Prof. Joe W. Mulbah! The University Still Needs You

...An Eulogy In Memory of the Fallen Professor
By Bill K. Jarkloh



Oh death, why cannot you run away? You know everyone fears you – Why should we then do to avoid you? My thoughts were plagued with these words that state nothing but a myth, since the inevitable cold hands of death snatched away a celebrated broadcast journalist, a profound statesman, a legal erudite, an administrator and an academician, Professor Joe Wolorbah Mulbah.
But yes, death is indeed inevitable. Over the years, there is no doubt that this unavoidable melancholic agent of the 'Great Beyond' has built a community of Liberian journalists beyond the veil. In that community are acclaimed journalists like Rufus Darpoh, Bill Frank Enoyi, Stockton Peabody, John Vambo and John Elliot. No! Those are not all; there too is Nigerian trained prolific writer Ebenezer Wureh Worrison, BBC Correspondent Klon Hinneh, The INQUIRER's roving reporter Emmanuel Nah, Bobby Tapson of The NEWS, Attes Johnson of the Daily Observer and the list continues.
Why has death continued to ruin our profession? On Friday, the 18th of November, my thoughts were preoccupied, as though it's a possibility, a declaration of war against death for the unforgettable pains its piercing swore has caused the media - having listened to a Radio VERITAS broadcast that broke the death news of the famous journalist and patriotic. I was stunned by the breaking news though, I momentarily rediscovered myself as the details of the newscast unfolded about the demise of Chairman Mulbah of the Department of Mass Communication under whose tutorship and guidance I was awarded my undergraduate degree in Mass Communication and Sociology.
Surely, I would have blown the horn for the declaration of war against Death like a field marshal for such a mischief to which one of the supreme generals of the inky fraternity has fallen. Burning with frustration, I painfully listened to the radio narrating that the setting of this sad event was the Duside Hospital.
Oh impossibility, why defeateth thou me at the frontline of preventing the irreparable losses journalism suffer in Liberia? Truly, reality realizably prevails over the imaginary. So as I look about myself, I realize that mobilizing the inky fraternity to warfare against death was not possible. I was therefore left with the option of first trying the phone number of the fallen professor. It was of course dead as the LoneStar GSM reminded me at each call trial that “The LoneStar cell you are calling is at a switch off or out of coverage area.”
Oh no! Is this real? Has Prof. Mulbah truly join ranks with those in the “Great Beyond?” I then continue to verify. I started calling professional colleagues, some of whom confirmed the striking news. The following day I hurried to the Department of Mass Communication at the University of Liberia. There an aide to the fallen professor, Comrade Seyon Kieh, further confirmed to me that Prof. Mulbah joined the other colleagues beyond the veil.
Hmmmmmm!!!!!! I took a deep breath with a moment of recollecting my encounters with him. I remember that shortly before the elections, he and some Ghanaian authors wrote African Election manual. This his Ghanaian counterpart sent him an email he could not easily access. I remember he gave me his laptop to download the message from the Ghanaian Colleague of his, and dictated to me a short reply that I sent through his Yahoo account.
The late Prof. Mulbah was always fond of soliciting my opinion on national issues. Just in October on the day of the first round of the elections when I was in the heart of Lofa to train some community radio stations, Prof. Mulbah called me on his mobile phone and asked of me my opinion on what would possibly be the result of the presidential race. I responded thus: I believe there will definitely be a second round. “Why do you think so”, he further asked me. “Because of the plurality of the election for the presidency. The presidential race had 16 candidates. Therefore, producing an absolute result of 50 percent and one vote was logically impossible,” I explained to him.
I further told him, “I believe the second round round will be between the governing Unity Party (UP) and the mainstream opposition party, the Congress for Democratic Party (CDC).” He interjected with a question: But don't you see the CDC winning narrowly, considering the crowd it pulled at its rally at the ATS – meaning Antoinette Tubman Stadium - shortly before the elections​?” “No prof! Crowd-wise, both CDCians and UPists have pulled almost equal crowds at their respective rallies.
Regarding the question of narrow victory, it would be obtained only if the race was not flooded in addition to the equally crowd the two leading parties pulled at their pre-election rallies. This is because the rest of the contestants too have their respective followers that possibly will rob either of the two leading parties a narrow win in the first round,“ I told him. The last statement I heard from him was, “Brilliant analysis!”
Consequent to this mobile conversation, I fruitlessly called the Professor's phone to chat with him on results of round-one of the polls for the presidency announced by NEC – the National Elections Commission. Again LoneStar GSM kept reminding me that the phone was at a switch-off or out of coverage area. It was thereafter that the news of his demise was broken while I had just return from work on that fateful Friday, November 18.
Surely, like he did in the lives of other colleagues, Professor Joe Wolorbah Mulbah touched my personal life. He was my guidance during my last days of undergraduate studies at the University of Liberia. He was even my instructor during my pursuit of a Certificate in Print Journalism. In fact through out my college education, he taught me Public Relations and Broadcasting. It was partly based on the knowledge he inculcated into me that I edited several papers, splendidly performed as Executive Officer for Information at a foreign embassy accredited near Monrovia for more than five consecutive years and has been able to train community radio stations across the country.
During my 21 years of encounter with the late Joe, as he was affectionately called by his contemporaries, I admired his passion for journalism, his love and interest for the brilliance of students of the Department of Mass Communication, his statesmanship and patriotism with which he ably reconciled a divided Liberian media.
I started active journalism in 1985. The breed of journalists at those early days of my career life are, in most cases, executives of contemporary Liberian media. At the time, plunderers of state resources, corrupt bureaucrats and military dictators were critical of the media. Often, journalist were referred to as “mere high school graduates” interested in soliciting bribes. This was an overstatement then, anyway, because bureaucrats themselves were dishing out money to the young journalists for cover-up of their misdeeds and for the makeup of their obscured images.
Journalists that stood for principle were branded unprofessional and agents of blackmail. The reference of unprofessionalism bordering on their level of education was only intended to coerce them to subjection to praise-singing. I clearly remember when the Defense Minister of the time, Gray D. Allison, referred to journalists as “bableh”, a Southern Liberian word referring to a species of fish preyed on by wild species of fish.
Professor Joe Mulbah, a former presenter of the “Window on the World“ Program on the ELWA, and other senior journalists of interest then took seriously the imperatives for higher professional education that could curtail this robust criticism of young journalists by bureaucrats. They prevailed on the Department of Mass Communication of the University of Liberia to inculcate into its curriculum, a compressed one-year certificate course for working print and broadcast journalists, of which I am a beneficiary.
Accordingly, Professor Mulbah taught Public Relations/Public Affairs reporting at the time. Frankly, the course upgraded the skills of the young journalists and delivered unto them the mantle of middle-level media leadership; the serious minded ones took editorial positions with various media outlets.
Passion drives people to going beyond the seeming impossible. A radio station that was required for practical broadcasting, could not be achieved by the Department at the time though; the station is now broadcasting through the instrumentality of Professor Mulbah after he took over the Department of Mass Communication as Chairman. During the One-Year certificate program, the need for a University Radio Station was inevitable for practical for broadcast students. Unlike those who read broadcast journalism during the program, print journalism students had the Varsity Pilot Newspaper providing them the opportunity to practicalizing their studies.
Notwithstanding, Professor Mulbah's assumption of the Chairmanship of the Department of Mass Communication chronicled the establishment of the first university radio in Liberia to host Mass Communication students. The fallen professor wrote and follow up proposals to UNESCO for the radio which is now called LUX FM 106.6 now broadcasting to the Liberian publics. .
“My dream is to make sure that a television station is attached to this station - LUX FM,” Prof. Mulbah told me during one of our chats at his office. But he expressed misgiving about the way his dream was being thwarted by the University of Liberia authorities. He said the UL Administration instead have opted to remove the LUX FM from the Department of Mass Communication to the Department of Public Relations. In his opinion, the LUX FM and the conceived university television station should remain under the Department of Mass Communication because it is the arm of that institution that trains students of journalism – print and broadcast journalists. He wondered why the University is fighting to take over the radio station, without contending for the Varsity Pilot in like manner.
“The LUX FM being controlled by the department of Mass Communication does not stop, in any way, the University administration from using the radio if it wishes to,” Prof. Mulbah contended. He said to me, “In the first place, removing the station to the Public Relations Department will throw into question its purpose for which UNESCO had supported its establishment; besides, the concept of objectivity with which every journalist must operate when it comes to training the students will be lost as a training component if the station should solely broadcast PR materials.” He then rhetorically asked: Do you want students to be trained on a radio station which is a Public Relations tool and will not be objective? He then challenged us, alumni, to rise up to defend the stay of the radio station under the Department of Mass Communications.
The professor was a disciplinarian who wouldn't give anyone a free ride at his lesson. He in fact made me to repeat Comm 313 for failing to take a quiz he administered when I was not in school due to my office engagement at the Embassy of Ghana. “Bill I cannot manufacture the grade for that serious quiz. I will be cheating those who sat for it. Re-register the course to clear it,” he advised me. And surely I registered that course and cleared it under Professor Weade Kobbah-Wureh.
Before he assumed the Chairmanship of the Department of Mass Communications, Prof. Mulbah served as Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism over a divided media in the country. The Liberian media was divided between “Greater Liberia” of former Liberian rebel leader Charles Ghankay Taylor and Monrovia Liberia then of the former Interim President Amos C. Sawyer. Notwithstanding the fact that Honorable Joe Mulbah was from the Greater Liberia divide, his posture as a Minister was reminiscent of a twin mother.
He successfully dealt with and reconciled journalists of both divides and ensure a united Press Union of Liberia under which all journalists were accredited members. “This was good statesmanship and symbolizes patriotism,” a female graduate of the Department of Mass Communication eulogized the memory of Professor Mulbah.
But life was so cruel to this fallen hero. The first blow he suffered was the death of Mrs. Doris Mulbah, his darling wife. Following that, his leg was amputated at the Duside Hospital due to diabetes.
He was not perturbed though by these melancholic occurrences in his life, he continued his academic engagements with the University of Liberia as Chairman of the Mass Communications Department. Besides, he ended his studies at the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law At the University of Liberia and became an honored valedictorian for his class with a Bachelor at Law (LLB) Degree. However, Life has dealt a third first against him - taken him beyond the veil while his students and graduates gazing in the air for his replacement at the Department.
Oh professor Joe Wolorbah Mulbah, if an oracle that could bring you back alive was available, I believe that I could commit all that I have for now to the cause of bringing you alive. Yes, my eyes of faith have seen some lawyers and members of the inky fraternity standing out to support me in this venture for your resurrection. But oh no Prof, we love you but God loves you best. May the soul of this fallen hero and the souls of all faithful departed rest in perfect peace and light perpetual shine upon them.

