Written by: Abraham Hoff, Chief Community Organizer
LEAD Organizing For Liberia @ 077384990 and/or leadliberia@yahoo.com
Today in Liberia, it is absurd that the Liberian Legislators are seeking to increase their numbers in the Threshold Bill. However, these same legislators have not done anything for their respective communities; not talking about the people that got them elected. If the current representatives and senators could not do anything for the Liberian people and their respective communities why should the people elect new representatives and senators? Today our elected officials are seeking to increase the number of Representatives from 64 to 86, with a combine total of 116 legislators in the post 2011 elected government of Liberia. To our elected officials, the Liberian people want to know how the increased number of Representatives will benefit their communities and the national interest of our beloved country. The Liberian people want to know how the increased number of Representatives will provide quality education for their children. The Liberian people want to know how the increased number of Representatives will provide accessible healthcare and put food on their tables.
LEAD stands for “Liberian Empowerment, Advancement & Development” We believe the people must be empowered. We believe they must be given an avenue for advancement because when they are empowered and given an avenue for advancement they become the backbone that builds the country. LEAD stands on these three pillar structures (Empowerment, Advancement and Development) to engage, educate and empower the Liberian people.
The Liberian National Elections Commission in keeping with its constitutional obligation submitted the electoral bill after preliminary results of the March 2008 National Housing and population census in Liberia, proposing a threshold of 45,000 per constituency, but the House reduced the number by 5,000 thereby creating rooms for more representation in the legislature. In 2009, the 52nd National Legislature set the population threshold at 40,000. With the threshold set at 40,000, it means that every 40,000 Liberians will be represented by one legislator in the 53rd legislature.
This indicates that a population of approximately 3,476,608 divided by 40,000 will result into producing 86 lawmakers in the House of Representatives and 30 senators (two each representing senior and junior) would come from the 15 political subdivisions of Liberia, which could lead to a combine total of 116 legislators in the post 2011 elected government of Liberia. The Least populated counties including River Gee, Grand Kru and Bomi will lose seats while Montserrado (that carries nearly half of the country's population), Nimba, Bong and Lofa counties will get more representations. Montserrado County is expected to get additional 14 seats in the House of Representatives meaning that the county will now have 28 Representatives in total beginning 2011 according to Mr. Kaihenneh Sengbeh.
The 52nd National Legislature is basing their decisions on Article 80(d) and 80(e) of the Liberian Constitution and the universal suffrage law which requires that every qualified voter be given equal rights and that each man/woman's vote weighs the same, irrespective of sex, religion, status and locale. While these representatives and senators may be right, it may cause the Liberian government serious financial implications. The most ridicule thing is our elected officials are not doing anything for their respective communities—not talking about the people that got them elected. Yet they want to increase the number of “DO NOTHING LEGISLATORS” from 94 to 116 WHILE THEIR RESPECTIVE COMMUNITIES REMAIN UNDEVELOPED AND THE PEOPLE CANNOT PROVIDE FOR THEMSELVES—NOT TALKING ABOUT PROVIDING FOR THEIR CHILDREN OR SENDING LIBERIA FUTURE (The YOUTH) TO SCHHOL. Our seniors do not have anyone to care for them but their representatives and senators are demanding additional Representatives.
Today in Liberia, LEAD Liberia stands with the Liberian people. Instead of putting a huge percentage of the budget into the 53rd Legislature thereby providing additional office spaces and salaries for those that would occupy the new room created by the threshold. Our Government, including the National Legislature must provide quality education, accessible healthcare and investment that would empower the Liberian people—instead of engaging in bellicose politics over the Threshold Bill—they should be fighting and championing the concerns of the Liberian people and the national interest of our beloved country (Liberia) and not politics of partisan division and personal greed.
Thank you and May God Bless the Republic of Liberia.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Executive Mansion releases Ellen’s July 26 itinerary
Written by Robert J. Clarke, Jr.
Monday, 19 July 2010
Source: Star Radio Liberia
The Executive Mansion has released the itinerary of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s activities for this year’s Independence Day celebrations.
Presidential Press Secretary Cyrus Wleh Badio disclosed Monsignor Father Robert Tikpor serve as this year’s National Orator.
Monsignor Father Tikpor is Pastor Emeritus of the St. Kizito Catholic Church.
Mr. Badio said President Sirleaf will officially kick off the celebrations Tuesday with the dedication of the newly renovated University of Liberia Fendell Campus.
He said President Sirleaf will also dedicate newly constructed low-cost housing units in Walokor Town, near Fendell the same day.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Liberian Leader will host an investiture ceremony to confer distinctions on a number of citizens and distinguished personalities.
According to the Executive Mansion President Sirleaf will depart Monrovia Thursday for Nimba County where the official celebrations will take place.
While on her way to Nimba, Madam Sirleaf will dedicate the Agricultural Technical Demonstration Center in Bong County.
Madam Sirleaf will then dedicate the Tappita Hospital, Nimba Community College, markets, schools, and administrative buildings among others as part of her Nimba tour.
Meanwhile, the Executive Mansion says the security measures put in place by the Special Security Services have nothing to do with national security threat.
Presidential Press Secretary Cyrus Wleh Badio told reporters, the measures are only intended to provide maximum protection for the President and other VIPs.
Mr. Badio said the measures are also intended to stop the constant intrusion of the Presidential convoy by unauthorized vehicles.
The Executive Mansion said President Sirleaf expresses her complete confidence in the safety of Nimba County as the venue for the Independence Day celebrations.
At the same time, President Sirleaf and her cabinet Saturday ended a retreat focusing on three priority areas including roads, energy, and ports.
The Director of the Cabinet said the ministers presented papers on the level of implementation made thus far and the challenges they are faced with.
Dr. Momo Rogers said President Sirleaf considers the three priority areas as the gateway to sustainable growth and economic development for Liberia.
Monday, 19 July 2010
Source: Star Radio Liberia
The Executive Mansion has released the itinerary of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s activities for this year’s Independence Day celebrations.
Presidential Press Secretary Cyrus Wleh Badio disclosed Monsignor Father Robert Tikpor serve as this year’s National Orator.
Monsignor Father Tikpor is Pastor Emeritus of the St. Kizito Catholic Church.
Mr. Badio said President Sirleaf will officially kick off the celebrations Tuesday with the dedication of the newly renovated University of Liberia Fendell Campus.
He said President Sirleaf will also dedicate newly constructed low-cost housing units in Walokor Town, near Fendell the same day.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Liberian Leader will host an investiture ceremony to confer distinctions on a number of citizens and distinguished personalities.
According to the Executive Mansion President Sirleaf will depart Monrovia Thursday for Nimba County where the official celebrations will take place.
While on her way to Nimba, Madam Sirleaf will dedicate the Agricultural Technical Demonstration Center in Bong County.
Madam Sirleaf will then dedicate the Tappita Hospital, Nimba Community College, markets, schools, and administrative buildings among others as part of her Nimba tour.
Meanwhile, the Executive Mansion says the security measures put in place by the Special Security Services have nothing to do with national security threat.
Presidential Press Secretary Cyrus Wleh Badio told reporters, the measures are only intended to provide maximum protection for the President and other VIPs.
Mr. Badio said the measures are also intended to stop the constant intrusion of the Presidential convoy by unauthorized vehicles.
The Executive Mansion said President Sirleaf expresses her complete confidence in the safety of Nimba County as the venue for the Independence Day celebrations.
At the same time, President Sirleaf and her cabinet Saturday ended a retreat focusing on three priority areas including roads, energy, and ports.
The Director of the Cabinet said the ministers presented papers on the level of implementation made thus far and the challenges they are faced with.
Dr. Momo Rogers said President Sirleaf considers the three priority areas as the gateway to sustainable growth and economic development for Liberia.
Human Rights Watch Backs Liberia’s TRC Call For Extraordinary Criminal Court For Liberia
Source: FrontPageAfrica
07/19/2010 - Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is calling upon the government of Liberia and the International Community to take prompt steps to ensure that prosecution for serious past crimes committed in Liberia are conducted pursuant to the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) recommendation for the establishment of an Extraordinary Criminal Court for Liberia (ECCL).
In a recent Memorandum of Analysis on the TRC Report specifically on the Commission’s recommendation for prosecution, Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch says the violence blighted the lives of tens of thousands of civilians, displaced almost half of the population, and virtually destroyed the country’s infrastructure.
says it fully supports the TRC recommendation for a hybrid international – national accountability mechanism to hold perpetrators of past crimes in Liberia to account and that such proceedings are carried out in accordance with international standards. “Prosecutions for serious crimes in violation of international law-including war crimes and crimes against humanity- are crucial to ensuring redress for the countless victims of Liberia’s brutal armed conflicts” the human rights watch dog said.
The Organization in its analysis also reminded of how Liberian citizens were subjected to horrific abuses, including summary execution and numerous large-scale massacres, widespread and systematic rape and other forms of sexual violence, mutilation and torture, and large-scale forced conscription and use of child combatants. The violence blighted the lives of tens of thousands of civilians, displaced almost half of the population, and virtually destroyed the country’s infrastructure. “Prosecutions are vital to building respect for the rule of law, especially in a society like Liberia that has been devastated by conflict, thus making justice an important component to establishing sustainable peace” the group says.
In summary, Human Rights Watch believes that while the TRC recommendation has many elements that can contribute to fair and effective trails including; international and national judges working together to try cases with a majority of internationally-appointed judges serving on each judicial panel; a combination of international and Liberian staff working in the prosecutor’s office; a committee to witness protection, and plans to conduct outreach to local communities about trials, at the same time, the proposal for prosecution contain several weaknesses including, the recommendation that certain individuals who cooperated with the TRC not be prosecuted; not focusing on individuals bearing the greatest responsibility; the prosecutor is not appointed by international actors; and international crimes and modes of individual criminal liability are not explicitly provided for etc.
Consequently, the Organization has made several recommendations to ensuring an effective internationally acceptable ICCL inclusive of; a Mandate to prosecute persons most responsible for alleged crimes including military or political; that judges be required to have practical experience trying criminal cases; that fair trial standards be drawn more directly from the statutes of international and hybrid courts and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in order to fully adhere to international standards and that trials in absentia be explicitly prohibited amongst others.
07/19/2010 - Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is calling upon the government of Liberia and the International Community to take prompt steps to ensure that prosecution for serious past crimes committed in Liberia are conducted pursuant to the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) recommendation for the establishment of an Extraordinary Criminal Court for Liberia (ECCL).
In a recent Memorandum of Analysis on the TRC Report specifically on the Commission’s recommendation for prosecution, Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch says the violence blighted the lives of tens of thousands of civilians, displaced almost half of the population, and virtually destroyed the country’s infrastructure.
says it fully supports the TRC recommendation for a hybrid international – national accountability mechanism to hold perpetrators of past crimes in Liberia to account and that such proceedings are carried out in accordance with international standards. “Prosecutions for serious crimes in violation of international law-including war crimes and crimes against humanity- are crucial to ensuring redress for the countless victims of Liberia’s brutal armed conflicts” the human rights watch dog said.
The Organization in its analysis also reminded of how Liberian citizens were subjected to horrific abuses, including summary execution and numerous large-scale massacres, widespread and systematic rape and other forms of sexual violence, mutilation and torture, and large-scale forced conscription and use of child combatants. The violence blighted the lives of tens of thousands of civilians, displaced almost half of the population, and virtually destroyed the country’s infrastructure. “Prosecutions are vital to building respect for the rule of law, especially in a society like Liberia that has been devastated by conflict, thus making justice an important component to establishing sustainable peace” the group says.
In summary, Human Rights Watch believes that while the TRC recommendation has many elements that can contribute to fair and effective trails including; international and national judges working together to try cases with a majority of internationally-appointed judges serving on each judicial panel; a combination of international and Liberian staff working in the prosecutor’s office; a committee to witness protection, and plans to conduct outreach to local communities about trials, at the same time, the proposal for prosecution contain several weaknesses including, the recommendation that certain individuals who cooperated with the TRC not be prosecuted; not focusing on individuals bearing the greatest responsibility; the prosecutor is not appointed by international actors; and international crimes and modes of individual criminal liability are not explicitly provided for etc.
Consequently, the Organization has made several recommendations to ensuring an effective internationally acceptable ICCL inclusive of; a Mandate to prosecute persons most responsible for alleged crimes including military or political; that judges be required to have practical experience trying criminal cases; that fair trial standards be drawn more directly from the statutes of international and hybrid courts and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in order to fully adhere to international standards and that trials in absentia be explicitly prohibited amongst others.
Monday, July 19, 2010
No Witchcrafts at EPA: Boss Allays Fears After Deaths of 2 Environment Execs.
07/19/2010 - Mae Azango
Source: FrontPage Africa
Monrovia -
The acting Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Mr. Thomas Romeo Quioh has expressed that there is some level of cooperation from the employees since he took over as head of institution two months ago.
During his first press briefing since he took Office, over the weekend, Mr. Quioh disclose that upon his arrival at the EPA, there was tension among many employees who were at logger heads since the passing of two Executive Directors in less than two years.
“When I got here, many employees were not speaking to one another, they used to come to work with lime and nut oil in their pockets and bags, thinking that would save them from witchcraft, which they believed was being practiced at the EPA allegedly leading to the death of two former Executive Directors.
“We have created a sense of homonym among the employees and have given them hope of allocating allowances for them in our budget. “We have begun unifying employees and are giving them hope with commitment to console them.”
Asked to weather he was afraid to be head of EPA based in the wake of rumors of witchcraft being practiced henceforth, leading to the death of two Executive directors, he answered:
“Anybody would be afraid in situation like this, but I also believe that it was their time and not any other cause, I don’t believe that it has anything to do with witch craft activities because I don’t believe that it exist in the first place.
‘Only believe in God’
Though not believing in witchcraft activities, Mr. Quioh admitted that he is not presently occupying the office in which his predecessors used, neither was he using the office of the former Acting Executive Director, but he is in an office he created since his arrival at the EPA.
