TALKING WITH THE PRESIDENT
Published: 04 July, 2008
Dr. Tipoteh
Madam President, in the face of the current debate in the National Legislature, especially the dramatic exchanges among legislators regarding comprehensive performance reporting, it has become necessary to revisit the issue of comprehensive performance reporting.
Why Johnson-Sirleaf Is Wrong
Published: 03 July, 2008
Introduction
Three years ago, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf seeking the presidency of Liberia, descended on Philadelphia, the United States of America, to atone for her role in the Liberian civil war.
They gathered daily in their numbers starting a new day just to have something on the table in this poor but potentially rich African country, Liberia.
The European Development Policy A ‘Partnership for Africa's Development’
Published: 02 July, 2008
Africa is on the move again. International awareness of various situations in Africa has significantly improved in recent years and the continent is now giving sustained signs that today there is real momentum of change. The birth of the African Union (AU) and NEPAD, the reinforced role of Africa's regional economic communities (REC's) and the emergence of a new generation of leaders at national level have changed Africa. It is also changing the relationship between Africa and European.
Towards 'Real' Poverty Reduction in Liberia
Published: 01 July, 2008
A few days ago, one of the world’s richest men and philanthropists, Bill Gates, announced that he was stepping down as the Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, one of the world’s computer giants he founded, to run his foundation full time with his wife, Melinda.
New Breed of African Leaders
Published: 30 June, 2008
Robert Mugabe has forced his people to go to the polls against their wishes and the wish of the international community. He is twigging his nose at all those in power, especially in Africa. We wait to see those who will point accusing fingers at him at the African Union Summit in Egypt this week.
Talking with the President
Published: 27 June, 2008
Madam President, today, Friday, June 27, 2008, goes down in the history of Africa as Bad Friday. Today is Bad Friday because of the bad situation in Zimbabwe.
How Nigeria Stole the Show
Published: 26 June, 2008
By the late 60s and early 70s Gabriel began to bring in some social consciousness films such as The Pill, Woodstock, and The Graduate. The Cinema House also began expanding outside of Monrovia with branches in Buchanan, Cuttington and Gbarnga. Cuttington students went haywire once and challenged the largely white American faculty to a debate at Epiphany Chapel after watching The Liberation of L.B. Jones played by James Earl Jones about a Black American man who was wrongly accused and being chased by lawmen. He decided to stop running and stand up to face his fate in dignity. There was no taker. The faculty stayed home.
How Nigeria Stole the Show
Published: 25 June, 2008
The plotline is as uncomplicated as an African children's tale. There are no larger than life heroes seeking to conquer alien worlds or trying to save the planet from arch villains. Makeup is rudimentary and female characters are not airbrushed to transform them into heart stopping beauties. No sophisticated special effects to produce adrenalin rushing action scenes and suspend belief. Scenes linger numbingly too long. The characters are all ordinary everyday people. The films are more an extension of life than an imitation of it. They do not offer an escape from but instead serve reality.
Talking with the President
Published: 20 June, 2008
Madam President, as our Friend Ambassador Donald Booth of the United States of America is about to leave Liberia to go to Zambia on a new assignment, let us reflect on some of the essential aspects of his work during his tour of duty in Liberia. This Commentary reflects on crucial aspects that are usually not mentioned publicly. However, on the basis of the usefulness of these aspects for acquiring lessons for democratic institution building, they are mentioned here. This reflection, which seeks to encapsulate the feelings of the people of Liberia on the eve of Ambassador Booth's departure, is found below in a poem, written by me, titled:
The Thin Line between Hopelessness and the Rule of Law in West Africa
Published: 18 June, 2008
The cruel vestiges of the Liberian civil war and inhumanity of some Liberians have again been manifested in the recent massacre in Margibi County allegedly carried out by loyalists of a former rebel commander. This callous act of savagery often seen during the country's descent into insanity in the last decade took the lives of 13 farm hands with others sustaining injuries over a 'land dispute'.
Where is the 2008/9 Draft National Budget?