LMC Ends JHR Varsity Chapter Workshop

...Executive Director Challenges Participants

Monrovia (LMC/PR)-Dec/2/'11:-The Liberia Media Center (LMC) on Friday ended a six-day workshop of members of the student chapter of the Journalists for Human Rights (JHR).

The workshop, conducted under the auspices of the JHR Unit of the LMC, was spread on three months. Participants were drilled in basic journalism and news writing, reporting human rights issues, national and international human rights frameworks including laws and conventions amongst others.

Twenty-two participants attended the workshop and were certificated by the Executive Director of the LMC, T. Lawrence Randall. They drawn from three universities, including the United Methodist University (UMU), the University of Liberia (UL) and the African Methodist Episcopal University (AMEU).

Executive Director Randall, addressing the closing of the workshop, challenged participants to take seriously the knowledge the acquired.

According to him, the participating student journalists should understand that one does not become a journalist overnight. He said a journalist is made from the passion s/he exhibits in upholding ethical values.

To this effect, he reminded them that journalists are people interested in reading. “You can't be a journalist if you cannot read. If you can't read, go sell your water because to be a good journalist, you have to be interested in reading materials.”

He therefore implored the participants to visit the Liberia Media Center's internet center, which he added, is available to journalists seeking to track local and global events.

The LMC boss also challenged the participants to take advantage of the social networks in their reportage of human rights issues. he said, “We will need you at the LMC in the future inasmuch as you remain to pursue excellence in the practice of the journalism profession.

Also speaking, the President of the Student Chapter of the JHR Network, Mr. Kolobah Akoi of the University of Liberia, praised the Liberia Media Center for the level of support it gives the group.

Contingent on said support, he noted the JHR Student Chapter has been undertaking marches in support of human dignity and the right to vote.

He then said a Right Night was being planned in commemoration of the International Day of Human Rights, extending invitation to the executive director of the LMC.

# # #

Liberian Iron Ore Sector Activated

Liberia has formally begun shipping of iron ore for the first time in 20 years.The shipment took place Tuesday 27 September 2011 through the port of Buchanan, in Grand Bassa County by Arcelor Mittal.. Arcelor Mittal is the world’s largest stell and mining company.

The company however did not disclose the total amount of ore shipped out of the country. Liberia’s mining sector sized operations in the late 1990s, due to the 14-year civil war that devastated the nation.

Arcel Mittal’s Chairman and Chief Executive, Lakshmi Mittal, at the ceremony in Buchanan City, described the sudden shipment of iron ore as a milestone in Liberia’s renewed economic drive“The shipment of the first iron ore in twenty years is a testimony to the new stability prevailing in Liberia”.

Mr. Mittal said: “Arcelor Mittal would provide the requisite opportunity for Liberians working with the company to play key role in its management to ensure a sustainable future”.

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, addressing the occasion, said: “The re-negotiation of the agreement between government and Arcelor Mittal was intended to ensure mutuality on both sides”.

According to President Sirleaf, “Buchanan and Yekepah have come alive today, due to Arcelor Mittal’s commitment to the agreement".

“For the first time Liberians have begun benefiting from funds accrued from social development agreement, aimed at fostering development in various communities across the country”, Madam Sirleaf indicated.

The Liberian leader said: “Nimba, Bong and Grand Bassa counties are now benefiting from US$3msocial development funds provided by Arcelor Mittal under the agreement”

LMC Sets Media Legacy for Africa

…As PUL Promises Reckless Journalists Tougher Measures 26-Aug-’11 (Monrovia): The Liberia Media Center (LMC) today, Friday, inaugurated its Election Reporting Center with the LMC’s Executive Director Lawrence Randall saying the opening of the modern center is evident of the institution's effort at building a media legacy for African

In his remarks, Randall said, “Today, Liberia is the first country to have a Media Quality Rating system in the West African Region. We were the first country to have conducted a comprehensive assessment of media coverage of Truth Commissions. Also, we were the first country to have a homegrown and tailored guide on reporting of the Poverty Reduction Strategy,” Mr. Randall told the official program of the LMC’s Sixth Anniversary Program. Held on the theme, “Strengthened Media for Transparent Elections,” the Sixth Anniversary Program of the LMC brought together an array of government officials, representatives of local and international partners. Prominent in the audience were the Vice President of Liberia, Ambassador Joseph N. Boakai; Deputy Minister of Information for Administration, Norris Tweah; Press Union of Liberia President Peter Quaqua; UNESCO Country Representative Stevenson Seidi; Irex-Liberia’s the Chief of Party Tilly Reed and USAID-Liberia’s Mission Director Patricia Rader amongst others Mr. Randall, expressed the belief that the media center must represent a model that other African nations can replicate and spoke of the importance of an Election Reporting Center, which he noted, will provide journalists the opportunity use ICTs and social media applications like facebook, twitter, you-tube and flicker to cover the 2011 elections. “With this facility Mr. Vice President, we bring another first, using technology to monitor television and radio news coverage when countries like Nigeria and Ghana are still using manual methods,” he noted. He also added that the center will have a minivan dedicated to transporting journalists to key election events across the country. It will provide an incentive for journalists to conduct independent, non-partisan coverage of election rallies and programs, indicating that bthese3 could not have been possible without the support of the government. “With a strong and excellent partnership between the Ministry of Information and Finance, your administration has waived duties and import charges in amounts over 70,000.00 USD to ensure this happens,” Mr. Randall reiterated. Mr. Randall indicated further that the achievement mentioned “is a testament to the gift and graft this beloved country has endowed upon us. We must take this interesting prospect further,” maintaining that, “We must move to build a Media Park.” The LMC boss also disclosed a multi-purpose complex project underway that will showcase Liberian media legacies such as the work of Albert Porte, Stanton Peabody, Kenneth Y Best, etc. “We intend to include a media museum, digital audio and print library and a conference center for convening of different kinds of activities,” enjoining all well-meaning Liberians to support the LMC’s efforts in making this dream a reality by 2016. For his part, Vice President Boakai lauded the LMC for its contributions to the process of democracy in Liberia. The Vice President noted that it was the responsibility of every Liberian to ensure the sustenance of peace and democracy in the country, especially in ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections. “Today, the media is going to have a facility that will enhance their works. We are grateful to IREX and all those who have made it possible,” Vice President Boakai said, adding, “We want to ensure that Liberia is a responsible country who will not disappoint you.” The Vice President also notes the need to support efforts at making Liberia a lead country in upholding press freedom. UNESCO’s Seidi express excitement for the Election Reporting Center, while the IREX-Liberia’s the Chief of Party Tilly Reed explained among other things that the strengthen media initiative is intended to provide a peaceful atmosphere in the country by engage the media and the people. In a related development, USAID-Liberia’s Mission Director Patricia Rader praised Liberians for the successful complementation of the Referendum election which she observed was well organized and peaceful. Madam Rader said USAID was proud to support democracy in Liberia, enumerating that her organization was funding civil society and media initiatives in several areas of cooperation. She said USAID has collaborated with others and IREX to monitor the media for equal access and transparency, calling on all to advocate for non violence and peace. Also addressing the occasion, the Chief of Party of IREX-Liberia, Madam Tilly Reed, spoke of the importance of conflict sensitive reporting and added that journalists should be mindful to create an environment where the children of Liberia have the opportunity to education, health and basic freedoms. She then pledged IREX’s support of the programs of LMC in working with the media to professionalize media activities in the election era and beyond. Similarly, the Media specialist of IREX-Liberia, Mr. Bill Burke earlier reemphasized the importance of the media's the role in ensuring free and transparent elections in the country. Meanwhile the Press Union of Liberia’s President Peter Quaqua promising tougher measures against reckless reportage of electoral issues by journalist during the 2011 process. Quaqua cautions media practitioners against heeding manipulation by politicians and expressing the need for journalists to hold together in avoiding conflict ridden elections. “We must not be the guilty party,” the PUL boss said. # # #