“I don’t believe witchcraft do exist, I only believe in God, that is why I brought a pastor to pray for the office before I took over, but I did go seek help from those who would promise protection and tell you ‘if God agrees’ I have decided not to use the office of the former Executive Directors, neither am I using the office of the former Acting Director, but I have fix another place I would use”
Listing some of the challenges facing the EPA, Acting Director Quioh disclosed that though the EPA is operating in 10 of the fifteen Counties in the Country, Montesrrado County has only four inspectors which are not enough.
“There are only four inspectors assigned in the whole of Monrovia, and that number is not enough, but we are hoping by next month, we would be able to recruit and train 75 environmental inspectors to increase the man power to assign them to different locations in the Country.”
Addressing the issue of salaries and allowances, Quioh indicated that EPA is one of the lowest paying entities in the Country. Not calling the figures allocated in the budget for the institution, he noted: “If you see what is allocated in the budget for EPA, you won’t believe it. We are one of the lowest paying agencies in the Country but we are trying to create the provision of a little allowance for employees with what budgetary allotment we have. We do hope the government will increase our allotment in the next fiscal budget.”
On the issue of changes at the EPA, Mr. Quioh indicated that they have carried out some administrative changes to engender some level of institution. “Additionally the exercise is intended to bring about some motivation to the staff, by promoting those we feel needed to be given the opportunity to perform instead of bringing people from outside of the system.
Addressing the situation erosion in most part of the City, Mr. Quioh pointed out: “Regrettably, we heard about the PHP situation. We are sorry for this situation which our people had to leave their homes. We have observed that these situations are occurred as a result of unauthorized sand mining. We are advising our people to only mine sand from areas that are authorized by the Ministry of Lands Mines and Energy to avoid these situations in the future.”
The EPA boss disclosed that his institution will plant trees along the SKD Boulevard on July 21st to beatified the Community and at the same time create awareness for the protection of the wetland.
The EPA in less than two years has come under two tragic situations when two of its Executive Directors died after brief ailment that led to the rumor that the institution was being bewitched by some unknown employees who wanted the position of being Executive Director of the entity.
Mr. Ben Doni who died a week after a brief Aliment, was replaced by Mr. Alfred Armah who died six months after he arrived from USA to take over as Executive Director of EPA. The post of the Executive Director has been empty since then, until President Ellen Johnson -Sirleaf appointed Mr. Thomas Romeo Quioh to head the institution. There are talks in the corridors of the institution that employees still fear that something could also happen to Mr. Quioh as have happened to their two bosses. Employees were said to have been carrying lime and nut oil to work in order to rub before and after shaking hands with anyone working in the building.
The new Acting Director once upon his arrival at the EPA, warned employees against bringing limes and other things to fight witchcraft activities in the building because it did not exist, and if they disobeyed his orders, they would answer to him.
Source: FrontPage Africa
Monrovia -
The acting Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Mr. Thomas Romeo Quioh has expressed that there is some level of cooperation from the employees since he took over as head of institution two months ago.
During his first press briefing since he took Office, over the weekend, Mr. Quioh disclose that upon his arrival at the EPA, there was tension among many employees who were at logger heads since the passing of two Executive Directors in less than two years.
“When I got here, many employees were not speaking to one another, they used to come to work with lime and nut oil in their pockets and bags, thinking that would save them from witchcraft, which they believed was being practiced at the EPA allegedly leading to the death of two former Executive Directors.
“We have created a sense of homonym among the employees and have given them hope of allocating allowances for them in our budget. “We have begun unifying employees and are giving them hope with commitment to console them.”
Asked to weather he was afraid to be head of EPA based in the wake of rumors of witchcraft being practiced henceforth, leading to the death of two Executive directors, he answered:
“Anybody would be afraid in situation like this, but I also believe that it was their time and not any other cause, I don’t believe that it has anything to do with witch craft activities because I don’t believe that it exist in the first place.
‘Only believe in God’
Though not believing in witchcraft activities, Mr. Quioh admitted that he is not presently occupying the office in which his predecessors used, neither was he using the office of the former Acting Executive Director, but he is in an office he created since his arrival at the EPA.
“I don’t believe witchcraft do exist, I only believe in God, that is why I brought a pastor to pray for the office before I took over, but I did go seek help from those who would promise protection and tell you ‘if God agrees’ I have decided not to use the office of the former Executive Directors, neither am I using the office of the former Acting Director, but I have fix another place I would use”
Listing some of the challenges facing the EPA, Acting Director Quioh disclosed that though the EPA is operating in 10 of the fifteen Counties in the Country, Montesrrado County has only four inspectors which are not enough.
“There are only four inspectors assigned in the whole of Monrovia, and that number is not enough, but we are hoping by next month, we would be able to recruit and train 75 environmental inspectors to increase the man power to assign them to different locations in the Country.”
Addressing the issue of salaries and allowances, Quioh indicated that EPA is one of the lowest paying entities in the Country. Not calling the figures allocated in the budget for the institution, he noted: “If you see what is allocated in the budget for EPA, you won’t believe it. We are one of the lowest paying agencies in the Country but we are trying to create the provision of a little allowance for employees with what budgetary allotment we have. We do hope the government will increase our allotment in the next fiscal budget.”
On the issue of changes at the EPA, Mr. Quioh indicated that they have carried out some administrative changes to engender some level of institution. “Additionally the exercise is intended to bring about some motivation to the staff, by promoting those we feel needed to be given the opportunity to perform instead of bringing people from outside of the system.
Addressing the situation erosion in most part of the City, Mr. Quioh pointed out: “Regrettably, we heard about the PHP situation. We are sorry for this situation which our people had to leave their homes. We have observed that these situations are occurred as a result of unauthorized sand mining. We are advising our people to only mine sand from areas that are authorized by the Ministry of Lands Mines and Energy to avoid these situations in the future.”
The EPA boss disclosed that his institution will plant trees along the SKD Boulevard on July 21st to beatified the Community and at the same time create awareness for the protection of the wetland.
The EPA in less than two years has come under two tragic situations when two of its Executive Directors died after brief ailment that led to the rumor that the institution was being bewitched by some unknown employees who wanted the position of being Executive Director of the entity.
Mr. Ben Doni who died a week after a brief Aliment, was replaced by Mr. Alfred Armah who died six months after he arrived from USA to take over as Executive Director of EPA. The post of the Executive Director has been empty since then, until President Ellen Johnson -Sirleaf appointed Mr. Thomas Romeo Quioh to head the institution. There are talks in the corridors of the institution that employees still fear that something could also happen to Mr. Quioh as have happened to their two bosses. Employees were said to have been carrying lime and nut oil to work in order to rub before and after shaking hands with anyone working in the building.
The new Acting Director once upon his arrival at the EPA, warned employees against bringing limes and other things to fight witchcraft activities in the building because it did not exist, and if they disobeyed his orders, they would answer to him.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Cllr. Brown calls for Deputy Speaker’s arrest
Written by Bruce Boweh
July 2010
Source: Star Radio Liberia
The Center for the Protection of Human Rights has called for the arrest of Deputy Speaker Tokpah Mulbah.
The group’s Executive Director, Dempster Brown, said investigation his Center conducted showed the deputy speaker was involved with the flogging of officer, Lexington Beh.
Cllr. Brown told Star Radio Deputy Speaker Mulbah is not above the law and must not be given preferential treatment.
The human rights lawyer said the act the Deputy Speaker is linked to is felony of the second degree which warrants his arrest under the law.
Cllr. Brown said not arresting the Deputy Speaker in the face of the offense he allegedly committed is disrespect to the rule of law in Liberia.
He said this is no time for what he called selective justice in Liberia.
July 2010
Source: Star Radio Liberia
The Center for the Protection of Human Rights has called for the arrest of Deputy Speaker Tokpah Mulbah.
The group’s Executive Director, Dempster Brown, said investigation his Center conducted showed the deputy speaker was involved with the flogging of officer, Lexington Beh.
Cllr. Brown told Star Radio Deputy Speaker Mulbah is not above the law and must not be given preferential treatment.
The human rights lawyer said the act the Deputy Speaker is linked to is felony of the second degree which warrants his arrest under the law.
Cllr. Brown said not arresting the Deputy Speaker in the face of the offense he allegedly committed is disrespect to the rule of law in Liberia.
He said this is no time for what he called selective justice in Liberia.
What Happened To ’50 Cases’? Corruption Ball Still In Justice Ministry’s Court
Source: FrontPage Africa
07/18/2010 - FPA EDITORIAL
Monrovia -
THE ANTI-CORRUPTION Commission last week recommended for prosecution to the Ministry of Justice, several former and current officials of the Liberian government for prosecution.
UNDER SCRUTINY
TO DATE, Tah has failed to deliver on her promise at confirmation hearing that she would fight to uphold the law and prosecute the corrupt. This was evident in the case against former Information Minister Lawrence Bropleh during which Tah failed to press forward because of a family connection to the former Minister. And as early as January 2010, the minister publicly declared that several current officials in government would be indicted for corruption. Five months later, it appears the minister’s declaration was hot air.
AMONG THOSE recommended were the former Inspector General of Police, Beatrice Munah Sieh-Brown, Prince O.A. Akinremi, Proprietor of the Ultimate Investment & Holdings Company, and Harris Manneh Dunn, Former Deputy Commissioner for Administration, LNP.
THE LACC ALSO recommended that Madam Kaymah N. Zeon and Mr. Nebo Garlo, Physical Auditors of the Ministry of Finance be charged and prosecuted for the Crime of Economic Sabotage under Section 15 Subchapter F, Section 15.80(d) of the New Penal Law for making and signing fraudulent entries in the book of records of the Ministry of Finance thru their physical audit reports which misrepresented the facts about the delivery of the ERU uniforms and accessories by the proprietor of the Ultimate Investment & Holding Company, Mr. Prince Akinremi.
THE LACC recommended that Sieh, Dunn and Akinremi be formally charged and Prosecuted under Chapter 10 Inchoate Offenses, Section 10.4 Criminal Conspiracy and Chapter 15 Subchapter F of the New Penal Law of Liberia captioned Economic Sabotage, Section 15.80 Fraud on the Internal revenue of Liberia.
THE RECOMMENDATION CALL comes after months of investigation by the LACC into alleged procurement of uniforms and accessories by the Liberian National Police(LNP) for the use of emergency Response Unit(ERU), and Phase II of the missing civil servants salary checks at the Ministry of Finance.
THE LACC recommendations were contained in two separate letters addressed to Justice Minister, Cllr. Christiana Tah on Wednesday, July 14, 2010 and follows several declarations in recent months by the Executive branch that it had turned over cases for prosecution and investigation to the Ministry. To date, not much has been heard about those cases.
IN SEPTEMPBER 2008, Sirleaf told a news conference that the Ministry of Justice was working on 50 corruption cases including some officials in her administration. According to President Sirleaf, the 50 corruption cases have already been investigated by the National Security Agency (NSA) and forwarded to the Ministry of Justice.
AT THE TIME, Sirleaf declared that her government attaches importance to the fight against corruption, and as such, it would prosecute anyone engaged in such act in keeping with the law.
ALMOST TWO YEARS later, not one word has been heard from the Justice Ministry about the 50 cases of corruption. The Ministry has also to date not been able to tackle the reports of the Dunn Commission which the President also submitted for Prosecution and the U.N. assets freeze burden which dogged her predecessors Frances Johnson-Morris and Philip Banks.
AS THE INCUMBENT government embarks on its re-election quest for 2011, it is no secret that the issue of corruption remains an Achilles for the government. How it moves forward with these unsolved cases will determine its ability to convince voters that it has done enough on the issue to warrant reelection.
FOR STARTERS, The Ministry of Justice must take the initiative of making sure that cases before it are fully prosecuted and those found afoul of the law brought to justice and made to pay for their ills against the state.
THE LACC’S recommendation on the police uniforms are glaring. The investigation involving the alleged procurement of uniforms and accessories valued at $US199,800.00 by the LNP for use by the ERU, findings revealed that the Ultimate Investment & Holding Company owned by one Prince O.A. Akinremi which was said to have won the bid to procure the uniforms has no record of Import Permit Declaration(IDP) from the Commerce Ministry for the items nor a pre-shipment record from the Bureau Veritas Group of Company(BIVAC). The investigation further revealed numerous irregularities surrounding the alleged procurement of uniforms, which in fact were never delivered as shown by the findings.
THE LACC is also recommending probe into missing Civil Servants Salary and Checks for the months of July-August 2008: The second phase of the LACC investigation into missing salary checks for Civil Servants for the months July-August 2008 and their subsequent fraudulent encashments by various banking institutions, including the Central Bank of Liberia(CBL), without the coded release agreed upon between the Ministry of Finance and CBL established the identities of the current and former officials of the Ministry of Finance, who played roles in the movement of the checks in question. The LACC has therefore recommended that Mr. James Boker, former Comptroller and Jenkins Yonly, Former Director of Electronics Data Processing Section of the Ministry of Finance be formally charged and prosecuted under Chapter 15 Subchapter 15 F of the New Penal Law of Liberia captioned Economic Sabotage, Section 15.80 Fraud on the internal revenue of Liberia.
THE JUSTICE MINISTRY can no longer afford to hide behind the shadows and fail to implement recommendations of both the President and the LACC. Not forgetting some 20 plus audits of the General Auditing Commission which have not been looked into.
MINISTER TAH, Solicitor General Wilkins Wright and the team at the Ministry of Justice owe it a duty to the Liberian people to begin the process of bring those who sought to steal from the Liberian government to justice.
TO DATE, Tah has failed to deliver on her promise at confirmation hearing that she would fight to uphold the law and prosecute the corrupt. This was evident in the case against former Information Minister Lawrence Bropleh during which Tah failed to press forward because of a family connection to the former Minister. And as early as January 2010, the minister publicly declared that several current officials in government would be indicted for corruption. Five months later, it appears the minister’s declaration was hot air.
WE CAUTION the minister strongly that several officials lost their lives in a bloody coup d’etat on April 12, 1980 because of corruption and like her predecessors Johnson-Morris and Phillip Banks, her legacy is on the line. How she shapes it is up to her, the rest they say, is history.