Published: 17 June, 2008
The Executive Branch of government was required to submit a draft Fiscal 2008/9 budget along with specified reports and supporting documents to the National Legislature by the 20th of May, 2008. The budget was reportedly submitted on schedule. Bravo to the Executive. Also, President Sirleaf promised to provide the required reports and supporting documents the following week. This, of course, implies that the government did not meet the deadline as required by law. According to the 2007/8 Budget Act which reads:
POLITICS AND POLICIES OF ANTIQUITY: LIBERIA NEEDS NEW GENERATION OF LEADERS
Published: 16 June, 2008
Change, change, change has been the theme in American presidential politics this year. Senator Barrack Obama, with his impeccable oratory ability has cajoled Americans with his message of “Hope and Change” throughout the Democratic primaries. Americans are eager for a change, new vision, new ideas, and new kind of leadership that transcends old Washington politics. Senator Obama's message was simple, a real change from the old guards to a new generation of leaders, a change from business as usual in Washington. Liberians often brag of Liberia being the oldest African Republic. Indeed, it would be fair to acquiesce that its policies and politicians are obsolete. Liberian politicians have been resistant to real change of leadership. I have followed Liberian politics closely with exhilaration ever since I was in high school. I wrote my first commentary in the independent Inquirer when I was a high school student at A.M.E Zion Academy. As a trained diplomat and lawyer, I have followed the country's politics intensely. The “old guards” have not changed, or left the stage, recent changes have been a mere window dressing. I still remember their names from junior high school, even elementary school. During the 2005 presidential election the few names that echoed more vividly were: the late Baccus Matthews, Milton Teahjay, Dr. Boima Fahnbulleh, Jr., Mr. WVS Tubman Jr., Chea Cheapoo and the current president; others worked behind the scene. These politicians have been recycled from one regime or administration to another.
TALKING WITH THE PRESIDENT
Published: 13 June, 2008
Madam President, welcome back home from Japan and other places. Japan is now the second economic power in the world, next to the United States of America. During the 1950s, Liberia had the highest per capita economic growth rate in the world, with Japan taking second place. Today Liberia remains one of the least developed countries, one of the poorest countries in the world.
Japan's US$4B Soft Loan to Africa
Published: 11 June, 2008
As development communication is becoming the best prescription for a continent such as Africa, against the backdrop of the heightening rate of abject poverty plaguing most of its nations and economies, coupled with the reclamation required in some parts as a direct result of desertification and deforestation, agricultural production serves as the primary and only source of redemption of African people. The people of Africa must shift from the subsistence level of farming to massive production through mechanized and other modern farming methods.
Nigeria's Port Sector: A Shining Example of Public-Private Partnership Lessons for Liberia's Port Sector Reform Program
Published: 10 June, 2008
Knowing Nigeria for its diversity and pluralism, class, political and sectoral struggles, pundits would have most certainly written off any chance of success for reform of the country's port sector especially with the groundswell of human and institutional resistance to change.
Marking Time or Making Progress: Liberia at UNGASS 2008
Published: 09 June, 2008
Liberia is catching up after nearly 15 years of hiatus. The country, for example, is trying to undertake a national response to HIV/AIDS. To signify the country's return to the global community of nations' response to the epidemic, Liberia is sending a high level delegation to participate and present the country's first progress report at the UN High Level Meeting on AIDS scheduled for June 9 -11, 2008. Dr. Walter T. Gwenigale, Minister of Health and Social Welfare and Vice Chair of the National AIDS Commission, is leading the delegation to the meeting scheduled for New York.
TALKING WITH THE PRESIDENT
Published: 06 June, 2008
Madam President, may your attention be drawn to the fact that there continues to be no comprehensive performance reporting of Government's activities since 2006. Comprehensive performance reporting is indispensable for good governance because it helps governance to know what is going on, what mistakes are being made and how to correct the mistakes to move forward for the better. Reports from the Ministry of Finance are limited to only central government expenditures, and are therefore not comprehensive.
Violence in Guinea Is Sign of a Failed State
Published: 05 June, 2008
We, members of the Sierra Leone People's Democratic League (PDL) are grief-stricken at the ongoing horrific political violence that has erupted in neighboring Guinea and wish to condemn in no uncertain terms the abusive practices that the Guinean military, led by the dictator General Lansana Conte, has continued to unleash on the Guinean people in the last two decades. We vehemently condemn also all attempts by the dictator Lansana Conteh's empire to trample upon the dignity and democratic freedoms of the people of Guinea.
In Post-war Liberia, Paradise amid the Poverty
Published: 04 June, 2008
The second sushi bar to open in ragged post-war Liberia did not settle for having its chefs wear simple T-shirts, or for serving $25 worth of sliced fish on plain white plates.