Concern over ICC Funding

By Robbie Corey-Boulet MONROVIA, Sep 28, 2011 (IPS) - International justice advocates are worried that donors will deprive the International Criminal Court (ICC) of sufficient funding next year, hindering the court’s ability to fulfil an expanding mandate that will stretch from Kenya to Libya and potentially Ivory Coast. In late July, the court proposed a 2012 budget of 159.45 million dollars, an increase of 13.6 percent over 2011. Maria Kamara, an outreach coordinator for the court, said the main drivers of the increase included the Libya investigation referred by the United Nations Security Council in February and "essential legal assistance for counsel for the defence and victims’ representatives." Even before the proposal was submitted, however, key donors were issuing calls for zero growth in the court’s budget. The Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC), a collection of more than 2,500 civil society organisations, has said zero growth "would undermine the effectiveness of the court’s work and would curtail its ability to respond promptly to situations where crimes are committed." The ICC, which began operating in 2002, has to date undertaken six investigations into allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Kenya and Libya. Last month, the court’s Committee on Budget and Finance, a subsidiary expert body that advises the court’s member states on the budgeting process, recommended a smaller 8.1 percent increase for the 2012 budget. The Assembly of States Parties, made up of the 118 nations that have ratified the court’s founding treaty, will weigh in on the budget in December. Sunil Pal, head of the CICC’s legal section, told IPS that the most vocal proponents of zero growth in the ICC budget were Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, which are also the court’s biggest donors. CICC convenor William Pace said he expected that four or five other countries would support the large donors, while 10 or 20 would oppose them. The majority of the states parties, he added, are unlikely to take a position. Pace said that among African countries, South Africa has reportedly emerged as the strongest opponent of zero nominal growth. "Arrogant and unworkable" When it comes to those pushing for zero growth, Pace accused the UK and France of "policy hypocrisy," noting that both countries were adamant supporters of getting the ICC involved in Libya, a major source of its workload and budget increases. The U.N. Security Council voted 15 to zero to refer the Libya situation to the court in February. It was the first time that there had been a unanimous endorsement of an ICC investigation. "The principle that the Security Council can ask international bodies to undertake expensive peace and security missions and then say, ‘Oh, but you have to pay for it,’ is an arrogant and unworkable principle," Pace said. He added that the reluctance of the UK and France to give more money to the court did not square with those countries’ willingness to fund the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya – at a cost that easily dwarfed any potential increase in their contributions to the ICC. "The contradictions are intolerable between how governments treat military intervention costs, but when you get down to peace building and preventing these crimes they say, ‘Oh, we don’t want to pay for that'," he said. A spokesperson for the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), however, said the UK was "widely regarded as one of the ICC’s strongest supporters, both politically and financially." The spokesperson said the push for zero growth was "in line with our position on the budgets for other international institutions," and added that the UK had asked for more information about potential increases at the ICC. While the court has drawn criticism for what some perceive as slow progress, those calling for a budget increase argue that imposing zero growth would be counterproductive. "Certainly there are ways in which the court could arguably improve efficiency, but it is for the judges to determine the way in which judicial processes should be conducted, not for bureaucrats in capitals interested in the budgetary bottom line," said Carla Ferstman, director of Redress, a London-based organisation that helps victims of torture and related crimes obtain justice. "The court has an obligation to be efficient and effective in the administration of justice – and certainly there is a lot of room for improvement," Ferstman added. "But the fact that the court could be more efficient should not be confused or conflated with the issue of ‘zero growth’ – it is mixing apples and oranges." The FCO spokesperson said the UK would "never consider funding cuts that put at risk the court’s ability to carry out its core mandate." Stretched thin The court is already seen as being stretched thin in a number of areas. Redress issued a statement in July drawing attention to the fact that 470 victims were unable to participate in the confirmation of charges hearing for Callixte Mbarushimana, the Rwandan rebel leader accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Judges ruled that the applications would be left out because the court’s registry did not have the resources to process them by the deadline. This problem has also occurred in the court’s two Kenyan cases, and Redress said almost 2,000 victims in total have been affected. "If this resource issue is not resolved, victim participation will become a meaningless paper promise," Ferstman said. An Aug. 17 document submitted by the CICC to the court’s Committee on Budget and Finance pointed to evidence of underfunding in the following areas: the Victims Participation and Reparations Section; the Office of Public Counsel for the Defence; the Public Information and Documentation Section; the Victim and Witnesses Unit; the Field Operations Section; and the Office of Internal Audit. The court does have a contingency fund, but Christian Wenaweser, president of the Assembly of States Parties, said in a July interview with IPS that the fund would need to be tapped in response to the referral of the Libya situation. Due to a legal requirement that the fund not fall below seven million euros, Wenaweser said it would need to be replenished. Wenaweser also called on the U.N. General Assembly "to take a specific decision regarding the full or partial reimbursement" of member states’ payments to the ICC. Pace said the CICC agreed with the principle behind the idea, noting that the ICC’s founding treaty and the ICC-U.N. Relationship Agreement allow for it. Courtesy to IPS news (END)

Is the National Referendum Relevant?

...Jerome Verdier Says No, Points to Violations
I have written my impression on the referendum in a 26-page letter to Her Excellency and members of the National Legislature. Without much to say, I will premise my presentation on the fact that the propositions for Referendum are all irrelevant. As far as the best interest of the Liberian people are concerned, as far as the aspiration of the Liberian people for greater democracy are concerned, as far as transitional and reform objectives are concerned,. The entire referendum is irrelevant.
The second thing to add to this position is that the Referendum is premature. It is not well-planned; there have been no rather consultations on issues of Constitutional Reform – what we need in Liberia is not amendment, we need a reform process that takes time, that generates debate, that consults with the Liberian people and generates their impressions.
Since the conflict, it was necessary for us to suspend the Constitution because it appears as good as the Constitution is, it has not worked well for Liberia. That is why when the Constitution was inaugurated in 1984 or ’86, there was war in 1985, there was war in 1990, and throughout 1990 to 2005, the Constitution was suspended. In my view, we need to reform our Constitution and not to amend it as being suggested to satisfy those who are in authority.
Democracy is rule by the people; and we sent our Representatives to the Legislature to represent us. Which one of the Representatives can claim that they are representing their constituencies? None! [This is] because they have never presented the issue to people they represent.
We are supposed to empower our people to amend or reform our Constitution. It should not be the prerogative of 64 or 100 persons plus one at the Executive mansion. No! The exercise is premised on uncertified, short-term and very myopic short-term political objective – and this objective is hidden in the proposition for the reduction of the residency clause. All the other things are just to make it looks like somebody is thinking about the constitution. That is why you see all the propositions lack depths; they refused to honor all the constitutional requirements because the Constitution says they should be published in a gazette and the gazette should contain the rationale for each of the propositions.
As I stand before you, there are members of the Legislature who themselves are not aware and do not understand the rationale for those propositions just like the ordinary citizens like us.
There is an argument going around that: Why we didn’t oppose the Referendum one year ago? My response is, I didn’t know about it until today, until just recently when I got a copy from of the political parties; and [the Party] and I refer to Article 92 [of the Constitution which states that the rationales] should be published in an official Gazette and circulated around the country. An UNTIL THAT PUBLICATION IS COMPLETED, THE ACTION OF THE LEGISLATURE IS NOT YET COMPLETE. You cannot begin to count one year in September or August last year. No! [This is] because we are not informed and there is no informed basis for the Referendum.
The Constitution has been consistently violated, and we have not spoken about; so our Legislature and the Executive Branch feel free and comfortable to continue these violations. We go back to the threshold - [the National] Elections Commission has published regulations governing Referendum and it refers to people voting not art Constituencies but at polling stations.
Where in the Constitution or in any law that they have in Liberia that you can vote at polling stations – check it out. UNDER WHAT AUTHORITY [IS] THE [NATIONAL] ELECTIONS COMMISSION ATTEMPTING TO CONDUCT A REFERENDUM?
The Constitutions says you should have an Elections Commission – there is legislation establishing the National Elections Commission; the Constitution says you should have an auditing Commission, there is a legislation establishing the auditing commission. The Constitution prescribed a lot of things. The Constitution [also] says you should conduct a Referendum; there is no legislation to support the conduct or the holding of Referendum in Liberia. So under what authority the [National] Elections Commission can assume that it can conduct a referendum and issue the draft regulation that it has issued? If you read the legislations, they are laws. So the [National] Election Commission is making law to govern the conduct of Referendum? Our Legislature should have made those laws and they haven’t made them.
The other question, this government has only nine months to be in office. Why should it attempt to change the Constitution and burden the future government when it only nine months in office and two months to elections, from August to October? What is the rationale; what is the overriding influence the compelling need for a referendum before elections.
All we have said is that all of the four propositions are irrelevant – it doesn’t benefit me, it doesn’t benefit you, it doesn’t promote peace, it doesn’t advance reconciliation, it doesn’t benefit the country in anyway.
We have had fourteen years of turmoil in this country. Do you know why the TRC was established? To examine the problems we have experience and find a way out. The recommendations from the TRC should form a national constitutional reform process. Do you know why we have a Governance Reform Commission? To examine all the problems associated with governance. Recommendations from the Governance Reform Commission should form a national constitutional reform process. Do you know why we have the GAC now? Is to examine all the issues relating to accountability; the recommendations from there should form a process to reform the Constitution. Do you know why we have the Anti-Corruption after the war? Is to examine the issues of corruption and to make sure that any reform process of this Constitution that seems not to work well for us, we should make sure to incorporate the recommendations of the Anti-Corruption Commission. All of these transitional institutions were established to protect the future. We are ignoring them, we are violating the laws and we want to go into an election plague with legal and constitutional violation which is not good for our country.
I have said, and I did say in a communication to the President of Liberia that this election is similar to the 1985 elections. That election came after a brutal conflict which saw the execution of our President and the killing of our entire cabinet. We’ve played with it – there were legal issues concerned, we didn’t address them.
The Election Commission functioned in its own manner, at its own will without any check and balance. The President decided he has the authority and he will do what he wanted to do. He created an impression of lies, an impression of subservience to the President. So whatever was the result the Liberian people knew that it would have been rigged and it led serious conflict that took us down the role of 14 years of war.
Now we are about to hold another elections. The Elections Commission pronounced that to hold a referendum before elections would be impossible. The Elections Commission on its own analysis and credibility came out and said it is impossible – and I am echoing that voice of the Commission – it is impossible, it is illegal, it is premature- and it is unfortunate. The consequences I cannot imagine but we all will see the consequences to the extent to hold a premature National Referendum.
A referendum is just like a national election. Can you hold two national elections at a time? People are even reluctant to vote for candidates, for people. Can they vote for ideas that they don’t understand, they know nothing about? It’s a mockery and I repeat it is… pursuing a narrow political objective which serves the country no good and we all should object; we all should be opposed to uphold illegality.
The Constitution says before you hold a referendum you should publish; I am saying that they have hidden the propositions from the Liberian people; it should be published one year in advance before the National Referendum. And so they have not been published in March, and I know it will not be published in April, it means that Referendum should not be held before March of 2012, meaning that after the elections, we can come together as a nation and a people to conduct the referendum under the a calm atmosphere. The propositions are disservice to us and insult to our intelligence as a people who have survive a fourteen year conflict and have and are determined to build peace in Liberia.