Monrovia -
THE ANTI-CORRUPTION Commission last week recommended for prosecution to the Ministry of Justice, several former and current officials of the Liberian government for prosecution.
UNDER SCRUTINY
TO DATE, Tah has failed to deliver on her promise at confirmation hearing that she would fight to uphold the law and prosecute the corrupt. This was evident in the case against former Information Minister Lawrence Bropleh during which Tah failed to press forward because of a family connection to the former Minister. And as early as January 2010, the minister publicly declared that several current officials in government would be indicted for corruption. Five months later, it appears the minister’s declaration was hot air.
AMONG THOSE recommended were the former Inspector General of Police, Beatrice Munah Sieh-Brown, Prince O.A. Akinremi, Proprietor of the Ultimate Investment & Holdings Company, and Harris Manneh Dunn, Former Deputy Commissioner for Administration, LNP.
THE LACC ALSO recommended that Madam Kaymah N. Zeon and Mr. Nebo Garlo, Physical Auditors of the Ministry of Finance be charged and prosecuted for the Crime of Economic Sabotage under Section 15 Subchapter F, Section 15.80(d) of the New Penal Law for making and signing fraudulent entries in the book of records of the Ministry of Finance thru their physical audit reports which misrepresented the facts about the delivery of the ERU uniforms and accessories by the proprietor of the Ultimate Investment & Holding Company, Mr. Prince Akinremi.
THE LACC recommended that Sieh, Dunn and Akinremi be formally charged and Prosecuted under Chapter 10 Inchoate Offenses, Section 10.4 Criminal Conspiracy and Chapter 15 Subchapter F of the New Penal Law of Liberia captioned Economic Sabotage, Section 15.80 Fraud on the Internal revenue of Liberia.
THE RECOMMENDATION CALL comes after months of investigation by the LACC into alleged procurement of uniforms and accessories by the Liberian National Police(LNP) for the use of emergency Response Unit(ERU), and Phase II of the missing civil servants salary checks at the Ministry of Finance.
THE LACC recommendations were contained in two separate letters addressed to Justice Minister, Cllr. Christiana Tah on Wednesday, July 14, 2010 and follows several declarations in recent months by the Executive branch that it had turned over cases for prosecution and investigation to the Ministry. To date, not much has been heard about those cases.
IN SEPTEMPBER 2008, Sirleaf told a news conference that the Ministry of Justice was working on 50 corruption cases including some officials in her administration. According to President Sirleaf, the 50 corruption cases have already been investigated by the National Security Agency (NSA) and forwarded to the Ministry of Justice.
AT THE TIME, Sirleaf declared that her government attaches importance to the fight against corruption, and as such, it would prosecute anyone engaged in such act in keeping with the law.
ALMOST TWO YEARS later, not one word has been heard from the Justice Ministry about the 50 cases of corruption. The Ministry has also to date not been able to tackle the reports of the Dunn Commission which the President also submitted for Prosecution and the U.N. assets freeze burden which dogged her predecessors Frances Johnson-Morris and Philip Banks.
AS THE INCUMBENT government embarks on its re-election quest for 2011, it is no secret that the issue of corruption remains an Achilles for the government. How it moves forward with these unsolved cases will determine its ability to convince voters that it has done enough on the issue to warrant reelection.
FOR STARTERS, The Ministry of Justice must take the initiative of making sure that cases before it are fully prosecuted and those found afoul of the law brought to justice and made to pay for their ills against the state.
THE LACC’S recommendation on the police uniforms are glaring. The investigation involving the alleged procurement of uniforms and accessories valued at $US199,800.00 by the LNP for use by the ERU, findings revealed that the Ultimate Investment & Holding Company owned by one Prince O.A. Akinremi which was said to have won the bid to procure the uniforms has no record of Import Permit Declaration(IDP) from the Commerce Ministry for the items nor a pre-shipment record from the Bureau Veritas Group of Company(BIVAC). The investigation further revealed numerous irregularities surrounding the alleged procurement of uniforms, which in fact were never delivered as shown by the findings.
THE LACC is also recommending probe into missing Civil Servants Salary and Checks for the months of July-August 2008: The second phase of the LACC investigation into missing salary checks for Civil Servants for the months July-August 2008 and their subsequent fraudulent encashments by various banking institutions, including the Central Bank of Liberia(CBL), without the coded release agreed upon between the Ministry of Finance and CBL established the identities of the current and former officials of the Ministry of Finance, who played roles in the movement of the checks in question. The LACC has therefore recommended that Mr. James Boker, former Comptroller and Jenkins Yonly, Former Director of Electronics Data Processing Section of the Ministry of Finance be formally charged and prosecuted under Chapter 15 Subchapter 15 F of the New Penal Law of Liberia captioned Economic Sabotage, Section 15.80 Fraud on the internal revenue of Liberia.
THE JUSTICE MINISTRY can no longer afford to hide behind the shadows and fail to implement recommendations of both the President and the LACC. Not forgetting some 20 plus audits of the General Auditing Commission which have not been looked into.
MINISTER TAH, Solicitor General Wilkins Wright and the team at the Ministry of Justice owe it a duty to the Liberian people to begin the process of bring those who sought to steal from the Liberian government to justice.
TO DATE, Tah has failed to deliver on her promise at confirmation hearing that she would fight to uphold the law and prosecute the corrupt. This was evident in the case against former Information Minister Lawrence Bropleh during which Tah failed to press forward because of a family connection to the former Minister. And as early as January 2010, the minister publicly declared that several current officials in government would be indicted for corruption. Five months later, it appears the minister’s declaration was hot air.
WE CAUTION the minister strongly that several officials lost their lives in a bloody coup d’etat on April 12, 1980 because of corruption and like her predecessors Johnson-Morris and Phillip Banks, her legacy is on the line. How she shapes it is up to her, the rest they say, is history.
CDC Eyeing Replacement for Deputy Speaker Mulbah; Will it be Forh?
SOURCE: FrontPage Africa
FRICTION AND DISTRUST: Observers and CDC insiders are divided over whether Forh is the right replacement for Forh. In the hierarchy of the CDC, some partisans see the 12th District Representative as too embedded in the ruling party to be considered for the post of Deputy Speaker. This coming on the heels of a recent reported deal between the ruling party and some higher-ups in the CDC notably, Weah and the party’s Secretary General Lenn Eugene Nagbe.
Monrovia -
FrontPageAfrica has reliably learned that there is an ongoing division within the opposition Congress for Democratic Change regarding the future of embattled Deputy Speaker Tokbah Mulbah(5th District Bong County). Sources within the party’s hierarchy suggest that one faction of the party is pressing for Mulbah to be replaced by Representative Edward Forh(12TH District) while another faction is pressing for the Deputy Speaker to step aside.
Mulbah’s office, on Thursday issued a statement, five days after the incident condemning the alleged assault meted out against Patrolman Lexington Beh. “The Deputy Speaker however remains committed to the rule of law and welcomes investigation into the incident. In the meanwhile, the Deputy Speaker expresses concerns to the family of the policeman Lexington Beh over the reported assault and therefore calls on the public to overcome sentiments and give chance to the investigation,” the statement concluded.
Beh’s condemnation of the assault on the police officer comes as he scored a major victory Thursday when the Supreme Court of Liberia halted further investigation into the flogging of Officer Beh even as reports reaching FPA Thursday suggested that Thursday night revealed that two of the seven arrested suspects in connection with the beating of Patrolman Beh admitted to the act. The suspects King T. Mulbah and Emmanuel Quemine told investigators that they were asleep when Mulbah woke them up to proceed to the Zone Eight Police Checkpoint where Patrolman Beh was beaten.
The assault has dealt a massive blow to the Congress for Democratic Change, still reeling from the arrest of one of its supporters in the United States James Bestman, currently languishing in the custody of the FBI on money laundering allegations. More damaging is the fact that the party’s 2005 standard bearer, George Manneh Weah was on the property at the time of the arrest and questioned but let go. While the details of the arrest remains sketchy, the arrest and now assault on an officer of the law is posing serious credibility issues for the CDC which has come under immense criticism since the assault took place.
Observers are however divided over whether Forh is the right replacement for Forh. In the hierarchy of the CDC, some partisans see the 12th District Representative as too embedded in the ruling party to be considered for the post of Deputy Speaker. This coming on the heels of a recent reported deal between the ruling party and some higher-ups in the CDC notably, Weah and the party’s Secretary General Lenn Eugene Nagbe.
The report continues to cause friction and distrust in the CDC with some partisans and party higher-ups unsure whether Nagbe and Weah actually struck a multi-million dollar deal with the ruling Unity Party.
FrontPageAfrica recently reported that UP officials were in talks with some officials of CDC to have Weah give in to the ruling party and in return receive a huge compensation. According to the deal as we learned from multiple sources, Weah will be sponsored financially by UP as an opposition and come 2011 give in to UP.
Similar reports surfaced in the aftermath of the 2005 presidential elections, that Weah was offered about $3 million United States dollars in Nigeria to accept the result and forget about taking his election fraud issue to the Liberian Supreme Court. Weah dropped the election fraud complain when he returned from Nigeria and went to the United States. Some of his supporters got angry and today believe that Weah received money to stop the election fraud fight. He did not tell them the outcome of the meeting in Nigeria and left them in the cold. Nagbe, in a recent interview with FrontPageAfrica debunked both reports as absurd. “Absolutely not. This is so preposterous that had it not been for the level of gullibility in the country, it would be laughable. When you say impact Weah's influence on 2011, that's a bit vague but you can be assured that neither Weah nor I ever met any UP representative in Ghana let alone sign a deal,” Nagbe told FrontPageAfrica recently.
Mulbah could be the fall guy as pressure mounts on the party to put its act together. Forh, it can be recalled lost his quest to become speaker during the efforts to remove former Speaker Edwin to Alex Tyler.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE LIBERIAN NATIONAL ELECTIONS COMMISSION
Honorable James M. Fromayan, Chairman
Cllr. Elizabeth J. Nelson, Co-Chairman
The LEAD Organizing For Liberia appreciates your leadership in engaging and educating the Liberian’s people on the electoral process. We admonish the commission to continue the good work of citizens’ engagement, education and empowerment while keeping all relevant authorities involved in the decisions making process. As we call upon the Liberian National Legislature to pass the Threshold Bill. Please be informed that LEAD Liberia’s Representative(s) will be visiting the commission office to discuss matters of voters’ education and empowerment because there are several questions that need to be addressed by the commission and action should be taken early to address the problems voters faced in 2005 General Elections and the November 10, 2009…Senatorial By-Election debacle before next election cycle. The tasks ahead are great but the benefits are even greater. Our mission is to work with Liberia Election Officials thereby conducting strategic legal voter education field programs across Liberia.
LEAD Organizing For Liberia is asking the Liberian Election Commission to launch a live, real-time national VOTER hotline assistance on voting rules, regulations and locations that will provide eligible voters with the tools they need to cast a ballot that counts in Liberia 2011 General Elections. Today, voters across Liberia still have to navigate through deliberate attempts by political operatives to confuse, deceive, and intimidate them as they try to vote.
Sincerely,
LEAD Organizing For Liberia
Abraham Hoff, Chief Community Organizer
077384990 leadliberia@yahoo.com
Cllr. Elizabeth J. Nelson, Co-Chairman
The LEAD Organizing For Liberia appreciates your leadership in engaging and educating the Liberian’s people on the electoral process. We admonish the commission to continue the good work of citizens’ engagement, education and empowerment while keeping all relevant authorities involved in the decisions making process. As we call upon the Liberian National Legislature to pass the Threshold Bill. Please be informed that LEAD Liberia’s Representative(s) will be visiting the commission office to discuss matters of voters’ education and empowerment because there are several questions that need to be addressed by the commission and action should be taken early to address the problems voters faced in 2005 General Elections and the November 10, 2009…Senatorial By-Election debacle before next election cycle. The tasks ahead are great but the benefits are even greater. Our mission is to work with Liberia Election Officials thereby conducting strategic legal voter education field programs across Liberia.
LEAD Organizing For Liberia is asking the Liberian Election Commission to launch a live, real-time national VOTER hotline assistance on voting rules, regulations and locations that will provide eligible voters with the tools they need to cast a ballot that counts in Liberia 2011 General Elections. Today, voters across Liberia still have to navigate through deliberate attempts by political operatives to confuse, deceive, and intimidate them as they try to vote.
Sincerely,
LEAD Organizing For Liberia
Abraham Hoff, Chief Community Organizer
077384990 leadliberia@yahoo.com
Friday, July 16, 2010
Ex-Police Boss in Liberia, Six Others Face Prosecution
Source: allafrica.com
16 July 2010
No matter how anybody considers it, corruption remains a major obstacle to government's efforts to pull Liberia's postwar economy out of the ditch - slow revenue intake due largely to institutional flaws and incompetence, and lagging donor pledges being the only other factors.
In view of these obstacles, many had thought that law enforcement agencies and the nation's finance regulators would devise safety measures to salvage the situation. But it seems they have been (are?) part of the problem as the latest investigation of the Liberia Anti-Corruption has revealed. The Analyst, reports.
LACC has recommended to the Justice Ministry in Monrovia to indict and prosecute six former and current public servants and the CEO of a foreign-owned import-export company for their involvement in 'corrupt practices' in various shady deals.
The recommendations were contained in two separate letters the Commission sent, Wednesday this week, to Justice Minister Cllr. Christiana Tah.
Those the Commission said it has found to be guilty of corrupt practices, which are tantamount to economic sabotage, criminal conspiracy, and fraud, were the former Inspector General of the Police, Col. Beatrice Munah Sieh-Brown, and the former Deputy Commission for Administration of Police, Harris Manneh Dunn.
Others were businessman Prince O. A. Akinremi, owner of the Ultimate Investment & Holding Company; former Finance Ministry Comptroller General, James Boker; and former Director of the Electronic Data Processing Section of the Ministry of Finance, Jenkins Yonly; and two physical auditors of the Ministry of Finance: Ms. Kaymah N. Zeon and Nebo Garlo.
After leaving office almost eight to nine months ago, the former Inspector General of the Liberian National Police (LNP) Col. Beatrice Munah Sieh-Brown has appeared on the radar of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) for her alleged involvement in shady financial deals executed during her administration.