The Question of Democracy in Africa
Published: 03 June, 2008
The Writer
Every century in Africa brings a new challenge to its socio-economic and political developments. This 21st century is witnessing mass campaign for the democratization of the continent, and a free market or capitalistic economy. As it has always been, the western powers or the colonial masters of pre-independent Africa are the leading proponents of this campaign through intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. But can they really succeed in democratizing the continent as they succeeded in plundering its resources during colonial and imperial dominance? Or is the western democracy a model so strange to African political lives and cultures that Africans found difficulties in adjusting their lives and ways of governance to its tenets; or is it that the Western-support democracy and capitalism are canopies to continually submit Africa to imperial dominance? These are questions African politicians and technocrats need to consider in their efforts to unite the continent; and must also be careful of the numerous demands of the Western powers in securing certain interest. Because it has become commonplace that when these demands are not met, and when certain interests are not achievable, African leaders are quickly branded as 'predators of democracy', 'human rights violators', and so forth.
World No Tobacco Day, May 31
Published: 02 June, 2008
Dr. Luis Gomes Sambo
Health Professionals and Tobacco Control, ladies and gentlemen, tobacco use is a serious public health problem. There are more than one billion smokers in the world and 5 million deaths per year due to tobacco. If the current consumption patterns continue, the number of deaths will reach 10 million per year by 2020, of which 70% will occur in developing countries.
TALKING WITH THE PRESIDENT
Published: 30 May, 2008
Madam President, as you are aware, this year marks six decades of United Nations work on Human Rights and Peace-keeping. In particular, May 29 provides us all with a special opportunity to pay tribute to the work of International Peacekeepers, as it is International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers.
As Liberia Hosts Gambia Sunday: A Hint For A Decent Day
Published: 29 May, 2008
By Dennis Toe
Football is truly a passion. And driven by this passion, I feel compelled to rescind my decision not to watch any Lone Star matches at a dismal showing during the elimination series of the last African Cup of Nations Competition held in Ghana.
Refuting Benoni Urey's Out-of-Bounds Reaction to Former President Moses Z. Blah's Testimony in Ongoing Trial of War Crimes Suspect Charles McArthur 'Ghankay' Taylor
Published: 27 May, 2008
Ban Smoking in Public Venues Now
Published: 26 May, 2008
The urge to run is overwhelming. The poisonous gas engulfs me, it seeps into my clothes, and it chokes me. I can feel the years of my life slipping away. I pick up the speed of my gait, and bolt out of the first open door, into the hot night air. I breathe deeply, relieved to be out of the nightclub and the thick, toxic, fog of smoke. The open air relieves my nausea and the lightheaded feeling, caused by the strangling secondhand smoke.
TALKING WITH THE PRESIDENT
Published: 23 May, 2008
Madam President, during the course of this month, many religious houses have been commemorating Mother's Day. A special day has been set aside to pay tribute to Mothers for their considerable contributions to family and society.
Taking the Cabinet to the People
Published: 22 May, 2008
The Writer Photo by A. M. Johnson
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and her cabinet have concluded a three-day retreat in Cape Mount. Taking the cabinet to the people is aimed at obtaining a firsthand account of the concerns of citizens across the country, the President has said.
The So-Called Global Food Crisis
Published: 19 May, 2008
Recently, a commentator published an article about the free market and food security on a much patronized Ghanaian news website. Full of passion, but, unfortunately, lacking in depth of analysis, his views summarizes a great deal of the reactions to the so-called global food crisis that have come from leftist or left of center pundits in recent weeks.
TALKING WITH THE PRESIDENT ON UNIFICATION
Published: 16 May, 2008
Madam President, May 14, 2008 was Unification Day, but it was not observed with national significance. There were no commemorative public activities in Monrovia and places around the country. On that Day, there were no programs directed at promoting unification in our country. This reminds people of what happened on May 1, International Workers Day, when no programs were held.
A guard sells rice at a subsidized outlet in Bangladesh. High food prices have resulted in riots in some countries
The head of the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) has called on countries that ban exports of food commodities to lift those restrictions so more food can be available for humanitarian aid.
U.N. Food Aid Agency Urges Countries to Lift Food Export Bans
Published: 13 May, 2008
WFP official Josette Sheeran shows the amount of food in a child's ration for the organization's school feeding
Washington -- The head of the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) has called on countries that ban exports of food commodities to lift those restrictions so more food can be available for humanitarian aid.
TALKING WITH THE PRESIDENT
Published: 09 May, 2008
Madam President, welcome back home. It is good to know that you received a clean bill of health from your medical check-up. Certainly, one of the major news items, if not the biggest news, that you met upon your return home was the 'not guilty' decision rendered by Judge Gbenewelleh in the Treason Case.
To Privatize or Not: The Case with our Public Corporations
Published: 08 May, 2008
Every Liberian should be proud of the final version of the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) as presented by the Government. We should be thankful to the participants for a great service to our common patrimony.
