Government

TOP
News
pg 7
STORIES

LIBERIA GOES

RETRO-REFLECTIVE

New, Embedded Security Features License

Plates Will Help Law Enforcement Officers
Better Monitor vehicles plying the streets

Legislative Beat

pg 6

NO BEEF

Health Minister
designate denies conflict
with health workers

FrontPage
www.frontpageafricaonline.com

VOL 9 NO.69

MONDAY, JUNE 1, 2015

PRICE L$40

PLEASE PAY YOUR

REAL ESTATE TAXES ON
OR BEFORE JULY 1, 2015
TO AVOID PENALTY
AND INTEREST.
ANY PAYMENT MADE AFTER
JULY 1, WILL ATTRACT
PENALTY AND INTEREST.
(SECTION 2002 LRC).
TAX SENSITIZATION MESSAGE
WWW.LRA.GOV.COM

IN BUTAW, SINOE COUNTY, RESIDENTS DECRY ARRESTS, INTIMIDATION

GVL GOT THEIR MONEY;

WE GOT OUR LAND

We dont hate the company [GVL] but we want things to be done correctly because we are
looking at the future. - Benedict Manewah, Head of Aboteh [local advocacy group in Butaw]

County News - pg. 5

CENTRAL BANK OF LIBERIA

MARKET BUYING AND SELLING RATES

LIBERIAN DOLLARS PER US DOLLAR

BUYING

SELLING

L$84.00/US$1

L$85.00/US$1

TUESDAY, MAY 26, 2015

L$84.00/US$1

L$85.00/US$1

WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 2015

L$84.00/US$1

L$85.00/US$1

WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2015

These are indicative rates based on results of daily surveys of the foreign exchange market
in Monrovia and its environs. The rates are collected from the Forex Bureaux and the
commercials banks. The rates are not set by the Central Bank of Liberia.
Source: Research, Policy and Planning Department, Central Bank Liberia, Monrovia, Liberia

Monday, June 1, 2015

Page 2 | Frontpage

Monrovia
ust days after accepting a petition to contest the 2017
presidential elections, Liberias Vice President Joseph Boakai
says it is not up to him to press President Ellen JohnsonSirleaf into leaving the final two years of her presidency to
him in a bid to boost his chances of succeeding her as president of
the Republic of Liberia.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with FrontPageAfrica at his
Capitol Hill office last Friday, the vice President when asked about
a growing concern from many of his supporters and potential
opponents that he needs at least a year or two to showcase
himself as a leading man, said:
If ever a vice president go to the president and say move let me
go there, you know what will happen? I think you learn the story
about the prodigal son. You do not ask, if the President see the
wisdoms and need and make the decision. I am happy that the
president is aware and the president has told me, Joe, I want for
you to succeed me. If she had not told me, I would not have asked
her and would never have taken a step. But she knows that I am
capable. She has respect for me, so it is up to the president, she
was elected for two six-year terms - it is not for me to tell her leave
the rest of your term, it is left with her to say.
Despite the Vice Presidents acceptance of the petition, critics
have been deciphering hidden messages in President Sirleaf not
coming out publicly to throw her support behind her trusted and
loyal vice president.
The President had previously suggested in a 2011 FrontPageAfrica
that both she and Boakai would leave the stage after her term
is over in 2017. Joe Boakai and I have stuck together. We stuck
together for the first term, were sticking together again for the
second term. We hope that God will give us the second term and
he and I will retire together. We will both leave public office and
turn it over to the young people and go and rest ourselves. He will
be with me right to the end.
The sudden turnaround stems from what aides say is Sirleafs
strong belief in the Vice Presidents leadership. She will come out
for the veep when the time is right. But there is no doubt about
her support, an aide told FrontPageAfrica Sunday.
But some within the ruling party are said to be harboring
reservations amid recent speculations that Foreign Minister
Augustine Ngafuan, who also hails from Lofa County is
contemplating a run for the presidency or possibly exploring a
vice presidency role in some form.
NGAFUAN SPECULATIONS; TYLER ON THE FENCE

Ngafuan told FrontPageAfrica in a January 2014 interview that

he intends to be a player in the 2017 elections but fell short of
saying in what role. Although active in the sense of contributing,
managing the economy, 2017- I will not be inactive, I can assure
you I will not sit idly and allow this country to retrogress, his
country must continue to maintain progress and to do even better
and what specific role I play in the process will be determined
as time goes by. So as I sit, I leave everything to God and I l leave
everything with the Liberian people. I am going to play a role so I
will not be dishonest with you to say that I am not going to play a
role, that I am going to bury myself in the high forest in Lofa. Just
how as a young man working with the Central Bank, I decided not
to be active in the 2005 elections, I will not be inactive in 2017.
The possibilities are wide as to what specific role, but time will
determine but you can rest assure that this man will play a role.
Last Friday, House Speaker Alex Tyler suggested as much Friday
when he failed to show support for the vice presidents petition
in Lofa when the opportunity presented itself. Tyler, who has not
hidden his presidential ambitions, when asked he will leave the
Party if he is not the chosen candidate, said; well, it is good that
it is an alleged ambition and I think that question will be for the
future.
Asked about his take on the latest announcement made by Vice
President Boakai expressing his interest in replacing president
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in 2018 where he announced that he
wants to replace his boss Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as Liberias next
president, the speaker said, Boakai is the Vice president of the
Republic of Liberia and he, like any Liberian has the right to be
what he wants to be, once he meets the constitutional bench
mark. Said Speaker Tyler: Honorable Boakai is the vice president
of Liberia and it is his right to declare if he wants to contest for the
Presidency. No one can prevent him from doing so.
Tyler did go on to say that it is too early to decide his support.
As a member of the UP, we believe in democratic principle and
so whoever the Party will elect will be the person we all will
support.
The vice president recently declared that his vast experiences
as a challenged and underprivileged child will inspire him to a
government policy that lifts people everywhere out of poverty.
Farmers will own their own land and crops; and they will be
able to sell it at fair market price. Inflation is an evil because it
eats away the middle class. I come before you today, humbled
by a vision of a brighter future for our country; mindful of the
enormous challenges of our moment in history; and determine to
act boldly and collectively on behalf of all Liberians to accept your
petition to contest the presidency of our country in 2017. I believe
in you and that together, we can build a strong Liberia with our
own wealth and resources, Boakai told teeming supporters at the
Voinjama Town Hall.
BOAKAI: OPPOSITION HAVE ME TO CONTEND WITH

Pressed whether he would be comfortable running against what

Rodney D. Sieh, rodney.sieh@frontpageafricaonline.com

is expected to be a crowded opposition field without getting the
final two years to showcase his leading man credentials, VP Boakai
said: He who comes into a cold house must have some warm for
himself; if you want to be afraid of opposition than you should
not be anywhere. When the Lofa people asked me, they did not
force me, I said I was willing, I am not thinking about opposition,
they are there and I already knew that. The oppositions also know
there is somebody coming who they will have to contend with.
The vice president during a recent tour of his hometown in Lofa
County accepted a petition to contest the presidency in 2017,
telling supporters that he was humbled by a vision of a brighter
future for Liberia but also mindful of the enormous challenges
ahead.
Heralding his underprivileged upbringing, the Vice President
hoped would inspire him to a government policy that lifts people
everywhere out of poverty, said: Farmers will own their own
land and crops; and they will be able to sell it at fair market price.
Inflation is an evil because it eats away the middle class.
VICE PRESIDENT IS VICE PRESIDENT

Addressing criticisms from many that he has been too passive

and not aggressive enough for his critics liking, the vice president
insinuated that history has not taken kind to vice presidents who
challenged their presidents. Vice President is Vice President.
Maybe you can look at places where Vice President were like that
and see how long they survived. The fact of the matter is that your
job is defined to assist the president.
Vice President Boakai said he and the president enjoy a cordial
working relationship. I work with the president, the President
and I have very good relationship. I advise the president on
issues, the president has the right to listen to what I say or not.
But in the constitution, it is clearly defined that it is specifically
the president job. So what am I supposed to do, go on the radio?
I will never do that, you know the late Judge Tulay told me and I
heard it - when the Person is above you, you push them up so that
your feet can leave the ground. But when you pull them, the lower
they come, the lower you will come and they sit on you. I work
with the President, I am not there to share job with her but to do
what she wants for me to do to help her.
CONFIDENT OF REGIONAL SUPPORT

The Vice President also expressed confidence in gathering

support from West African leaders seen as crucial for anyone
aiming for the presidency in the region as he explained recent
invitations and gestures extended to him by Ghanaian President
John Mahama and Senegales President Macky Sall.
When President Mahama was Vice President, we were friends; we
met at many conferences in time past. When the Ebola Epidemic
was here, he called me one day and said I am planning to come
to Liberia, tell the president, which I did. After he came, visited,
went back, one day he called me and said Mr. Vice President, I
think you need rest after this Ebola, when you ready, tell me and
I will sent the plane. We are friends and I think, there are lots of
honor to that, I am Vice President and the President can invite
me. He sent the plane, I went, he arranged my visit, we spent the
day, we took a helicopter and went boat ride and showed that he
has respect for me, he has confidence in me and I want to believe
that similar thing happened, when I went to Senegal one time

and I was coming back and the President said Mr. Vice President
because to go to Senegal we had to go to Nigeria and we arrived
in Senegal at 1 am in the morning - even Kofi Woods arrived there
at 4am. The president saw it fit to offer me his plane to bring me,
I am respected.
Asked how he intends to deal with corruption which has been
a major Achilles of the Sirleaf government if elected, the vice
president said it would all come down to his management skills
and strategy. I think these are issues that you deal with when
you come to the job because there are lots of other dimensions to
that even the way in which things work, the management skills,
strategy that you have, you only handle it when you get there. So
I think I have a reasonable idea as to how we can get Liberians to
know that this is our country that we all can build this country and
benefit from it. I want to be able to drive from here to Maryland
to spend the weekend. I think it has a lot of things that has to do
with working with people that make them do, I worked with lots
of people are LPMC, they were not corrupt, people were earning
their salaries and they were doing their work and it worked well,
so when we get to that bridge, we will cross it.
Asked whether he would be afraid he would resent the Sirleaf
government baggage on the campaign trail, as U.S. Vice President
AL Gore did during his campaign with Bill Clinton and whether he
would risk have the president on the campaign trail, VP Boakai
said: I think if it were all the time that you will inherit everything
negative than you should also inherit all the good things. But I
think Liberians should give people the chance on the basis of who
they know them to be. The President makes decisions, decision
making is lonely, people can advise you and when you go to bed,
you decide what you want to do. We are judged by the decisions
we make, so let me be judged by the decisions I would make and
be given chance to be judged in that way. I think that is the way I
see it.
START BY SETTING EXAMPLE

The Vice President took pointed jabs at his critics and detractors
who he says have misinterpreted his laid back style for weakness.
I know most of what people will know is when the time comes,
because people think I am quiet, people think I am this, all kinds
of things they brand me with - but I know who I am and people
who worked with me know who I am, they know I have passion
for this country, they know my strength they will know if I am
that kind of easy person they think. But everybody got a style in
achieving what they want to achieve and I am sure wherever I
worked, mine style has worked and if you see a lot of people have
confidence in me, it is because they know not that they do not
know.
The Vice President explained that part of reason some may think
that he is cool derives from the fact that he has always been a shy
person. But again I have to force myself now, because when you
get to this place, you have to adapt to certain things. I am not a
person where you can easily get away with things, I do not do it.
I discipline myself, and I start with myself. I tell you an example
when I used to be with LPMC, my wife knows that you never get
a pickup from LPMC to ride; no! it is company vehicle. We can go
outside and do it. I used to get a booklet from LPMC as long as that
trip I am making is not LPMC related; I would not use it. You got
to start by setting example, so Liberians will get to know who Joe
Boakai is at the right time.

Monday, June 1, 2015

FrontPage
EDITORIAL
v

HIJACKING

Frontpage

Page 3

COMMENTARY

ABANDONED
Commentary

COUNTY CHIMPS IN LIBERIA

DEVELOPMENT FUNDS THE NEW YORK BLOOD CENTER HAS NO HEART
NOT THE ANSWER TO
CONCESSION WOES

TWO OPPOSING VIEWS surfaced in the aftermath of

last weeks disturbance in Butaw, Sinoe County. The
government of Liberia on the one hand has threatened to
use the social or the county development fund of Sinoe to
pay for the properties damaged at the Golden Veroleum
site in Butaw. The relevant authorities have also been
directed to work with GVL in a full assessment of the
damage to the concession. Consistent with the practice of
this administration, when determined and agreed, the cost
of the assessed damage will be offset by the social and or
county development funds of Sinoe, the government of
Liberia declared in a statement issued Thursday.
IN CONTRAST, Golden Veroleum Liberia says that it has
not established the actual damage caused by the protest
and is still assessing but does not take the use of Sinoe
County Development Funds to pay for damages as an
option. Well that is something that is not on the table, the
county development fund is for the county, the government
has not offered that to us and we are not asking for that,
the likelihood of us accepting this is small, GVL Corporate
Communication Manager Virgil McGee told journalists in
Monrovia.
WE TEND to agree with the latter in that government
must first identify the crux of the problem before and find
solutions before laying the blame squarely on the residents
of the county.
WHILE WE AGREE WITH President Sirleaf that the country
cannot afford to allow a few people to undermine the
interest of this country and run investors out of the country,
the government must -at the same time understand the
plight of the villagers who have been struggling to get the
concessionaires to hear their complaints.
IN APRIL 2013, while visiting the county, President Sirleaf
acknowledged the problems and even admitted that
mistakes were made at signing in that the government
did not seek audience with residents before signing those
concessions.
THE PRESIDENTS intervention prompted a positive
response from residents who gave their assurances that
they will put aside their opposition to GVLs operations
following assurances from the GVL management and the
Government of Liberia that all efforts are being exhausted
to address the concerns being raised by residents.
THAT WAS TWO YEARS AGO.
Today, much of the problems continue to linger and Sirleaf
upon return to the country last week expressed displeasure
at the latest violent turn in Butaw as she promised that
government will respond in the most effective way.
THE PRESIDENT went on to say that her government cannot
continue to go out and attract investment to create jobs, and
others engage in violence that scare away investors. When
I returned the last time you may recall, I said to Liberians
that we cannot continue to go out and attract investment,
bring people to do business and create jobs and then when
you have these kinds of violence, it takes away from our
effort and people run away from the country, a visibly
concerned President Sirleaf said, cautioning, Money only
goes to the place where its safe. They [investors] dont go
where theyre frightened.
VICE PRESIDENT Boakai on the other hand believes that
some concessionaires in Liberia are not relating well to the
locals by informing them about their projects.
HE FIRMLY DECLARED that projects such as agriculture
should not have all foreigners as Liberians are capable of
doing most of the jobs for which foreigners are brought to
the country.
THE VICE PRESIDENT said When you come with a
concession in Agriculture, bring a manager who is there to
start up, they must have that skill. But most often they bring

Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO, The Humane Society of the United States

he New York Blood Center has abandoned a colony

of 66 chimps in Liberia that its research teams
used in experiments for three decades, reports
James Gorman of the New York Times in a story
published last week but first reported by FrontPageAfrica.
The burden of their survival and care has now been foisted
on The HSUS and other caring groups and individuals who
are picking up the pieces in a distant and beleaguered
nation gripped in recent months by the Ebola crisis. It is
a story of past exploitation and present-day heartlessness
by a well-funded charity with ample resources to handle a
responsibility it created and cannot now abandon.
Since the Blood Center cut off funds on March 6, the HSUS
and the Arcus Foundation have been providing support to
keep the chimps alive. Dozens of volunteers in Liberia and
neighboring countries have answered the call, putting their
lives at risk to help the chimps.
The crisis began a few months ago when a former
chimpanzee caregiver sounded the alarm: The Blood Center
was terminating all funding for the care of the chimps
it used for decades in medical research for its financial
benefit. A team of U.S. researchers on the ground in Liberia
helping humans during the Ebola crisis stepped in to make
sure that the chimpanzees, including several infants, didn't
die from dehydration or starvation.
The HSUS was alerted in mid-March and has been working
since with a small group of dedicated individuals to respond.
The HSUS, along with Humane Society International, has
sent emergency funding to pay for food and water for the
animals who live on six islands and are entirely dependent
on human care.
There is a long history behind these individuals who have
endured so much. In the mid-1970s, the Blood Center
captured some of them from the wild, obtained others from
pet owners, and set out to use them for research involving
the hepatitis B vaccine and blood cleansing, among other
topics. These hapless creatures have also endured and
survived protracted civil war in the country -- going weeks
at a time without food or water. Many died from dehydration
and starvation or were killed by rogue militias. Time after
time caregivers risked their lives to go out to the islands
to feed the chimpanzees, at times attracting fire from the
v

plantations manager, plantations managers managed projects

that are up and running. If you do not know the social issues
of the country, you do now know how to relate to the people
on the ground. Many times I met with the people from Sime
Darby, if you really want a project to run, go to the village one
evening; our people are really easy to deal with. Sit down with
them; they will say the white man is here with us, those are
the ways. But you have to always know that for people to begin
to accept a new project especially without understanding it
becomes a problem but at the same time for me, agriculture
projects are not projects that should be all with foreigners.
THE VICE PRESIDENT puts it squarely when he said a lot of
people here have a lot of experience and these investments
should be creating jobs for Liberians as stated in the terms of
the agreements
SAID VICE PRESIDENT Boakai People dont know, there are
tractors operators here that we have trained over the years,
they are available, there a lot of people who know to use the
graders, so to bring a lot of foreigners to do those kinds of jobs.
When you go into concession agreement you say to provide
jobs for Liberians and that is the hope that people have that
jobs will be created, so all I did in Indonesia to tell the them
that look, we appreciate what you are doing but we promised
people jobs, you dont need to bring 15 people to train 5

militant bands.
So, this story is not just about the chimpanzees, but also
about the caregivers who have sacrificed so much and have
been volunteering to take care of the animals since the Blood
Center left them in peril. It is simply shocking that the Blood
Center chose to deliver this blow during the largest Ebola
outbreak in history, a calamity from which the government
of Liberia is reeling -- adding a burden to a nation strapped
with a human crisis of immense proportions.
The Blood Center previously committed itself to the lifetime
care of these chimpanzees, its officials publicly announcing
their ethical responsibility to do so and indicating the start
of an endowment for this purpose a decade ago. Officials
there are now repudiating this commitment, stating
heartlessly that the organization "never had any obligation
for care for the chimps, contractual or otherwise."
The HSUS hired Agnes Souchal, an expert from the SanagaYong chimpanzee sanctuary in Cameroon, to conduct an
assessment on the ground. Agnes worked with the caregivers
over two weeks, including to repair the water system for
five of the six islands. Prior to this repair, chimpanzees were
handed cups of water by the caregivers every other day. She
implemented changes in their diet, introducing the animals
to new foods for the first time, documented on this video.
There are plans underway to increase feedings to at least
once a day, including arrangements for purchase of a boat
engine to do so.
We are so thankful that the Arcus Foundation has committed
emergency funding to help -- Arcus has been a key player in
stepping in whenever and wherever great apes are in peril.
But we need everyone's help to make these changes. Please
let New York Blood Center officials know that they need
to make a financial obligation to secure the chimpanzees'
future. I will continue to update my readers as this realtime drama unfolds.
P. S. I'm delighted to announce that hundreds of
compassionate people like you have stepped up in the
last few hours to support our new crowdfunding effort to
provide for these chimps. Since the Times' article published
this morning, almost 200 people have already committed
over $10,000 to support the chimps' immediate needs.

people.
THE VICE PRESIDENT said while in Indonesia recently he
thwarted plans by the company to castrate trees that are not
producing.
VICE PRESIDENT Boakai said And again, also why I was there,
I know in their reporting they have said the palm products that
are not bearing, they should castrate them, I mean suppress
production until they set up a Mill. I said to the Chairman, did
I hear you talking about castrating the trees? He said yes and I
said have it not occurred to you that you could bring Mini mills
that you could use to process until that time. I tell you that
caught them and the Chairman said to his man who was here
yesterday, why didnt you think about this why is it the Vice
President that is coming to tell us? So they have decided that
they will introduce some small mills and they even decided
that the palm oil will be giving to the people as goodwill
gesture. It is unfortunate that they had just come with those
kinds of messages and the people went on the rampage.
WE CERTAINLY believe that it is better to prevent crisis than
looking for solution when damage has already taken place.
The Locals must be respected and the terms and conditions
of these concession agreements upheld-providing jobs and
concessionaires showing respect for the people.

Monday, June 1, 2015

Page 4 | Frontpage

The Reader's Page

FrontPage

WHAT READERS ARE SAYING

ABOUT OUR STORIES ON THE
WORLDWIDE WEB

COMMENTS FROM
FPA ONLINE

GHOST
TOWN:
20 ARRESTED, HUNT FOR

LOOTS IN CONCESSION TOWN

JOHN-LORD BAXTER TOP COMMENTER DAMANSARA, KUALA
LUMPUR, MALAYSIA
As a government, we cannot allow a few people to undermine the
interest of this country; to run investors away and to make sure that
we do not attract what we need to achieve our development goals,
the Liberian leader pointed out. She indicated that her government
cannot continue to go out and attract investment to create jobs, and
others engage in violence that scare away investors.
When I returned the last time you may recall, I said to Liberians that
we cannot continue to go out and attract investment, bring people
to do business and create jobs and then when you have these kinds
of violence, it takes away from our effort and people run away from
the country, a visibly concerned President Sirleaf said, cautioning,
Money only goes to the place where its safe. They [investors] dont
go where theyre frightened.
SIMON JOHN TOP COMMENTER GRANITE BAY, CALIFORNIA
This is very serious, I hope this story is untrue because there is no
one they can turn to. Everyone is in the company pocket. Just like
you said, only the president and the legislator can fix this situation.
NO one to cry for the poor. Where are the politicians , where are
the representative of the Butaw district? Where are the elected
officials of the county? Oh, I forgot, the newly elected senator is the
former superintendent of the county and is on the GAC audit list for
corruption.
LORENZO BERNARD TOP COMMENTER CLASSIFIED AT
CLASSIFIED
Madam Sirleaf, all
you have attracted in 11years is corruption. Your administration
encourages corruption and so citizens thinks it's okay and the
consequence is, it has become the norm in Liberia. Citizens who are
challenging those non profitable cheap concessions signed by your
corrupt administration are in no way undermining the interest of
Liberia. In essence they are simple undermining your selfish and
dubious campaign to steal and sent the country back into bankruptcy.
CHARLES E. KING TOP COMMENTER MONROVIA, LIBERIA
Greetings Mr. Weah: Not too long ago you wrote in FPA about Liberia
following the "..white man this and the white man that when you were
talking about Liberia following America in celebrating Valentine's
day. Now by your own admission you say you are applying for your
American citizenship. That means you will take an oath of allegiance
to the 'Flag and to the Republic of which it stands'. You know doubt
will be celebrating many of your new country's holidays and later
in life when you marry and have children who will be AmericoLiberians they will be celebrating their American holidays and more.
Now I see why you speak the way you do about Liberia. I sent you a
note some time ago as an older person speaking to a younger person
- try to "Temper" you speech-the words you use. Show that you have
more words in your vocabulary.
ANSU OPA DUALU TOP COMMENTER COALITION OF
CONCERNED LIBERIANS
This Gestapo -like enforcement measure being employed by this
administration is dangerous and unconstitutional. Perhaps they
should first try addressing what's causing the large majority of the
peoples in these concession areas to behave as they are. I guess this
is too common sense for our officials. There is something seriously
rotten in our vampiric state.
JOHN WEAH
I am so glad that i have my green card. I put in for citizenship.
Workers should Take GVL to court. The bush tactics of violence
helps nobody when this nation is experiencing 80% unemployment.
Ebola has not helped either. this is not the time. I LIKE Liberia but i
want my AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP. You bush Liberians dont get the
message.
SAMUEL JACKSON TOP COMMENTER DIRECTOR AT LIBERIAN
IRON
Working as serfs on a plantation may look good for the company,
but the model is not sustainable. I hope we punish the offenders, but
determine why this is happening so often. And so it goes.
SHANA IER TOP COMMENTER
Which "development goals" na Madam Pres???? Or you mean your
offshore accounts "development goals"?
ANSU OPA DUALU TOP COMMENTER COALITION OF
CONCERNED LIBERIANS
Lol Shana, 'offshore goals ' dis girl mouth bust.

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Send your letters and comments to:

editor@frontpageafricaonline.com
YOU WRITE; WE PUBLISH; THEY READ!

LIBERIAS BERMUDA TRIANGLE

ENTERING KEY STAGE

The Editor,

he confessed chief architect and financier of the 14-year Liberian genocidal holocaust ordered her battlefront
commander, General Charles McArthur Gangay Taylor of the notorious NPFL rebel group to "level Monrovia/the
Executive Mansion" and it would be rebuilt. An obedient General Taylor complied and executed the directives
of the NPFL Commander-in-Chief, Field Marshall and Supreme Commander Iron Lady Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

After the "victory" and campaigning for the presidency, candidate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf vowed to restore electricity and
safe drinking water if elected president in just six months on the job. Then as President during her inaugural speech in
the presence of wolrd dignatries, she promised to restore electricity and safe drinking water in just her first 150 days in
office.

Calculators out and it is back to the classroom for simple arithmetic, and I am the first to admit that unlike our president,
I never attended the world's most acclaimed and respected Harvard University from where she got awarded a degree in
economics.
President Ellen Johnson took office on January 16, 2006. From that time to the present (May 31, 2015), and if my math
is correct, she has been in office a total of 9 years, 4 months and 15 days. 9 years times 12 months is 108 months. Plus
4 months and 15 days will give us how many days she has been in office. We are now at 112 months total plus 15 days.
Let's time 112 months by 30 (days in each month and add 15 days). 112 x 30= 3360 +15= 3375 overall total days she has
been in office.
Another way to solve the problem is to multiply 365 days by 9 years= 3295 days. Then add the 4 months and 15 days:
3295 + 135 = 3430 days total. We are still trying to find out if she has not spent the 150-day target she set for restoring
light and water. If the numbers don't match, go with the most days, but does it matter unless either answer has not
exceeded 150 days. I didn't go to Harvard I told you.

So why try and turn the tables on lawmakers, many who perhaps never heard of Harvard University until after they got
elected? We say in Liberia the fish starts to rotten from the head, and the head of this rotten government is our corrupt
Harvard self-anointed "economist" President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a Nobel Laureate. But the corrupt system they nurture
will self-destruct one day under its own weight. Everyone in all three branches of this kleptocratic regime is praying the
boat doesn't sink until after the 2017 presidential elections. Lucky if we get to that time.
But the signs are everywhere that we are entering our own Bermuda Traingle, the mythical dangerous ocean waters that
swallow up anything that sails through, under or above the sea near Bermuda. The storms of Liberia's Bermuda Triangle
are gathering but Captain Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and crew in government say they are invincible. Sheep and goat luck is
not the same.

The runaway corruption, the massive giveaway of tribal people's land and resources and branding them criminals for the
unjust treatment they continue to endure as we saw in Nimba, Cape Mount, Bomi, Maryland and now Sinoe Counties, the
poor handling of the Ebola crisis, the shooting of poor people in West Point, the constant rape of baby girls with hundreds
dying and the rich Lebanese rapists bribe their way out of prison only to take our girls to Beirut, Lebanon to become sex
slaves in Lebanon, a corrupt judiciary that has become a rubberstamp body in upholding the criminality of the regime
against our people, the overcrowded prisons where scores have died from the absence of medical care for detainees and
many who have not had a day in court, but yet you are blinded in your wicked ways until it is too late as it was with your
predecessors Tolbert, Doe and Taylor. All good reasons to sleep with one eye open. Da me again....and you know God
doesn't like ugly.
Jerry Wehtee Wion,
Journalist and Political Commentator,
Washington, DC,

EDITORIAL TEAM

Rodney D. Sieh, Managing Editor, 0886-738-666;

077-936-138, editor@FrontPageAfricaonline.com;
rodney.sieh@FrontPageAfricaonline.com
Danesius Marteh, Sports Editor, danesius.marteh@
frontpageafricaonline.com, 0886236528
James-Emmanuel D. Cole, Jr, Graphics Designer
& Layout Editor, echange4life@gmail.com;
0886 211 390, 0777 027 030
Henry Karmo, henry.karmo@frontpageafricaonline.
com
Al-varney Rogers al.rogers@frontpageafricaonline.
com, 0886-304498
Sports Reporter, A. Macaulay Sombai,macaulay.
sombai@FrontpageAfricaonline.com, 077217428

COUNTY NEWS TEAM

Grand Bassa, Alpha Daffae Senkpeni, 0777432042
Bong
County,
Selma
Lomax,
selma.lomax@
frontpageafricaonline.com, 0886-484666
Sinoe County, Leroy N.S Kanmoh, leroy.kanmoh@
frontpageafricaonline.com
0886257528
BUSINESS/ADVERTISING
Kadi Coleman Porte, 0886-304-178/ 0777832753, advertise@
frontpageafricaonline.com

Monday, June 1, 2015

Page 5

Frontpage

IN BUTAW, SINOE COUNTY, RESIDENTS DECRY ARRESTS, INTIMIDATION

GVL GOT THEIR MONEY;

WE GOT OUR LAND
just benefit
owners.

for

the

land

SMALL MONEY, BIG WORK

We dont hate the company [GVL] but we want things to be done correctly because we are looking at the future.
- Benedict Manewah, Head of Aboteh [local advocacy group in Butaw]

Butaw, Sinoe County

enedict
Manewah
spent three nights
on the run; avoiding
arrest from the Police
Support Unit of the Liberia
National Police.
Manewah was lured out of his
hideout by his sister to explain
his ordeal in the aftermath
of last weeks rioting which
erupted on the plantation of
the Golden Veroleum Liberian
facility in the Sinoe County
town of Butaw.
Maneweh, 48, is the head
of Aboteh [local advocacy
group in Butaw] who says
although he was not part
-of the disturbances, he was
obviously an easy target for
law enforcement officers who
descended on the county to
restore law and order after
residents in the county went
on the rampage last week.
We do not hate the company
[GVL] but we want things to
be done correctly because
we are looking at the future,
Manewah lamented with an
eye over his shoulders fearing
that PSU officers could pop up
anytime.
Looking as if he had not eaten
in days, Manewahs eyes sunk
in, his raggedy looking clothes
suggested a man confused
about what had taken place the
days before.
As he narrated his ordeal,
Manewah was adamant that
the GVL understand the plight
of the countys residents as
he pressed the company to
understand that land the
company is operating on
belong to the people adding
that they should be respect the
residents in the county. They
[GVL] got their money, we got
our land, so it is fifty fifty, they
[GVL] said a hectare is five
dollars but when you plant
cassava and harvest it you will
get more than five dollars, he
says.

Manewah says he has been

sleeping in the bush since the
incident occurred and feared
that he was a target due to his
previous role in resisting the
companys operation from its
inception.
Manewah says the action of the
youth is not right but call on
the government to addressed
the real issues affecting locals.
The government, in an attempt
to put last weeks riot at the
Golden Veroleum plantation
to rest, the government
dispatched a number of armed
police officers in Butaw which
led to the arrest of more than
twenty protesters.
President
Ellen
JohnsonSirleaf went on to condemn
the violence and took rioters
to task for putting a dark eye
on numerous investments
brought into the country. As a
government, we cannot allow
a few people to undermine
the interest of this country;
to run investors away and
to make sure that we do
not attract what we need to
achieve our development
goals, the Liberian leader
pointed out. She indicated
that her government cannot
continue to go out and attract

investment to create jobs, and

others engage in violence that
scare away investors, the
President said.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
who was out of the country
when the incident occurred
upon
arrival
Wednesday
expressed displeasure and
promised that government will
respond in the most effective
way.
The Liberian leader said the
government will respond to
this in a very effective way.
The
statement
indicated
that the President expressed
serious displeasure at the
news of the vandalism and
looting of properties at Golden
Veroleum-Liberia (GVL) on
Tuesday
When I returned the last
time you may recall, I said
to Liberians that we cannot
continue to go out and attract
investment, bring people to
do business and create jobs
and then when you have these
kinds of violence, it takes away
from our effort and people
run away from the country, a
visibly concerned President
Sirleaf said, cautioning, Money
only goes to the place where
its safe. They [investors] dont

go where theyre frightened.