Because of that, the LACC wants the Ministry Of Justice to charge and prosecute the former LNP boss, her deputy for administration and businessman Akinremi for economic sabotage, criminal conspiracy and fraud in keeping with New Penal Code and Financial Laws of Liberia.
The LACC's call for the charge and prosecution of the former LNP boss and all stemmed from her involvement in alleged procurement of uniforms and accessories valued at US $199,800.00 by the LNP for use by the Emergency Response Unit (ERU).
According to a statement issued yesterday under the signature of Ben Kolako, Public Relations Officer of LACC, the Commission said it came to the decision to recommend the prosecution of Madam Sieh-Brown and her accomplices following months of sustained investigation into alleged procurement of uniforms and accessories by LNP for the use of the ERU during her administration.
"Findings obtained from the investigation conducted into the LNP/ERU Uniform Procurement saga," the LACC said, "showed that the Ultimate Investment & Holding Company...has no record of Import Permit Declaration (IPD) from the Commerce Ministry..."
The Commission said not only was the holding company unable to present the IPD for the items, but that also it did not have a pre-shipment record from the Bureau VERITAS Group of Company (BIVAC).
It noted further that its investigation revealed numerous irregularities surrounding the alleged procurement of the uniforms, which it said were never delivered.
The Commission said it has deemed it necessary to recommend that Madam Kaymah N. Zeon and Mr. Nebo Garlo, both physical auditors of the Ministry of Finance, be charged and prosecuted for economic sabotage.
The statement quoted the Commission as saying that its investigation discovered that the two internal auditors made and signed fraudulent entries in the books of records of the Ministry of Finance.
It said reports misrepresented the facts about the delivery of the ERU uniforms and accessories by the proprietor of the Ultimate Investment & Holding Company, Mr. Prince Akinremi.
Madam Sieh-Brown who served as police boss from 2006 to 2009 was relieved of her post by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, for what the Executive Mansion at the time called administrative reasons, a carefully diplomatic phrase used very often by the presidency apparently to cover the shady deals of officials dismissed and/or transferred from one ministry to another.
Madam Sieh-Brown's administration was scarred by incessant criminal activities, most especially armed robberies that led to the injuring of several residents, thus prompting the public to call on the chief executive to dismiss her.
Though the president did not act as quickly as the public expected, she did so at her time of convenience and replaced her with Mr. Marc Amblard, who is serving in the capacity currently.
16 July 2010
No matter how anybody considers it, corruption remains a major obstacle to government's efforts to pull Liberia's postwar economy out of the ditch - slow revenue intake due largely to institutional flaws and incompetence, and lagging donor pledges being the only other factors.
In view of these obstacles, many had thought that law enforcement agencies and the nation's finance regulators would devise safety measures to salvage the situation. But it seems they have been (are?) part of the problem as the latest investigation of the Liberia Anti-Corruption has revealed. The Analyst, reports.
LACC has recommended to the Justice Ministry in Monrovia to indict and prosecute six former and current public servants and the CEO of a foreign-owned import-export company for their involvement in 'corrupt practices' in various shady deals.
The recommendations were contained in two separate letters the Commission sent, Wednesday this week, to Justice Minister Cllr. Christiana Tah.
Those the Commission said it has found to be guilty of corrupt practices, which are tantamount to economic sabotage, criminal conspiracy, and fraud, were the former Inspector General of the Police, Col. Beatrice Munah Sieh-Brown, and the former Deputy Commission for Administration of Police, Harris Manneh Dunn.
Others were businessman Prince O. A. Akinremi, owner of the Ultimate Investment & Holding Company; former Finance Ministry Comptroller General, James Boker; and former Director of the Electronic Data Processing Section of the Ministry of Finance, Jenkins Yonly; and two physical auditors of the Ministry of Finance: Ms. Kaymah N. Zeon and Nebo Garlo.
After leaving office almost eight to nine months ago, the former Inspector General of the Liberian National Police (LNP) Col. Beatrice Munah Sieh-Brown has appeared on the radar of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) for her alleged involvement in shady financial deals executed during her administration.
Because of that, the LACC wants the Ministry Of Justice to charge and prosecute the former LNP boss, her deputy for administration and businessman Akinremi for economic sabotage, criminal conspiracy and fraud in keeping with New Penal Code and Financial Laws of Liberia.
The LACC's call for the charge and prosecution of the former LNP boss and all stemmed from her involvement in alleged procurement of uniforms and accessories valued at US $199,800.00 by the LNP for use by the Emergency Response Unit (ERU).
According to a statement issued yesterday under the signature of Ben Kolako, Public Relations Officer of LACC, the Commission said it came to the decision to recommend the prosecution of Madam Sieh-Brown and her accomplices following months of sustained investigation into alleged procurement of uniforms and accessories by LNP for the use of the ERU during her administration.
"Findings obtained from the investigation conducted into the LNP/ERU Uniform Procurement saga," the LACC said, "showed that the Ultimate Investment & Holding Company...has no record of Import Permit Declaration (IPD) from the Commerce Ministry..."
The Commission said not only was the holding company unable to present the IPD for the items, but that also it did not have a pre-shipment record from the Bureau VERITAS Group of Company (BIVAC).
It noted further that its investigation revealed numerous irregularities surrounding the alleged procurement of the uniforms, which it said were never delivered.
The Commission said it has deemed it necessary to recommend that Madam Kaymah N. Zeon and Mr. Nebo Garlo, both physical auditors of the Ministry of Finance, be charged and prosecuted for economic sabotage.
The statement quoted the Commission as saying that its investigation discovered that the two internal auditors made and signed fraudulent entries in the books of records of the Ministry of Finance.
It said reports misrepresented the facts about the delivery of the ERU uniforms and accessories by the proprietor of the Ultimate Investment & Holding Company, Mr. Prince Akinremi.
Madam Sieh-Brown who served as police boss from 2006 to 2009 was relieved of her post by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, for what the Executive Mansion at the time called administrative reasons, a carefully diplomatic phrase used very often by the presidency apparently to cover the shady deals of officials dismissed and/or transferred from one ministry to another.
Madam Sieh-Brown's administration was scarred by incessant criminal activities, most especially armed robberies that led to the injuring of several residents, thus prompting the public to call on the chief executive to dismiss her.
Though the president did not act as quickly as the public expected, she did so at her time of convenience and replaced her with Mr. Marc Amblard, who is serving in the capacity currently.
Nimba July 26 Gala Runs Into Trouble
Source: allafrica.com
16 July 2010
A day after Nimba County Superintendent, Edith Gongloe Weh was quoted as saying that projects earmarked for the observance of the 163rd Independence Day Celebration in the county are still from completion, several youth and student organizations from the county have joined the fray, not necessary supporting their superintendent call, but calling on the government to immediately move or transfer the celebration from the country to another county, notably Monsetrrado.
The youth and student organizations representing the Federation of Nimba Youths and Students Organization made the call yesterday late in the evening when they walked into the offices of this paper in their numbers.
On behalf of the over 100 Nimbaian youths and students who walked the streets of Monrovia going from newspapers officers as a show of remonstrance to the slow pace that mars the several projects for the July 26 festivity, Acting President Stanley Beain of the Federation of Nimba Youths and Students Organization said they were out to address the issue of the July 26 celebration named and dubbed "Nimba 2010" with reference to the delay in making available to the county the budgetary allotment which he said totaled about US$400,000.
He said he was aware that since the inception of this government, it has set aside some amount of money in the fiscal budget for the purpose of carrying development projects and other activities for July 26 National Independence celebration.
Unlike other counties where activities of National Independence were successfully executed, he said it appeared to be a different case with Nimba, their county.
"In the case of Nimba County that is about to host this year's celebration, we have realized that US$400,000 earmarked for the process was just being released to the Ministry of State on Tuesday. As we speak to you, this money has not been made available to the county and we only have four days to the kick-off of the celebration," Beain who was sandwiched by his colleagues said.
He wondered as to when the national government made available monies it appropriated for counties that have successfully hosted the events.
It may be recalled few counties including Grand Bassa, Montserrado, Margibi and Bong successfully hosted the celebration of the National Independence Day.
In the wake of what they see an impending ignominy on the part of the county, he said they as youths and students of the county are not prepared to sit supinely and see their county be disgraced.
"We, as young people and students, believe that Nimba County is our pride and so we cannot sit here and observe the disgrace of our county. This is why we have come to make this clear to the national government that since indeed the time is untimely, the July 26 celebrations in Nimba County now be put to rest until another July 26 celebration during which the county will be willing and prepared," he said to the approbation of his colleagues who swamped the tiny newsroom.
The young people and students said they were similarly contending against their county hosting the red-lettered activity as a means of even trying to eschew President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who he said they love, being made shamed because lots international dignitaries are expected to grace the occasion.
"We really love our president. We do not want our president to go in our county where she will not have electricity, not even on the main street where we will be having international guests. We feel if that is done, it means Nimba County will not be showing respect to our president. So we are saying in order to have first female president respected in our county, there should be an adequate preparation," the spokesman said.
Whether it was proper at this last minute to call on the government shift from hosting the events in Nimba to another venue, Beain defensively said their action was not belated, stressing that this was the most appropriate time to make such calls.
In a fuming tone, the spokesman told this paper that as far as he is concerned and as far as all the projects earmarked for this year's events are concerned, nothing has been done on the grounds, indicating "this is why we are concerned."
"We are not against the celebration, but we are against the time that you are willing to make Nimba County a failure," he noted.
He said they intend to call on youths and students in the county to take similar action they are taking in Monrovia so as to send a clear message to the rest of the citizens.
When asked whether their action met the approbation of local government, the County's Legislative Caucus, he responded in the negative, saying they are part of the government, which by extension means that they are part and parcel of the problem.
Confusion has been billowing from the ranks from file of the county's leadership over the appropriation of funds intended for development purposes.
Notably, Superintendent Edith Gongle-Weh was sometimes ago accused by members of the County's Legislative Caucus of unilaterally using funds intended for other projects in violation of set and agreed- upon standards.
But how far their call and action will take them and how willing and prepared is the government to adhere to their plea and move the celebration hastily to a new venue is what remains to be seen, and according to observers that appears to be an improbable cause.
16 July 2010
A day after Nimba County Superintendent, Edith Gongloe Weh was quoted as saying that projects earmarked for the observance of the 163rd Independence Day Celebration in the county are still from completion, several youth and student organizations from the county have joined the fray, not necessary supporting their superintendent call, but calling on the government to immediately move or transfer the celebration from the country to another county, notably Monsetrrado.
The youth and student organizations representing the Federation of Nimba Youths and Students Organization made the call yesterday late in the evening when they walked into the offices of this paper in their numbers.
On behalf of the over 100 Nimbaian youths and students who walked the streets of Monrovia going from newspapers officers as a show of remonstrance to the slow pace that mars the several projects for the July 26 festivity, Acting President Stanley Beain of the Federation of Nimba Youths and Students Organization said they were out to address the issue of the July 26 celebration named and dubbed "Nimba 2010" with reference to the delay in making available to the county the budgetary allotment which he said totaled about US$400,000.
He said he was aware that since the inception of this government, it has set aside some amount of money in the fiscal budget for the purpose of carrying development projects and other activities for July 26 National Independence celebration.
Unlike other counties where activities of National Independence were successfully executed, he said it appeared to be a different case with Nimba, their county.
"In the case of Nimba County that is about to host this year's celebration, we have realized that US$400,000 earmarked for the process was just being released to the Ministry of State on Tuesday. As we speak to you, this money has not been made available to the county and we only have four days to the kick-off of the celebration," Beain who was sandwiched by his colleagues said.
He wondered as to when the national government made available monies it appropriated for counties that have successfully hosted the events.
It may be recalled few counties including Grand Bassa, Montserrado, Margibi and Bong successfully hosted the celebration of the National Independence Day.
In the wake of what they see an impending ignominy on the part of the county, he said they as youths and students of the county are not prepared to sit supinely and see their county be disgraced.
"We, as young people and students, believe that Nimba County is our pride and so we cannot sit here and observe the disgrace of our county. This is why we have come to make this clear to the national government that since indeed the time is untimely, the July 26 celebrations in Nimba County now be put to rest until another July 26 celebration during which the county will be willing and prepared," he said to the approbation of his colleagues who swamped the tiny newsroom.
The young people and students said they were similarly contending against their county hosting the red-lettered activity as a means of even trying to eschew President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who he said they love, being made shamed because lots international dignitaries are expected to grace the occasion.
"We really love our president. We do not want our president to go in our county where she will not have electricity, not even on the main street where we will be having international guests. We feel if that is done, it means Nimba County will not be showing respect to our president. So we are saying in order to have first female president respected in our county, there should be an adequate preparation," the spokesman said.
Whether it was proper at this last minute to call on the government shift from hosting the events in Nimba to another venue, Beain defensively said their action was not belated, stressing that this was the most appropriate time to make such calls.
In a fuming tone, the spokesman told this paper that as far as he is concerned and as far as all the projects earmarked for this year's events are concerned, nothing has been done on the grounds, indicating "this is why we are concerned."
"We are not against the celebration, but we are against the time that you are willing to make Nimba County a failure," he noted.
He said they intend to call on youths and students in the county to take similar action they are taking in Monrovia so as to send a clear message to the rest of the citizens.
When asked whether their action met the approbation of local government, the County's Legislative Caucus, he responded in the negative, saying they are part of the government, which by extension means that they are part and parcel of the problem.
Confusion has been billowing from the ranks from file of the county's leadership over the appropriation of funds intended for development purposes.
Notably, Superintendent Edith Gongle-Weh was sometimes ago accused by members of the County's Legislative Caucus of unilaterally using funds intended for other projects in violation of set and agreed- upon standards.