Referendum under What Authority?

Elections Commission Chairman Fromayan

… Cllr. Verdier Says To Satisfy Power Holders;

By: Bill K. Jarkloh

A fortnight ago, the National Elections Commission announced the commissioning of voters’ education for the conduct of the embattled National Referendum. But under what authority is the NEC acting to trigger into motion the process for conduct of the ensuing National Referendum. As The Diary’s Editor dived into the matter, a prominent and young Liberian lawyer says holding the National Referendum before the 2011 presidential and general elections is masked with a hidden agenda which is insulting to the intelligence of the general Public.
Cllr. Jerome Verdier’s argument indicates the violations, schemes and flaws that have wrapped around the agenda, saying that the propositions or rationale behind the changing of the four Constitutional articles constitute a disservice to the people and are insulting to their intelligence as people who have survived a fourteen year conflict and are determined to build peace in the country.
The boss of the defunct Truth & Reconciliation Commission made the statement on the latest edition of the Edward Wilmot Blyden Lecture Series of the Press Union of Liberia at the Headquarters of the Union.
He was there along with other civil society leaders including Mr. Dan Saryee of the Liberia Democratic Institute, Mr. Mark Marvey of the National Youth Movement for Transparent Elections and the Vision Bearer of the Proposed Liberia Reconstruction Party, Dr. Manferngei Cecelia Ndebe were panelists.
Called to debate the topic: “Propositions for National Referendum and their Relevance,” all of the panelists discredited the rationale for the pending national referendum.
For Cllr. Verdier, the NATIONAL REFERENDUM, if held, would be unconstitutional. He therefore opposed to the process through an elaborate legal explanations.
Residency Clause a hidden agenda
“The exercise is premised on an uncertified … and very myopic short-term political objective – and this objective is hidden in the proposition for the reduction of the residency clause,” the former Truth and Reconciliation Commission boss said.
The soft-spoken lawyer added, “All the other things are just to make it looks like somebody is thinking about the constitution.”
The residency clause is enshrined in Article 52(c), which states that “No person shall be eligible to hold the office of President or Vice–President, unless that person is resident in the Republic ten years prior to his election, provided that the President and the Vice–President shall not come from the same County.”
He explained that Article 92 of the Constitution which states that the rationales should be published in an official Gazette and circulated around the country.
And UNTIL THAT PUBLICATION IS COMPLETED, THE ACTION OF THE LEGISLATURE IS NOT YET COMPLETE, he reiterated, noting, “You cannot begin to count one year in September or August last year. No! [This is] because we are not informed and there is no informed basis for the Referendum.”
The Constitution, he observed, has been consistently violated with none speaking against it. He said the Liberian Legislature and the Executive Branch feel free and comfortable to continue these violations.
“We go back to the threshold - [the National] Elections Commission has published regulations governing Referendum and it refers to people voting not at Constituencies but at polling stations,” he exclaimed.
According to him, “The Constitution has been consistently violated, and we have not spoken about; so our Legislature and the Executive Branch feel free and comfortable to continue these violations.”
Polling Station voting where in the Law?
Citing the failure by the Legislature to enact a threshold, Verdier said the National Elections Commission has published regulations governing Referendum in which the commission asked the people to vote not at Constituencies, but at polling stations.
“Where in the Constitution or in any law… in Liberia that you can vote at polling stations – check it out. UNDER WHAT AUTHORITY [IS] THE [NATIONAL] ELECTIONS COMMISSION ATTEMPTING TO CONDUCT A REFERENDUM?” he asked
A referendum is just like a national election and the possibility of holding two national elections at a time is a question he raised also.
“People are even reluctant to vote for candidates, for people. Can they vote for ideas that they don’t understand, they know nothing about? It’s a mockery and I repeat it is… pursuing a narrow political objective which serves the country no good and we all should object; we all should be opposed to uphold illegality,” said Cllr. Verdier as though he was outrage.
At this point, his argument came to dwell on Article 92 of the Constitution which provides for publishing the rationale for changing each of the articles of the Constitution in a referendum before the conduct of the referendum itself.
According to Article 92, “Proposed constitutional amendments shall be accompanied by statements setting forth the reasons therefor, and shall be published in the Official Gazette and made known to the people through the information services of the Republic. If more than one proposed amendment is to be voted upon in a referendum they shall be submitted in such manner that the people may vote for or against them separately.”
Accordingly, Verdier referred to this Article, averring, “…I am saying that they have hidden the propositions from the Liberian people; it should be published one year in advance before the National Referendum. And so they have not been published in March, and I know it will not be published in April, it means that Referendum should not be held before March of 2012…”
Defining this argument further, Cllr. Verdier said it meant “… that after the elections, we can come together as a nation and a people to conduct the referendum under the calm atmosphere.”
In the opened and outright manner, the boss of the defunct TRC accentuated, “The propositions are disservice to us and insult to our intelligence as a people who have survived a fourteen year conflict and are determined to build peace in Liberia”
In a nutshell, all of the speakers at the PUL function said the National Referendum before the 2011 elections is irrelevant and will violate Articles 91 and 92 of the Liberian Constitution.
No Constitutional foundation
Mr. Mark Marvey of the National Youth Movement for Transparent Elections, who opened the floor, was the first to assert that the planned referendum is not premised on constitutional foundation.
He referred to Article 91 of the Constitution providing that voting in a referendum conducted by the Elections Commission is not sooner than one year after legislative approval and cited Article 92 stating the setting forth of reasons for the changes in an official gazette to the people through the information services available to the Republic.
Mavey also noted that the issues presented in the referendum proposal are irrelevant and politically motivated.
He said the rationales for the changes proposed have not been explained to the Liberian people in a published gazette while the proposed change affecting Article 52(c) of the Constitution requiring 5-Year Residency instead of 10 years for presidential candidates prior to election only serves the political interest of incumbent candidates.
Marvey also said proposed changes of Article 72 redefining the terms of judges in the pending referendum, and the change affecting the absolute Majority voting provision in Article 83(b) were self-seeking and unnecessary.
He also added that the change in election schedule from October to November was also irrelevant.