The government in a statement
would later threaten to use
funds from the countys
development money to rebuild
the ruined facility at the GVL
plantation.
But some critics have been
deploring the tactics implored
by government, suggesting
that those moves have not
yielded results, as locals
around those concessions
continue to protest at different
time interval.
From the Equatorial Palm Oil
Company operating in Grand
Bassa County to the Sime
Darby in Grand Cape Mount
and Bomi counties; Mittal Steel
in Nimba County, and now
Golden Veroleum in Sinoe the
problems are the same as the
locals are not happy over the
operations of these companies,
especially not adhering to the
concerns of the people.
In Grand Cape Mount and Bomi
counties, the crisis between the
locals and Malaysian company
Sime Darby is still hanging in
the air as in time past some
locals have set ablaze rubber
seedlings belonging to the
company in protest against
the expansion of the company
planting exercise.
The people of Grand Bassa
County have been protesting
against the expansion exercise
of the Equatorial Palm oil
where at one point officers
from the Emergency response
Unit (ERU) were deployed to
prevent what seems a major
demonstration by residents.
Residents mainly of District
#4 have been opposed to
Equatorial Palm Oil's bid
to acquire further 20,000
hectares.
In Sinoe County, residents
are complaining on the slow
progress made by Golden
Veroleum over the years GVL
has operated, something the
company has did not refute.
GVL Corporate Communication
Manager Virgil McGee said, the

youth were complaining about

the slow rate of progress by the
company but blame the slow
pace on boundary dispute.
The youth were complaining
about the slow rate of progress,
we had an agreement and there
is a timeline for things that
should be done unfortunately
where we find ourselves is a
boundary disputes, if there is
boundary disputes we will not
extend our operation, McGee
added.
In Liberia, beginning 2005,
the country witnessed a huge
influx of investors who were
rushing for operations in a
country that experienced
years of civil war where there
were not many companies
operating and couple with
a United Nations sanctions
on major resources such as
diamond and logging and no
means of mining iron ore, the
country turned a virgin land
for investment.
The 52nd National Legislature
hastily ratified several mega
million dollar worth of
concession agreements, many
without due diligence as
evidenced by the short spell
some of the companies had in
Liberia and shortly parked off
after failing to live up the terms
of the agreements signed with
the Government of Liberia.
By 2009 some of the companies
could not continue to operate
as Broadway Consolidated PLC
departed the country, followed
by Buchanan Renewable which
had promised to provide
cheap electricity to several
communities through the use
of dead rubber woods but
could not even start the project
promised. There are still
others that are still operational
in the country, but with their
operations come the tension
of the persistent protest from
local residents who continue
to complain that many of these
concessionaires are using their
ancestral land for cultivation
without giving back in return

Melisa Swen, another resident

in Butaw explained that since
the operation of GVL only few
citizens have been hired as
contractors, adding that they
do not have job security and
benefits.
Every small thing you do they
fired you; the money they are
paying is small for the kind of
work the people are doing,
Swen said.
For Manewah, many young
people are without job but
their farmland is being
occupied by the company.
Many of these young people
were farming and hunting but
that is no more, where GVL got
their office in Butaw was my
farm, right now Im not doing
anything. Manewah said.
Many of the protest going
on around concession were
anticipated by a study done by
Columbia University.
A 2009 report from Columbia
University title Smell no Taste
stressed that government must
not sacrifice sound planning
for fast return on its resources.
While Liberia is in an
understandable rush to grow
its budget and become a selfsufficient, stable country that
can provide for its citizens on
its own, it must not sacrifice
sound planning for a fast
return on its resources, The
report added.
The report noted: In many
regards, FDI policies in the
country do not adequately
take into account the needs of
those who will be most directly
affected by the granting of large
concessions in the hinterland.
Reforms are needed that will
ensure the state can receive
the benefits of foreign capital
without creating a dynamic
of distrust and anger that
could lead to dangerous social
tensions in an already fragile
post-conflict environment.
Vice President Joseph Boakai
who has been critical of the
companys
operations
in
Liberia told FrontPageAfrica
in an exclusive interview last
Friday that it is important
to look at the management
structures
of
concession
companies operating in the
country. The think about
concession here is that even
while I was in Indonesia, I
discussed with the Chairman
and most of these concessions
and I have spoken with the
Minister Agriculture when
they come, we should look at
their management structure at
the onset. When you come with
a concession in Agriculture,
bring a manager who is there
to start up, they must have
that skill. But most often they
bring plantations manager,
plantations
managers
managed projects that are
up and running. If you do not
know the social issues of the
country, you do now know how
to relate to the people on the
ground.

Monday, June 1, 2015

Page 6 | Frontpage

NO BEEF
Health Minister designate denies conflict with health workers

Henry Karmo (0886522495) henrykarmo@frontpageafricaonline.com

Monrovia n the wake of protest

from health workers
in Liberia and an
indictment
from
the
General
Auditing
Commission (GAC) and the
Liberia
Anti-Corruption
Commission (LACC) against
health Minister Designate
Dr. Bernice Dahn, the House
senate committee on health
Friday held confirmation
hearing for the nominee.
Dr. Dahn nomination by
President Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf has been met with mix
reaction from the leadership
of the health workers
association, worsened by the
GAC and LACC indictment
amid mounting accusations
of misuse of government
funds. But at the senate
hearing Friday the Health
Minister
designate
told
committee members that she
is not in crisis with health
workers in Liberia and
claimed that people making
the accusations are not
recognized.

She told the senate health

committee
chaired
by
Senator Peter Coleman (CDCGrand Kru County) that she is
the best person for the job to

things she worked with

Dr. Gwenigale to mobilize
support for the paramedical
and
Midwifery
training
program and provided a

replace Dr. Walter Gwenigale

because of her wealth of
experience at the Ministry
and some of the achievement
she has made in the sector.
Dr. Dahn said during her
years as chief medical officer
of Liberia, among many

modern Laboratory at the

Liberia school of Midwifery.
BLATANT LIE

In response to Dr. Dahn

claims of illegitimacy of the
leadership of the health

workers
leadership
Mr.
Joseph Tamba president of the
Health worker Association
of Liberia described the
Minister statement as a
blatant lie because according
to him the group has an
article of incorporation given
by the Liberian government.
We have everything to make
us legitimate if she wants it we
can show it to her. We can go
to the Legislature where we
will display our receipt and
the Article of Incorporation
and everything to show that
we are a legal entity, Tamba
said.
Mr. Tamba, in an interview
at the capitol building
Friday further accused the
Health Minister designate
of having bad manners of
approach toward employees.
This is a minister who is
being designated to head
the Ministry of Health
and believed to be highly
educated, but lacks manner
of approach for people, she
does not know how to talk to
doctors.
Mr. Tamba threatened that the
Health Workers Association
will not cooperate with the
Health Minister if confirmed
by the senate in the absence
of a mediation between
them and the Minister by the
Traditional council and the
Religious council because
according to him they can
longer trust any mediation
done by the executive branch

of government.
She wrote a letter to
the legislature lying to
that august body that my
secretary General Mr. George
Williams removed Drip from
three patients admitted at the
James David Health Center. If
Dr. Dahn is confirmed we are
not prepared to work with
liars and Criminals. No! She is
corrupt. I will not be able to
work with a corrupt person
like Dr. Dahn who has been
indicted in the GAC audit,
Tamba stated.
Last week in a communication
to the Plenary of the Liberian
Senate, Senator Nyonblee
Karnga Lawrence (Liberty
Party-Grand Bassa County)
requesting
that
august
body to ensure that all
confirmations for people
implicated in audits reports
are put on hold until the
Public Accounts Committee of
the Senate conducts hearings
and make recommendations
for action.
In
her
communication,
the Grand Bassa County
senator said, knowing that
Liberia has been labeled
as one of the most corrupt
countries in the world, and
with a huge challenge to
foster transparency and
accountability it is important
that the Senate continues
to be very supportive in the
fight against corruption.
Senator Lawrence stated:
Knowing that Liberia has
been labeled as one of the
most
corrupt
countries
in the world, and we
have a huge challenge to
foster transparency and

accountability, it is very
important that the Senate
continues to be very
supportive in the fight of
corruption
by
ensuring
that all the confirmation for
people who are implicated
in Audit Reports or Audit
indictees are put on hold
until the PAC conduct public
hearing and make final
recommendations for action.
Senator Peter Coleman( CDC,
Grand Kru)chairman of the
senate health committee
during the confirmation
hearing encouraged Dr. Dahn
to go ahead with the good
plans on the book to improve
the countrys health sector
and not to pay attention to
media stories.
Recently
four
senior
officials of the team that
managed the Ebola funding
including
-Wede
Elliott
Brownell Deputy Minister
for Administration, Ministry
of Foreign Affairs; Tolbert
Nyenswah, Head Incident
Management
System/
Deputy Minister for Health
Designate
(indicted
by
GAC
in
2006/2007and
2007/2008 audit of the
Ministry of Health; James
Dorbor Jallah, Executive
Director, Public Procurement
and Concessions Commission
and Andre Pope, Head State
Owed Enterprises Reporting
Unit, Ministry of Finance and
Development Planning, took
exception to the GAC report
describing the report as
unprofessional.

Johnson-Sirleaf in 2018 where

he announced that he wants to
replace his boss Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf as Liberias next
president, the speaker said,
Boakai is the Vice president of
the Republic of Liberia and he,
like any Liberian has the right
to be what he wants to be, once
he meets the constitutional
bench mark.
Said Speaker Tyler: Honorable
Boakai is the vice president
of Liberia and it is his right to
declare if he wants to contest
for the Presidency. No one can
prevent him from doing so.
Pressed whether he will
support a Boakai candidacy,
Tyler said: it is too early to
decide that. As a member of the
UP, we believe in democratic
principle and so whoever the
Party will elect will be the
person we all will support, the
speaker said.
The vice president recently

declared
that
his
vast
experiences as a challenged
and underprivileged child will
inspire him to a government
policy that lifts people
everywhere out of poverty.
Farmers will own their own
land and crops; and they
will be able to sell it at fair
market price. Inflation is an
evil because it eats away the
middle class. I come before you
today, humbled by a vision of a
brighter future for our country;
mindful of the enormous
challenges of our moment
in history; and determine to
act boldly and collectively
on behalf of all Liberians to
accept your petition to contest
the presidency of our country
in 2017. I believe in you and
that together, we can build a
strong Liberia with our own
wealth and resources, Boakai
told teeming supporters at the
Voinjama Town Hall.

TYLER UNCERTAIN OVER UP FUTURE

T
Says, VP Boakai disclosure is his constitutional right

Henry Karmo (0886522495) henrykarmo@frontpageafricaonline.com

Monrovia
he
Speaker
of
the
House
of
Representatives,
Alex Tyler appears
not to be in favor of the 2017
aspirations of vice president
Joseph Boakai, falling short of
saying whether or not he will
remain a member of the ruling
unity Party (UP) in 2017 if the
party elects the vice President
as the Party flag bearer in the
2017 presidential election.
Tyler, who has not hidden his
presidential ambitions, when
asked he will leave the Party if
he is not the chosen candidate,
said; well, it is good that it is
an alleged ambition and I think
that question will be for the
future.
Asked about his take on the
latest announcement made
by Vice President Boakai
expressing his interest in
replacing president Ellen

Monday, June 1, 2015

Frontpage

PRESIDENT SIRLEAF IN ABUJA;

CONGRATULATES BUHARI ON

INAUGURATION

P
Abuja -

resident Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has congratulated

President Muhammadu Buhari on the occasion of his
colorful inauguration in Abuja, Nigeria.
According to a dispatch from the Liberian Embassy
in Abuja, the Liberian Leader and entourage arrived at the
Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport outside Abuja in the
early morning hours of Friday and joined 49 other Heads of
State and governments to witness the smooth, peaceful and
democratic transition of power in Africas most populous
country.
Todays inaugural ceremony testifies to the deepening of
democracy across the African Continent and confirms how
far our Continent has travelled from its dark days of wars
and coup dtats as means of political transitions, President
Sirleaf said.
The Liberian Leader then praised the roles of the former
President, the contesting parties and the people of Nigeria for
this inspiring example.
According to the dispatch, President Sirleaf also held
discussions with her Guinean and Sierra Leonean counterparts,
Presidents Alpha Conde and Ernest Bai Koroma.
The three Mano River Union (MRU) leaders discussed matters
pertaining to the ongoing to rid the MRU of the Ebola Virus
Disease (EVD).
It can be recalled that the WHO recently declared Liberia
Ebola-free, while neighboring Sierra Leone and Guinea are
hopeful of following in Liberias step.
Meanwhile, Nigerias newly-inaugurated President has assured
his African counterparts and other dignitaries from around
the world that Nigeria will continue to play the leadership role
that Africa and the world expects of his country.
" I also wish to assure the wider international community
of our readiness to cooperate and help to combat threats of
cross-border terrorism, sea piracy, refugees and boat people,
financial crime, cyber-crime, climate change, the spread of
communicable diseases and other challenges of the 21st
Century", Nigeria's 16th Head of State promised.

Page 7

LIBERIA CABINET ENDORSES

2015/2016 BUDGET

Monrovia
he Liberian Cabinet
has
unanimously
endorsed
the
2015/2016 drafted
National Budget of US$604
million presented by the
Ministry of Finance and
Development
Planning
(MFDP) at its sitting in
Monrovia,
According to an Executive
Mansion release, Cabinet took
the decision after carefully
considering
the
overall
objectives
the
National
Budget seek to achieve in the
realization of governments
most critical development

agenda.
The National Budget is
submitted to the Legislature
by the Executive branch
before April 30th of every year
for perusal or scrutinizing
in line with the lawmakers'
oversight
responsibility.
Upon passage, it may or may
not be voted or signed into
law by the President. But
this year, President Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf requested an
extension. The President's
request came just six (6)
days to the expiration of the
2014/2015 Fiscal Year.
The President requested the
lawmakers for the deadline

of the Draft Budget to be

extended from April 30 to
May 31, 2015.
Her request was contained in
a communication dated April
22, 2015 and read during
regular session on Thursday,
April 23, in the Chambers of
the House of Representatives.
The President stated that
more time is required for
Liberia to consult with her
development partners in
supporting
the
National
Budget. This, she stated,
would help reduce the time
available to the Legislature
to approve the Budget before
the start of the new fiscal year.

She noted that the additional

time requested would also
help the country to meet the
challenges faced, as Liberia
recovers from the Ebola crisis.
Pres. Johnson-Sirleaf pointed
out that government is
exploring options out of its
own fiscal space such as,
the mobilizing of additional
external resources to support
the country's recovery and
development efforts.
"I present my compliments
and take this opportunity
to convey to the National
Legislature, through your
Honorable Office, critical
issues regarding the state of
preparation of our National
budget, and to request for
an extension of the deadline
for the submission of the
Draft Budget for Fiscal Year
2015/2016 from April 30,
2015 to May 31, 2015.
We
are
engaging
our
development partners on
how together we can bridge
this gap, in order to succeed
in our national recovery
drive. This requires time
for consultation on specific
programs and areas of
fields. It is my hope that the
additional time will allow us
to find the resources we need
to meet the challenges," she
further stated.
She said strong collaboration
between the Executive and
the Legislative branches over
the coming months is needed
to ensure that the National
Budget reflects the country's
development priorities, and is
approved in time for the start
of the new fiscal year on July
1, 2015.

LIBERIA GOES RETRO-REFLECTIVE

L
New, Embedded Security Features License Plates Will Help Law Enforcement Officers Better Monitor vehicles plying the streets

Monrovia
iberia is unveiling
new license plates
with
embedded
security
features
it hopes will help law
enforcement agencies better
monitor vehicles plying the
streets.
The new plates are buried in
the sheeting for traceability,
warranty enforcement and to
avoid counterfeiting.
Transport Minister Angela
Bush Cassel says the change
of the plate design will
require all vehicles in the
country to convert to the new
system thereby presenting
law enforcement and other
authorities the opportunity
to collect data on vehicle
ownership and operations.
The new license plates will
be used over the next five
years, from 2015 to 2020
and commuters can expect
to begin picking up their
plates by midweek. However
Transport
officials
say
because of the back log of
applications for new plates,

commuters will receive plates

on a first come, first serve
basis starting from those
who registered for new plates
in January. The ministrys
building is not big enough
to absolve everyone at the
same time, one official told
FrontPageAfrica.
Over the past few weeks
commuters have been held up
in massive traffic jams as

Addressing the Ministry of

Information Regular Press
Briefing last Thursday, in the
Charles Gbeyon Press Hall
on Capitol Hill, Transport
Minister, Angela Cassell Bush
said the introduction of the
new plates was consistent
with Title 38 of the Liberian
Code of laws Revised Chapter
3.6.
According to the Minister

Bush, the new sets of plate

are designed to address a
number of issues with the
existing plates including
coding that did not meet
standardized requirements
for visibility and appearance
and design specifications
that lacked security features,
rendering the plates exposed
to duplication.
She said for Liberia to have

been on par with international

transport best practice, it was
imperative for the Ministry
of Transport to introduce the
new improved license plates.
Commenting on the new
features, she indicated that
the plates are designed to be
retro-reflective so that they
have higher visibility at night
to also assist law enforcement
officers identify vehicles

plying the streets at night.

Providing further details,
Minster Bush disclosed that
the new plates will use a new
numbering system based on
the vehicle categories thereby
discontinuing the following
categories of vehicle license
plates: PC, BC, PB, BP, PP, and
NG. These will all replaced
by A categories of license
plates.
Because of the new changes,
license plates such as TB,
TP, TT and TX are being
discontinued and replaced
with one general category
called Public Transport and
another called TAXI.
By these changes, there will be
a reduction in the number of
different categories of plates
in the system, she indicated.
Concluding, Minister Bush
thanked the President for
affording her the opportunity
and commended colleagues
in government for their
cooperation in this effort.