But how far their call and action will take them and how willing and prepared is the government to adhere to their plea and move the celebration hastily to a new venue is what remains to be seen, and according to observers that appears to be an improbable cause.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Dilemma: “A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand”
Written by Edmund Zar-Zar Bargblor
Source: Liberian Forum
Thursday, 15 July 2010
In his account of Jewish history, Rabbi Goldson alluded in his article, the Jewish people’s internal divisiveness left them vulnerable to the power of Rome. According to Rabbi Goldson, in the year 3826 (66 CE) , the excesses of Roman governance over the Land of Israel finally drove the inhabitants of Jerusalem to the breaking point.
Kamtza and Bar Kamtza reported that the destruction of Jerusalem occupies a prominent place in Jewish tradition as a painful illustration of the consequences of senseless hatred, as well as a reminder of how the Jewish people have failed repeatedly to learn its fundamental lesson of history.
There seems to be a parallel comparison of the experiences of the Jewish people’s suffering to that of the Krahn people of Liberia. The prevailing situations for the Krahn people, both in Liberia, and in the Diaspora, especially in the United States is a sad state of affairs that left most Liberians to wonder, “What is happening to Krahn people?” Unlike the Krahn people, the Jewish people have a binding religious belief system that continues to forge them forward, irrespective of their internal differences.
Finger pointing and allegations of corruption have become the order of day amongst Grand Gedeans, internal unending conflicts within the legislative Caucus , unresolved conflict within the Grand Gedeh Association, and conflicts between the superintendent and some citizens in Grand Gedh County, all these have paralyzed the possibility of fostering sustainable economic developments. For example:
It was reported by FrontPage Africa, Citizens from Gbarzon Statutory District in Grand Gedeh County petitioned the Auditor General of Liberia, Mr. John Morlu, II in December 2008 calling for an audit of their county development fund.
According to the report, the Citizens said since the county development fund was allotted to the county in the last fiscal budget, their district is yet to benefit anything substantial in terms of development.
The numerous complaints of mismanagement of county development fund from Grand Gedeh and some counties have reportedly prompted President Sirleaf to declare that the Executive take charge of the county development fund.
The Analyst reported on September 9, 2009, that a delegation from the Gborho Clan in Grand Gedeh County, visited Monrovia to meet with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on issues affecting their areas. The delegation informed the Liberian leader of the collapse of two major bridges in their area, which is impeding the movement of goods and services.
Litigations and counter-litigations have become a routine within the Grand Gedeh Association.
FrontPage Africa, (June18, 2010), reported that, Mr. Chris Bailey, Superintendent of Grand Gedeh County has been booked in audit conducted by the General Auditing Commission of Liberia for misdirecting thousands of dollars for various projects in the county. The Superintendent has made numerous withdrawals from the coffers of the county without the approval of others paying money to his private company which is offered most of the contracts for the implementation of projects in the county.
$33,000.00 US, has been allegedly withdrawn from a Citizens Bank in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by the current Chairman of the Board of Directors and the self-styled president of the Grand Gdeh Association. This money was allocated for the construction of a Library in Zwedru City, Grand Gedeh County. Until now, no one knows the whereabouts of said amount.
The time has now come for both Mathar Kannah and Henry Glay to step aside and let us set up an interim leadership that will eventually supervise new general elections and eventually a new leadership. The time has now come for us to forgive each other and respect our differences and forge on to enhance our common destiny. Let us heed the words of great personalities like Abraham Lincoln and others who advised their respective nationals about the destructive power of disunity.
In June of 1858, Abraham Lincoln gave a speech which contained the quotation “A house divided against itself cannot stand”. In his speech, Lincoln was referring to the division of the country between slaves and the states. In 1812, Abigail Adams wrote a letter to Mercy Otis Warren in reference to the war of 1812,: “ A house divided upon itself- and upon that foundation do our enemies build their hopes of subduing us.”
Some friends advised me to stop writing about the disunity among Grand Gedeans. Their reason, simply, Grand Gedeans will not pay heed to the issues that I continue to write about. They will instead, throw insults at me and call me names. But I am convinced, there are reasons why some of us as Krahns are still living and why other brothers and sisters died in Liberia during the civil war. But, if we failed to learn the lesson of disunity from the dead, we too will perish. We need to come together, we need to use our experiences from residing in the Diaspora, especially in the United States, to help to improve the conditions of our people…We can review the content of the Grand Gedeh Association’s constitution all we want, we can form council of elders, all we want, we can insult and disrespect our elders or each others all we want, we can go ahead and continue to steal the little funds deposited in the name of Grand Gedeh Association in American banks all we want, at the end of the day in Liberia, our county, the land of our fore fathers, will be first from the real, in the area of human resource and economic developments.
Indeed, “ A house divided upon itself- and upon that foundation do our enemies build their hopes of destroying us.”
____________________________________________________________________________
Edmund Zar-Zar Bargblor is an Educator within the Providence School Department, Providence, Rhode Island. He is a graduate of Cuttington University College, Liberia, Howard University, Washington, D.C, and Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. Mr. Bargblor is former Chairman, Board of Directors .Grand Gedeh Association, and grandson of Chief Bargblor of the Gborho Chiefdom, Grand Gedeh County. Presently, he is President of the African Catholic Community of Rhode Island. He can be contacted at: Zbargblor@aol.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Source: Liberian Forum
Thursday, 15 July 2010
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| Edmund Zar-Zar Bargblor |
Kamtza and Bar Kamtza reported that the destruction of Jerusalem occupies a prominent place in Jewish tradition as a painful illustration of the consequences of senseless hatred, as well as a reminder of how the Jewish people have failed repeatedly to learn its fundamental lesson of history.
There seems to be a parallel comparison of the experiences of the Jewish people’s suffering to that of the Krahn people of Liberia. The prevailing situations for the Krahn people, both in Liberia, and in the Diaspora, especially in the United States is a sad state of affairs that left most Liberians to wonder, “What is happening to Krahn people?” Unlike the Krahn people, the Jewish people have a binding religious belief system that continues to forge them forward, irrespective of their internal differences.
Finger pointing and allegations of corruption have become the order of day amongst Grand Gedeans, internal unending conflicts within the legislative Caucus , unresolved conflict within the Grand Gedeh Association, and conflicts between the superintendent and some citizens in Grand Gedh County, all these have paralyzed the possibility of fostering sustainable economic developments. For example:
It was reported by FrontPage Africa, Citizens from Gbarzon Statutory District in Grand Gedeh County petitioned the Auditor General of Liberia, Mr. John Morlu, II in December 2008 calling for an audit of their county development fund.
According to the report, the Citizens said since the county development fund was allotted to the county in the last fiscal budget, their district is yet to benefit anything substantial in terms of development.
The numerous complaints of mismanagement of county development fund from Grand Gedeh and some counties have reportedly prompted President Sirleaf to declare that the Executive take charge of the county development fund.
The Analyst reported on September 9, 2009, that a delegation from the Gborho Clan in Grand Gedeh County, visited Monrovia to meet with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on issues affecting their areas. The delegation informed the Liberian leader of the collapse of two major bridges in their area, which is impeding the movement of goods and services.
Litigations and counter-litigations have become a routine within the Grand Gedeh Association.
FrontPage Africa, (June18, 2010), reported that, Mr. Chris Bailey, Superintendent of Grand Gedeh County has been booked in audit conducted by the General Auditing Commission of Liberia for misdirecting thousands of dollars for various projects in the county. The Superintendent has made numerous withdrawals from the coffers of the county without the approval of others paying money to his private company which is offered most of the contracts for the implementation of projects in the county.
$33,000.00 US, has been allegedly withdrawn from a Citizens Bank in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by the current Chairman of the Board of Directors and the self-styled president of the Grand Gdeh Association. This money was allocated for the construction of a Library in Zwedru City, Grand Gedeh County. Until now, no one knows the whereabouts of said amount.
The time has now come for both Mathar Kannah and Henry Glay to step aside and let us set up an interim leadership that will eventually supervise new general elections and eventually a new leadership. The time has now come for us to forgive each other and respect our differences and forge on to enhance our common destiny. Let us heed the words of great personalities like Abraham Lincoln and others who advised their respective nationals about the destructive power of disunity.
In June of 1858, Abraham Lincoln gave a speech which contained the quotation “A house divided against itself cannot stand”. In his speech, Lincoln was referring to the division of the country between slaves and the states. In 1812, Abigail Adams wrote a letter to Mercy Otis Warren in reference to the war of 1812,: “ A house divided upon itself- and upon that foundation do our enemies build their hopes of subduing us.”
Some friends advised me to stop writing about the disunity among Grand Gedeans. Their reason, simply, Grand Gedeans will not pay heed to the issues that I continue to write about. They will instead, throw insults at me and call me names. But I am convinced, there are reasons why some of us as Krahns are still living and why other brothers and sisters died in Liberia during the civil war. But, if we failed to learn the lesson of disunity from the dead, we too will perish. We need to come together, we need to use our experiences from residing in the Diaspora, especially in the United States, to help to improve the conditions of our people…We can review the content of the Grand Gedeh Association’s constitution all we want, we can form council of elders, all we want, we can insult and disrespect our elders or each others all we want, we can go ahead and continue to steal the little funds deposited in the name of Grand Gedeh Association in American banks all we want, at the end of the day in Liberia, our county, the land of our fore fathers, will be first from the real, in the area of human resource and economic developments.
Indeed, “ A house divided upon itself- and upon that foundation do our enemies build their hopes of destroying us.”
____________________________________________________________________________
Edmund Zar-Zar Bargblor is an Educator within the Providence School Department, Providence, Rhode Island. He is a graduate of Cuttington University College, Liberia, Howard University, Washington, D.C, and Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. Mr. Bargblor is former Chairman, Board of Directors .Grand Gedeh Association, and grandson of Chief Bargblor of the Gborho Chiefdom, Grand Gedeh County. Presently, he is President of the African Catholic Community of Rhode Island. He can be contacted at: Zbargblor@aol.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
House concerned about SSS security alert
Written by Julius Kanubah
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Source: Star Radio Liberia
The House Committee on National Security has expressed concern over a security alert issued by the Special Security Service.
The Committee said the SSS was in error to publicly state that Liberia’s security situation was not favorable.
The Chairman of the Committee said the SSS does not have the authority to comment on national security matters.
Representative Saar Gbollie said the alert by the Special Security Service which was contained in a letter to the House was intimidating.
The SSS on Tuesday wrote the House warning of strict jacket security measures to protect the President during the July 26 celebrations in Nimba.
In the letter, the Presidential guard force said the measures are a result of what it considers the security situation not been favorable.
Lawmaker Gbollie said following the July 26 celebrations, SSS authorities would be invited by the House to further explain the security alert.
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Source: Star Radio Liberia
The House Committee on National Security has expressed concern over a security alert issued by the Special Security Service.
The Committee said the SSS was in error to publicly state that Liberia’s security situation was not favorable.
The Chairman of the Committee said the SSS does not have the authority to comment on national security matters.
Representative Saar Gbollie said the alert by the Special Security Service which was contained in a letter to the House was intimidating.
The SSS on Tuesday wrote the House warning of strict jacket security measures to protect the President during the July 26 celebrations in Nimba.
In the letter, the Presidential guard force said the measures are a result of what it considers the security situation not been favorable.
Lawmaker Gbollie said following the July 26 celebrations, SSS authorities would be invited by the House to further explain the security alert.
Ex-Police Chief Munah Sieh, Others Recommended for Prosecution
Monrovia -
Following months of investigation into alleged procurement of uniforms and accessories by the Liberian National Police(LNP) for the use of emergency Response Unit(ERU), and Phase II of the missing civil servants salary checks at the Ministry of Finance, the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission(LACC) has recommended to the Justice Ministry that several former and current officials of the two institution be formally charged and prosecuted for acts of corruption. The commission also recommended that two staff of the Ministry of Finance and the proprietor of the Ultimate Investment & Holding Company be formally charged and prosecuted for acts of corruption.
The recommendations of the LACC were contained in two separate letters addressed to Justice Minister, Cllr. Christiana Tah on Wednesday, July 14, 2010.
LNP/ERU Uniform Procurement: In the investigation involving the alleged procurement of uniforms and accessories valued at $US199,800.00 by the LNP for use by the ERU, findings revealed that the Ultimate Investment & Holding Company owned by one Prince O.A. Akinremi which was said to have won the bid to procure the uniforms has no record of Import Permit Declaration(IDP) from the Commerce Ministry for the items nor a pre-shipment record from the Bureau Veritas Group of Company(BIVAC). The investigation further revealed numerous irregularities surrounding the alleged procurement of uniforms, which in fact were never delivered as shown by the findings.
Accordingly, the LACC has recommended that the former Inspector General of Police, Beatrice Munah Sieh-Brown, Prince O.A. Akinremi, Proprietor of the Ultimate Investment & Holdings Company, and Harris Manneh Dunn, Former Deputy Commissioner for Administration, LNP, be formally charged and Prosecuted under Chapter 10 Inchoate Offenses, Section 10.4 Criminal Conspiracy and Chapter 15 Subchapter F of the New Penal Law of Liberia captioned Economic Sabotage, Section 15.80 Fraud on the Internal revenue of Liberia.
The commission has also recommended that Madam Kaymah N. Zeon and Mr. Nebo Garlo, Physical Auditors of the Ministry of Finance be charged and prosecuted for the Crime of Economic Sabotage under Section 15 Subchapter F, Section 15.80(d) of the New Penal Law for making and signing fraudulent entries in the book of records of the Ministry of Finance thru their physical audit reports which misrepresented the facts about the delivery of the ERU uniforms and accessories by the proprietor of the Ultimate Investment & Holding Company, Mr. Prince Akinremi.
Missing Civil Servants Salary and Checks for the months of July-August 2008: The second phase of the LACC investigation into missing salary checks for Civil Servants for the months July-August 2008 and their subsequent fraudulent encashments by various banking institutions, including the Central Bank of Liberia(CBL), without the coded release agreed upon between the Ministry of Finance and CBL established the identities of the current and former officials of the Ministry of Finance, who played roles in the movement of the checks in question. The LACC has therefore recommended that Mr. James Boker, former Comptroller and Jenkins Yonly, Former Director of Electronics Data Processing Section of the Ministry of Finance be formally charged and prosecuted under Chapter 15 Subchapter 15 F of the New Penal Law of Liberia captioned Economic Sabotage, Section 15.80 Fraud on the internal revenue of Liberia.
