed a mistake that makes you humble is better than an achievement that makes you arrogant. “We all have fought the hardest, we all have stood together, we all have supported the process in many ways.
Source:Daily Observer
April 17, 2023 10:26 UTC
Foreign Minister Kemayah Gets 100 Scholarships for Liberian Students
During a press stakeout at the end of a four-day official visit in Budapest, Hungary, Minister Kemayah and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Mr. Péter Szijjártó, informed the media about the successes of the visit. The Hungary Foreign Minister accepted to increase the duration of the scholarship up to 2026 since the present MOU expires at the end of this year, in 2023. The Hungarian Foreign Minister said they considering increasing the number of beneficiaries based on the strong bilateral tie subsisting between the two countries, which they described as all time high. In response, Foreign Minister Szijjártó expressed thanks and appreciation to Foreign Minister Kemayah and the Government of Liberia for the recent support and vote for the government of Hungary. It can be recalled the two Foreign Minister Kemayah and Foreign Minister Szijjártó, signed a MOU consummates a commitment the Hungarian government made last year to increase the number of Hungarian scholarships from 10 to 25 annually.
Source:Front Page Africa
April 14, 2023 17:55 UTC
Liberia: Gonet Academy Graduates 68 Students In Professional Skills Following Intensive Training
MONROVIA – Gonet Academy, a leading digital and in-person education platform has graduated over 68 students in various professional disciplines after an intensive two-month training. Speaking at the ceremony, the Chief Executive Officer of Gonet Academy, Mohammed Kerkulah said the organization was founded in 2021. The Gonet CEO announced that in the next month, the organization will launch Liberia’s first full fledge online learning platform. This will give many Liberians including students and professionals living outside of Monrovia the opportunity to enroll and sharpen their skills. “Liberia’s first online learning platform will be launched in the next one month.
Source:Front Page Africa
April 13, 2023 22:09 UTC
Liberia: Former UP Lawmaker Worlea-Saywah Dunah Pledges Support to Unity Party
Dunah maintains that he remains a member of the opposition Unity Party. Before leaving the legislature, Dunah lobbied and secured intervention in the cocoa sector for his people from the World Bank. He also commended President Weah for recognizing illiteracy as a generational death trap and providing the urgent magic panacea to combat it. According to Dunah, during his years at the Capitol, he advocated for free education and wanted Nimba College to be free education for all students. He believes that the free education policy provides significant policy overlap fundamental to coalition building in politics.
Source:Front Page Africa
April 13, 2023 13:26 UTC
Liberia: Murvee Gray Wants Unity Party Partisans Take Him Over Miller Catakaw to Contest in Montserrado County District 9
Liberia: Murvee Gray Wants Unity Party Partisans Take Him Over Miller Catakaw to Contest in Montserrado County District 9Monrovia – Murvee Gray, former Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Youth and Sports is calling on partisans of the Unity Party to reject Miller Catakaw and elect him at the upcoming party’s primary adding that Catakaw is not the preferred candidate of the district as he has represented the party several times and lost. Webster Clayeh (0886729972)[email protected]Gray, a Unity Party Stewart speaking in an exclusive interview with FrontPage Africa (FPA) said in 2005 he was rejected at the Unity Party’s primary. In 2017, Catakaw ran on a Unity Party ticket and lost to the late Representative Munah Pelham Youngblood. Gray in response says putting Catakaw back on the party’s ticket will be no use adding that it will only make Unity Party lose the district seat. According to Gray, partisans of the Unity Party should give him the chance at the party’s primary.
Source:Front Page Africa
April 13, 2023 13:12 UTC
Liberia: 4th Edition of Pennoh Bestman Memorial Football Tournament Kicks Off Saturday
Monrovia The 4th Edition of the Pennoh W. Bestman (PWB) Memorial Football Tournament is expected to kick off this weekend. The one-day Football and Kickball event is in recognition of Mr. Bestman’s passion and sacrifice in promoting the development of football among youths of Liberia. The memorial tournament according to the Organizers will have four participating teams, which include Orange Liberia, Liberia Bank for Development and Investment (LBDI), Liberia Airport Authority (LAA), and Gedeh Old-timers Social & Athletic Club (GOTSAC). Mr. Pennoh W. Bestman, former president of Liberia Black Star FC, former Vice President of the Liberia Football Association (LFA), and former Marshall in the East as well as former Senior Warden of Blazing Star Lodge 17, was a passionate football supporter. Liberia Black Star also extended gratitude to the its sponsors/institutions for their support to the 2023 Edition of the Memorial Tournament.