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INTERVIEW

Monday, June 1, 2015

I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT

EYE ON THE PRESIDENCY

VICE PRESIDENT JOSEPPH BOAKAI ON COLLAPSED LAP ADA PROJECT IN FOYA; HIS 2017
CHANCES, THE UNITY PARTY BAGGAGE AND THE ISSUES DOGGING HIS PRESIDENTIAL QUEST
Rodney D. Sieh, rodney.sieh@frontpageafricaonline.com

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: Mr. Vice President, for those who do not

know Joe Boakai even after two terms as vice president, please
tell us a little bit about yourself?
VP BOAKAI: Joe Boakai is from Lofa County; from Wasanga Town
maybe about 15 minutes drive from Foyah. As a matter of fact, I
built the road all the way out there. Joseph Boakai was born unto
the union of old lady Musu Kumba Kbetuo, who later on was a
handicap. I saw my mother when I was still in grade school, losing
her toe - one at a time. It was not until I completed high school,
that I brought her to the ELWA hospital to have her leg completely
cut off.
My early school days, was with an Uncle in Kenema, Sierra Leone,
who was working at the time with the Forestry Department. At
that time, the only road you had was to go to Sierra Leone. I once
in a while had the opportunity to come back through the borders;
my brothers will pick me up and bring me into the village.
It was not a very comfortable life, because there my uncle was a
drunk and he did not care. There was a Fulah man who reared
my uncle and every time I ran away and went to the old man, he
will go to the old man and demand that he care for us. We were
boys living in the yard; those were days he had somebody who
had very limited sources of income.
It was not an easy life because we came from school straight went
for wood and many times, I do not know what I was doing there
but I find out later that it was just an exercise, there were many
times we were so many in the yard and so much underfed.
Those were days times we did not even have any shoes to wear. I
used to use my toes many times to pick peanuts. I am saying this
because I did not know what me and ants fighting over peanuts
will do to me. Food was a problem; I tell my children these days some people say who give these boys the height. I say they did not
break wood, they drank milk, I did not have any of that because
in fact the clothes that I wore at the time, my pair of trouser will
be so torn that I have to tie it when I am wearing it, I did not even
know, what was the original color until finally an aunty of mine
brought me to Bomi Hills.
At the time, she too was a difficult person to deal with but I
managed to be with her for three years and she took me back up
country and she wanted to do a little table, market and I said no.
My dad at that time came and pick me up. At the time, I had a
woman married to an uncle of mine who died a few years ago
who had come from vacation to the village and I followed her.
We had to walked all the way to Firestone from Lofa and I stayed
with them for two months, because when my aunt brought me
to Bomi Hills, now Tubmanburg, I was registered at the United
Pentecostal Mission and I wanted to come back to school.
So for the two months we were there, I think they had a tradition
that if the headman - and my uncle was then a headman. If you
lose your workers, you could lose your job. By the time I got there
one of his boys was out and so they registered me as a tapper and
they knew I did not know how to tap so in the morning, we all will
go to tap and his wife will be cleaning the cups and he helping. But
then I learned how to do it and I did it for two months, but then I
remembered one day, I took the latex on my head and slipped and
felt and you know latex, everything spill over me and I had to run
to the creek. When I got to the creek to put the water on me and
returned to the compound, the way the water and remaining latex
was visible on my body, everybody was booing at me.
But something strange happened one day, I was tapping rubber,
a person was just passing and they said, go to school. As if the
person knew that I should have been in school.
After the two months I was paid, the money that I got from that
work could only buy four yards of cloth, two short pants and two
shirts. I went to the car park in Waterside and a friend of mine
used to manage the Club house, Scot Dean - he is still around. He
was on his way to Tubmanburg and I said I want to go back. I went
and gave myself to the missionaries at the mission, I was there
for a year, I left the mission at the time, they had three bachelors
working for the company and the man took me to them and so
I became their houseboy. In the morning where the workers
are going to work, I will take my book, the school is right by the
road side, I will cleanup, take the dirty clothes to the laundry and
everything and come to class. After school I would go back and
collect my books, wait around clean the house.
The way I used to survive was the bachelors had a place they used
to prepare their food and there were lots of my country people
working there, so I would put the glasses, the drinks overnight in
the bucket as if I was going to wash those glasses; so when I get
there they all manage to cut some of the bread, put butter in there
and put it in the bucket for me and cover it. I lived on that until I
completed the 8th grade at the United Pentecostal Mission; that
year, I dux the class, then I had to think about where to go next.
An uncle of mine Joseph Johnson used to be in the police force
and he encouraged me to come to Monrovia but he himself was
just a police and those days, the police was making just $US22. He
had one room he and his friend and they used to be on the bed. So

obviously, I had to sleep on the floor. I found out that life was so
difficult, so I dropped, actually I dropped out of school more than
there to four times. The last time I dropped out of school I went
to Foyah, and one, the late teacher McCarthy said, Joe, why dont
you teach. It was after the first census was conducted and I said
okay. So I taught at the Swedish Mission School, those days people
started school very late so Dr. Evan Kamanue (sp), they were
students there in the 5th grade, Joe Mayah and all these people, so
I taught them in grade school. For some reason, I just decided that
I had to come back to school. I came to the College of West Africa.
I think my coming there was prompted by the fact that I had one
Moses Boakai there from Lofa and he was attending, he was full
grown but was very ambitious. When I came the exams fee there
was $US2 but I only had $1, so he gave me another $1. There is
a Sam Tucker at the Ministry of Agriculture, he is retired now.
He and I were the only ones that passed the 9th grade exams. At
that time it was vacation so we had to wait for school to resume
so we can start. Then I had to get money for school because at
that time, CWA was one of the expensive schools for the elite. I
dont even know what carry me there. So I had to look for a job
to buy uniforms. So Rivoli at the time had three shows. So I went
to Rivorli through some friend of mine who used to work in the
movie hall who I knew in Foyah when I was a teacher and he said
teacher come, maybe there is some jobs to work as a waiter. So
I went to the manager and said I want to work. He said as what?
And I said as a waiter. He said how much do you want me to pay
you? I said $US75, the word did not come from my mouth and the
guy said go, go, I dont want to see you, go.
So I left, I went home and I was blaming myself. I said God why
did I ask for such a big money. So, I went back and wrote a letter
of apology and he said I will pay you $36 and I said thank you. At
the time we were living on Front Street in a room, three of us and I
went there, I borrowed money, I bought my black pants, my white
shirt, my bowtie, my black shoes.
I used to work from 3pm to 1 am because that was the last shift.
What is interesting is that every aspect of life has a long term. I got
the job, when I got it there was a head fellow they call Sampson,
as a waiter, the only way you made money was through tips, and
every time I came out to serve, Sampson will say go into the
kitchen, go wash dishes.
I only got a chance when Sampson was not on duty. If Sampson
is still alive he will tell you when I became the first managing
Director of LPMC, Sampson was working as Saboteur and every
time I took guest there Sampson will say, there is my man, he will
run to me.
I said this is the same man who was depriving me of my tips. I
went to CWA and somebody was my guardian, one William
Reeves Dennis, his wife Margaret Dennis is in the United States, I
think she is Reverend now in the Episcopal Church. They were not
guardian; I mean you had to relate to somebody. Fortunately after
one or two years, Mr. Dennis arranged for me to move to the CWA
dorm on partial scholarship.
I knelt down that night and said God, if I ever leave school again, I
will never come back. That was a turning point in my life, I went to
CWA, shortly thereafter I became head of the boys dorm. Francis

Karpeh, the same Ambassador Karpeh used to be next to me but

Francis and others said I never used to go out. I knew why I never
used to go out because I was not involved in a lot of social activities
and besides that this was a school at the time when they kick you
out; you will not come back and I did not have parents. I used
to sign my own report card; I was responsible for myself, so my
vacation at the time was from the day before Christmas because
I had to go to Lofa to my oldma to nurture me. When she heard
that I was coming, she prepared nice food but I had to come back
immediately after New Year because I had to work for vacation to
get my school things ready, I had no body to do it.
When I was head of the boys dorm, Francis was next to me, in
the school, I became the Chaplin of the 9th grade class, Seward
Cooper will tell you, they used to have senators and I was senior
senator of the 10th grade class. I was class president of the 11th
grade class and John Richardson will tell you, he will never run
for public office because he and I ran to be president for the
Student Council and I beat him and he said, this man come from
all the way Lofa to beat me on my own territory. Just the other
day he was at the house, I was giving him some Tuna Fish for his
organization and he said and you beat me that time and I did not
contest, so you have to pay for it. But I held all the positions but
what was interesting was on the graduation as a senior, those
days when you were graduating, a lot of people will bring gifts,
but I had nobody to bring me gifts. That was one of the realities; I
said what you mean nobody? But I graduated and I continued to
work and I moved to the University that was how I met my wife,
Ellen.
They made me Assistant Dean and gave me two bed rooms
apartment at CWA. Ellen had her two boys, Charles and Jeff they
were on the dorm and that was how we met. She and her late
former husband used to visit the boys.
I enrolled at the University, but I was still working at CWA, after
classes I used to come and work in the business office. From class
I will come to help sell books, uniforms and other things so it was
a busy life between classes and work. There was all these people,
Gloria Musu Scott, Ciatta Bishop, all these people know, so I was a
student working. Not until I got to my senior year at the university
where I was offered by Charles Minor to go and work for LPMC,
that same year in 1972, I got married.
I went to LPMC; shortly afterward they ask me to take a transfer
to Voinjama. That is where I went and ran the corporation there,
first there was Jenkins Baker and one Mason, I worked with
them until I was appointed manager of the Voinjama branch. It
was from there, normally people say when you are sent out of
town, thats where I came from, but Minor, whenever you talk to
him he will tell you. When the coup took place he was in jail, as
they always do with high corporate people. I heard he was in jail
and praying that if anybody should be a Liberian MD of LPMC, it
should be Joe Boakai. Harry Dennis told me that and I became the
first Liberian Managing Director of LPMC. I was there until 1982.
When I went to Denmark to negotiate for some items for the
company; thats when we negotiated for those sallow you saw in
Gbarnga and Ganta. Theres where I was at the time the late Peter
Young was the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Fromayan who

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I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT: EYE ON THE PRESIDENCY

was then Minister had just died and while we were in Denmark, I
was appointed Minister but because I did not want to disrupt the
leadership of the trip. We kept that undercover, Ousman Dukuly,
he was then the Charge D affairs for Scandinavia every time he
will come and say Joe I will announce your name, I will say no
please do not do it, dont spoil this trip.
Almost everybody in the group knew I was Minister but we kept
it undercover, Kalongo Luo was the man that Quiwonkpa used to
send on errands, the late Joseph Fangalo, Jenkins Baker, so we
will always meet and I will plead with them not to let Peter Young
know that I was Minister.
So when we went to the Hotel that evening, Ousman Dukuly said
Joe, I will announce it now, whether you want it or not. So he
called us together and said Young I want to let you know that Joe
Boakai is now the new Minister and I remember Young came and
held my hand and said Joe, we will work with you.
I was now a minister in the Doe administration. I was there and
at some point in time when Doe wanted to become a civilian
President, George Boley and all these people came to me. I
remember the question; George Boley asked me and said should
you be considered for a second highest position in this country?
Do you think that what people say about you it will work and
George, you know I am not afraid of anything, and I said if it is
Gods will it will happen. As it was not Gods will. Harry Moniba
became the vice President.
I decided to remain in Liberia, I made a short trip outside to the
United States and I came back. I have been around; I tried to make
my contributions. I know that I did go out of the country to do
some consultancy, Uganda, Tanzania, but I am happy to always be
in Liberia. I was here during the Taylor time and my prayer was I
would be here. But I pray that I did not get appointed anywhere.
The simple reason was at that time I did not see anything much
happening and I did not just want a title, until the Amos Sawyer
administration, I know I was encouraged to go to The Gambia
to participate in the election of Sawyer election. I travelled from
Freetown to the Gambia. I happened to be on KLM with Prince
Johnson group, the Independent National Patriotic Party and we
were on the same plane to go to The Gambia.
I wanted to get the kind of courtesy but I did not want to be
identified so when we got to the airport, all the journalists came
and I ran to the bathroom. But then we went in the Hall, Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf, everybody were there, Kenneth Best was there
also, we went into the hall and they asked identify yourself and
said I am Joseph Boakai but I am not with this group.
At that time there were people who were pushing for me to be
National Chair or the Vice Chair but I turned away. We were
there when Sawyer was selected, and I remained in Freetown.
I showed Sawyer the note he wrote me to ask me to come and
reopen LPMC. By the time I came, I know Mr. Arnold Diggs was
there and doing well, the late Harry Moniba wanted me to go to
Agriculture but Nat Doe Bropleh was there. It was then that they
prevailed on me to go to the LPRC, Bryon Tarr, Sawyer and others
- they told me to go the refinery, one Awori was there. They said
go and put that place in order and after that you can leave. But
before that time, there was some organization during that period
that we setup, Movement for the Protection of Liberia Interest,
almost everybody that came that time, McIntosh, former Senator
Wotorson, Gweikolo, everybody was proud of that and I was
elected the president of that organization.
I remained with that while I was LPRC and worked there for nine
months. But I had my own little business, the Musu Resource
Corporation at the Agriculture Bank so until Sawyer replaced me
with one Nyan.
I continue to be in this country, I worked with the YMCA, the
Federation of Liberian Youth, we founded that, LOIC Board. I
always wanted to be here because I felt there was a need to see
this country through.
It was not until 2005 when Ellen came and asked me and many
others who wanted me to be their running mate. I agreed to be
her running mate and we are serving up to now.
So in nutshell and I am telling you most of what I am saying about
my family. I really did not know a lot of things until Dr. Malakpa,
you know the blind educator- until he heard my life story on the
radio and said Uncle I need to do your biography and he went to
the village, he talked with the elders, he has a draft and as I read it
I learned a lot of new things about my life.
I feel that, we have been in this country rendering services, I love
Liberia and I love to see things that all of us always hope to happen.
In nutshell this is me, Joe Boakai we were five only two of us left
now. I have a younger brother, whose son is a medical doctor and
he lived with me, he is now working in Tappita, Dr. Emmanuel
Tamba. You know normally we do not carry family name, the
Boakai name I got it from my aunt lived with in Tubmanburg, her
husband name was oldman Boakai that was the name I inherited
to go to the Mission school with it. So that is how I got the Boakai
name.
FRONTPAGEAFRICA: Mr. Vice President, it has been a few days
since you accepted a petition from folks in your hometown, Lofa
County to contest the 2017 presidential elections. A lot of the
ruling Unity Party governments critics say some of the lapses of
the current administration in which you serve as vice president
could rub on you in your own quest for the presidency. Do you
think those critics are right in their assessment? How do you
convince them otherwise?
VP Boakai: I am tied to the history of the Unity Party, the Unity
party is part of me - in spite of the fact that people will say it has
not done this, done that, it is equally true that it has done a lot of
good things. So as we identify with the good things, we have to

could bring Mini mills that you could use to process until that
time. I tell you that caught them and the Chairman said to his
man who was here yesterday, why didnt you think about this?
Why is it the Vice President that is coming to tell us? So they have
decided that they will introduce some small mills and they even
decided that the palm oil will be giving to the people as goodwill
gesture. It is unfortunate that they had just come with those kinds
of messages and the people went on the rampage.

When you come with a concession in Agriculture,

bring a manager who is there to start up, they
must have that skill. But most often they bring
plantation managers, plantation managers
managed projects that are up and running. If you
do not know the social issues of the country, you
do now know how to relate to the people on the
ground.
also associate ourselves with some of the things that happened.
But again, I have a record I managed LPMC as the first Liberian
managing director of the LPMC, when LPMC had a turnover of 45
million dollars and we ran that corporation quite successfully. I
became the Minister of Agriculture at the time when we had three
major projects, LCADP, NCRPD, UCADP at that time this country
was self-sufficient in poultry, this country imported about only
30% of rice because at LPMC we also handled rice project. This
country had good agriculture projects and our intent was Nimba,
Bong and Lofa will become an agriculture community and we
were working toward that when things felt apart.
So, let me be judged by who I am and what I have achieved. As a
Vice President, yes my role is quite defined. I worked effectively,
people wonder what I have done but I dont go around blowing
too much about that. The record shows that I have achieved a lot
even as Vice President in many areas. So the Liberian people, say
Unity Party has done a lot of good things and also there has been
a lot of shortcomings and Joe Boakai has a history.
FRONTPAGEAFRICA: One issue that is been in air and you
mentioned that in your acceptance speech is the issue about the
resources. How do we manage resources to impact the peoples
lives and you spoke about that in Indonesia when you visited there
you raised the issue about why Golden Veroleum does not a lot of
Liberians in the management level which has lots of traction. How
do you think your administration will handle this issue?
VP BOAKAI: The thing about concession here is that even while
I was in Indonesia, I discussed with the Chairman and most of
these concessions and I have spoken with the Minister Agriculture
when they come, we should look at their management structure
at the onset. When you come with a concession in Agriculture,
bring a manager who is there to start up, they must have that
skill. But most often they bring plantation managers, plantation
managers managed projects that are up and running. If you do
not know the social issues of the country, you do now know how
to relate to the people on the ground. Many times I met with the
people from Sime Darby, if you really want a project to run, go to
the village one evening; our people are really easy to deal with.
Sit down with them; they will say the white man is here with us,
those are the ways. But you have to always know that for people
to begin to accept a new project especially without understanding
it becomes a problem but at the same time for me, agriculture
projects are not projects that should be all with foreigners.
A lot of people here have a lot of experience, people dont know,
there are tractor operators here that we have trained over the
years, they are available, there a lot of people who know how to
use the graders, so to bring a lot of foreigners to do those kinds of
jobs. When you go into concession agreements, you say to provide
jobs for Liberians and that is the hope that people have that jobs
will be created, so all I did in Indonesia was to tell the them that
look, we appreciate what you are doing but we promised people
jobs, you dont need to bring 15 people to train 5 people.
And again, also while I was there, I know in their reporting they
have said the palm products that are not bearing, they should
castrate them, I mean suppress production until they set up a Mill.
I said to the Chairman, did I hear you talking about castrating the
trees? He said yes and I said has it not occurred to you that you

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: Part of the problem for many is that people

are saying that when these contracts were signed initially, the
traditional people were not involved in the preparation. So when
these things like what is happening with GVL in Sinoe this week,
it comes as a surprise because they are not aware of the details
of these contracts. How would you handle the situation if you
are elected?
VP BOAKAI: We need a lot of education; I know when we planted
Oil Palm in Foyah, up to today. In fact at that time people were
saying, you know we do not have a lot of land here, why did you
bring the people to plant palm here. Today a lot of the people
in Foyah want oil palm. Because they saw what oil palm did for
them when ULIMO was there; it was because of oil palm that
saved that area. I think we need to let our people know what we
are about to do, the benefits that come from there, their role,
maybe because at some point in time we are so excited about
investments, sometimes there are little short cuts but again to do
the remaining work is not usually the easiest thing to do. I have
been to Sinoe and I was impressed with what I saw there although
I do believe that from the management side, some of these people
that come to manage these projects tend to have some disregard
for our people and that is why I went to make it straight to the
Chairman. So, yes some errors may have been made, but I think,
we can improve on that.