DEPUTY SPEAKER MULBAH WALKS: High Court Halts Probe into Cop Assault
Source: FrontPageAfrica
Monrovia -
Tokpah J. Mulbah, (Congress for Democratic Change, 5th District, Bong County),the embattled Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of Liberia, will hold no responsibility for his alleged role in last weekend’s flogging of Police Patrolman Lexington Beh, according to a writ of prohibition in possession of FrontPageAfrica.
The writ was filed with the Chambers Justice on Wednesday, July 14, 2010, ordering the police to release all suspects arrested into connection with the Sunday, July 12, street protest, allegedly staged by CDCians of the grass root in solidarity to prevent police from arresting the Deputy Speaker at his Fish Market residence.
A communication from Associate Justice Kabineh Janeh to Justice Minister Christiana Tah reads:
“By directive of His Honor Kabineh M. Ja’ neh, Associated Justice presiding in Chambers you are hereby cited to a conference with His Honor on Thursday, July 15, 2010, at the hour of 10:00a.m in connection with the case: Tokpah Mulbah versus Ministry of Justice. Meanwhile, you are hereby mandated to stay all further proceedings/actions in this matter pending the outcome of the conference.
Section 31 of the Legislative Law proscribes and prohibits the issuance of any precept or arrest of any Legislator, or his family living in his household, or his servants, clerical staff during the Session of the Legislature, or 30 days before or after the opening of Session.
It further states that: “no judge or magistrate or justice of the peace or officer who administers the law shall issue or cause to be issued any writ of attachment, or other legal precept against any member of the Legislature, or the members of his family living in his household, or his servants or clerical staff during the session of the Legislature or for 30 days before or 30 days after such session, except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace. Any judge or other official acting in contravention of the provisions of this section shall be guilty of contempt of the Legislature and may be dismissed from office at its next session”.
Petitioner Mulbah submitted that in utter violation and wanton disregard of the immunity vouchsafed to him and family members under the above quoted provision of the constitution and the statutory law, Co- Respondent, Director of Police, Marc Amblard, arbitrarily ordered 15 LNP officers, led by its Deputy Director for Operations, Al-Karley invaded, searched, arrested carried away and detained occupants of house, situated in Sinkor.
The petitioner, represented by Cllr. Francis Y. S. Garlawolo told Justice Ja’neh in the petition filed that the ‘illegal order or mandate’ executed by Amblard and Al-Karley occurred on Saturday, July 10 at about 11: 15 P.M, in which seven wards of Mulbah were handcuffed and taken away by the police and detained in police holding cells.
Petitioner’s counsel, Garlawolo who described the incident as an ‘illegal invasion’ of the Deputy Speaker’s official residence, further alleged that in the process, US$ 500. 00 and L$ 16, 000.00 including four cell phones were taken in the police raid.
Cllr. Garlawolo further maintained that his client freedom of movement and liberty have been restrained, which he said, is in quite violation of Article 21(b) of the Liberian Constitution, which reads: “no person shall be subject to search or seizure of his person or property, whether a criminal charge or for any other purpose, unless upon warrant lawfully issued upon probable cause supported by a solemn oath.
Petitioner Mulbah contended that to the best of his recollection, he has committed no breach of the peace, after ordering the flogging of officer Beh, for which he would have been arrested on the scene, nor has he committed any first degree felony for which he would be divested of his immunity by his peers and turned over to a court of competent jurisdiction consistent with established protocol and procedure as hoary with age.
“That this illegal act of the respondents, Amblard and Karley have not only infringed upon Petitioner’s constitutional immunity, but also rendered it impossible and diminished his ability to attend upon legislative session and official function prescribed by law,” Petitioner’s counsel averred.
According to the petitioner, the respondents have grossly violated the privacy and citizen’s immunity, when agents of the respondents, without the benefit of any warrant issued by a court of competent jurisdiction, searched and invaded the private home of Mulbah.
The petitioner further submitted that Amblard and his deputy Karley, repugnant to the doctrine of Separation of Powers and in violation of the Legislative Immunity that he was entitled to has, in addition to the invasion of his privacy and premises, initiated an extra judicial investigation, thus arbitrarily citing him to a purported interrogation, when allowed, shall obviously subordinate the office of the Deputy Speaker to mere police officer.
Attached to the copy of the petition was a letter, written by Marc Amblard to Deputy Speaker Mulbah, which was dated July 12, 2010.
Portion of the letter reads:
Dear Hon Tokpah Mulbah.
We present our compliments and wish to bring to your attention the incident of July 10, 2010, where an officer of the Liberia National police (LNP) was physically beaten while on official duty on the Robersfeild Highway. The LNP has reliably learnt that you were present at the scene of the incident and were involved in the commission of the offense.
As a follow-up to the investigation that commenced on July 10, you are hereby cited to the headquarters of the LNP on July 14 at 0900hrs.
In keeping with your request and consistent with your constitutional rights, you are entitled to be accompanied by your counsel of choice.
The petitioner further told the court that his arrest was predicated upon his persistent stance and protest on the passage of the Threshold Bill, now before the House of Representatives.
Representative Mulbah has set his political future on a bad note, beginning with the confiscation of several tons of high grade rubber from one Tamba, without paying for the seized rubber.
This was followed another incident when in 2007, his official assigned pick-up was impounded by police at Pipeline Road Community, after the discovery of several compressed bags of narcotic drugs in his vehicle.
With the latest incident of Beh on a critical list at the John F. Kennedy Hospital, counsel representing the legal interest of Representative Mulbah, who was expected to submit to police investigation has shield under Title 19, Section 31 of the Legislative Law of Liberia, by filing a petition for a Writ of Prohibition to the Justice-in-Chambers, Kabinah M. Ja’neh against the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and the Directors of the Liberia National Police (LNP), from further criminal investigation into the beating of officer Beh.
Meanwhile, latest information reaching FrontPageAfrica Thursday night revealed that two of the seven arrested suspects in connection with the beating of Patrolman Beh have admitted to the act.
The suspects King T. Mulbah and Emmanuel Quemine told investigators that they were asleep when Mulbah woke them up to proceed to the Zone Eight Police Checkpoint where Patrolman Beh was beaten.
U.S.Department of State - Press Releases: 15th Anniversary of Srebrenica Genocide
Source: U.S. Department of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
July 11, 2010
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Today we remember the tragic events in Srebrenica 15 years ago. I join President Obama and the people of the United States in offering our deepest condolences on this most solemn occasion. We honor the memories of the victims and mourn with their families.
The United States stands with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and all countries in the region who wish to foster peace and reconciliation. We remain committed to ensuring that those responsible for these crimes face justice. We recognize that there can be no lasting peace without justice. It is only by bringing all responsible parties to account for their crimes that we will truly honor Srebrenica’s victims.
We are duty-bound – to the victims, to their surviving family members, and to future generations – to prevent such atrocities from happening again. Our common faith in the value of freedom and peace unifies us and drives us to act. That is why we are committed to working with all the communities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina to move forward and build a pluralistic, democratic state that can take its rightful place in the Euro-Atlantic community. A prosperous, free, and unified Bosnia and Herzegovina is the most worthy monument to those who lost their lives at Srebrenica and the best guarantee against such a tragedy ever repeating itself.
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
July 11, 2010
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Today we remember the tragic events in Srebrenica 15 years ago. I join President Obama and the people of the United States in offering our deepest condolences on this most solemn occasion. We honor the memories of the victims and mourn with their families.
The United States stands with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and all countries in the region who wish to foster peace and reconciliation. We remain committed to ensuring that those responsible for these crimes face justice. We recognize that there can be no lasting peace without justice. It is only by bringing all responsible parties to account for their crimes that we will truly honor Srebrenica’s victims.
We are duty-bound – to the victims, to their surviving family members, and to future generations – to prevent such atrocities from happening again. Our common faith in the value of freedom and peace unifies us and drives us to act. That is why we are committed to working with all the communities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina to move forward and build a pluralistic, democratic state that can take its rightful place in the Euro-Atlantic community. A prosperous, free, and unified Bosnia and Herzegovina is the most worthy monument to those who lost their lives at Srebrenica and the best guarantee against such a tragedy ever repeating itself.
LEAD Liberia Constitution
Rules and Regulations of LEAD Liberia
PREAMBLE
We, the LEAD Liberia, united under common purpose, hereby dedicate ourselves to the principles of engaging, educating and empowering the people of Liberia—while demanding respect, accountability and transparency from our elected officials across Liberia. Liberians, the time for change has come, and we as Liberians must seize this moment. LEAD Liberia, a non—partisan political group that sends one message to our elected officials across Liberia, which is “Do the right thing” and stop playing politics with our future and the national interest of our beloved country (Liberia). We believe in the power of the people to compel change for the betterment of Liberia thereby forcing our elected officials to listen to the people and to champion the interest of all Liberians, regardless of their socioeconomic class, religious and traditional believes. We believe in grassroots force for change through citizen participation in government. We believe our leaders should abandon the politics of partisan division, personal greed and find creative solutions to promote the common good of Liberia, so help us God.
The “LEAD Liberia” will be independent and strictly non-party in our approach because we believe that there has been policy failure in relation to public services over a period of years under all governments, and we want to persuade all parties that there is a better way. Our non-party approach is reflected in our organization general policies, which states “this political group shall be a non—partisan political group that sends one message to our elected officials across Liberia, which is “Do the right thing” and stop playing politics with our future and the national interest of our beloved country (Liberia). LEAD Liberia’s volunteers, community organizers, advisors, team members and staff must not use the name of LEAD Liberia and/or LEAD Organizing For Liberia to create any local or national political party in Liberia and/or outside of Liberia. LEAD Liberia’s volunteers, community organizers, advisors, team members and staff must not use the name of LEAD Liberia and/or LEAD Organizing For Liberia to bash anyone political parties in Liberia and/or outside of Liberia”.
However, LEAD Liberia and/or LEAD Organizing For Liberia shall shine a light on our elected officials and individuals within various political parties of Liberia who do not support the goal of engaging, educating and empowering the people of Liberia. LEAD Liberia and/or LEAD Organizing For Liberia shall shine a light on our elected officials and individuals within various political parties of Liberia who do not support the goal of respect, transparency and accountability in government. LEAD Liberia and/or LEAD Organizing For Liberia shall shine a light on government spending; the justice system, Capitol Hill and the Executive Mansion so that all Liberians would be empower to be a watchdog and a whistle blower. The LEAD Organizing For Liberia and/or LEAD Liberia shall support political candidate (s) that shared LEAD Liberia and/or LEAD Organizing For Liberia goal and vision for Liberia; shall issue endorsements, political campaigns, or boycotts any activity that does not support LEAD Liberia goal and vision for Liberia. This non—partisan political group shall by no means be turned into a partisan political group or political party in Liberia and/or outside of Liberia, so help us God.
The LEAD Liberia and/or LEAD Organizing For Liberia, a group of inclusion and one that respects differences of perspective and belief. When we disagree, we will work together for the common good and to move our beloved country in the right direction. This is the Liberia we dream off—we should not only say we love Liberia but we should show it in everything we do–by our deeds, our priorities, and the commitments we keep.
Discrimination Statement: LEAD Liberia does not discriminate, nor do we support programs that discriminate against people on the basis of gender, race, religious, tribes, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, or age.
LEAD Liberia Political Ideology: At LEAD Liberia, we believe in the role of the government to fight poverty, both by means of welfare programs, and economic regulation. We believe in empowering ordinary people because when the people are empowered they become the backbone that builds the country. We believe in the education and family values because they are the core values of development, which leads to security, peace and prosperity for all. We believe in small government thereby limiting monetary waste and eliminating fraud and corruption through government over-sized programs.
LEAD Liberia Economic Ideology: At LEAD Liberia, our goal is to forge an environment that doesn't favor the rich and wealthy people through laws that ensure that workers get sufficiently paid instead of a few directors and/or executives getting paid more than the whole workforce thereby creating an industry that works for the people and not the people for the industry. We believe everyone should have the same chances and opportunities through incentives for ambition, while managing and constricting greed and exploitation that may lead to the masses being dependent on the few who control 90% of everything. We believe giving back to the community where businesses and/or companies operate help to create an effective market and economic environment that is conducive to living and working.
Our Vision is “A Liberia with 21st Century healthcare system; high standards in school; investment in a 21st Century education; a modern infrastructure and efficient transport system; safe streets, safe drinking water, food production, and a free, dynamic and competitive economy.
The Goal of “LEAD Liberia” is to……..
• Engage, Educate, and Empower the people of Liberia
• Demand respect, accountability and transparency from our elected officials across Liberia.
• Build grassroots force for change through citizen participation in government across Liberia.
Membership
Membership of LEAD Liberia is opened to well meaning Liberians living in Liberia and in the Diaspora. Membership will be by invitation, appointment and/or nomination of qualified, committed and experienced Liberians across Liberia.
Please note that it is a deliberate policy of LEAD Liberia no single member and/or representative speaks against any one political party in Liberia, thereby reinforcing the credibility / independence for non-party approach of LEAD Organizing For Liberia. Meetings will be held across Liberia. They will be responsible for news releases/articles, presenting research on particular topic, presenting depth of analysis on a particular topic in the shortest time possible, write papers and proffer credible solutions to the country’s myriad of socio-economic and political problems through a non-party approach. Members shall be appointed or elected every four years, except for the five-member executive organizing team whom shall be appointed or elected every three years by the entire LEAD Liberia, and all members may be reelected or reappointed, including the five-member executive organizing team. Members shall communicate via emails, letters, phones, meetings, and/or the internet at least once each month and from time to time, shall make recommendations for the effective operation of LEAD Liberia special projects. The emails exchange meeting and/or the internet communication shall be called by the chief community organizer, counties coordinator and/or the assistant chief community organizer, by the five-member executive organizing team of LEAD Liberia, or by email or letter requests of no fewer than one-fourth of the entire membership of LEAD Liberia. The optimum number of the executive organizing team will be five (5); however, this number may be increased by the majority votes of the “LEAD Liberia entire Membership.”
