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| Tiawan S. Gongloe |
Tiawan S. Gongloe, Contributing Writer, Minister of Labor, RL
Source: Front Page Africa
Ladies and gentlemen of the Press, my friends of Cenpid and all Hatai shops and intellectual clubs across the Republic of Liberia, fellow citizens.
On Wednesday, November 3, 2010, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf gave compulsory “administrative leave “to her entire cabinet, with the exception of the Minister of State, Hon. Edward McLain, whom the President designated to chair the cabinet of acting ministers while she was away from Liberia. This decision shocked me and I believe many, if not most , or all of my Cabinet colleagues. It must have been shocking to most of our citizens, partners of Liberia and many persons in the international community concerned about Liberia’s speedy recovery and development. At the time of this presidential decision, I was in Geneva, Switzerland on a delegation headed by the Minister of Justice, with representation from the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Education, Gender and Development, the Law Reform Commission and the Liberia Mission in Geneva to represent Liberia’s human rights record at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the human rights record of member countries of the United Nations, which takes place every four years in Geneva. Fortunately, for me and I believe for the Minister of Justice, our assignment in Geneva was over before the Presidential decision to send all cabinet ministers on leave was made. Otherwise, a question about the legality of our continuous representation could have been asked by the UN or other delegates. This could have been embarrassing for our delegation.
PLEADING WITH PREZ: "I am appealing to her publicly, since I am not actively in government at this time, to stop and not continue this pattern. It is not good for our country. Such actions have the appearance of arbitrariness which can only be associated with autocracy, dictatorship and imperial presidency. History has shown that dictatorship comes gradually and in different forms and that even a well-meaning leader can become a dictator without planning to be one."
Written by Matthias Daffah
Source: Star Radio Liberia
Women in Nimba, Bong, and Margibi Counties have reported a sharp increase in incidents of rape in their respective counties.
Written by Matthias Daffah
Source: Star Radio Liberia
Grand Cape Mount Senator Abel Massaley has reported major financial scandals in the implementation of four development projects in the county.
Written by Emmanuel Broh
Source: Star Radio Liberia
Normal activities have come to a standstill in Bong Mines, Fuamah District, Bong County.
Residents of the former mining town are protesting the mysterious disappearance of seventeen year old Alice Pumudu.
Written by J. Aloysius Toe
Dear Rodney,
While sitting here in the academic sanctuary of the United States, I have been following your saga with the Supreme Court of Liberia.
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| Chief Justice Johnnie C. Lewis |
In the quiet recesses of my heart, I am shocked but not surprised at the actions of Chief Justice Johnnie C. Lewis and his bench! I am Shocked because this action of a supposedly reasonable jurist like Justice Lewis is a poisonous bullet fired in the spinal chord of our emerging democratic tradition of free speech.
Written by Rufus S. Berry II
A Clear and Present Danger to Liberia’s Justice and Fairness
Haven’t the citizens of the Republic of Liberia endured enough abuse of power by members of the three branches of government? Countless years in Liberian history, dating back from Charles Taylor have shown how the abuse of power has been detrimental to Liberian citizens’ wellbeing.
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| Chief Justice Johnny Lewis |
Chief Justice Johnny Lewis is following in the footsteps of those before him —assuming powers that are not his and overstepping legal boundaries with abandon.
Written by Vallai M. Dorley
The Re-emergence of the Past
Dear Hon. Lewis:
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JONNY LEWIS
Chief Justice of Liberia |
I write to express my disenchantment on how we were humiliated and flogged by your Court Security Officers in the yield of the Temple of Justice on Tuesday, November 9, 2010.
Your order given them to flog and step us out of the compound of the Temple of Justice contravenes articles 15 and 17 of the Magna Carta of Liberia. Article 15 provides “Every person shall have the right to freedom of expression, being fully responsible for the abuse thereof.
-Written by Onesimus Leigh
Source: Star Radio Liberia
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| Dr. Richard Tolbert |
The out-going Chairman of the National Investment Commission says unless Government creates jobs for the majority of its people Liberia is doomed.
Source: allAfrica.com
Ganta — With close to 25 years surveying land and helping resolve land disputes, J. Patrick Vanie has unrivalled expertise on the nuances of land ownership in Nimba County.
"I know this county right down to my fingertips," says Vanie. But Nimba's land commissioner admits to feeling swamped by an overwhelming caseload. "The land business here is tough, it is no joke," Vanie concedes. "The demand for land here has become very, very high."
- Nat Nyuan Bayjay
Source: FrontPage Africa
Geneva, Switzerland –
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Senator Adolphus Dolo
aka General Peanut Butter |
The United Kingdom (UK) had one clear message for the Liberian delegation that was proving Liberia’s human rights case: that it totally dislikes the high level of impunity with which individuals enlisted in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Final Report continue to not only parade the streets but also continue to serve in high public and most often electable posts.
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| Prince Johnson |
The concern stretches to the extent that the British Government, via its Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland could not help recommending that the Liberian Government must consider implementing the most serious atrocities committed during the civil war as outlined in the TRC document.
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| T.Q. Harris Jr. |
The truth-telling approach to healing touted as the best way forward has been roundly rejected by the Liberian people. Now its leading advocates, including President Johnson Sirleaf, are unwilling to accept the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) report which largely favors accountability and eradication of impunity. Opposing the will of the people, Madam Sirleaf and the others have refused to honor the TRC recommendations risking the possibility of renewed violence.
Alpha Sesay
allAfrica
Defense lawyers for Charles Taylor today formally closed their case after calling 21 witnesses to testify on behalf of the former Liberian president in response to an 11 count indictment in which Prosecutors allege that Mr. Taylor provided support to and was in control of Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels, who waged an 11 year civil conflict in the West African nation. Mr. Taylor has denied all allegations against him.
Doctors To Determine, As More Crazy People Roam
D. K. Sengbeh
Source: allAfrica.com
At least 35 'mineral water' companies under the banner the Liberia Water Producer Association (LWPA) have cried foul, accusing the Ghanaian-Indian owned Liberty Investment Inc., producer of Aqua Life mineral water, of bad business practice.
D.K. Sengbeh
Source: allAfrica.com
The Deputy Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says the Agency has found no evidence of Firestone Liberia polluting or dumping chemical waste into the Farmington River.
The Informer (Monrovia)/allAfrica.com
- Roland Perry
The Special Representative of the Secretary General and Coordinator of the United Nations operation in Liberia, Madam Ellen Margrethe Loj, has called on the people of Liberia to unite for free and fair elections in 2011.
Source:
allAfrica.com
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| Jenkins K.Z.B. Scott |
"He threw me in prison with men so that I could be used before the day," remembered one of Liberia's best-known artists and political activists, Miatta Fahnbulleh.
Source:
allAfrica.com
National Investment Commission chief Richard Tolbert has followed Foreign Minister Olubanke King Akelere in bowing out of the government following the president's cabinet dismantling. Media reports have long hinted that Mr. Tolbert was targeted to be sacked, but that the president has been searching for his replacement.
So far, only these are the 2 ministers that have resigned. Others are waiting to see who will be retained and who packs up. Mr. Tolbert's, nephew of assassinated President William R. Tolbert, resignation comes on the heels of the resignation of Foreign minister Olubanke King-Akerele who also confirmed he resignation on Tuesday to The Associated Press.
By Alpha Sesay
Source:
allAfrica.com
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| Taylor |
Sam Flomo Kolleh, a Liberian national and former member of Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel group, concluded his evidence today in The Hague as the last live witness in the trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor.
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
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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