Beware of Looming Threats

An Analysis of the Cote d’Ivoire & Liberian Conflicts
By: Bill K. Jarkloh



Journalist Bill K. Jarkloh

There is reason for every Liberian to be concerned. The situation in Ivory Coast has certainly posed threat to pre-election Liberia, but if prudence is not employed in managing the political activities in the country, the situation in Ivory Coast could be imported to Liberia, considering the involvement of some Liberian combatants in that country’s crisis who could be manipulated back to Liberia in the name of ‘revolution’ for the third time.
I am indeed touched to speak to a gruesome picture of massacred Ivorian residents in Doukoué carried in the FrontPageAfrica’s Volume 5 edition number One, a picture in which columns of bodies were seen killed in that part of West Africa in a manner and form that bring to memory some of the scenes of the Liberian civil debacle of the 1990s. While mass graves are being discovered in Liberia, it is absolute insanity and traumatic for Liberians to be reminded of their past, using scenes from the Ivorian crisis of elsewhere. But the fact remains that such scene does much to remind political actors and their followers, especially those holding state powers that much should be done to avert a situation that would take Liberia back to such bloody era.
Skimming through, the FrontPageAfrica captioned the story with the headline reading: Ivory Coast’s Killing Fields. The obscenity in the photo itself was highly revealing the danger that awaits any of the countries neighboring Ivory Coast, especially Liberia. Explaining the photo, the paper says, “With Abidjan on edge, both sides in the ongoing post-election violence are claiming casualties; but which side is responsible for the killings of hundred in the battle between internationally recognized winner Alassane Ouattara and embattled [incumbent] leader Laurent Gbagbo?” As the story was told, the innocent victims were alive until a town named Doukoué was ‘liberated’ by pro-Outtarra forces.
a) Two Countries, similar case
While everyone is calling for international intervention in the post electoral conflict in that country, it is important to state that the situation in Ivory Coast is redolently not different from the Liberian civil conflict, local and international radios were at the same time broadcasting negations of surrender by incumbent Gbagbo who is closed up at the basement of his residence in Abidjan, la Cote d’Ivoire. Perhaps this could be the only difference between the civil war of the 1990s in Liberia and the present catastrophe taking place in that country. This is because Samuel Doe, the incumbent in Liberian at the time refused to negotiate his departure from the Executive Mansion and was therefore killed like a beast by rebel forces. Otherwise than the negation efforts in the Ivory Coast for the incumbent President’s departure, we are talking about two settings – Liberia and Ivory Coast - with conflicts absolutely similar. Oh no! Another character is the fact that the winner of the Ivory Coast
election, Alasane Outtarra is alive, making his case and is now backed by fighters, while in Liberia, invading forces from the Ivory Coast under the leadership of Charles Taylor killed opposition political leaders that should have been protected, including the presumed winner of the 1985 presidential elections of Liberia.
Well, one thing that must be said is that the timing and trend of the post electoral Ivorian conflict is inimical and utterly unfavorable to present today’s Liberia, a country which is journeying towards a volatile presidential election that should precede a national constitutional referendum obviously purposed to qualify a constitutionally unqualified incumbent for a second term bid, out of what seems to be uncompromising and desperation for a second term amidst heightened public criticisms.
b) The tribal factor plays also
The situation in Ivory Coast is similar to Liberia’s 1990 conflict. Firstly the Ivorian case is charged with ethnicity and religious tension just as the Liberian situation. In fact there is no secrete here in Liberia that the ex-combatants of the erstwhile National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) are crossing the border to fight for Outtara who most people speculate has a Gio or Minor background while the former fighters of the defunct Liberia Peace Council and the former MODEL who are mainly Khrans have been battling in favor of Ivorian incumbent Gbagbo. In this kind of situation, the possibility of a spillover to Liberia is imminent unless cautious and precautionary measures are put in place to avert winding eventualities.
Besides, the crisis in question centers on the intransigence of a defeated President who has refused to surrender power to the actual winner of the election. Gbagbo was beaten flat by his presidential contender Alassane Outtara before the international community but refused to cede to the actual winner, Mr. Gbagbo, just as Samuel Doe of the National Democratic Party of Liberia (NDPL) in 1985, overwhelmingly lost the presidential race to Jackson F. Doe of the Liberia Action Party (LAP). Gbagbo contended that some ballots from Outtarra stronghold were in valid, influenced the Constitutional Court to legitimize his claims. With Outtarra’s insistence on the Presidency backed by the international community, Gbagbo has chosen to use the State Security against the people of Ivory Coast to sustain himself in power while Outtarra, backed by the New Rebels forces that once fought in the first round of the Ivorian crisis, has been resisting the incumbent. The innocent people I saw in the FrontPageAfrica Newspaper and others who have lost their lives are the ones in the web of the power play. Others have scattered into Ghana, Guinea, with more than 100,000 refugees crossing the border into Liberia.
c) The Unhealthy Pre-election bickering and flaws
This situation in the Ivory Coast precedes the Liberian presidential election in which the incumbent is out for a second bid. Already in Liberia there has been pre-elections bickering. The President is accused of attempting to run a faulty referendum that would qualify her to run, since Article 52 (c) providing for a 10-year residency clause. According to Article 52 (c), “No person shall be eligible to hold the office of President or Vice–President, unless that person is … resident in the Republic ten years prior to his election, provided that the President and the Vice–President shall not come from the same County.” Critics of the pending Referendum have already argues that the President is forcing the National Referendum through to reduce the 10 years to five years so that her second bid aspiration to the Presidency will be a fruition.
So what is the truth of this argument? The truth is that the President came to power through a transitional arrangement leading to election, which did not consider every provision within the Constitution. It was provided in the Comprehensive Peace Accord that the 2005 elections that brought President Sirleaf to power was Special Elections that should lead the country to democracy. Now that there is no excuse of sidestepping any portion of the 2011 Presidential election, the best option is to force through a Referendum that would amend that portion that would prevent the incumbency of President Sirleaf.
In fact the process leading to the ensuing Referendum is shrouded with flaws. For instance, a referendum is provided for under Articles 91 and 92 of the Constitution. In CHAPTER XII covering AMENDMENTS, Article 91 states, “This Constitution may be amended whenever a proposal by either (1) two-thirds of the membership of both Houses of the Legislature or (2) a petition submitted to the Legislature, by not fewer than 10,000 citizens which receives the concurrence of two-thirds of the membership of both Houses of the Legislature, is ratified by two-thirds of the registered voters, voting in a referendum conducted by the Elections Commission not sooner than one year after the action of the Legislature.
The national Legislature passed a resolution last August proposing the Referendum though, but this was the President’s second bid proposal. This referendum was never proposed in the last five years until after the incumbent President expressed interest. The fact remains that Madam Sirleaf has not been resident in the country for the last 10 years prior to the 2005 elections and by this she would not be qualified under Constitutional rule guiding the election in which she wants a second term.
Secondly, the phrase not sooner than one year means “earlier than one year; quicker than one year or closer to one year. So why should the NEC and the Legislature, knowing that 2011 October will be Presidential and Legislative Election passed a Joint Resolution for Referendum. This was why National Elections Commission Chairman James Fromayan was declarative that Referendum wasn’t possible ahead of the 2011 elections. Unfortunately however, he somersaulted anyway, on his position. The reason is obvious that there was an influence, for he knew every provision of the Constitution when the Referendum wasn’t possible ahead of the 2011 elections.
In fact the referendum itself fails to satisfy Article 92 which provides that proposed constitutional amendments shall be accompanied by statements setting forth the reasons therefore and shall be published in the Official Gazette and made known to the people through the information services of the Republic. In this case, what is the reason set forth to warrant the referendum changing Article 52(c)? What rationale difference it makes in changing election month from October to November? We are raising some of the contentions that may sprout and geminate to chaos, a debacle that may replay the past since already the Ivorian crisis has set into motion blueprint for spillover of the confusion in that country.
Besides, the referendum involving Article 83 (a) , which provides for voting for the President, Vice–President, members of the Senate and members of the House of Representatives to be conducted throughout the Republic on the second Tuesday in October of each election year, to be changed to November does not make any difference and sense. October and November are the same climatic, DRY SEASON in Liberia, and their nearness climate wise is practically the same. So why the Change – this has not been convincingly explained and has therefore constitute a point for contention.
Another issue raised for referendum is the issue of the term of service of judges and justices as provided for in Article 72 (b). Article 72 (b) promulgates that the Chief Justice and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court and judges of subordinate courts of record shall be retired at the age of seventy; provided, however, that a justice or judge who has attained that age may continue in office for as long as may be necessary to enable him to render judgment or perform any other judicial duty in regard to proceedings entertained by him before he attained that age. So why extend the tenure to extra five years from 70 years.
For me, I agree with others arguing that a prudent amendment could be the one reducing the tenure of services of the Chief Justice and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court and judges of subordinate courts of record to far less than 70 years, in a country where many younger, middle-aged or older folks than 70 years of age are interested in reading or have already read law. This would create opportunity for the folks as stated to also contribute to their country through the administration of justice as justices or judges.
These constitutional changes, no doubt, are supposed to protecting incumbents in power, to the silencing of the greater population and the knowledgeable elites. Where politicians are feeling isolated from power almost perpetually, the next option is to consider actions that could be counter-productive to peace. It is like a despot driving away politicians who had gone out, remobilized and return with force. Liberia has learned this lesson and will not afford to return to it.
These issues have certainly continued to stir the political terrain, just as debate of the President’s failure to submit to an irking report of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission has not been resolved. This report recommends that the President and others who supported the war morally and financially should not hold office for at least 30 years. The President, apparently disturbed by this recommendation has failed to act on the TRC report in spite persistent calls. Today, the TRC report remains swept under the rug while the defunct TRC leadership particularly its Chairman has fruitlessly struggled to ensure that the report is implemented.
d) conclusion
Well, my fingers are going of the keyboard with re-emphasis of attention to the situation next door, the situation to the borders of Liberia with Ivory Coast where Liberians mercenaries are active combatants going in and out with looted goods trade.
A disturbing story of the security situation was told. A Nimbaian from the border lectured on the metro while en route from New Georgia how terrible it is for those living along the Liberian side of the border with Ivory Coast. “You will be hearing the echoes of bombardments, with the automatic machine guns popping under the heavy sound. You will see Liberians militias armed mingling with the state security forces who dare not to pressurize them. One immigration officer told me that they know those boys and they are not causing problem for the Liberian security”.
I was stunned to have heard this. In fact he said of the militia in armed were armed in the Ivory Coast and were fighting alongside the Outtarra side. They conveyed looted vehicles and goods to Liberia with no tax levied because they are armed, and they ran inside Liberia to rest if they were tire fighting for a while. That is certainly absurd for the security to allow, even though I was told that they are being coerced to permit such, because they were not adequately armed to tame the Liberian mercenaries fighting in the Ivory Coast.
That is the point I made when I overviewed the Liberian political scenario. Processes and debates attending the pending referendum and the anticipated elections are not healthy at all. With the ill-equipped Liberian army, the need to be prudent to avoid electoral conflict should not be overemphasized. Such conflicts cold destroy the gains made by this administration and send the country in shambles. By meaning, I am saying the National Elections Commission, the desperate-for-second term incumbent and government and the ferociously uncompromising opposition critics should see reason to be not only cautious and meticulous, but to act in a form and manner that would correct every flaw along the road to election; I mean no room for electoral irregularities and future post election conflict should be entertained as Liberians were tire of war.