Development of a New Ministry
Published: 06 May, 2008
Liberians are talented, Liberians are very creative and gifted, Liberians are smart sort of people - These are the assertions of most individuals encountered from different walks of life.
The Predators of Press Freedom
Published: 05 May, 2008
Reporters without Borders issued May 2, 2008 an updated list of its 'predators of press freedom' for World Press Freedom Day, which was celebrated worldwide Saturday, May 3, 2008.
TALKING WITH THE PRESIDENT
Published: 02 May, 2008
Dr. Tipoteh
Madam President, May 1 is International Workers Day. Happy International Workers Day. This is time to reflect on the contributions of the workers of Liberia to the building and re-building of our country.
The Plight of the Children of Liberia
Published: 27 April, 2008
Children everywhere are called future leaders. And for this reason, every family strives to give their children the best foundation to grow up and become respectful and productive people. It is because of the importance of children in succeeding their parents as heirs apparent that religions emphasize moral training for children with care. The Qur'an warns parents who don't take good care of children, and also advises for good training for children. The Bible also gives parents a good recommendation to train up their children in the way they should go, and when they are old they will not depart from it.
TALKING WITH THE PRESIDENT
Published: 25 April, 2008
Madam President, yet once again, some African leaders of state are showing that they do not want to learn correctly lessons of the past. Nearly 2,000 persons had to die in Kenya before the post-elections crisis came to an end with the induction of Mr. Raila Odinga as Prime Minister.
A Great Injustice Was Done: The Search for a Cultural Policy for Liberia
Published: 24 April, 2008
The Writer
The article 'Towards a Cultural Policy for Liberia: The Wheel Has Already Been Invented', (April 1, 2008) is distinctive. The author, Dr. C. William Allen, did a unique job in bringing to the limelight the injustice meted out to Kenneth Y. Best in 1974 by some officials of the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism (MICAT).
Bridging the Gap in Covering Taylor's Trial
Published: 23 April, 2008
Foreign press reports and news releases from the International Criminal Court in The Hague on the trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor have created a long list of dilemma for both the Liberian and Sierra Leonean media to accurately and adequately cover the trial.
Understanding the Africa Commission
Published: 22 April, 2008
The Writer Photo by A.M. Johnson
Africa has seen many positive developments and experienced progress in several areas in the past decade, primarily thanks to the continent's international partners as well as Africa's own efforts and reforms. However, development must be accelerated further. In a global context, Africa has largely been left behind in the area of economic growth, which is a prerequisite for solving many of the existing challenges.
TALKING WITH THE PRESIDENT
Published: 18 April, 2008
Madam President, having just come out of a most devastating civil war where the lack of participation of the people in national decision-making was at the root of the causes for war, the way forward for the better Liberia necessarily is the participation of the people in national decision-making. Whatever form this participation takes, as long as it is peaceful, it must be encouraged. If any form of this participation were to run counter to the rule of law, then the courts become the proper place for handling the matter.
Critical Health Care Fails to Reach Most Women And Children in High-Mortality Countries
Published: 17 April, 2008
Leading global health experts, policymakers and parliamentarians are convening in Cape Town from 17th to 19th April at the Countdown to 2015 conference to address the urgent need for accelerated progress to reduce maternal, newborn and child deaths.
Why Everything Including Food Costs More in Liberia?
Published: 16 April, 2008
By Amara Konneh
In the past week alone, I have received several emails and phone calls from friends and relatives in Liberia complaining about the rising commodity prices on the local market.
The Graves Are Not Yet Full
Published: 09 April, 2008
The writer
Walk with me down memory lane. The time: 1968. In 30 months, one million dead. The setting: a dusty camp in Biafra where survivors waited and hoped for peace. The survivors: Refugees fleeing from the “Dance of Death”. My mentor: One of the refugee camp directors, whom I called “Teacher” out of respect.
Deliberating on African Standby Force
Published: 08 April, 2008
By Muniru M. Nyei II
I will like to extend my commendation to all members of this August Body who have taken off time to put their knowledge at the service of Humanity. We are aware that knowledge which does not serve humanity becomes a vulgar travesty. There I salute you for your gallantry!
ADDRESS BY KENNETH Y. BEST, PUBLISHER OF THE DAILY OBSERVER NEWSPAPER, AT THE INSTALLATATION CEREMONY OF THE LIBERIA CHAMBER OF ARCHITECTS, CORINNA HOTEL, APRIL 5, 2008
Published: 07 April, 2008
