Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Liberia: Premature Campaigners Risk Denial - NEC Warns Aspirants


Source: allAfrica.com


Addressing journalists at the headquarters of the Commission in Sinkor, the Chairman of the NEC, Cllr. James Fromayan said NEC said individuals claiming to be aspirants are making serious miscalculations by taking the Commission for granted and engaging in actions that are equivalent to premature campaigning.

Chairman Fromayan furthered that individuals who have willfully chosen to indulge in premature campaign activities are operating outside the domain of the law and risk strong possibility of being denied participation in the 2011 elections.

The NEC warned that those who are now beating drums, mounting posters, holding political rallies and delivering campaign manifestos will soon have those "dreams shattered because these blatant acts of premature campaigning are tantamount to shooting themselves in the legs."

According to Chairman Fromayan, the NEC remains unbending and uncompromising to enforce the electoral laws and no party or individual of any size and shape will be left off the hook when a clear violation is established in these proceedings.

The Commission reiterated that engaging in premature campaigning will no longer be tolerated. Henceforth, the NEC warned that those violating should immediately desist or be prepared to suffer lashes.

Meanwhile, the National Election Commission has disclosed that 993,857 Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) Forms were received from the 15 Counties of Liberia. The Commission emphasizes that the figures are raw and will be subjected to thorough cleaning by the Information Technology and Data Center of the NEC.

The Commission has further reported that the processing of the OMR forms by the Information Technology Section of NEC has been on-going and has proceeded well so far.

Chairman Fromayan also revealed that the IT Section has detected a number of cases involving double registration. He said the Commission is carefully studying the cases and will make proper determination of the next course of action against those that have been detected.

According to Chairman Fromayan, "out of 399.194 forms received by the IT Section, 152,113 forms which amount to 38% of the forms has been processed. Out of the number processed, 63,386 or 42% are females and 88,727 or 58% are males. Eighteen-year old (18) registrants amount to 13,310."

In a related development, the NEC has disclosed that the observance of a national holiday in support of the ongoing National Voters' Registration Exercise revealed that the initial reports gathered from its field officers suggest that appreciable number of Liberians responded to the call of the Commission and the Government to register.

NEC thanked President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and the Government of Liberia for recognizing the need to give the Voters Registration a "big boost" by declaring a public holiday.

The National Elections Commission (NEC) has disclosed that it will deny aspirants who will engage in premature campaign ahead of the 2011 General and Presidential Elections scheduled for October this year.

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Inside Liberia with Bernard Gbayee Goah

Everyone is a genius

Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. – A Einstein

Drawing the line in Liberia

Crimes sponsored, committed, or masterminded by handful of individuals cannot be blamed upon an entire nationality. In this case, Liberians! The need for post-war justice is a step toward lasting peace, stability and prosperity for Liberia. Liberia needs a war crimes tribunal or some credible legal forum that is capable of dealing with atrocities perpetrated against defenseless men, women and children during the country's brutal war. Without justice, peace shall remain elusive and investment in Liberia will not produce the intended results. - Bernard Gbayee Goah



Men with unhealthy characters should not champion any noble cause

They pretend to advocate the cause of the people when their deeds in the dark mirror nothing else but EVIL!!
When evil and corrupt men try to champion a cause that is so noble … such cause, how noble it may be, becomes meaningless in the eyes of the people - Bernard Gbayee Goah.

If Liberia must move forward ...

If Liberia must move forward in order to claim its place as a civilized nation amongst world community of nations, come 2017 elections, Liberians must critically review the events of the past with honesty and objectivity. They must make a new commitment to seek lasting solutions. The track records of those who are presenting themselves as candidates for the position of "President of the Republic of Liberia" must be well examined. Liberians must be fair to themselves because results from the 2011 elections will determine the future of Liberia’s unborn generations to come - Bernard Gbayee Goah

Liberia's greatest problem!

While it is true that an individual may be held responsible for corruption and mismanagement of funds in government, the lack of proper system to work with may as well impede the process of ethical, managerial, and financial accountability - Bernard Gbayee Goah

What do I think should be done?

The situation in Liberia is Compound Complex and cannot be fixed unless the entire system of government is reinvented.
Liberia needs a workable but uncompromising system that will make the country an asylum free from abuse, and other forms of corruption.
Any attempt to institute the system mentioned above in the absence of rule of law is meaningless, and more detrimental to Liberia as a whole - Bernard Gbayee Goah

Liberia's Natural Resources
Besides land water and few other resources, most of Liberia’s dependable natural resources are not infinite, they are finite and therefore can be depleted.
Liberia’s gold, diamond, and other natural resources will not always be an available source of revenue generation for its people and its government. The need to invent a system in government that focuses on an alternative income generation method cannot be over emphasized at this point - Bernard Gbayee Goah

Liberia needs a proper system
If Liberians refuse to erect a proper system in place that promotes the minimization of corruption and mismanagement of public funds by government institutions, and individuals, there will come a time when the value of the entire country will be seen as a large valueless land suited on the west coast of Africa with some polluted bodies of waters and nothing else. To have no system in place in any country is to have no respect for rule of law. To have no respect for rule of law is to believe in lawlessness. And where there is lawlessness, there is always corruption - Bernard Gbayee Goah

Solving problems in the absence of war talks

As political instability continues to increase in Africa, it has become abundantly clear that military intervention as a primary remedy to peace is not a durable solution. Such intervention only increases insecurity and massive economic hardship. An existing example which could be a valuable lesson for Liberia is Great Britain, and the US war on terror for the purpose of global security. The use of arms whether in peace keeping, occupation, or invasion as a primary means of solving problem has yield only little results. Military intervention by any country as the only solution to problem solving will result into massive military spending, economic hardship, more fear, and animosity as well as increase insecurity. The alternative is learning how to solve problems in the absence of war talks. The objective of such alternative must be to provide real sustainable human security which cannot be achieved through military arm intervention, or aggression. In order to achieve results that will make the peaceful coexistence of all mankind possible, there must be a common ground for the stories of all sides to be heard. I believe there are always three sides to every story: Their side of the story, Our side of the story, and The truth – Bernard Gbayee Goah

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