Source:Front Page Africa
April 12, 2023 13:23 UTC
Liberia: National Elections Commission Announces Phase Two of Biometric Voter Registration
Madam Davidetta Browne-Lansanah, Chairperson of the National Elections Commission (NEC), has officially announced that Phase One of the Biometric Voter Registration ended on Sunday, April 9, 2023, in the six counties of Bomi, Grand Bassa, Grand Cape Mount, Gbarpolu, Margibi, and Montserrado. The Phase Two Biometric Voter Registration exercise starts on April 21 and runs until May 11, 2023. “Owners of facilities used as Registration Centers, the NEC says thank you for your patriotism, and that the Commission looks forward to this high-level cooperation on your part for the pending general Elections in October this year. The National Elections Commission also says it appreciates the role of the Joint Security in responding and maintaining the peace, which allowed the BVR process to proceed in congested communities. The Commission looks forward to this support in Phase Two of the Biometric Voter Registration in the coming days.
Source:Front Page Africa
April 12, 2023 08:31 UTC
Liberia: Sen. Prince Johnson’s MDR Debunks Reconsidering Support to Pres. Weah Second Term Bid
The party condemned the false information and denied that it came from Senator Johnson. The party urged the newspaper to avoid being used by politicians to publish mere propaganda against its Governing Council Chair, Sen. Additionally, the MDR emphasized that the Political leader of the MDR, Sen. Jeremiah Kpan Koung, enjoys the party’s fullest support and the support of the Godfather of Nimba County, Sen. Johnson. Following the Ganta convention two weeks ago, the MDR initiated a national conversation with several opposition parties, including the Unity Party. The MDR assured Liberians, partisans, and admirers that both the Governing Council and the Executive Committee of the Party firmly support the Opposition Unity and not the CDC should there be an opportunity for an alternative.
Source:Front Page Africa
April 10, 2023 19:07 UTC
Liberia: Prosecution Witnesses in Massaquoi Appeal Hearings Give Contradictory Testimonies, But Blame Them on Forgetfulness
And with the appeal hearings in Liberia nearly their closing stages, the issue is once again coming up too often, with some prosecution witnesses not only contradicting themselves about key dates of Massaquoi’s alleged crimes, but also where they allegedly took place. During direct examination on Thursday, “Witness Y1,” another prosecution witness told the court he was captured by Massaquoi as a child soldier in Sierra Leone in 1999 and taken to Lofa County along with other RUF figures. “I said it was Massaquoi because he gave the order to Superman,” Witness Y1 said. He said: “It’s been long, I can’t remember everything.”“Witness X7,” another prosecution witness, corroborated the testimony of a prosecution who testified on Tuesday about an alleged act of sexual assault by Massaquoi against her friend. The coverage of the appeal of Massaquoi’s acquittal is a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the West Africa Justice Reporting Project.
Source:Front Page Africa
March 17, 2023 19:19 UTC
Liberia: Senate Passes Pension Bill with Modification
MONROVIA –The Plenary of the Liberian Senate has passed into law a bill seeking to adopt an integrated pension and benefits scheme with three modifications for certain categories of officials of the Government of the Republic of Liberia. By: Henry Karmo [email protected]The bill seeks to repeal or amend certain portions of Title 19, Legislative Act, Title 12, Executive Law of Liberia, and Title 17, the Judiciary Law (1972), as amended in 2003. At the same time, all benefits for President, Vice President, Speaker, Chief Justice, President Pro-Tempore and Deputy Speaker will be a certain per cent as indicated of basic salary instead it being applied on sum total of salaries and benefits. The last modification indicates that if any of the officials retires and subsequently receives a “gainful employment” and then retires finally, his Pension would be the highest of the two instead of being asked to make a choice. The proposed instrument has been sent the House of Representatives for concurrence.