CONCERNED WORKERS ASSOCIATION ACCUSES FOREIGN MINISTRY

CAPITOL HILL/ MONROVIA LIBERIA


PRESS RELEASE

Scholarships on Sale At Foreign Ministry

Feb 19/ 11: In the past, employees of the Ministry have benefited immensely from scholarship opportunities to studies abroad both on a long and short terms basis, but the days are now over, as scholarships are now being awarded to friends, family members, girl-friends and most often awarded to people who have no expertise or experience in the field of study.

Occasionally, these scholarships are sold out to people outside the Ministry by the Bureau of African and Asian Affairs. Presently, there is no merit system in the awarding of scholarships in the Ministry, as only is the one who make the selection of who benefit.

Appointment of Unqualified Foreign Service Officers
One area of major concern is the persistent appointment of incompetent, inexperience and inept Foreign Service Officers into the field despite the present of qualified, experienced, educated, professionals and trained Foreign Service officers and graduates of the FSI are present at the Central Office doing nothing.

Most disappointing is the posting of children and ill-responsible people to strategic missions with no or little knowledge in diplomacy service, thus leaving out qualified and experienced Foreign Service graduates well schooled in diplomacy and those recalled from the field.

Also, there is on-going of secret appointment Foreign Service officers at the Ministry who are on the list of being sent into the field, with no reference to record ones at the Ministry despite of long service to their country.

It has also been noted that those sent into the field forced their way through by beating the system to purchase their appointment, by bribing top officials of the Ministry or by favoritism on the part of some high up at the Ministry.

The situation makes one to wonder why should the Ministry preferred to send inexperience ones in the field when well trained diplomats and graduates of the FSI have expressed their readiness to return to service.

Those requesting for those documents are usually and intentionally delayed work on documents until they are bribed to speed-up the process, as a result, those who do not comply find it very difficult in recent time to get their documents process on time and deliver.

Prostitutions at Foreign Ministry
Some females at the Foreign Ministry have been subjected to sexual exploitation and harassment by some senior officials of the Ministry who have taken advantage of their positions to sexually exploit some female staff members.

Among the perpetrators of this ugly practice include Deputy Minister Sylvester Grigsby who Offices on the 3rd Floor and Chief of Protocol Eddie Dunnh who rank equivalent to Deputy Minister, with offices on the 4th Floor, among others.

For Deputy Minister Grigsby, he has gone so bad that he approaches every good-looking and nice lady at the Ministry, ranging from the Basement to 4th Floor of the Ministry.

He is noted for constantly approaching women and persistently on a phone with ladies. Some of his casualties include a black looking light-skin, in shape big-legs lady identified as Antoinette Munnahe Wollor assigned on the 4th Floor and another bright female assigned on the third floor, among several ladies.

This lady in recent time has been a regular visitor at the Deputy Minister office and sometime seems during night hour in the Deputy Minister’s white vehicle driving towards unknown destination, perhaps on a honeymoon.

Shealso maintains a strong intimate relationship with her boss , the chief of protocol who is also at the center of subjecting his subordinates’ female staffers to sex before awarding them with benefits. This same lady also had relationship with a former deputy minister who resiged his post and a former comptroller who was dismissed for stealing and also a former assistant minister who has been replaced from the ministry. Also there are several other females at the Ministry who are sleeping with their bosses.

Other officials of the Ministry, ranging from Assistant Ministers to Directors are also engaged into similar repugnant act by constantly subjecting their staff members to sexual exploitation and harassment, with those who resisted their requests are sidelined while those who comply are giving special treatment and recommended for high allowances and other benefits, to the determine of other shown in the disparity of monthly allowances and distribution of gas slips.

In recent time, passport applicants and visitors have complaint of continuously coming contact with officials of the Ministry who are in the habit of demanding that they sleep with the applicants before assisting them to quickly obtain their passports.

Done Appoint Angela Cassell Bush
On a serious note, we have received unconfirmed report that plans are underway for the appointment of Madam Angela Cassell Bush as the new Inspector-General of the Foreign Service. If the report is to go by, we are strongly warning against the appointment of Madam Bush, as the new Inspector-General of the Foreign time she is appointed to the position which requires confirmation. She does not the moral rectitude and technical expertise to run that dedicated office.

She is inexperience, unrepresentable, unprofessional and lack the basic diplomatic training for the post, and we again reiterates that she leave the Ministry. This record for lobbying for the retirement of the former Inspector-General and several Ambassadors-At-Large, and others who were recorded from the Foreign Service and several persons dismissed from the Ministry and sent to the Ministry of
Justice.

Currently, there is an exodus of employees from the Inspector-General Office to anther Bureaus following reports that she is about to be appointed to the office. She is the one indirectly who run the financial bureau at the Ministry and decides who receive monthly allowance and gas slips, as well as who get on the payroll, while the Deputy Minister for Administration is being remotely run by ghosts of the former Foreign Minister.

Theses ghosts are still visible at the Ministry and directing things to the disappointment of the general workers. Let it be categorically states that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs needs deliverance from the ugly activities on-going at the Ministry if the new Administration is to success in its drive to regain the Ministry lost status and restore its credibility.

The situation of administrative malpractice has dramatically becomes and practice of the day, with those employed in recent time are either family members, close associate or friends of the Deputy Minister for Finance and the Assistant Minister for Administration as well as other officials of the Ministry. Recently, new batch of employees have been placed on the payroll while some of those who been working at the Ministry for years and months fate are left in the balance, with no news about their employment.

Greed For Foreign Trips
Another issue of major concern is the attitudes of one Assistant Minister and Deputy Minister with offices on the Ground Floor and 3rd Floor and the Chief of Protocol to be the only ones to attend all foreign trips without surprising their subordinates to attend of the trips. It is so unacceptable that they have become unpopular in the eyes of their immediate deputies and some staff members, who usually gossip about them.

They are hardly seemed in their respective office for a month without traveling, just for allowances and other benefits. Both of them were at the recent AU Summit in Addis Ababa , and they about to travel again.

Corruption
Another negating happening at the Ministry is the failures of the authority to combat corruption at the Ministry especially at the Bureaus of Achieves, Legal, Protocol and Passports, where staff members at these bureaus usually demand illegal money before working on importance documents such as Articles of Incorporation, Verbal Notes, Duplication of Legal Instruments and documents and processing of passports to the detriment of the applicants.

Daily Bribery
Those assigned at the Bureau of Legal Affairs usual over charged applicants more than the stipulated fees of US$20.00 for the processing of Article of Incorporation, with some applicants paying between US$50.oo to US$200.00, while some staffers at the Bureau of Protocol are in the habit of requesting money from government officials travelling abroad before preparing their Verbal Note and at the same time delivering same to a diplomatic missions in Monrovia responsible to issue visas.

This Bureau is performing below standard due to lack of competent and qualified persons. The staff are the bureau are noted for blundering on importance as was the case of ceremony marking the President’s Annual to the National legislature and the party.