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: Still in the Foyah area, one of the biggest

criticisms about your potential candidacy is the collapse of the
LAP-ADA Project that went burst. Did you have anything to do
with that project and what led to the failure of the project?
VP BOAKAI: You know if we must tell the true story. I got to
know McIntosh right after the election and I saw a documentary
by CNN about all these projects that people used to do the
NCDDRR(National Center for the Dissemination of Disability
Research) program.
McIntosh program was the most effective program in agriculture
because he was making swamp rice unlike other people who were
teaching people just how to brush and I was impressed because
he gave me some of the CD with the documentary that CNN did.
When I became Vice President, I inherited the NCDDRR project
and McIntosh at that time wanted to take over Guthrie, there was
some politics against him and we defended him because we saw
his project. McIntosh came to me and said he used to call me Dad.
I will bring an investment and I was shocked when he announced
when Chris Toe was the Minister that there was a $30 million
investment. McIntosh can tell you that money never reached this
shore; that money landed in Geneva and was managed there. The
only thing that project did at the time was to buy tractors, bought
huge rice mills at the time and when I talked to people, I am not
going call names as to how this kind of project came about, they
say, thats how the Libyans get money out of their country. They
bring it out, it is managed elsewhere.
If McIntosh is honest with you, I encouraged that project even
the young representative there when they said they were going
to pay these people, I told them agriculture projects to begin to
tie them to paying incentives and social corporate, giving to the
community is not practical because rice farming, you cannot begin
to pay $300,000 to people, where are you going to get that money
from? That is people money. The problem about that project was
that the Libyans themselves who had the project, they used to call
it ADA/LAP, there was no Board on the ground. If McIntosh will
be honest with you, even the machines they had on the road. I,
asked Elvis Morris, I told them to remove them and I gave money
to help to remove them. The machines that were at the port, all of
these rice mills that arrived, they could not be cleared, they built a
lot of storage, I told the NPA boss to get them from APM Terminal
and subsequently turn them over to the Ministry of Agriculture
because we could not afford to see all those kinds of equipment
wasted.
The Libyans themselves shortcut the project. The project was
underfunded, when they harvested the first rice, the rice was
almost spoiling. I had to tell them why not let the people give the
rice to the poor so that it does not go to waste. I supported that
project, Elvis Morris will tell you, sometimes the fuel to go and
harvest the rice, I will give them. The project was well intended
but I dont think people were committed to financing the project.
The project died, the equipment are there, people many times in
Foyah started complaining about payment of arrears for taking
care of the tractors but we have been encouraging them to hold
on. You know in Liberia you do all the good things, the only one
that comes out is the bad one.
I had nothing to do with it; it is just that when the project was
conceived, I recommended Foyah and Kpatawee. Kpatawee never
took place and they decided it in Foyah and the Libyans did not
want to continue the project because they had money. McIntosh
used to get a hard time getting money for payroll. So the project
died.
FRONTPAGEAFRICA: Has there been any effort from the
governmental level to ask the Libyans why they did not want to
go forward with the project?

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VP BOAKAI: Libya, at this point in time? The Libyans were also

interested in Ducor but things felt apart. Even the tractors that
they donated to the government that I went to the airport to get,
the Libyans had taken all of that and put it in their compound, we
have to fight before they released those tractors. There is nobody
to talk to.
FRONTPAGEAFRICA: Now that the project is dead, is there no
way to resurrect another company or another investment?
VP BOAKAI: McIntosh went to ECOWAS. I spoke with Togar
McIntosh to let ECOWAS fund or finance the project. A very good
concept, I can tell you, he is a goal getter, they came here and
talked to me, we welcomed the idea. The only thing I have said
to McIntosh is that to be a good goal getter is one thing and to be
a good manager is another thing, if you cant manage, work with
somebody. That idea was discussed and that is a long process and
up now we have not seen that come true and the equipment are
lying down. But we were able to intervene and trying to get them,
I talked with the Minister of Agriculture; I think they are in his
custody, you are talking about 40 containers, how do you store
them to persevere them. As I went down to Foyah the last time, I
saw two of the tractors along the way.
That area where tractors were, I made rice farm there before.
We are even in the anticipation of making rice farm there; the
Guineans are always saying the river for them. We sent people
across to talk to them that we can use the water to do irrigation.
When you have a problem, you have to look for solution, not
blaming everybody.

I am tied to the history of the Unity Party, the

Unity party is part of me - in spite of the fact that
people will say it has not done this, done that,
it is equally true that it has done a lot of good
things. So as we identify with the good things, we
have to also associate ourselves with some of the
things that happened.

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: The process of selecting a vice president is

a very delicate one. You, in the views of many have been one of
the best vice presidents because of your laid back and somewhat
background leadership supporting the presidency. What would
you look for when it is time for you to select someone as your
vice?
VP BOAKAI: I will say, when we come to that bridge, we will cross
it. I think the whole idea here is to work with younger people
who will see, learning how to work. There are lots of problems,
people dont know what people do, let me take an example. You
know Haywood is next to the ACS. ACS closed down and left the
country, Haywood as a local entity was managing the area; they
immediately entered the ACS building and took three rooms for
their 9th graders. CAP occupied certain portion of the building.
Because we wanted the Americans to come back to make this
place a family place, they decided to go to the president to retake
their building and do renovation. At that time the President asked
some people from her office to handle the situation, it was then
that Frances Morris who became Minister of Justice. Leo Simpson
will tell you that he was having a problem; he had said where
do we put on 9th graders? The Americans were asking for the
building until the President asked me to handle the problem. I
called Leo Simpson and I asked him if he could find building to
put his 9th graders and he said there is nowhere. I said okay, let
do it this way, put the 9th graders on an afternoon schedule and
we will pay the teachers and so the 9th graders started coming
in the afternoon. We took for three months and I called LACE and
said can you put a facility for Haywood in three months. LACE
got a contractor, we paid the teachers for three months, we got a
building for CAP to move in and that was how when the Haywood
building was completed and ready the ACS had renovated their
building and the President went to dedicate.
From that time to todays date, Leo Simpson has the most respect
for me. I do what I do quietly; we are here to solve problems. That
is just one of the many; you know the ELWA land and all of that.
FRONTPAGEAFRICA: One of quiet things you have reportedly
been doing is trying to bring the Unity party together
VP BOAKAI: I have been doing that.

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: What was the process like doing that?

VP BOAKAI: Unity Party suffices together. There have been some
issues with the chairman, we have resolved that right in the House
there. Today the President and Chairman are working together.
You saw that when I took the Chairman with me at the retreat
everybody was confused they did not know whether to embrace
him or not. We have resolved that and the president asked me,
Joe when you are coming bring the Chairman. For the first time
at the annual message, President would say, we recognize the
Chairman, we are working together and we are now about to
restart activities within the party.

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: How important it is to have a United Front

in the wake of election nearing, you have been there and you are
going to be there for 12 years. Because the opposition themselves
want to get to power, they do not want a repeat of the True Whig
Party where one party was dominating for years. How important

it is for the party to be united?

VP Boakai: It is so interesting that everybody is talking about
power. What the people of this country want to see is a good
country. I tell people when you are 15 years old and you are in the
2nd grade with 7 years old, you will sit there and people call all of
you children but you are not a child, Liberia is 168 years old. Are
we satisfied with all that is achieved, I am not. We do not belong
where we are and so people talking about power, I am not about
power, I am talking about country. People talking about young
people, I am not talking about young people, we are talking about
the future of this country, the future of the people of this country,
they have been patient, they embrace government and they work
with it but they want to see a future.

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: How convinced are you that you are the

right person for this job?
VP BOAKAI: Of course, even the young people in this cannot
have anybody better because they know that I worked with them.
I solve problems; I do things without all of these talking. Right
now, do you know how many food I have brought to this country?
The school feeding program, I am about to bring food, good tuna
fish. I do things for my country, doing the Ebola; I sent a container
load of Tuna fish to Sierra Leone and one to Guinea in the name
of Liberia. People have the confidence that I can do that, the man
who is doing this came here to Liberia, he left all the churches, all
the religious leaders and came to me and said Mr. Vice President,
I can trust you that whatever I give you will go to the poor. Even
hospitals, JFK, teachers, bicycles, clothing. Last time I sent bicycles
to Maryland for teachers to rdie and come to school, Gbarpolu,
other places, fortunately people like Dr. Tarpeh who knew about
that. Those are things we do, so I am confident that the young
people working with them what they want to see their country
transition, we are not talking about power. I could leave and go to
my farm and sit there, all my children have been educated in spite
of the fact that their father came from obscurity. Do you know
what you get from out of this job, people are insulting, and saying
this and that, you think this is the kind of thing you want to do?
FRONTPAGEAFRICA: Does that get to you. All the criticisms on
the radio-and the name callings?
VP Boakai: Yes, of course, what is it, you know one elderly man
told me, people only chase somebody who is leading; they do not
chase somebody at the back.

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: The last time we talked, you were talking

about the Tolbert comparison; people were saying you are too
laid-back; some people even call you Sleepy Joe. Does it get to
you. The Tolbert comparison, they say Tolbert was laid-back but
he came and did a lot, does that get to you?
VP BOAKAI: Vice President is Vice President. Maybe you can look
at places where Vice President do not pay back and see how long
they survive. The fact of the matter is that your job is defined to
assist the president. Apart from being president of the Senate and
some people even talk about that president of the senate presiding
officer. You do not take votes after doing everything; the senators
go and take their votes. Yes sometimes when the discussions go
somehow you call and advise; but I am not allowed to participate,
not only me when a senator is presiding in my absence, they are
not allowed to participate either; you have to go back, so that is
job we do.
I work with the president, the President and I have very good
relationship. I advise the president on issues, the president has
the right to listen to what I say or not but in the constitution, it
is clearly defined, it is specifically the president job. So what am
I supposed to do, go on the radio? I will never do that. You know
the late Judge Tulay told me and I heard said that when the person
is above you, you push them up so that your feet can leave the
ground but when you pull them, the lower they come the lower
you will come and they sit on you. I work with the President, I am
not there to share job with her but to do what she wants for me
to do to help her.
FRONTPAGEAFRICA: The regional support is very important and
you have recently made to trips to Ghana at the invitation of John
Mahama. He came to the job the same way you did. How is that
support like and do you think you have the support of the regional
leaders in the succession plan?
VP BOAKAI: When President Mahama was Vice President, we
were friends; we met at many conferences in time past. When
the Ebola Epidemic was here, he called me one day and said I
am planning to come to Liberia, tell the president, which I did.
After he came, visited, went back, one day he called me and said
Mr. Vice President, I think you need rest after this Ebola, when
you ready, tell me and I will sent the plane. We are friends and I
think, there are lots of honor to that, I am Vice President and the
President can invite me.
He sent the plane, I went, he arranged my visit, we spent the day,
we took a helicopter and went boat ride and showed that he has
respect for me, he has confidence in me and I want to believe that
similar thing happened, when I went to Senegal one time and I
was coming back and the President(Macky Sall) - because to go to
Senegal we had to go to Nigeria and we arrived in Senegal at 1 am
even Kofi Woods arrived there at 4am. The president saw it fit to
offer me his plane to bring me, I am respected.
FRONTPAGEAFRICA: Lets look the time you had and the time
the president leaves. There have been some concerns that you
may not have enough time to show Liberians what you are made
of. Would you be hoping or would you encourage speculations
that the President should give you maybe one year or even two -

before she leaves, so that you can show yourself as a leading man?
VP BOAKAI: If ever a vice president go to the president and
say move let me go there, you know what will happen? I think
you learn the story about the prodigal son. You do not ask, if the
President see the wisdoms and need and make the decision. I am
happy that the president is aware and the president has told me
Joe, I want for you to succeed me. If she had not told me, I would
not have asked her and would never have taken a step but she
knows that I am capable. She has respect for me, so it is up to the
president, she was elected for two six years, it is not for me to tell
her leave the rest of your term, it is left with her say.
FRONTPAGEAFRICA: If she does not do that will you be
comfortable running against a fearless opposition? The hungry
lions as they say - are waiting for you?
VP BOAKAI: He who comes into a cold house must have some
warm for himself; if you want to be afraid of opposition then
you should not be anywhere. When the Lofa people asked me,
they did not force me, I said I was willing, I am not thinking
about opposition, they are there and I already knew that. The
oppositions also know there is somebody coming who they will
have to contend with.

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: Lets look at the issue of corruption; it has

been a problem for this government. How would you handle it
differently than what has been done so far?
VP Boakai: I think these are issues that you deal with when you
come to the job because there are lots of other dimensions to
that even the way in which things work, the management skills,
strategy that you have, you only handle it when you get there. So
I think I have a reasonable idea as to how we can get Liberians to
know that this is our country that we all can build this country and
benefit from it. I want to be able to drive from here to Maryland
to spend the weekend. I think it has a lot of things that has to do
with working with people that make them do, I worked with lots
of people are LPMC, they were not corrupt, people were earning
their salaries and they were doing their work and it worked well,
so when we get to that bridge, we will cross it.
FRONTPAGEAFRICA: Mr. Vice president. Drawing comparison
from the US election of 2000 that saw Al Gore lose to George
W. Bush. Many critics of Mr. Gore slammed him for not using
President Clinton with whom he served eight years with because
of the Monica Lewinsky Scandal. Perhaps if he had, things would
have ended up differently for him. How would you handle this
regarding president Sirleaf with whom you have served two
terms. In wake of the many challenges and lapses, would you
be confortable running on the Unity Party record of President
Sirleaf?
VP BOAKAI: I think if it were all the time that you will inherit
everything negative than you should also inherit all the good
things. But I think Liberians should give people the chance on
the basis of who they know them to be. The President makes
decisions, decision making is lonely, people can advise you and
when you go to bed, you decide what you want to do. We are
judged by the decisions we make, so let me be judged by the
decisions I would make and be given chance to be judged in that
way. I think that is the way I see it.
FRONTPAGEAFRICA: Is there anything that we did not cover that
you want people to know about Joe Boakai and his 2017 quest?
VP BOAKAI: I know most of what people will know is when the
time comes - because people think I am quiet, people think I am
this, all kinds of things they brand me with but I know who I am
and people who worked with me know who I am, they know I
have passion for this country, they know my strength they will
know if I am that kind of easy person they think. But everybody
got a style in achieving what they want to achieve and I am sure
wherever I worked, mine style has worked and if you see a lot of
people have confidence in me, not that they do not know.
Firstly, part of reason they think I am cool is I have always been
a shy person but again I have to force myself now, because when
you get to this place, you have to adapt to certain things. I am not
a person where you can easily get away with things, I do not do it.
I discipline myself, and I start with myself. I tell you an example
when I used to be with LPMC, my wife knows that you never get
a pickup from LPMC to ride, no it is company vehicle. We can go
outside and do it. I used to get a booklet from LPMC as long as that
trip I am making is not LPMC related, I would not use it. You got
to start by setting example, so Liberians will get to know who Joe
Boakai is at the right time.

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: Is there anybody who you fear in the 2017

election? I am sure you have heard some names out there. Is there
anyone you think will be a problem for you?
VP BOAKAI: Problem? No! All of these people in the race, we
know one another very well. You come to the Liberian people, you
make your case and they look at it and they will judge you. I think
I have a lot of experience and I think, I have been able to reach
a lot of lives more than anybody here whether it is dealing with
young people, with women groups. Let the people come and let
talk about it.