Members' Responsibilities
Members will be expected to participate in all meetings and/or events whenever possible. Any member of LEAD Liberia who misses three consecutive meetings and/or events of LEAD Liberia had failed to meet the minimum level of attendance and is deemed to have resigned from LEAD Liberia. Any member of LEAD Liberia who fails to discharge his/her duty within the shortest time possible given by the five-member executive organizing team had failed to meet the minimum level of attendance and is deemed to have resigned from LEAD Liberia.
Members will also be required to appoint a suitable 'deputy' in the event that they are not available for any meetings and/or events of LEAD Liberia. It is their responsibility to participate in meetings and/or events of LEAD Liberia, if they cannot participate in order to maintain the representative odd-number of members and the high quality of non-party input. They are responsible for news releases/articles, fashioning out an agenda for LEAD Organizing For Liberia, presenting research on particular issue, presenting depth of analysis on a particular issue in the shortest time possible, writing papers and proffer credible solutions to the country’s myriad of socio-economic and political problems through a non-party approach.
All references by spokespeople to the work of LEAD Liberia should be made "on behalf of the LEAD Liberia. Members will also be expected to make available to LEAD Liberia any useful data to which they have access and more particularly which reflects the discipline and specialist skill/knowledge set for which they have been invited to LEAD Liberia.
Executive Organizing Team
At least 10 days after the meetings of LEAD Liberia and the appointment and nomination of new members, the LEAD Liberia membership at the time shall choose a governing board (called Executive Organizing Team) and appoint the members of the Executive Organizing Team to serve as an oversight body of LEAD Liberia. The appointed members of the governing board will serve as an oversight and advisory body to be known as the “Executive Organizing Team." The Executive Organizing Team shall be composed of five members, two of which shall be the opposite sex of the Chief Community Organizer. The five-member Executive Organizing Team shall include the Chief Community Organizer; the Counties Coordinator of LEAD Liberia and the Assistant Chief Community Organizer and additional two members chosen by majority votes of the entire membership. The five-member Executive Organizing Team shall be persons who have completed college and/or in graduate school and have demonstrated an interest in the social economic development of Liberia. All LEAD Liberia Community Organizers shall be persons who have completed high school, college and/or in graduate school.
The five-member Executive Organizing Team shall be appointed or elected every three years by the entire LEAD Liberia membership, and may be reelected or reappointed. The five-member Executive Organizing Team shall serve for terms of 2 years. The five-member Executive Organizing Team shall communicate via emails, letter, meeting and/or the internet at least once each month and from time to time, shall make recommendations for the effective operation of LEAD special projects. The emails exchange, meeting and/or the internet communication shall be called by the Chief Community Organizer, Counties Coordinator of LEAD Liberia and/or the Assistant Chief Community Organizer, by the five-member Executive Organizing Team or LEAD Liberia, or by email and/or letter requests of no fewer than one-fourth of the entire membership of LEAD Liberia.
The five-member Executive Organizing Team shall continuously review particular issues and bring to the attention of the entire membership any significant changes, topics, objections, and suggestions needed for the effective operation of LEAD Liberia. Unauthorized uses of LEAD Liberia intellectual property and/or its outputs shall be reported by any members of LEAD Liberia, to the five-member Executive Organizing Team for referred to the entire membership of LEAD Liberia. The membership of LEAD Liberia shall review the findings of the five-member Executive Organizing Team and take appropriate administrative or judicial action to ensure compliance with this constitution.
Outputs
LEAD Liberia will issue regular news releases/articles (via LEAD Liberia Chief Community Organizer; Counties Coordinator of LEAD Liberia and/or the Assistant Chief Community Organizer) and write papers addressing specific issues affecting the Liberian’s people at all levels such as achieving the highest standards of effective governance in a rapidly changing socio-economic environment. The cardinal objective is to provide a broad framework of how our elected officials could engage, educate and empower the people in the public and private sectors, improve service delivery and make policy formulation and implementation coherent.
An initial news release/article will summarize the general conclusions of LEAD Liberia with individual quotes as necessary. In particular it will issue last quarter/next quarter position statements on the state of the nation economy, social economic development and the standard of living for ordinary Liberians; write article/paper' which will follow a week or so later driving down in more depth of analysis into any of the key issues or specific topics debated.
Funding LEAD Liberia
• No funding is needed; however, if the members decide to raise fund and/or seek sponsors for events and publishing of articles in news paper across Liberia than such should be considered in a non-party approach.
• This is an important step in the evolution of empowerment because it is a framework based on the principles of citizens’ participation and sustainability in their government, regardless where they are living, empowerment and unity.
• It is the framework needed to help all Liberians living in Liberia and abroad to remain active and productive members of their government.
• This is a common sense approach to empowering ordinary people with the tools they need to make the difference in their country while saving money on travel expenses.
• It is a cost effective way to bring a diverse group of scholars together in one place, so they could interact via internet communication and local meetings for the purpose of coming together to provide a blueprint for engaging, educating and empowering the people of Liberia and to provide sustainable development for our beloved country.
Copyright - All the intellectual property within LEAD Liberia and/or LEAD Organizing For Liberia and its outputs will be owned by LEAD Liberia. Members shall, of course, retain copyright over their own data which they exchange in emails; meetings, and/or internet conversations but shall allow use of properly credited extracts, as required in outputs.
Public Face
The public face of LEAD Liberia will generally be expressed by news releases/articles and the writing of papers. Media enquiries and interviews will be handled by the LEAD Liberia (Executive Organizing Team). No member may express publicly any views purporting to be on behalf of LEAD Liberia without the permission of LEAD Liberia (Chief Community Organizer; the Counties Coordinator; the Assistant Chief Community Organizer/ the entire membership jointly. Where a LEAD Liberia spokesperson is required by the media or at seminars etc that spokesperson shall be offered by reference to the most appropriate member as determined by LEAD Liberia (Chief Community Organizer; the Counties Coordinator and/or the Assistant Chief Community Organizer. The Executive Organizing Team and the entire membership of LEAD Liberia will refrain from discussing publicly any confidential information learned during the LEAD Iberia emails exchange and/or meetings.
Individual members of LEAD Liberia may, with formal, prior permission of LEAD Liberia (Executive Organizing Team), issue their own news releases/articles disassociating themselves from the majority view, if desired, or ask for their minority views to be represented in news releases/articles. The decision on what shall be or not be in the final outputs shall rest with LEAD Liberia (Executive Organizing Team) membership. Members will be able to identify themselves in their personal outputs as being a member/founder member/former member (as appropriate) of LEAD Liberia.
Philosophy
LEAD Liberia will attempt to think one or two steps ahead of the game, to look at the challenges facing the Liberian’s people and suggest ways in which those challenges may be met. The LEAD Liberia will not be sensationalist for the sake of sensation, nor will it be afraid to speak its collective mind within the shortest possible time. The LEAD Liberia will not aim to ruffle feathers but will not flinch from expressing its democratically-arrived-at opinion and proffer credible solutions to the country’s myriad of socio-economic and political problems. The LEAD Liberia will aim to become the authoritative, credible and most trusted window on what is really happening with the Liberian’s people and the areas where our elected officials must adopt, adapt and survive. The LEAD Liberia will aim to become the first citizen port of call for journalist and commentators interested in the social economic development and empowerment of the Liberian’s people.
Format
The Format for each LEAD Liberia emails exchange and/or meetings is in three-parts:
• The first part is to determine a specified diagnostic measurement of the state of Liberia by reviewing a series of inputs, broadly to capture the 'health' of citizens engagement, empowerment and participation in their government and be able to comment on its performance in the previous years and looking forward to the next year;
• The second part is discussion of a significant issue in Liberia at the time that is affecting the people and proffer credible solutions to the significant issue and the country’s myriad of socio-economic and political problems for social economic development of the people.
• The third part comprises a discussion of a likely upcoming issue or trend that may impact our elected officials over the coming months.
The definition of LEAD Liberia is:
" A non—partisan political group that sends one message to our elected officials across Liberia, which is “Do the right thing” and stop playing politics with our future and the national interest of our beloved country (Liberia). We believe in the power of the people to compel change for the betterment of Liberia thereby forcing our elected officials to listen to the people and to champion the interest of all Liberians, regardless of their socioeconomic class, religious and traditional believes. We believe in grassroots force for change through citizen participation in government. We believe our leaders should abandon the politics of partisan division, personal greed and find creative solutions to promote the common good of Liberia.
RESOLUTION OF ADOPTION
The LEAD Liberia assembled in a Conference on LEAD Organizing For Liberia Committees and Policy pursuant to resolution adopted by the July 15, 2010, LEAD Liberia and the Call to the Conference hereby adopts for the governance of LEAD Liberia Constitution by the rules and regulations enclosed hereto, so help us God.
PREAMBLE
We, the LEAD Liberia, united under common purpose, hereby dedicate ourselves to the principles of engaging, educating and empowering the people of Liberia—while demanding respect, accountability and transparency from our elected officials across Liberia. Liberians, the time for change has come, and we as Liberians must seize this moment. LEAD Liberia, a non—partisan political group that sends one message to our elected officials across Liberia, which is “Do the right thing” and stop playing politics with our future and the national interest of our beloved country (Liberia). We believe in the power of the people to compel change for the betterment of Liberia thereby forcing our elected officials to listen to the people and to champion the interest of all Liberians, regardless of their socioeconomic class, religious and traditional believes. We believe in grassroots force for change through citizen participation in government. We believe our leaders should abandon the politics of partisan division, personal greed and find creative solutions to promote the common good of Liberia, so help us God.
The “LEAD Liberia” will be independent and strictly non-party in our approach because we believe that there has been policy failure in relation to public services over a period of years under all governments, and we want to persuade all parties that there is a better way. Our non-party approach is reflected in our organization general policies, which states “this political group shall be a non—partisan political group that sends one message to our elected officials across Liberia, which is “Do the right thing” and stop playing politics with our future and the national interest of our beloved country (Liberia). LEAD Liberia’s volunteers, community organizers, advisors, team members and staff must not use the name of LEAD Liberia and/or LEAD Organizing For Liberia to create any local or national political party in Liberia and/or outside of Liberia. LEAD Liberia’s volunteers, community organizers, advisors, team members and staff must not use the name of LEAD Liberia and/or LEAD Organizing For Liberia to bash anyone political parties in Liberia and/or outside of Liberia”.
However, LEAD Liberia and/or LEAD Organizing For Liberia shall shine a light on our elected officials and individuals within various political parties of Liberia who do not support the goal of engaging, educating and empowering the people of Liberia. LEAD Liberia and/or LEAD Organizing For Liberia shall shine a light on our elected officials and individuals within various political parties of Liberia who do not support the goal of respect, transparency and accountability in government. LEAD Liberia and/or LEAD Organizing For Liberia shall shine a light on government spending; the justice system, Capitol Hill and the Executive Mansion so that all Liberians would be empower to be a watchdog and a whistle blower. The LEAD Organizing For Liberia and/or LEAD Liberia shall support political candidate (s) that shared LEAD Liberia and/or LEAD Organizing For Liberia goal and vision for Liberia; shall issue endorsements, political campaigns, or boycotts any activity that does not support LEAD Liberia goal and vision for Liberia. This non—partisan political group shall by no means be turned into a partisan political group or political party in Liberia and/or outside of Liberia, so help us God.
The LEAD Liberia and/or LEAD Organizing For Liberia, a group of inclusion and one that respects differences of perspective and belief. When we disagree, we will work together for the common good and to move our beloved country in the right direction. This is the Liberia we dream off—we should not only say we love Liberia but we should show it in everything we do–by our deeds, our priorities, and the commitments we keep.
Discrimination Statement: LEAD Liberia does not discriminate, nor do we support programs that discriminate against people on the basis of gender, race, religious, tribes, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, or age.
LEAD Liberia Political Ideology: At LEAD Liberia, we believe in the role of the government to fight poverty, both by means of welfare programs, and economic regulation. We believe in empowering ordinary people because when the people are empowered they become the backbone that builds the country. We believe in the education and family values because they are the core values of development, which leads to security, peace and prosperity for all. We believe in small government thereby limiting monetary waste and eliminating fraud and corruption through government over-sized programs.
LEAD Liberia Economic Ideology: At LEAD Liberia, our goal is to forge an environment that doesn't favor the rich and wealthy people through laws that ensure that workers get sufficiently paid instead of a few directors and/or executives getting paid more than the whole workforce thereby creating an industry that works for the people and not the people for the industry. We believe everyone should have the same chances and opportunities through incentives for ambition, while managing and constricting greed and exploitation that may lead to the masses being dependent on the few who control 90% of everything. We believe giving back to the community where businesses and/or companies operate help to create an effective market and economic environment that is conducive to living and working.
Our Vision is “A Liberia with 21st Century healthcare system; high standards in school; investment in a 21st Century education; a modern infrastructure and efficient transport system; safe streets, safe drinking water, food production, and a free, dynamic and competitive economy.
The Goal of “LEAD Liberia” is to……..
• Engage, Educate, and Empower the people of Liberia
• Demand respect, accountability and transparency from our elected officials across Liberia.
• Build grassroots force for change through citizen participation in government across Liberia.
Membership
Membership of LEAD Liberia is opened to well meaning Liberians living in Liberia and in the Diaspora. Membership will be by invitation, appointment and/or nomination of qualified, committed and experienced Liberians across Liberia.
Please note that it is a deliberate policy of LEAD Liberia no single member and/or representative speaks against any one political party in Liberia, thereby reinforcing the credibility / independence for non-party approach of LEAD Organizing For Liberia. Meetings will be held across Liberia. They will be responsible for news releases/articles, presenting research on particular topic, presenting depth of analysis on a particular topic in the shortest time possible, write papers and proffer credible solutions to the country’s myriad of socio-economic and political problems through a non-party approach. Members shall be appointed or elected every four years, except for the five-member executive organizing team whom shall be appointed or elected every three years by the entire LEAD Liberia, and all members may be reelected or reappointed, including the five-member executive organizing team. Members shall communicate via emails, letters, phones, meetings, and/or the internet at least once each month and from time to time, shall make recommendations for the effective operation of LEAD Liberia special projects. The emails exchange meeting and/or the internet communication shall be called by the chief community organizer, counties coordinator and/or the assistant chief community organizer, by the five-member executive organizing team of LEAD Liberia, or by email or letter requests of no fewer than one-fourth of the entire membership of LEAD Liberia. The optimum number of the executive organizing team will be five (5); however, this number may be increased by the majority votes of the “LEAD Liberia entire Membership.”