Source:Front Page Africa
March 17, 2023 06:50 UTC
Liberia: US Says Evidence Being Gathered for Possible Sanctions Against Corrupt Officials of Government, Private Citizens
Liberia: US Says Evidence Being Gathered for Possible Sanctions Against Corrupt Officials of Government, Private CitizensMONROVIA – Visiting U.S State Department’s Global Anti-Corruption Coordinator Richard Nephew said the U.S. is currently compiling evidence for possible imposition of sanctions against corrupt Liberian officials. Since then there have been mounting speculations that the U.S. is expected to unleash another batch of sanctions on perceived corrupt officials. But most importantly, it creates the opportunity for host nations harboring these corruption officials to prosecute them in line with their local laws. He called on the Government of Liberia to listen it its citizens and begin the prosecution of corrupt officials to end the culture of impunity. And some of these recommendations include staffing and empowering integrity institutions, prosecuting corrupt officials, working with the Legislature to act on audit reports and make voting records public.
Source:Front Page Africa
March 17, 2023 04:11 UTC
Libeia: Cllr Woods to be Inducted into Office as YMCA Board Chair on Friday
Libeia: Cllr Woods to be Inducted into Office as YMCA Board Chair on FridayMonrovia – Cllr. Samuel Kofi Woods, ll, would be sworn into office as the National Board Chairman of the YMCA Liberia on Friday, March 17 at 6:00 PM. Wood, ll, the newly elected Board Chair who won on the white ballot, will be inducted alongside Mrs Yornie Lardner Cooper, Treasurer and all Chairpersons of County YMCA boards across the country, and with several individuals. He committed following his victory to embark on a journey to assess existing branches and program branches to determine the state of the affair of each branch of the Liberia YMCA. Several others officials are expected to be in attendance including former board chairpersons of the Liberia YMCA.
Source:Front Page Africa
March 17, 2023 03:25 UTC
Integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Liberia’s Presidential and General Elections
What if this “AI-based software” had algorithms that leverage “trained data” (candidates’ credentials) to predict the winner of an election? Now, let us look at political campaigns. In presidential and general elections, money and propaganda have been the most effective and ubiquitous tools used by candidates. In our presidential and general elections, AI can be utilized in several ways including voter registration, data analysis, and security. In political campaigns, AI tools can be used in many ways to give a candidate a competitive advantage over his/her competitor.
Source:Daily Observer
March 14, 2023 21:34 UTC
Liberia: Senate’s Neglect Legislative Information Services
— Receives a paltry US$30K out of US$300K budget from 2018-2022A highly comprehensive work plan submitted to members of the 54th Legislature by the Legislative Information Services (LIS) is revealing that the institution has been severely and embarrassingly underfunded since 2018 to 2022. The Legislative Information Service submission of its Work Plan 2023 is a professional tradition of the bicameral department to submit its work plan annually, based on the important fact that the joint service department has budgetary appropriation annually. “Our plan of action for the year provides clues as to how funds received are intended to be utilized. “This led to my office reporting the House of Representatives to their employers, the citizens, after every effort to seek redress failed including intervention from [then] Senate Pro Tempore Armah Jallah. It took the election of Nuquay and his interventions for the LIS to even receive the US$30,000 the department received just recently.
Source:Daily Observer
March 14, 2023 18:13 UTC
Liberia - MTN Group Reports Strong 2022 Earnings
It was supported by our expense efficiency programme which yielded R2.7 billion in savings, mostly in Nigeria and South Africa. The performance of MTN South Africa was solid, with growth in service revenue of 3.6% to almost R41 billion and an EBITDA margin of 39.2%. On MTN South Africa, Mupita said: "We are encouraged by the performance of the business and the focus on network resilience. Amid unprecedented loadshedding and the intensified need for back-up power in the second half of 2022, MTN South Africa invested significantly to secure network resilience." To build the largest and most valuable platforms, we expanded our fintech ecosystem and made progress in separating our fintech business from our GSM business, receiving offers for strategic minority investments into the MTN Group fintech structure.
Source:Daily Observer
March 14, 2023 12:58 UTC