Monday, June 1, 2015

Page 11

Frontpage

OBITUARY

REV. WALTER D. RICHARDS IS DEAD

Clergyman who pastored Salem Baptist and First Baptist Church
served as Deputy Minister of Education in the Tolbert Government

Monroviaev. Walter D. Richards

a
former
Deputy
Minister of Education
in
the
Tolbert
government who pastored
the Salem Baptist Church for
more than 20 years has died.
He was 86. Rev. Richards who
simultaneously pastored the
First Baptist church in Clay
Ashland.
Rev.
Richards
was
also
Chairman of the Board of
Trustees of the Liberia Baptist
Theological
Seminar
from
2006 -2012 and also served as
executive secretary to Tolbert
when Tolbert was vice president
and a former principal of Ricks
Institute in Virginia from 197277. He was honorably retired

from the pulpit in 2013.

Rev. Richards was a highly-regarded clergyman trumpeted as one of
Liberias prophetic voices. He was a prominent young pastor during
the Tolbert presidency. His sermons took aim against social ills such
as child abuse, sexual abuse, female genital mutilation.
The clergyman was a thorn in the side of presidents Tolbert, Doe,
and Taylor whom he regularly chastised publicly for their nepotism,
financial corruption, and brutality.
Rev. Richards was arrested and flogged during the Doe era and was
fond of displaying those marks to close friends and family as a sign
of his struggles against injustice.
In the late 1980s, the late President Does national guard reportedly
burned the clergymans house to the ground and attempted to
assassinate him, accidentally killing his younger brother Van.
Richards ordeal was a driving force behind his call for leaders of
various denominations to form a unified front against Doe. He was
appointed the chairman of the Interface Committee that stood
against Doe and confronted him about the ills against the society.
The move at one point forced the late President to go on national
television and announced the Liberian church was far more corrupt
than the government and had no right to challenge him or his power.
Doe referred to himself as Gods elect and accused the committee
of being populated by promiscuous and power-hungry pastors, and
threatened to expose all of them publicly for their corruption.
The ever-defiant and brave clergyman was the only one to stand up
to Doe, taking to the pulpit and challenging the president, telling
his congregation at one point that Doe would not stop them from
preaching the gospel and that he feared no man but God alone.
In 1996, Rev. Richards and his family barely escaped the civil war in
Liberia.
Rev. Richards also served as board chairman of the Liberian
Opportunities Industrialization Center, a branch of the Philadelphiabased job-training organization. Under Mr. Richards' leadership,
the Liberian OIC program aided some 4,000 people, providing war
trauma counseling, job training and career guidance. The Liberian
center is one of a dozen OIC operates in Africa.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported in May 1996 that Rev. Richards
was spared, in part, because of the intervention of OIC's founder,
the Rev. Leon Sullivan, who petitioned the U.S. State Department
to evacuate him and his family. Rev. Richards and his wife, Ora, a
clothing designer, and their two sons barely escaped death when U.S.
Marines evacuated them, according to the Inquirer.
Upon arrival in the U.S. the clergyman described the horrors of the
days and nights in his family's home in Monrovia prior to their escape,
explaining that his family often had to duck bullets and shrapnel,
fired by all sides, by lying or crawling on the floor. They came to the
U.S. embassy gates on April 11 during the worst fighting and violence
of the civil war. There was automatic-weapons fire and explosions all
around them. The residents of Monrovia had panicked, and hundreds
crowded into an open area in front of the locked embassy gates. They
begged to be let in.
Bruce Ashford writing in the Between the Lines wrote in December
2009 of Richards: Richards would survive the Doe era continued as
pastor of two churches until this day (he is seventy-eight years old).
As I shared several meals with him and listened to students, faculty,
and pastors tell the story of his life, I was reminded of several truths.
First, I was reminded that the pastorate is a high calling. With it
comes the responsibility to declare the entire counsel of God even
one might suffer because of it. Second, and closely related, I was
reminded once again of the supreme value and worth of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the greatest treasure of all, greater than any
wealth, fame, comfort, or sense of earthly security. He is better than
anything life could give us, and better than anything that floggings,
imprisonments, or house burnings could take away from us. Pastor
Walter Richards life is a prescient reminder of Pauls declaration in
Phil. 3:8: Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain
Christ.
Ashford went on to describe Rev. Richards as a walking history
of Liberian Baptists. He knew all of the Baptist heroes from the
Tolbert years. Physically, Richards has slowed, but intellectually and
spiritually he is more alive than ever. His winsomeness and presence
was a fitting end to the series.

GRATEFUL TO UNMIL
United Nations marks International Day of Peacekeepers in Liberia

solemn ceremony
marking
the
International
Day of United
Nations Peacekeepers under
the global theme UN70 and
UN
Peacekeeping:
Past,
present and future, was held
at the UN Mission in Liberia
(UNMIL) headquarters in
Monrovia, bringing together
senior officials of the Liberian
Government,
the
United
Nations family, members of
the Diplomatic Corps, nongovernmental
organizations
and other partners.
The Vice President of the
Republic of Liberia, H. E.

Joseph N. Boakai, and the

Special Representative of the
Secretary-General (SRSG) and
Coordinator of United Nations
Operations in Liberia, Karin
Landgren, laid wreaths in
memory of fallen peacekeepers.
"The Liberian people cannot
repeat enough how grateful
and blessed they are for the
sacrifices the world community,
through these international
peacekeepers, have made to
save, stabilize, and propel our
country, lifting her onto the
path of true nationhood.", said
Vice President H. E. Joseph N.
Boakai.
"This
year's
theme
is

particularly appropriate in
Liberia as the Government,
with
UNMIL's
support,
proceeds with the transition of
all security tasks from UNMIL
to the Liberian security sector,"
said Landgren. "This transition
gives us an opportunity to
reflect on the 12 years of
peace since the civil conflict
ended and UNMIL deployed in
October 2003."
"As we reflect today on the
peace Liberia enjoys, let us
recognize
the
confidence
the UN Security Council
vested in Liberia in setting
the deadline of 30 June 2016
for the country to assume full

responsibility for all aspects

of national security," said the
SRSG, adding that much still
needs to be done to achieve a
coordinated, accountable, and
democratic security sector in
Liberia.
Paying tribute to the16
personnel from UNMIL who
lost their lives in the service of
peace over the past 12 months,
Landgren
conveyed
her
heartfelt condolences to their
families and loved ones. "We
remember each of our fallen
colleagues with pride and
gratitude for their commitment
to make peace a reality for the
people we serve," she said.
Landgren commended all
Liberians for their commitment
to keep their country at peace.
She also commended her UN
colleagues, military, police and
civilian peacekeepers for their
profound and positive impact
on Liberia.
The program at the UN
Headquarters in Monrovia also
included a colorful parade by
five different UNMIL military
and police contingents, who
were joined by representatives
of the Armed Forced of Liberia
(AFL)
Liberian
National
Police (LNP) and Bureau of
Immigration and Naturalization
(BIN).
Other activities in
Monrovia included an open
air Photo exhibition held at
the Monrovia City hall, and a
panel discussion on "Applying
Lessons from Ebola to the
Security Transition." The UN
Secretary-General's message
was read at ceremonies
marking the day at UNMIL
field offices across Liberia.

Monday, June 1, 2015

Page 12 | Frontpage

UNITED FOR DEVELOPMENT-RIVERCESS COUNTY

OFFICIALS INDUCTION HERALDS DEVELOPMENT
ALPHA DAFFAE SENKPENI, alpha.senkpeni@frontpageafricaonline.com

Cestos City, Rivercess CountyRivercess

is
under
developed because the
leaders of this county
are not united and until
they are united, nothing good
will happen in this county until
judgment day, a lady shouted
sarcastically as guests and
officials entered the Cestos
Town Hall to witness the official
induction ceremony of newly
appointed
Superintendent
and Deputy Superintendent of
Rivercess County on Saturday,
May 30, 2015.
The induction ceremony, many
citizens in the county say, is
crucial and could be a turning
point for the entire county
which is considered one of
the least developed counties
in Liberia. To epitomize the
situation is to speak about
the consistent bickering and
politicking amongst members
of the county legislative caucus
and the county administration
headed
by
former
Superintendent
Wellington
Geevon Smith.
Over the past three years,
the county had not held a
county sitting a platform
for discussing and selecting
development
projects
in
the county. The underlining
factor according to citizens is
politics banded on personal
aggrandizement which has
led to disunity and the lack of
development in the county,
FrontPageAfrica has learnt
following a meticulous inquiry
from people of the county.

On Saturday, May 30, the

people of RiverCess County
appeared to be savaging a new
found hope as Superintendent
Matthew Zoegar Daniels and
his Assistant Superintendent
for
Development
Ruth
Sawmadal were inducted
during
a
well-attended
occasion in the county.
Superintendent Daniels knows
the county and the exact
problems troubling it but the
massive challenge ahead is
awfully visible.
We will unite ourselves; put
away our differences and carry
Rivercess County forward, the
superintendent shouted with
optimism amid huge applause
from people in the hall.
He stressed what people
wanted to hear: reconciliation,
unity,
development
and
education as his priorities

though emphasizing that

reconciliation is his utmost
concern for the year.
I want us to come together
to build a functioning society
for our future generation.
Yesterday is gone, now the
world is looking at us. Rivercess
County cannot be built until we
can have one accord. He said,
adding that if the county is not
developed it will be the fault of
the county leadership.
Already, the county lacks
every aspect of development
and with the latest being the
deplorable condition of the
only high school in the county.
Also, the terrible condition
of the roads is also a glaring
challenge impeding the county
growth. And the problem was
and still remains division
amongst the county leadership
until the new county officials

WANTED URGENTLY
Part Time

can mend a rather revived

relationship with the caucus.
Daniel assured that he believes
in transparency, accessibility,
accountability, adding that it
is important for the county
administration to answer to
its people. Topping his plan, he
named reconciliation saying
that it must be achieved in his
first year as superintendent.
In other for Rivercess to
be built, we need to tell
ourselves, what I can give to
Rivercess.
For
his
Assistant
Superintendent,
she
said
the main challenge include
promoting unity between the
county administration and the
Legislative Caucus, completing
all ongoing projects and
implementing new ones in
line with the PPCC laws as
well as the modernization
of Cesstos City. Amongst the
aforementioned, reconciliation
is most definitely vital, she
said.
Assistant
Superintendent
Sawmadal
lamented
the
challenges of running a county
without County Development
Fund (CDF) and said they are
hopeful of bringing smiles to
the people of the county by
embarking on developmental
projects in the county.
The presence of members of
the county legislative caucus
at the program amplified the
impact of Saturdays program
especially
with
remarks
indicating that the county
lawmakers are now seemingly
committed to fostering unity
amongst the county leadership.

2. Guests Services Assistants for three (3) days,

and one (1) night, per week. Ability to operate a stand by Generator.

3. Guests house Supervisor For four (4) times per

week - to supervise the House-keeping, Supervise the
Cook and Front Desk Receptionist; must have at least one
(1) experience with reputable entities.
Applicants must include at least three (3) references with
telephone numbers, two recent passport photos.
Forward all application to the below address:
Mokos Bed & Breakfast
19th Street
Payne Avenue, Sinkor
Tel: 0777-96262

you must be respected at such,

he said.
Senators Gueh and Francis
Paye opened commitment
to support the new officials
signals a new beginning, most
residents told FPA.
Like the lady who expressed
her frustration before the start
of the program at the Cesstos
Town Hall, many people in the
county are disappointed over
the past leaderships of the
county due to the complete
under development of the
county. With the induction of
the two new county officials,
some say, they expect a new
era which will see significant
improvement in the county.
Prominent
citizens
and
locals attending the program
highlighted the disastrous
consequence of the over three
years political tension in
county which has prevented
the holding of county sitting.
Prof. Francis Johnson asserted
that many people take
advantage of the disagreement
amongst the county officials to
ignore development projects
or support that is due the
county.
For the youth, they are keen
about working with the
new leadership to foster
development in the county.
Karr Kollah, Jr., the youth
leader said all of the youth in
the county have pledged their
support to working with the
county administration while
the University Students Union
described the new leadership
as a dawn of a new day.
J. Fahn Dargar, the president
of the university students
hailing from the county said
with coordination amongst the
county leadership, the county
can forge ahead.

Print Rate Sheet

The below positions are available for qualified,

experienced applicants:

1. Part time experienced COOK to prepare early

continental Breakfast and Grill foods, four (4) times per
week.

Residents in the countys

capital are blaming all the
retrogression and failure of
development in the county
to the long lasting feud that
existed
between
former
Senator Jonathan Banney
and former superintendent
Wellington Geevon Smith.
Corrupt Officials will be
prosecuted
But Senator Dallas Gueh told
the citizens on Saturday that
he is resolved and committed
to working with the new
superintendent although he
cautioned that he will exert all
efforts to ensure that corrupt
county officials past or
present will be prosecuted
once the General Auditing
Commission
points
out
discrepancies.
Those who are responsible
for siphoning Rivercess County
development fund and social
development fund will be
brought to justice, Senator
Gueh warned. I dont care how
long it takes, and I am going
to peruse it together with my
colleagues that those who are
responsible for the downward
trend of Rivercess County will
pay for it in any way. Those that
are indicted in the GAC report,
all the illegal management
of the CDF will be brought to
justice.
He encouraged the new county
officials to be more practical in
implementing their functions
and blasted people of the
county for encouraging and
perpetrating divisive ideology
to achieve political gains.
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come from, what dialect you
speak, what part of Liberia you
come from in as much as you
live in Rivercess County you
are a citizen of the county and

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Telephone Numbers: Liberia (+231) 088-630-4178 / USA +1-484-410-6024

Monday, June 1, 2015

Frontpage

Page 13

WOMEN ARE NOT SECOND CLASS CITIZENS

- US AMBASSADOR WANTS EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

Monrovianited
States
Ambassador
to
Liberia
Deborah
Malac says equal
opportunity for both male
and female is a sign that
a country wants to move
forward.
Any country that wants to
move ahead it must include
the fifty percent of its
population that is female,
girls need to have the same
opportunity as boys, they
need to be free to go to school
without been subject to
violence, Ambassador Malac
said.
The U.S Ambassador made
these comments at the
launch of the Coalition of
Women Against Gender
Based Violence.
Ambassador Malac said,
women should not be treated
as second class citizens in
their country adding that
she wants her kids to grow
up in a world where violence
against women should be a
thing of the past.
They [Ambassador Malac
Children] will grow in a
world where the violence
against women is a memory,
that women are not treated
like second class citizens in
their own country, we are

Al-Varney Rogers alvarney.rogersfrontpageafricaonline.com 0886304498

equal to our colleagues, our

brothers, sons and husband,
Ambassador Malac said.
The US envoy urged, women
of the coalition to incorporate
men in finding solution
adding that since they are the
problem, they should help to
solve it.
Men are the problem so
they need to be part of
the solution so it not just
women out talking about the

solution we need men with

us otherwise nothing will
change, Ambassador Malac
added.
She continued: But we
cant wait for men to tell it
time to make the change,
women have to do this for
themselves, some men are
already champions of women
rights.
The U.S Ambassador said,
her country is working

with local and international

organizations
around
the world to help change
behavior toward women.
The
United
States
government is trying to
work with organizations
particularly the ones working
at community level to change
behavior,
Ambassador
Malac said. This something
we partner with Liberia and
around the world.