Members' Responsibilities
Members will be expected to participate in all meetings and/or events whenever possible. Any member of LEAD Liberia who misses three consecutive meetings and/or events of LEAD Liberia had failed to meet the minimum level of attendance and is deemed to have resigned from LEAD Liberia. Any member of LEAD Liberia who fails to discharge his/her duty within the shortest time possible given by the five-member executive organizing team had failed to meet the minimum level of attendance and is deemed to have resigned from LEAD Liberia.
Members will also be required to appoint a suitable 'deputy' in the event that they are not available for any meetings and/or events of LEAD Liberia. It is their responsibility to participate in meetings and/or events of LEAD Liberia, if they cannot participate in order to maintain the representative odd-number of members and the high quality of non-party input. They are responsible for news releases/articles, fashioning out an agenda for LEAD Organizing For Liberia, presenting research on particular issue, presenting depth of analysis on a particular issue in the shortest time possible, writing papers and proffer credible solutions to the country’s myriad of socio-economic and political problems through a non-party approach.
All references by spokespeople to the work of LEAD Liberia should be made "on behalf of the LEAD Liberia. Members will also be expected to make available to LEAD Liberia any useful data to which they have access and more particularly which reflects the discipline and specialist skill/knowledge set for which they have been invited to LEAD Liberia.
Executive Organizing Team
At least 10 days after the meetings of LEAD Liberia and the appointment and nomination of new members, the LEAD Liberia membership at the time shall choose a governing board (called Executive Organizing Team) and appoint the members of the Executive Organizing Team to serve as an oversight body of LEAD Liberia. The appointed members of the governing board will serve as an oversight and advisory body to be known as the “Executive Organizing Team." The Executive Organizing Team shall be composed of five members, two of which shall be the opposite sex of the Chief Community Organizer. The five-member Executive Organizing Team shall include the Chief Community Organizer; the Counties Coordinator of LEAD Liberia and the Assistant Chief Community Organizer and additional two members chosen by majority votes of the entire membership. The five-member Executive Organizing Team shall be persons who have completed college and/or in graduate school and have demonstrated an interest in the social economic development of Liberia. All LEAD Liberia Community Organizers shall be persons who have completed high school, college and/or in graduate school.
The five-member Executive Organizing Team shall be appointed or elected every three years by the entire LEAD Liberia membership, and may be reelected or reappointed. The five-member Executive Organizing Team shall serve for terms of 2 years. The five-member Executive Organizing Team shall communicate via emails, letter, meeting and/or the internet at least once each month and from time to time, shall make recommendations for the effective operation of LEAD special projects. The emails exchange, meeting and/or the internet communication shall be called by the Chief Community Organizer, Counties Coordinator of LEAD Liberia and/or the Assistant Chief Community Organizer, by the five-member Executive Organizing Team or LEAD Liberia, or by email and/or letter requests of no fewer than one-fourth of the entire membership of LEAD Liberia.
The five-member Executive Organizing Team shall continuously review particular issues and bring to the attention of the entire membership any significant changes, topics, objections, and suggestions needed for the effective operation of LEAD Liberia. Unauthorized uses of LEAD Liberia intellectual property and/or its outputs shall be reported by any members of LEAD Liberia, to the five-member Executive Organizing Team for referred to the entire membership of LEAD Liberia. The membership of LEAD Liberia shall review the findings of the five-member Executive Organizing Team and take appropriate administrative or judicial action to ensure compliance with this constitution.
Outputs
LEAD Liberia will issue regular news releases/articles (via LEAD Liberia Chief Community Organizer; Counties Coordinator of LEAD Liberia and/or the Assistant Chief Community Organizer) and write papers addressing specific issues affecting the Liberian’s people at all levels such as achieving the highest standards of effective governance in a rapidly changing socio-economic environment. The cardinal objective is to provide a broad framework of how our elected officials could engage, educate and empower the people in the public and private sectors, improve service delivery and make policy formulation and implementation coherent.
An initial news release/article will summarize the general conclusions of LEAD Liberia with individual quotes as necessary. In particular it will issue last quarter/next quarter position statements on the state of the nation economy, social economic development and the standard of living for ordinary Liberians; write article/paper' which will follow a week or so later driving down in more depth of analysis into any of the key issues or specific topics debated.
Funding LEAD Liberia
• No funding is needed; however, if the members decide to raise fund and/or seek sponsors for events and publishing of articles in news paper across Liberia than such should be considered in a non-party approach.
• This is an important step in the evolution of empowerment because it is a framework based on the principles of citizens’ participation and sustainability in their government, regardless where they are living, empowerment and unity.
• It is the framework needed to help all Liberians living in Liberia and abroad to remain active and productive members of their government.
• This is a common sense approach to empowering ordinary people with the tools they need to make the difference in their country while saving money on travel expenses.
• It is a cost effective way to bring a diverse group of scholars together in one place, so they could interact via internet communication and local meetings for the purpose of coming together to provide a blueprint for engaging, educating and empowering the people of Liberia and to provide sustainable development for our beloved country.
Copyright - All the intellectual property within LEAD Liberia and/or LEAD Organizing For Liberia and its outputs will be owned by LEAD Liberia. Members shall, of course, retain copyright over their own data which they exchange in emails; meetings, and/or internet conversations but shall allow use of properly credited extracts, as required in outputs.
Public Face
The public face of LEAD Liberia will generally be expressed by news releases/articles and the writing of papers. Media enquiries and interviews will be handled by the LEAD Liberia (Executive Organizing Team). No member may express publicly any views purporting to be on behalf of LEAD Liberia without the permission of LEAD Liberia (Chief Community Organizer; the Counties Coordinator; the Assistant Chief Community Organizer/ the entire membership jointly. Where a LEAD Liberia spokesperson is required by the media or at seminars etc that spokesperson shall be offered by reference to the most appropriate member as determined by LEAD Liberia (Chief Community Organizer; the Counties Coordinator and/or the Assistant Chief Community Organizer. The Executive Organizing Team and the entire membership of LEAD Liberia will refrain from discussing publicly any confidential information learned during the LEAD Iberia emails exchange and/or meetings.
Individual members of LEAD Liberia may, with formal, prior permission of LEAD Liberia (Executive Organizing Team), issue their own news releases/articles disassociating themselves from the majority view, if desired, or ask for their minority views to be represented in news releases/articles. The decision on what shall be or not be in the final outputs shall rest with LEAD Liberia (Executive Organizing Team) membership. Members will be able to identify themselves in their personal outputs as being a member/founder member/former member (as appropriate) of LEAD Liberia.
Philosophy
LEAD Liberia will attempt to think one or two steps ahead of the game, to look at the challenges facing the Liberian’s people and suggest ways in which those challenges may be met. The LEAD Liberia will not be sensationalist for the sake of sensation, nor will it be afraid to speak its collective mind within the shortest possible time. The LEAD Liberia will not aim to ruffle feathers but will not flinch from expressing its democratically-arrived-at opinion and proffer credible solutions to the country’s myriad of socio-economic and political problems. The LEAD Liberia will aim to become the authoritative, credible and most trusted window on what is really happening with the Liberian’s people and the areas where our elected officials must adopt, adapt and survive. The LEAD Liberia will aim to become the first citizen port of call for journalist and commentators interested in the social economic development and empowerment of the Liberian’s people.
Format
The Format for each LEAD Liberia emails exchange and/or meetings is in three-parts:
• The first part is to determine a specified diagnostic measurement of the state of Liberia by reviewing a series of inputs, broadly to capture the 'health' of citizens engagement, empowerment and participation in their government and be able to comment on its performance in the previous years and looking forward to the next year;
• The second part is discussion of a significant issue in Liberia at the time that is affecting the people and proffer credible solutions to the significant issue and the country’s myriad of socio-economic and political problems for social economic development of the people.
• The third part comprises a discussion of a likely upcoming issue or trend that may impact our elected officials over the coming months.
The definition of LEAD Liberia is:
" A non—partisan political group that sends one message to our elected officials across Liberia, which is “Do the right thing” and stop playing politics with our future and the national interest of our beloved country (Liberia). We believe in the power of the people to compel change for the betterment of Liberia thereby forcing our elected officials to listen to the people and to champion the interest of all Liberians, regardless of their socioeconomic class, religious and traditional believes. We believe in grassroots force for change through citizen participation in government. We believe our leaders should abandon the politics of partisan division, personal greed and find creative solutions to promote the common good of Liberia.
RESOLUTION OF ADOPTION
The LEAD Liberia assembled in a Conference on LEAD Organizing For Liberia Committees and Policy pursuant to resolution adopted by the July 15, 2010, LEAD Liberia and the Call to the Conference hereby adopts for the governance of LEAD Liberia Constitution by the rules and regulations enclosed hereto, so help us God.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
US $ 30 million cash crop plantation starts in Lofa
Written by Matthias Daffah
July 2010
Source Star Radio Liberia
The Liberia Cocoa Corporation has begun work on another thirty million US dollar cash crop plantation in Quadu Gbondi District, Lofa County.
The Corporation’s General Manger Winston Tolbert told Star Radio the plantation will yield both Ivorian and Ghanaian hybrid cocoa.
Mr. Tolbert disclosed nearly sixty-five hectares of cocoa have already been planted on the plantation.
The management of the corporation has hired three hundred fifteen laborers, mainly youth from all over Liberia.
Our correspondent observed several Ghanaians and Ivorian plantation experts have also begun arriving at the newly established cocoa plantation.
The Ghanaian and Ivorian experts are to assist in laying-out the plantation’s blocking system.
The establishment of the plantation is to enhance government’s poverty reduction strategy.
Twelve million US dollars will be used on the first phase of the plantation’s operations.
July 2010
Source Star Radio Liberia
The Liberia Cocoa Corporation has begun work on another thirty million US dollar cash crop plantation in Quadu Gbondi District, Lofa County.
The Corporation’s General Manger Winston Tolbert told Star Radio the plantation will yield both Ivorian and Ghanaian hybrid cocoa.
Mr. Tolbert disclosed nearly sixty-five hectares of cocoa have already been planted on the plantation.
The management of the corporation has hired three hundred fifteen laborers, mainly youth from all over Liberia.
Our correspondent observed several Ghanaians and Ivorian plantation experts have also begun arriving at the newly established cocoa plantation.
The Ghanaian and Ivorian experts are to assist in laying-out the plantation’s blocking system.
The establishment of the plantation is to enhance government’s poverty reduction strategy.
Twelve million US dollars will be used on the first phase of the plantation’s operations.
VP Boakai condemns assault on police officer
Written by Emmanuel Broh
July 2010
Source:Star Radio Liberia
Vice President Joseph Boakai has condemned the violent assault on Police Officer Lexington Beh.
Vice President Boakai made the condemnation Tuesday when he visited Officer Beh at the John F. Kenney hospital in Sinkor.
A release quotes Vice President Boakai as saying government subscribes to respect for human rights and would not condone such acts on the part of anyone.
He assured officer Beh justice will be served and that those who perpetrated the act will meet the full weight of the law.
The release said the officer briefed the Vice President from his hospital bed, saying he was simply performing his duty required of a police when brutalized.
According to the release, Officer Beh told Vice President Boakai his attackers rained verbal insults on him and his family before physically assaulting him.
Officer Beh is undergoing treatment for injuries he sustained during the scuffle with men believed to be bodyguards of Deputy House Speaker Togba Mulbah.
July 2010
Source:Star Radio Liberia
Vice President Joseph Boakai has condemned the violent assault on Police Officer Lexington Beh.
Vice President Boakai made the condemnation Tuesday when he visited Officer Beh at the John F. Kenney hospital in Sinkor.
A release quotes Vice President Boakai as saying government subscribes to respect for human rights and would not condone such acts on the part of anyone.
He assured officer Beh justice will be served and that those who perpetrated the act will meet the full weight of the law.
The release said the officer briefed the Vice President from his hospital bed, saying he was simply performing his duty required of a police when brutalized.
According to the release, Officer Beh told Vice President Boakai his attackers rained verbal insults on him and his family before physically assaulting him.
Officer Beh is undergoing treatment for injuries he sustained during the scuffle with men believed to be bodyguards of Deputy House Speaker Togba Mulbah.
Grebo Governor missing in Grand Gedeh
Written by Wlekumon Degbe
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Source: Star Radio Liberia
Police in Grand Gedeh County have begun investigating two separate criminal incidents.
They include the mysterious disappearance of the Grebo Governor Paul Hoto and the discovery of some blood in the fence of the Faith Restaurant.
The Governor’s son told the police, his father went in the bush since July 10 and has not returned .
Grand Gedeh Police Commander Prince Gballeh told reporters police have been searching the bush and are compiling a report.
Sources told Star Radio, Mr. Hoto’s slippers and cutlass were found by bundles of sticks apparently cut by him.
Grebo women from Maryland County are demanding the living body of Mr. Hoto
Acting Grand Gedeh Superintendent Claska Bah appealed to the women to exercise restraints as police investigate the incident.
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Source: Star Radio Liberia
Police in Grand Gedeh County have begun investigating two separate criminal incidents.
They include the mysterious disappearance of the Grebo Governor Paul Hoto and the discovery of some blood in the fence of the Faith Restaurant.
The Governor’s son told the police, his father went in the bush since July 10 and has not returned .
Grand Gedeh Police Commander Prince Gballeh told reporters police have been searching the bush and are compiling a report.
Sources told Star Radio, Mr. Hoto’s slippers and cutlass were found by bundles of sticks apparently cut by him.
Grebo women from Maryland County are demanding the living body of Mr. Hoto
Acting Grand Gedeh Superintendent Claska Bah appealed to the women to exercise restraints as police investigate the incident.
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