During the party they were concern loading their hand bags with food instead of catering to the guests most of whom had no seats. When one of the protocol officers was threatened by a senior official with dismissal over her unwanted attitude displayed to towards guests, she said that she will only be dismiss accept her boss have not see her nakedness.

Also, the Bureau is in the habit of demanding officials of government to pay extra money under the pretend of sending the verbal note out of the country through couriers. This embarrassing practices at the Protocol Bureau has become and money making adventure.

Last week Tuesday, one official of government was seemed in the corridor of the Ministry vesting his frustration over the preparation of delay of his verbal note. The man alleged that he was asked to speedily facility the process but refused to comply to the illegal act and threatened to expose those involved.

Another bureau which employees considered as a fast money making area is the Bureau of Passports and Visas where applicants are over-charged against the approved US$23.00 to process a passport.

Accordingly, those who briber by paying more than the approved fees passports are treated with urgency and received the same day while those who refused to bribe and only paid the approved fees are taken days or weeks to obtain their traveling book. The bureau is usually overcrowded with employees of the Ministry who are hunting for passport’s applicants to illegally over-charge them to process their passports.

Lack of Monthly Benefits
The Ministry is again experiencing difficult to give its work forces their needed monthly benefits such as allowances and gas slips as well as transportation to commute them to job and home. Since this year we are yet to get our January Allowances and gas slips while the buses are grounded due to lack of fuel and gasoline.

As a result, we are force to pay our way to work on a daily basic while other ministries received their needed benefits and allowance on time for the month. On an important note, the Deputy Minister for Administration has disappoints us and unable to run his office. The Ministry is unable to settle its debts therefore no vendors want to do busy with the administration.

Greed For Foreign Trips
Another issue of major concern is the attitudes of one Assistant Minister and Deputy Minister with offices on the Ground Floor and 3rd Floor and the Chief of Protocol to be the only ones to attend all foreign trips without surprising their subordinates to attend of the trips. It is so unacceptable that they have become unpopular in the eyes of their immediate deputies and some staff members, who usually gossip about them.

They are hardly seemed in their respective office for a month without traveling, just for allowances and other benefits. Both of them were at the recent AU Summit in Addis Ababa , and they about to travel again.

Conflict of Interest
The Chief of Protocol has engaged into serious conflict of interest by hijacking all government important delegation trips abroad and awarding the purchasing of flights tickets to his Airline office, run by his wife, contrary to government policy. The recent government delegation visit to the AU summit flight tickets were purchased from his airline office on Broad Street , while other airlines agencies which are paying taxes to government benefit no support from the government. His airlines office is usually over-charged government for
flights tickets.

Practice of Nepotism
The practice of nepotism, favoritism and tribalism are growing issues that need to be dealt with decisively by the new Foreign Minister, if his Administration is to be successful in bring the Ministry to its pre war status and regaining its lost image as the first Ministry in the country. Another issue which has taken a center stage for the past three months is the issue of corruption which shows that some employees with low rank are rewarded with high allowance and more gas slips more than others like directors and those with BSC and Masters’ Degrees in various disciplines of studies.

Even those who were sent abroad to undergo studies have returned with Master Degree but there has been no promotion and that their monthly allowance for the month of January is US$125.00, while they still receive civil servant salary while those assigned in Madam Angela Cassell Bush office without degree receive a monthly allowance of US$200.00 to US$350.00, while some staff members get between USD20 to 50.

For instance, all staff members at office of the Deputy Minister for Finance receive monthly gas slips and better allowance, while some secretaries favored also receive monthly allowance and gas slips, with nothing for other secretaries assigned in other bureaus and departments. This ugly act was exposed during the recent distributions of gas slips. We are calling for an audit into the distributions of gas slips and both US and Liberian dollars’ payrolls.

We will not rest in our advocacy until ills and ugly practices at the Ministry are removed. We called on the new Minister to be vigilant in combating societal ills at the Ministry and protect the interests of the general staff members.

We commend our new Minister for little improvement at the Ministry but we propose a regular monthly meeting to enable employees express their feeling of unwholesome activities at the Ministry. We believe that constant meeting will help resolve some of the ills eating up the Ministry and that the plights of majority of us will be address.

Signed Willie Flomo

Interim Chairman/ MOFA Concerned Workers Association

A SARAFINA EDITORIAL ON GHANAIAN BRUTALITY

This News Commentary, “Don’t Abandon Liberians Abroad to Torture and Death At the Expense of Diplomatic Cooperation,” represents the views of the SARAFINA VENTURES & COMMUNICATION Incorporation on the current Buduburam shooting saga that led to the killing of several Liberians

Report from Accra that Ghanaian police have gunned down some Liberians at the Buduburam Camp near Accra is disturbing. The news is especially disturbing because of the low level of attention it has been given by Liberian authorities – meanly the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the time some five Liberians, resident in Ghana, were killed in cold blood with some 60 more arrested and bundled at the Cape Coast Prison.
Liberians were on Sunday, February 13, stunned when a radio broadcast of phone call from the Buduburam Camp stating the invasion of Liberian community at the Camp by well-armed Ghanaian police in the wake of leadership dispute between two Liberian contending factions. The caller further stated that the Ghanaian police had already killed five Liberians before her and that the pandemonium created by the police brutality had forced several of them indoors at a time an installation of a new Liberian welfare leadership was scheduled on the Camp.
This news was verified by Deputy Information Minister for Public Affairs, Jerolinmek Piah, who put the number of deaths at only one. Piah further confirmed that the Ghanaian security entered the camp shooting at the unarmed civilians. Further confirmation unfolded when Ghanaian police spokesman, Kwesi Ofori, told the Cable News Network that the police were called in to quell what he referred to as “disturbances” between two rival factions on the camp, both of whom were claiming legitimacy to the camp’s leadership. Ofori noted that the Ghanaian police entered the camp while one of the factions was trying to install its leadership and added that 30 persons were arrested. Ofori’s account did not mention the number of deaths.
For us, we are strongly convinced that shooting of unarmed Liberian civilians by the host country’s police to quell a mere leadership dispute is not only undiplomatic; it is also unprofessional and deserves condemnation. Besides, it appears to be a calculated plan to terrify the unarmed Liberian community to the extent of killing some of them for some ulterior reasons.
As a matter of fact, there is no amount of “disturbances” between two unarmed Liberian rival factions on the camp in a leadership dispute that should deserve the use of deadly police force, neither is there any amount of mere pelting at the police that should merit such melancholic cruelty, especially where there is no indication of the presence of weapons at the contentious installation.
This police brutality against Liberians is just a tactful reminder of past Ghanaian attacks on peaceful Liberians in that country. It brings to memory the Ghanaian authorities’ attacks, dispossession of properties and subsequent deportation of Liberians from Ghana during the regime of President William V. S. Tubman in the 1940s for no justifiable reasons. Those Liberians fishermen deported, mostly of the Kru tribe, left back their real estates and other personal properties they amassed over the years in that country. Noticing reciprocation of the Ghanaian cruelty towards Liberians, Ghanaians in Liberia at the demonstrated against their government to avert reciprocal eventualities and the Liberian government under Tubman did nothing while most of the deportees died out of frustration.
The Ghanaian cruelty towards Liberians repeated itself during the Samuel Doe regime in the 1980s when Liberians were massively bundled and deported from Ghana for no justifiable reason with the Liberian Government remaining silent on the matter. Similar attacks were carried out during the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Administration, the latest been at the command of the Ghanaian Minister of Interior Kwamenah Barteh in 2007/2008, which only left the refugees at the mercy of the UNHCR as the government’s action was again passive. Today, we are talking about Liberians killed by Ghanaian police with some arrested and bundled into the Cape Coast Prison where Ghanaian security officials are using them to solicit bribe from relatives under the pretext that they would free them once the bribe of US$250 or its equivalent in Ghana cedis was proffered.
There is no way this time that the Ghanaians should go with impunity for this graved offense against the people of Liberia in that country, especially when the Ghanaian-based Radio, FM Vibe, located a Ghanaian national, Code named 919 who made it clear the Ghanaian police had indeed killed Liberians and that he has a video tape he was willing to release to the FM station’s management.
All we are saying is that these things happened because our governments have been passive on Ghanaian authorities’ offenses against peaceful Liberians in that country. It is against this backdrop that we implore the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Government not to abandon Liberians abroad on the altar of good neighborliness, at the time that the neighbor cannot protect the Children of Mama Liberia under its jurisdictional territory.
This has been a news commentary titled: “Do Not Abandon Liberians Abroad To Torture and Death At The Expense Of Diplomatic Cooperation”, representing the views of the SARAFINA VENTURES & COMMUNICATIONS Incorporated produced and presented by Bill K. Jarkloh.

Oh Ghana! Why Liberia Again?

…A Plea with GOL to Speed Up It Account To the People

By: Bill K. Jarkloh

Oh Ghana! Why hurt Liberia Again? This my initial reaction inwardly when a phone call from one Decontee at the Buduburam Refugee camp in Ghana related the police brutality of Ghanaian officers against Liberia in the wake of a leadership crisis on the camp. This call instantly reminded me of the Liberian -Ghanaian relations that has always been reminiscent of an eye-service and usually characterize by deception punctuated by hostilities towards the people of Liberia.