ETU WORKERS PROTEST

FOR HAZARD BENEFITS
Massa F. Kanneh masskanneh@yahoo.com or 0886848625

Monroviabola
treatment
Unit workers have
staged
another
protest in demand
for hazard benefits from the
Government of Liberia.
After the Ebola crisis in
Liberia people involved in
the fight against the deadly
Ebola virus that killed more
than 4,000 Liberians have
been protesting, demanding

hazard benefits.
Holding placards in front of
the Presidents office at the
Foreign Ministry, the group
through their spokesperson
James Baysay said they are
from different ETUs including
ELWA, Unity Conference
Center, Island Clinic and Old
Defense Ministry and they
gathered to remind President
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for the
alleged promise that she was

going to call them after three

days when they gathered
close to her residence on May
14, to demand benefits.
We went to her resident
and she told us that she was
going to call us in three days
time but since then we have
not receive any call from her.
The government should have
given us our benefits. When
we met the president last
week Thursday she promised

that she was going to call

us, but up to now we have
not received any call from
her yet, so we have come to
remind her, Baysay said.
He recalled that during
the turning over ceremony
at ELWA, they were also
present at that occasion
and t they were able to put
forth their demands but
said they were advised to
put their demand in writing

She applauded the women

for such a grass root initiative
to elevate violence against
women at the community
level.
I applaud this organization,
I applaud this initiative,
obviously lot more needs to
be done not just in Liberia,
Ambassador Malac added.
The
U.S
Ambassador
averred that many hold the
perception that since Liberia
has female president women
and men are equal, saying it
is not the reality.
Many people believe just
because Liberia has elected
a woman President in Africa
somehow everything that
has to do with women and
children are all taking care
of women and men are all
equal, but I know and you
know from what you see
in your community and
other communities across
Liberia that this is not true,
Ambassador Malac said.
She continued: There is
a lot more to do to ensure
that progress women have
made doesnt go in the other
direction.
The Executive Director of
the
COWAGIL
Margaret
Sleyon said, the women are
not mens property adding

that violence against women

needs to end.
In Liberia women have
been abuse and continue to
be abuse, we came together
to end this thing against
our sisters, mothers and
daughters, Sleyon added.
Sleyon said, the coalition has
been involved in awareness
and training against gender
base violence since its
inception.
Narrating the history of
COWAGIL the Executive
Director added, that the
organization was founded
with Women Action Group
(WAG) in eleven communities
in
Montserrado,
four
communities in Nimba and
seven communities in Lofa
County.
She said, COWAGIL members
have been trained by
the International Rescue
Committee in gender base
violence core concepts, case
management and the referral
pathway.
Sleyon the women in her
group have actively been
working
their
various
communities in the three
counties but pointed out lack
of funding as a key problem
hindering their work.

something according to
him was done. But yet their
demand has not been met
which also prompted them to
have visited the president as
a reminder.
Also a mother of four
from upper Caldwell, new
Georgia, Binta Bah who was
part of the protest said she
has come to appeal to the
president referring to her as
the Madam to see reason to
settle their hazard benefits
because of the risk she and
many other persons took at
their various ETUs to provide
care for patients.
At ELWA 3 where Binta
claimed she worked, during
the outbreak there was no
fence between the Ebola
patients and the workers,
something Binta said was
very dangerous for them,
because most time patients
could just walk unknowingly
and come across and upon
noticing they would run
to avoid any physical and
unprotected contact with
such patient.
She narrated that during the
Ebola crisis when she got
home one day her landlord
had removed the roof from
the house she was renting
accusing her of making
contacts with Ebola patients.
Binta said she had to beg the
landlord in order to stay and
she and her four children
slept under that unroofed
house for one week.
She said some days she
came home from work and

her children will be afraid

to come near and relatives
called her to abandon that
work.
Said Binta One day I came
from work I met my land lord
remove the zinc from over
my house asking me to move
because he said I was working
to Ebola center. It was not
easy, sometimes I came home
my own children will run
away from me because they
were afraid and my relatives
will call asking me to from
the ETU, can you imagine that
time no fence was between
the patients and workers,
if patients wanted anything
they will just wake up and
start coming to us when we
lift up our heads and see then
we start running before we
can attend to them.
Binta said she sometimes
wonders how she became
so brave to do such a job,
but thankful she survives
for some of their friends lost
their lives in the struggle.
Taking heavy women, you
as a mother you go in there
you see people in their feces
and their urine and vomits
you will have to clean them,
so we are kindly appealing to
madam president to please
come to our aid to give our
risk benefits, it was not easy,
it was not easy, she said.
Sometimes, I can really
imagine what made me
brave, some of our friends
who had opportunity never
even bother to come outside
she added.

Page 14 | Frontpage

IN BRIEF

ISLAMIC STATE'S SAUDI BRANCH

CALLS FOR CLEARING ARABIAN
PENINSULA OF SHI'ITES
ormer New York Gov.
George Pataki joined
the already crowded
field for the 2016
Republican
presidential
nomination on Thursday,
announcing his White House
bid in an online video.
America has a big decision to
make about who were going
to be and what were going
to stand for, Pataki says at
the beginning of the fourminute video highlighting
his leadership as governor
following 9/11.

CAMEROONIANS DONATE 3
MN EUROS TO HELP ARMY
FIGHT BOKO HARAM

Yaound (AFP) fundraising

campaign to help
Cameroon's army
battle
Nigeria's
feared Boko Haram fighters
has brought in more than
three million euros and
hundreds of tonnes of food,
local media said Wednesday.
"2.1 billion CFA francs (3.2
million
euros)
already"
collected to help troops
fighting the Islamist group
on Cameroon's northern
border with Nigeria, said the
national CRTV radio and TV
network.
But with corruption rife
across
Cameroon,
the
government has set up an
inter-ministerial committee
to ensure "transparent"
management of the funds
offered up by citizens of the
struggling African nation, the
broadcaster said.

RONT

Monday, June 1, 2015

WORLD NEWS

NIGERIA'S NEW PRESIDENT SIGNALS

EARLY MOVE AGAINST BOKO HARAM

RUSSIA IMPOSES
TRAVEL BAN ON 89
EU POLITICIANS

BERLIN (Reuters) ussia has imposed

an entry ban on
89
European
politicians
and
military leaders, according to
a list seen by Reuters, a move
that has angered Europe and
worsened its standoff with
the West over Moscow's role
in the Ukraine conflict.
More than 6,200 people
have been killed in fighting
between
Ukrainian
government forces and proRussian separatists. Russia
dismisses accusations from
Ukraine, NATO and Western
powers that it is supporting
the separatists with arms
and its own troops.
The list, which says it was
compiled by the Russian
foreign
ministry
and
handed to a European Union
delegation in Moscow this
week, includes outspoken
critics of Russia as well as
security officials.

PAGE

Lagos (AFP) igeria's

new
President
Muhammadu
Buhari has made an
early pledge in the fight against
Boko Haram, announcing a
surprise restructuring in the
command structure of the
country's counter-insurgency
operations.
In his inaugural speech on
Friday, the 72-year-old former
military ruler said the counterinsurgency in the restive
northeast would no longer be
directed from the capital.
"Progress has been made in
recent weeks by our security
forces but victory cannot
be achieved by basing the
command and control centre in
Abuja," he said after swearing
the oath of office.
"The command centre will be
relocated to Maiduguri and
remain until Boko Haram is
completely subdued."
Maiduguri, the capital of Borno
state, is where the Islamist
group was founded in 2002
and has been repeatedly
targeted after the movement
turned violent from 2009.
The military on Saturday
repelled a fresh attack on the
city.
Yan St-Pierre, head of the
Modern Security Consulting
Group, said Buhari's relocation
plan was "very sound",
allowing more streamlined
communications
between
decision-makers, strategists
and troops on the ground.
"In short, this denotes a more
hands-on approach to the
fight against Boko Haram," the
counter-terrorism consultant
told AFP in an email exchange.
- Oversight, coordination -

Under
former
president
Goodluck Jonathan Nigeria's
military was seen as largely
ineffective against Boko Haram
until a fightback began this
year with neighbours Chad,
Cameroon and Niger.
Despite
massive
annual
defence spending, Nigerian
troops claimed
they lacked

adequate weapons to take on

the better-armed militants, as
well as not having enough food
or being paid on time.
Buhari, a former army general,
has vowed to overhaul
the military, stamping out
corruption and reviving a
reputation that was rubbished
during Jonathan's regime.
New weapons and hardware
have been procured since late
last year, and with the help of
private security contractors,
many of them from South
Africa, the military has gained
the upper hand.
Ryan
Cummings,
chief
Africa analyst at the Red24
consultancy group, however,
saw the switch from Abuja
to Maiduguri as "more of a
symbolic gesture".
"I think Buhari is trying to
debunk
a
common-held
perception
that
Nigeria's
northeast is considered to be
of little consequence to the
Nigerian state and, as such, the

security of the region is not

a priority to an Abuja-hosted
regime," he said.
"Buhari
may
also
be
consciously addressing the
root causes, and not only the
symptoms of the insurgency,
by extending governance
to spaces where it has been
limited and/or absent."
Directing operations closer to
the field could help improve
coordination in the coalition,
which although together on
paper, has effectively operated
independently, said St-Pierre.
"It also sends a very strong
message to everyone involved.
Buhari is taking the fight
against BH very seriously
and will take the necessary
measures to ensure success."
Buhari made no specific
mention of Chad, Niger and
Cameroon in his speech,
other than to thank them
"for committing their armed
forces to fight Boko Haram in
Nigeria".

by the world powers for

international access to Iran's
military sites and its team of
atomic experts. For its part,
Tehran wants sanctions to be
rescinded immediately after
a deal is reached.
A
senior
U.S.
State
Department official said
there had been substantial
progress in talks in Vienna
in recent weeks on drafting a
political agreement and three
technical annexes on curbing
Tehran's nuclear program.
The United States has said
it will not extend the talks
beyond the June 30 deadline.
"We really do believe we can
get it done by (June) 30th
and we're not contemplating

an extension. We just aren't,"

the official told reporters
traveling with Kerry to
Geneva.
But France, which has
demanded more stringent
restrictions on the Iranians,
has indicated talks are likely
to slip into July. Iran's senior
nuclear negotiator Abbas
Araqchi also warned that the
deadline might need to be
extended.
"We are on a good track right
now to make progress and
we absolutely believe it is
possible we can get this done
by June 30," the senior State
Department official said,
adding that Kerry's schedule
for June had been cleared to

U.S. AND IRAN ADDRESS OBSTACLES

TO NUCLEAR DEAL AS DEADLINE NEARS

GENEVA (Reuters) .S. Secretary of

State John Kerry
met his Iranian
counterpart
Mohammad Javad Zarif on
Saturday in a bid to overcome
the remaining obstacles to a
final nuclear agreement, a
month ahead of a deadline
for a deal between Tehran
and world powers.
The meeting in Geneva is
the first substantive talks
since Iran and the six world
powers - Britain, France, the
United States, Russia, China
and Germany - struck an
interim deal on April 2.
Among the issues still to
be resolved is the push

Whether he will continue

the partnership is unclear,
although N'Djamena recently
extended its troops' mandate
to operate in the counterinsurgency.
The new head of state did not
mention the African Union
multi-national force or wider
international initiatives taken
in light of Boko Haram's
allegiance to the Islamic State
group in Syria and Iraq.
Analysts see regional cooperation as key to defeating
the militants, who have been
pushed out from captured
territory and towns and are
thought to be taking refuge in
border areas.
- Human rights -

Nigeria's military has long

been accused of excesses in
its pursuit of Boko Haram,
including arbitrary detention,
torture and extra-judicial
executions of civilians.

focus on the Iran talks.

"A lot of the decisions (left)
are at the political level. You
will see more involvement
at (Kerry's) level for that
reason," the official said,
adding that the talks would

At least 15,000 people

have been killed during the
insurgency and more than
1.5 million made homeless,
sparking what the Red Cross
says is "one of the most serious
humanitarian crises in Africa".
Buhari pledged to "overhaul
the rules of engagement to
avoid human rights violations"
during military operations and
bring offenders to book.
"The promises of improving
operational
and
legal
mechanisms
and
taking
disciplinary measures are all
to be welcomed," said Amnesty
International's Netsanet Belay.
"But the new government
needs to go beyond this and
ensure proper accountability
for crimes committed in the
context of the conflict.
"The new administration
is indeed presented with a
unique opportunity to break
the cycle of impunity in
Nigeria," he added.

likely occur in Vienna.

Zarif, when asked at the
start of the talks on Saturday
whether the deadline would
be met, replied: "We will try."
INSPECTIONS

Monday, June 1, 2015

Monrovia iberia has already had

one Weah conquer
the world of football,
could another take
the boxing world by storm?
U.S.-based boxer Archibald
Weah is hoping to represent
Liberia in the 2016 Olympics
and bring home the first gold
for Africas oldest republic.
Weah,
whose
amateur
record stands at 48-8
with two golden gloves
championships along with
countless other awards to
his credit, is currently 2-1 at
the professional level as he
prepares for his next fight
against Philip Soriano.
Soriano lost his last fight
against Cameron Springer, a
knockout in the third round.
I am very prepared for
my next fight, Weah told
FrontPageAfrica
recently
from his Atlanta, Georgia
home. I have had endless
weeks of sparring and
training here in Atlanta and
also in New York. I was very
nervous my 1st professional
fight which caused me a
loss. I can promise that
won't happen again. I am
very comfortable in the
professional circuit now.
Weah says he has been
hoping to make contact with
the Liberia National Olympic
Committee in hopes of a
push for the 2016 Olympics.
I want to go there and
participate in tournaments
and show them my skills
but I have had no luck. The
numbers on the websites do
not work and my emails get
no returns.
Weah says this is the
first
Olympics
where
professional boxers will be
allowed to participate as
long as they have under 10
professional fights. I meet
all qualifications but it's hard
to get my foot in the door.
I was contacted by Samuel
M Stewart this morning
and he told me he would do
everything and anything to
help me reach my dreams
and get to the Olympics. He

Sports

Frontpage

MEDAL HOPEFUL

Page 15

SPORTS

ARSENAL 4-0 ASTON

VILLA: WALCOTT & ALEXIS
SHINE TO HAND GUNNERS

WITH AN EYE ON RIO 2016 OLYMPICS, LIBERIAN BOXER IN CONFIDENT MOOD FOR NEXT FIGHT

boxed in the Olympics for

Liberia in 1988 so I'm sure
with your help and his, I can
get in contact with the right
people and bring Liberia it's
1st Olympic medal.
Weah also known as Adrian
Dub was born on November
22, 1985 in Monrovia Liberia
to Wannie Williams and
Alexander Weah.
In 1989, the horrific Civil War
erupted in Liberia, leaving
little other than death and
destruction in its path. At the
impressionable age of seven,
Archie would be forced to see
and experience horrors no

child his age should endure.

Archie recalls, When I was
7 I witnessed my 1st murder.
He wasnt just shot to death
like you see in movies. He was
butcheredhands, feet, head
[cut off]. And I witnessed
that. I had nightmares for
years after that.
In desperate efforts to flee
the war, Archie, his mother
and sister made their way to
Buduburam Liberian Refugee
Camp in Ghana by ship.
Archie vividly remembers
the voyage to Ghana; As the
ship took off, I saw tears in
my mothers eyes. I never
asked her why she was crying
because I knew. Who would
want to leave their home
and everything they knew?
I cant even recall how many
weeks we were on that ship.
It seemed like months. We
had no room. We slept on the
stairs of the ship.
Upon arriving in Ghana,
Archies mother was able
to reconnect with some old
friends who were also now
living on the Refugee camp
and willing to provide Archie
and his family temporary
shelter. Archies mother
worked tirelessly selling food
outside of the local movie
theater until she was able
to afford a space to rent.
Archies new home was no
bigger than an elevator, but
he remembers being glad to
have a place of their own. He
recollects, when it rained
outside, it rained about the
same inside, but it was ours.
Archie and his family lived

in this space for over a year

until winning the lottery to
come to the United States of
America.
Archie, his mother and sister
arrived at John F. Kennedy
International Airport in New
York, New York in November,
1994. He reminisces on
his initial encounter with
the land of opportunity;
I will never forget it. All I
remember was the snow. It
literally looked and felt like
Heaven compared to where
I came from. In Liberia the
other kids would tell stories
about America, how the
streets were paved with gold
and money literally grew on
trees. And I couldnt wait to
touch ituntil we arrived at
my grandmothers apartment
in Harlem NY. No gold. No
money filled trees, but I still
loved it.
Finding a place to call home
proved difficult in the
beginning as Archie and his
mother moved from Harlem
to Lawrenceville, Georgia
and back to New York. Finally,
they settled in Staten Island,
where they established an
immediate connection. Staten
Islands rapidly growing
Liberian population meant
that Archie and his mother
could live amongst people
who understood where they
were from and what they had
been through.
Archie quickly became a
top athlete, playing football
(cornerback) and soccer
(every position on the field)
for Curtis High School. He

earned a scholarship to play

soccer at Alfred State College
in Syracuse, New York. By
the time he graduated high
school, his mother had
had two children; his little
brother Tommy, who was 2
years old at the time, and his
baby sister Tommeika, who
was just 8 months old.
Shortly after completing his
first semester in college,
Archies mother suddenly
died of a brain aneurysm. His
world was crushed. Not only
had he just lost his mother,
but due to a custody battle
with his younger siblings
father, he would be separated
from Tommy and Tommeika
too.
Still, Archie pushed through
with the support of his
family and friends. He was
able to complete two years
at Alfred State, after which
he transferred to Atlanta
Georgias
Morehouse
College. He graduated from
Morehouse with a Bachelors
degree
in
Business
Administration. It was also
during this rough time that
Archie began boxing.
Although his fire for the sport
is born of tragedy, Archie
has found a purpose and an
outlet in boxing. I box to
escape, he asserts, When
I enter that ring, I am no
longer Archiebald Weah from
Monrovia, Liberia. Im Adrian
Dub. I leave the pain and the
anger and the hate outside of
those ropes. Its my escape
and I love it.

rsenal
retained
the FA Cup as they
proved to be far too
strong for Aston
Villa at Wembley.
Theo Walcott opened the
scoring with a powerful
finish before Alexis Sanchez
doubled the lead with a
stunning strike from distance
early in the second period.
Per Mertesacker made the
game safe with a header soon
after before substitute Olivier
Giroud added a late fourth
as the Gunners became the
most successful side in the
competition's history with
12 wins.
Perhaps wary of repeating
last season's disastrous start
against Hull City, which saw
them go two goals behind,
Arsene Wenger's side began
on the front foot in a frenetic
opening 10 minutes and
gradually cranked up the
pressure on Shay Given's goal
with a series of corners and
set-pieces.