Indeed, the Liberian-Ghanaian diplomacy has never continued on the path of genuine diplomacy; it has been instead marked deception on the part of the Ghanaian side to the disadvantage of Liberians resident in Ghana. This might be basically due to the ill-thoughts of some influential Ghanaians about Liberians, thoughts especially masterminded by overzealous Ghanaian bureaucrats whose selfish desire under the messy cover-up of so-called patriotism and nationalism has driven them to defying diplomatic tenets practiced around the world bilaterally or multilaterally.

Just last Sunday, February 13, while sitting by my receiver listening to gospel Liberian music, the phone call by the Liberian resident in Ghana was broadcast from Buduburam from indoor at which time the where the Caller who identified herself on the Truth FM of the Renaissance Communication Incorporated (RCI) as “Decontee Pannoh” [I stand to be corrected] alleged that officers of the Ghanaian Police Service were gunning down Liberians. She put the number of deaths at four Liberians in the wake of a leadership debacle, and said that the panic created by the despicable melancholy droved the Liberians indoor.

The news sent chills into the spines of most Liberians who were listening, for the Ghanaian authorities have always adopted hostile attitude towards Liberians, since the Tubmanic regime, when scores of Liberians were bundled up and deported back home. And so I started to think: What will the Government do this time around? I was certainly consumed in a thought pattern after the guess that: Will it be business as usual – one like the impunity and deprivation I suffer when I was never my severance benefit by the Embassy of Ghana here for whom I worked for more than four years? Will it be business as usual when even the Foreign Ministry which I ran to for protection shy away leaving my family and I economically vulnerable? Hmm!!??!!!!?????!!!!!!! Hurtful but no redress up to present

Latest police brutality
So I was glued to my radio receiver to follow the incident as Decontee, from the Liberian refugee camp, explained that the Liberians on the camp had elected one Joseph Sambullah to Head them. She said on that Sunday, April 13 was a scheduled date for the installation of the elected officials. But she noted that surprising, she discovered the massive movement of Ghanaian police on the Camp well-armed, shooting at the unarmed crowds of Liberians - killing four persons instantly. She did not disclose their identities; she however noted that the act of the police caused panic amongst the refugees who were forced indoors for fear of their dear lives. Latter calls established that the police went firing at the Buduburam Camp hosting more than 15,000 Liberians. According to her, several others were wounded while Decontee in one of her calls said she noticed the police were taking some of the wounded or dead to an unknown destination, apparently to conceal identities or temper with evidence.

While apprehensions were growing amongst Liberians at home as most people were glued to their radio receivers, Deputy Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah called from Ganta unofficially confirming the news. He said one Smith he called from Ghana confirmed that Ghanaian police have gone about shooting the Liberian refugees. The Deputy Information Minister for Public Affairs who used his phone call to call for calm amongst the Liberian people explained that he was told the Ghanaian police went into the camp armed, and that it was his information that they went shooting at the Buduburam. Piah said he was told that one person was reported dead instead of the claim of four by Decontee, noting that the Government was making contact with the Liberian Embassy in Accra to give an official account. He said the Ghanaian Police entered the Camp amidst confusion over the leadership of a welfare oriented group which reports named as Jahred.

Police brutality: A condemnable act
In a CNN account, Ghanaian police spokesman Kwesi Ofori said the police were called in to quell what he referred to as “disturbances” between two rival factions on the camp, both of whom were claiming legitimacy to the camp’s leadership. Ofori noted that the Ghanaian police entered the camp while one of the factions was trying to install its leadership and added that 30 persons were arrested. This account did not mention the number of deaths, while eyewitness account puts the number of Liberian arrested at 54.

Be what the situation may be, armed police were not supposed to enter the camp of unarmed civilians with excessive force to the extent of killing some of the civilians. The act by the Ghanaian police is certainly uncivilized and primitive and warrants or deserves condemnation to say the least. Just listen to Ofori saying they were called in “disturbances” between two rival factions on the camp, both of whom were claiming legitimacy to the camp’s leadership. What was the extent of the “disturbances – installing leaders? What then warrant armed police shooting at unarmed civilians – for pelting at the police? What was pelted at the police – gun fire, stones, sand or water? There must be severe cause for police to shoot at unarmed civilians.

So what would the Ghanaian authorities do had they seen a gun or knife with someone at the contentious installation? Wouldn’t they unleash military delta force on the camp? Gush!!!!!!!!! My thoughts are pouring out and I can imagine the Ghanaian skinning everyone alive if there were any form of weapon play at the installation and they would justify even if they gunned everyone down amidst unimaginable proportion. Certainly, I can safely say our government would engage into for nothing diplomacy that would produce no reprimand for the offending authorities of Ghana. That is not the first time. But we will soon come to that.

In any case and giving the varying accounts related by the Deputy Mi9nister Piah, Decontee and even Ofori – the Ghanaian police spokesman on the CNN, it must be noted that the need for an official account is inevitable. It is inevitable because the explanations leave rooms for more questions than answers as to why the police used excessive and deadly force amongst the unarmed civilians. This is in fact why such is a detestable act of barbarity and primitivism that police brutality meted against the unarmed Liberians on account of ordinary leadership crisis of a refugee-based Jahred Welfare Group. The contestable installation for which they were called in does not deserve such intolerance exhibited by the Ghanaian police. The barbarity displayed by the Ghanaian against Liberians goes beyond normality of diplomacy and is against the reciprocity nature of diplomacy, for Liberians would not dare acceptable diplomatic norms to reciprocate such dreadful police brutality against Ghanaians in Liberia.

Past offense still afresh
But this is not the first time the Ghanaians have acted hostile and intolerable towards Liberian refugees. Minds are still afresh when the Ghanaian authorities ruthlessly dealt with refuges who were protesting for higher benefits to either go to a third country or return home, when the Ghanaians announced the end of the country’s official accommodation of the Liberian refugees in 2007/2008. At the time, the crime of the Liberians was to advocate for a US$1,000 package when they were being given US$500 to return home.

The Ghanaian refugee council insisted on their package, and a peaceful sit-in protest action was turned sour for the Liberian refugees who were given security attacks. The result was a diplomatic feud that involved intensive bureaucratic negotiations when Liberians at home were rising to reciprocate drastically the Ghanaian ruthlessness. These things are usually masterminded by some heartless Ghanaians, whose naivety and so-called patriotism yields nothing but diplomatic rivalry and conflict between the two countries peoples. I can safely say Ghanaians of such nature have even attempted to do or have done same in our own country. I remember a Ghanaian who told me, “How many Ghanaians your Liberian Embassy in my country employ; here you are heavily paid by us…” This statement I will never forget, and will always come to mind whenever I notice some self-centered Ghanaians misbehaved towards my countrymen, here at home or even abroad. This is because Ghanaians alone do not harbor the sense of nationality, we Liberians - irrespective of our civil conflict – cherished mother Liberia and her beautiful daughters and handsome sons.

But one thing that that is at stake is that our government – the Government of Liberia – is overly lenient on these matters. For each time Ghanaians behave cruelly towards a Liberians or group of Liberians, our authorities that should have given provided security reneged on its responsibility to the Liberian victim/s of abuses from some Ghanaians. Oh yes! Liberian officials are always bent on the back. I am a victim – a Liberian who worked selflessly for the Republic of Ghana here in Liberia for more than four years, whose services were terminated under a no-money cover-up and was never paid his benefits – some five thousands United States dollars while the Foreign Ministry of Liberia which was run to for redress remained idle, living my family and I in an economically vulnerable turbulence for about a year. Today the Ghana Embassy still has my money and my effort with Liberian Foreign Ministry for redress is to no avail as though there are no laws covering such matters.

Someone will say he is bitter against the Ghanaians because of his money! I will say yes. But my bitterness did not lead the despicable Ghanaian police to killing unarmed Liberians, leaving their dependents in destitute last Sunday. No! It was not my bitterness that witch-hunted Liberians in Ghana and bundled peaceful protesting refugees in Ghanaian police cells where they are treated like sub-humans. I say No! it was not my bitterness that killed a Liberian on the Budumbura Camp which moved Liberians protesting at some in few years ago.

Most Ghanaians do not understand the contemporary world of interdependence. They fail to understand the culture of intermarriages that have sociologically swept across the globe. They refused to acknowledge the fact that while there are Liberians in Ghana; Ghanaians too are in Liberia enjoying the warm hospitality of the Liberian counterparts. So what is the problem?

While I may be tempted to runn a series on the Liberian-Ghanaian relations, the Ghanaian’s stance against Liberians and the Government of Liberia’s posture in this Ghanaian mishap perpetrated against Liberians. But for now, I am calling on the Liberian Government not to sweep this latest Ghanaian police brutality under the carpet. This because Liberians should not always be at the disadvantage of this so-called relationship, for whatsoever good the Ghanaian deserve here, Liberians deserve it there; whatever favor or Ghanaians rendered Liberia, Liberia was the first to help Ghana out from colonialism. Bedsides we are all brothers and sister of grandma Africa mother Africa and should be able to treat each other as such.