ATHLETIC BILBAO 1-3

BARCELONA: MESSI
AND NEYMAR FIRE
CATALANS TO COPA
DEL REY GLORY

he South American
attackers were in
fantastic form as
Luis Enrique's men
wrapped up their second
trophy of 2014-15 ahead of
next weekend's Champions
League final
Another
wonder-goal
from Lionel Messi helped
Barcelona clinch their 27th
Copa del Rey crown as they
outclassed Athletic Bilbao 3-1
at Camp Nou.
With the league title already
in the bag, Saturday's result
secured a domestic double
for Luis Enrique's side and
kept them firmly on course
for a remarkable treble ahead
of next week's Champions
League final against Juventus.
Athletic had come into the
game looking to avenge their
2009 and 2012 final defeats
at the hands of the same
opponents, but rarely looked
capable of causing an upset
after Messi bagged a brilliant
57th goal of the campaign

Page 8a
16 | Frontpage

A LIBERIAN HOSPITAL AFTER EBOLA

In the wake of the epidemic, Liberian healthcare facilities have overhauled the way they handle infectious
disease. But as resources and attention wane, can the countrys health system sustain these changes?

n late March, a woman

arrived at Redemption
Hospital, on the outskirts
of the Liberian capital
of Monrovia, with a fever,
headache, joint pain, and
diarrhea. A year ago, patients
with these symptoms were
admitted to Redemption,
seeding an Ebola outbreak that
killed 12 staff members. But
this woman never made it past
triage; she was quickly isolated
and tested for the disease. She
was Liberias last Ebola patient
of this outbreak.
Redemption, Monrovias only free general hospital, lay at the
heart of Liberia's Ebola outbreak. Now it is a test case for whether
hospitals in West Africa can change the way they operate, so a
disease like Ebola never puts such a stranglehold on the region
again. With help from the International Rescue Committee (IRC)
and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID),
Redemption has been overhauled. Its success at catching Liberias
last Ebola patientthe country was declared free of the disease
on May 9has raised hopes that Redemption can lead Liberias
health system into a new era.
The same way that HIV changed the way you practice medicine
in the U.S., Ebola should change the way you practice medicine
here, says Elizabeth Hamann, IRCs project director for the
reopening of Redemption.
The hospital now has a rigorous procedure for checking patients
at the door, including temperature checks and questions about
their symptoms and possible contact with Ebola. It has an isolation
unit, where any suspected cases can immediately be sent. It is also
now equipped to do the kind of infection prevention that Western
hospitals routinely do: It has running water throughout its wards
and chlorine hand-washing stations; it has stocks of rubber
gloves and doctors and nurses have been trained to wear them
every time with every patient; beds have been properly spaced
and staff have been warned of the dangers of putting more than
one patient in a bed, a practice that used to be common.
But can Redemption keep up its new procedures as the epidemic
fades and international help dries up? Can the gains be replicated
throughout the country, even at tiny, rural health outposts? Or
will the health system slip back into poor habits as resources
head elsewhere, leaving it vulnerable again to Ebola?
The same way that HIV changed the way you practice medicine
in the U.S., Ebola should change the way you practice medicine
here.
There are many reasons the West African Ebola outbreak
grew into the worlds largest. It struck in a place where people
were unfamiliar with the disease and were likely to initially
misdiagnose it. It hit communities where people move around a
lot, so new clusters were easily seeded, including in big cities. It
emerged in places where funeral rites call for touching the corpse,
the most potent source of Ebola infection.
But perhaps most important, weak health systems in the three
most affected countriesLiberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea
amplified the outbreak. Liberia is among the worlds poorest
countries and was only beginning to emerge from more than a
decade of ruinous civil war when Ebola hit. The country, founded
by white Americans in the 1800s to resettle free blacks, had just
51 doctors for its 4 million people before the outbreak. It spent
$44 per capita on health in 2013, according to the World Bank
database, but that figure drops dramatically in some rural areas,
according to Last Mile Health, a non-profit focused on rural
healthcare. It is one of the most dangerous places on Earth to give
birth.
Once Ebola gained a purchase on this weak system, it exploited
it. The virus is also sometimes called the caregivers disease
because it is generally only passed to those who treat the sick
close family members or health workers. Because the sick can
only infect others once they have symptoms and because the
symptoms quickly become so severe that patients are confined to
bed, Ebolas spread was more limited in the past. When it struck
in remote Congo or Uganda, it could wipe out a whole village, but
the distance to the next village provided a natural firebreak. In
West Africa, by contrast, Ebola hunkered down in major cities,
where it could flit from one neighborhood to the next and fell
whole hospitals.
It is easy to see how Ebola took root at Redemption. Its made up
of a jumble of bright-yellow buildings that werent built to house
a hospital; its emergency room was once a market hall.
Because Redemptions services were free, it was often teeming
with the most desperate cases. The staff almost never turned
anyone away, says Hamann. How could they? Instead, they put
two patients to a bed, even three sometimes on the pediatric
ward.
With so many patients, the hospital was generating 10 times
more waste than its small incinerator could handle, and so the
garbage piled up, says Jude Senkungu, a Ugandan pediatrician
who worked at Redemption from 2010 to 2013 before returning
to help lead IRCs work there in this outbreak. Taps on the wards
only had running water in them about every other day. Laundry

was washed by hand. All of these shortcomings made Redemption

fertile ground for Ebola.
The first case the hospital saw was in one of its own nurses, but
that turned out to be the leading edge of a tidal wave of infection
in Monrovia in June. Some of the most shocking scenes of the
outbreak played out in the Liberian capital: patients dying at
the door of treatment centers that had no room for them, people
swimming through sewage-infested waters to break out of
quarantine, bodies being dumped in the water because there was
nowhere else to put them.
In August, with Ebola cases exploding, Redemptions in-patient
services were shut down and its wards turned into a holding
center for suspected cases. At one point, more than 400 people
were held in the facility, which had only had 205 beds.
In October, when an Ebola treatment center finally opened
nearby, the hospital essentially went dark. Although it technically
never stopped providing out-patient care for other maladies, few
people wanted to visit a hospital seen as a death trap.
At one point, more than 400 people were held in the facility, which
had only had 205 beds.
Ebola didnt just exploit Liberias health system, it decimated
it. Hospitals and clinics were shuttered or turned into holding
centers. Staff were too scared to show up to work; patients were
too terrified to seek care. Hundreds of healthcare workers were
infected, and nearly 200 died, according to the World Health
Organization. Despite this devastation, the outbreak could
provide the motivation to finally direct resources and political
will toward building a more robust health system.
This does provide an opportunity to take a big step forward,
says Justin Pendarvis, a public-health specialist with USAID.
Some experts point to Rwanda, where a spasm of ethnically
motivated violence left 1 million people dead. In the wake of the
genocide, the new leadership invested heavily in health, with
some remarkable outcomes, says Josh Michaud, the associate
director of global health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Rwandas measles vaccination rate has increased from 74 percent
in 1993,before the genocide, to 97 percent in 2013, the most
recent year for which there are such statistics in the World Bank
database. Its mortality rate for children under 5 years old has
plummeted from 179 kids out of every 1,000 in 1993 to 52 per
1,000 a decade later.
Could the devastation of the Ebola outbreak spur that kind of
change in Liberia? Maybe, but only over the very long term,
says Paolo Lubrano, an emergency-response manager for Plan
International in West Africa. Pendarvis notes that the epidemic
has already given Liberia a jumpstart. More than 4,000 Liberian
healthcare workers were trained to work in Ebola treatment
centersthats a huge well of knowledge that didnt exist before.
Perhaps more important, the outbreak has proved that a viral case
in West Africa can put the world at risk, and that has emphasized
the need to help remake healthcare systems in Liberia, Guinea,
and Sierra Leone.
Theres a moral responsibility at this point.
"It would be very sad if all the money that came into this country
and all the people that came in just stayed just for a few months
and then left the country alone, says Adi Nadimpalli, a doctor
who is heading Doctors Without Borders mission in Liberia.
"Theres a moral responsibility at this point."
Whether or not the world will rise to the challenge will be
revealed in July, when donors, including Western governments
and international aid organizations, will meet at a pledging
conference to discuss investment in West Africas health systems.
But work is already under way at Redemption.
The International Rescue Committee, with funding from USAID,

Monday, June 1, 2015

has renovated the hospital, which began reopening its wards
in January. Redemption now has running water throughout its
wards and washing machines to properly disinfect its laundry. It
has stocks of gloves and gowns and face masks. It finally has an
industrial incinerator to properly dispose of its waste. Pits that
once held biological wasteand that became crammed with
everything from needles to gowns during the epidemicare
being decontaminated and cleared. There is an isolation unit next
door, where suspected cases can be held while they await testing,
and a triage area at the hospitals door where patients continue to
be assessed for Ebola symptoms before theyre allowed into the
rest of the hospital.
Perhaps the most important of these interventions is the training
staff received in infection-prevention procedures and triage, or
the process of separating out patients who might have Ebola and
isolating them. While Liberia has been declared free of Ebola, the
outbreak continues in neighboring Sierra Leone and Guinea, and
a case could easily cross the border.
These procedures are important for preventing the virus's spread
throughout a hospital, but theyre also associated with better
health outcomes in general. Patients who are properly diagnosed
quickly are typically treated more successfully, and clean hospitals
mean fewer infections are transferred from one patient to another.
Their training will be helpful for other diseases besides Ebola that
are prevalent in Liberia, like malaria, tuberculosis, or Lassa fever.
But as Ebola fades, Hamann of IRC worries that so, too, will the
good practices.
Terms like IPC (infection prevention and control) and triage,
those didnt really exist pre-Ebola, she says. The fear is that now
that Ebolas over, all of that will just go out the window."
Nadimpalli of Doctors Without Borders, which has done a similar
rehabilitation and training at another Monrovia hospital, says
health workers in Liberia now have a healthy fear and are happy
to follow the rules, but he notes that it can be hard even in the
United States to get doctors to wash their hands.
Will doctors continue to wash their hands before examining every
patient? Will the hospital be able to maintain its stock of supplies?
Senkungu, the Ugandan doctor working at Redemption, says the
coming high-malaria season will put the hospital to the test. The
hospital typically sees about 50 percent more patients during
that seasonJune, July, Augustand in the past doctors have
crammed patients two or three to a bed.
Hes worried, even though IRC will stay heavily involved this
summer. What about when the organization leaves? Will doctors
and nurses continue to wash their hands before examining every
patient? Will the hospital be able to maintain stocks of important
supplies, or continue to pay the staff who disinfect the wards
whose numbers IRC tripled? Even now, under IRCs leadership,
motivation among the health workers who are employed by
Liberias Health Ministry (as opposed to by IRC directly) is low,
and many show up late or not at all for their shifts, according to
John Shakpeh, the acting head of nursing, and Saidi Makokha, who
is in charge of hygiene and sanitation at the isolation unit.
It can take years for these sorts of changes to take root. Tolbert
Nyenswah, Liberias assistant health minister, who led the
countrys Ebola response, says hospitals like Redemption will
need two to three years of outside support before they can
operate on their own. But IRCs current funding is set to run out
at the end of the year. Such is the curse and blessing of emergency
funding: It is plentiful but time-limited.
The work at Redemption will hopefully help Monrovia be better
prepared, but about half of the people in Liberia live in rural areas.
And just under a third of Liberia's population lives both in a rural
area and more than three miles from a health facility, says Naim
Merchant of Last Mile Health. That may not sound far, but three
miles is often used as a benchmark for healthcare access because
thats how far most people can walk in an hour. And walking is the
principal means of travel in much of rural Liberia, notes Merchant,
a consultant who advises the charity on how to strengthen health
systems.
Not only is the national health spending low in the country
overall, but the problem is compounded by the fact that as you
get out into rural areas, theres no health system really present in
remote communities, said Josh Albert, Last Mile Health's country
director for Liberia. If you think about a disease like Ebola, if its
walking into a hospital in Monrovia, youre already so far past the
place you want to be in terms of containing it.
But will donors invest in remote healthcare? Liberia needs more
than $US450 million for its health system over the next two years.
It was fairly easy to get money for Ebola. Emergencies are like
that. Its much harder raise cash for long-term training programs
or plumbing improvements. Much of the money donated for
Ebola comes with constraints on how and how quickly it must
be spent, Merchant says. What Liberia needs now is money that
can be invested over the long term and directed to projects that
address general deficiencies in the health system. Too often even
long-term funding is narrowly focused on one disease and isnt
able to be used to address wider problems, says Merchant.
Redemption has patients again these days. Shakpeh, the acting
head of nursing, says the medical and pediatric wards and all the
beds in the emergency room were full in early May, giving the
hospital another test of its commitment to following the infection
prevention procedures put in place by IRC, like keeping just one
patient per bed. But the staff stood firm against overcrowding,
which helped fuel Ebolas spread in hospitals. Even Shakpehs
nieces son was sent to another clinic; for now, there was a place
where he could go. But the true test, Senkungu says, will come this
summer, when malaria season strikes and sends patients pouring
into hospitals and clinics across the country.

Monday, June 1, 2015

Frontpage

fter about 30 years of using a colony of chimpanzees in

Liberia for biomedical research, which ended 10 years
ago, the New York Blood Center has now withdrawn all
funding for them, prompting animal welfare groups to
urge the center to reconsider its decision.
For now, the Humane Society of the United States is supporting
the chimps, which are owned by the government of Liberia, and is
starting a campaign to raise funds for them.
The New York Blood Center is abandoning 66 chimpanzees and
leaving their fate to chance, said Wayne Pacelle, president of the
society. The cost of caring for and feeding the chimps is about
$30,000 a month.
Brian Hare, an anthropologist and primatologist at Duke
University who is also known for his studies of dog intelligence,
started a petition on Change.org to urge people to contact the
New York Blood Center.
Mr. Hare said in an email, I have studied great apes for 20 years in
all contexts across the globe labs, zoos, sanctuaries, the wild
and others. Never, ever have I seen anything even remotely as
disgusting as this.
Victoria ONeill, a spokeswoman for the blood center, said
officials there would not grant interviews regarding the issue
because there is arbitration going on, brought by the Liberian
government.
A brief statement from the center said it had withdrawn support
after a long period of unproductive discussions with the Liberian
government about their responsibilities in this regard, during
which time we incurred millions of dollars of costs.
Ms. ONeill said the center never had any obligation for care for
the chimps, contractual or otherwise.
The news site Front Page Africa first reported on the uncertain
fate of the chimps last week.
Fatorma K. Bolay, director of the Liberian Institute for Biomedical
Research in Charlesville, which cares for the chimpanzees who
live uncaged on six mangrove islands said that the institute
cannot afford to pay for their food and care.
He said the humane society has been paying for food and repairs
since March 6, when funding from the blood center stopped, but
that caretakers are working for free.
Why would they walk away from the animals? Dr. Bolay said
about the blood centers funding withdrawal. We have to find a
solution to take care of these animals.
The history of the research center, called Vilab II, dates back to
1974, when the blood center contracted with the institute to
do research primarily on the hepatitis virus, which survives in
blood and posed a threat to the safety of the supply of donated
blood. Around this time, the United States banned importation of
chimpanzees caught in the wild.
By 2005, the blood center had stopped research on the chimps
and started trying to make arrangements for their long-term

Page 8b
17

CAMPAIGN TO SAVE CHIMPS

A decade ago, a New York-based blood center appeared to be committed to
caring for the chimps in retirement in Liberia, thats no longer the case

care. A 2014 Vice documentary, Island of the Apes, chronicled the

history of the lab and the islands on which the chimps now live.
A decade ago, the blood center appeared to be committed to
caring for the chimps in retirement. Alfred M. Prince, director of
the Vilab II project for the blood center, wrote an article in the
American Society of Primatologists Bulletin in December 2005,
seeking a foundation to take over care of the chimps. Dr. Prince
wrote that the blood center recognizes its responsibility to
provide an endowment to fund the Sanctuary for the lifetime care
of the chimpanzees.
But Ms. ONeill said in an email that this was Dr. Princes opinion
and was not authorized or approved by the blood center. She
added that the center did not ever establish any endowment for
animal care, chimpanzees included.
In 2007, the blood center withdrew its staff from the institute in
Liberia, but continued to support the chimpanzees. In January, Dr.
Bolay said the blood center informed the institute that March 5
would be the last day of support. Previous negotiations about the
chimps future had broken down, Dr. Bolay said.
The humane society hired Agnes Souchal, general manager of the

Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center in Cameroon, to assess

the state of the chimpanzees. She said in an interview that there
is little to no natural food on the islands and the animals were
completely dependent on their caretakers, who were feeding
them every other day.
The feeding schedule had not changed, but there was more food
in the past, she said.
She said she found chimpanzees without water. There is no
fresh water on the islands and the water system had broken
down. Since Ms. Souchals visit, it has been fixed with funds from
the United States and international humane societies.
Kathleen Conlee, vice president for animal research at the
Humane Society of the United States, said the group is starting
a crowdfunding effort on the site GoFundMe to raise about
$150,000. Our long-term goal is to provide these chimpanzees
with true sanctuary, she said. She said at least 16 other animal
welfare groups are also calling on the center to reinstate funding.
Ms. Conlee said, You cannot just use chimps like this and just
abandon them and get away with it.

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he management of APM Terminals Liberia wishes to announce to port users and the general public the commencement
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MANAGEMENT, APM TERMINALS LIBERIA LTD.

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