ROAD TRAGEDY

Accidents Caused Over 20 Deaths on Buchanan Highway in 2014

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YOU ARE A FAILURE

REP. BARCLAY TO SEN. JEWEL TAYLOR:

CENTRAL BANK OF LIBERIA

MARKET BUYING AND SELLING RATES LIBERIAN DOLLARS PER US DOLLAR

BUYING WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2014 TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 2014 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2014 L$83.00/US$1 L$83.00/US$1 L$83.00/US$1

SELLING L$84.00/US$1 L$84.00/US$1 L$84.00/US$1

www.frontpageafricaonline.com

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

VOL 8 NO.548

GRAND BASSA LOCALS VS EQUATORIAL OIL PALM EXPANSION DIALOGUE TAKEN TO SIRLEAFS DOORSTEPS

THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 2014

PRICE L$40

They want extension from Palm Bay to go to Tingbo River (EPO has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the River Cess County, district and tribal officials also explore and farm on a minimum of 80,000 hectares of oil palms on land provided from local communities and the Tingbo river is the border between Grand Bassa and River Cess County), but we said no, enough is enough, - Robert Behn

LAND CRISIS

STICKY

LAND ISSUES pg. 5

See PG 2

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Thursday, March 6, 2014

Monrovia n a fervent attempt to subvert the reform process and ride the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) into a bid round contrary to the agenda of the President and National Legislature, FrontPageAfrica has obtained copies of two almost identical presentations, one given by the head of the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) and his partners, TGS NOPEC, in South Africa to oil company executives while the Legislators were on a nationwide tour presenting the proposed new law. In a Bid for the Next Licensing Round FPA has gathered that while the National Legislature was conducting town halls meetings around the Country and NOCAL senior staff were ill-treating junior staff members, assigned to the Legislators, Dr. McClain and a hand-picked group of NOCAL employees went to South Africa to present data and commit the government of Liberia to a NOCAL/GOL Tender of 11 Blocks by third quarter 2014. A NOCAL employee who spoke to FPA strictly on condition of anonymity this week stated: I wanted to quit the tour! That County tour was not easy on us, no money to pay our hotel bill, to buy food to eat, even a bottle of water they did not give us money for, said a tour team member. The first few days, the Representatives from the House paid our hotel bills, provided us food and took care of us like we were their own people. Dr. McClain was too important to even think about some of us The source added that it seems Dr. McClain may have wanted the employees to quit the Counties road show, leaving the programs without any technical presenters for the law or to answer questions from attendees. FPA asked an employee of one of the Watch Dog groups in Liberia keeping the oil program and reform under a microscope, if a bid round held by NOCAL was allowed in the new law? Were negotiations conducted in South Africa with oil companies for the Harper Basin? Will we see a repeat of the types of agreements signed by Dr. Fodee Kromah and team? The employee referred FPA to the proposed new law now being studied by the legislature which states that the Minister of Lands, Mines and Energy, not the NOCAL CEO, shall, subject to the recommendation of the petroleum regulatory body and the approval of the president, have the following responsibilities under this act which shall be exercised in accordance with the provisions of this act: The general management of the Petroleum resources and the administration of this Act; Issuing Petroleum regulations; Opening up new areas for Petroleum operations; Making such decisions and issuing approvals as required in connection with the tender and award of Petroleum agreements; Granting Petroleum rights and amending or revoking the same. ; The law goes on to say that prior to opening up for Petroleum operations agreements areas that have not been previously subject to Petroleum agreements, the Petroleum Directorate shall at the request of the Minister, conduct (i) an evaluation of preliminary geological, geophysical and geochemical data of such areas, and (ii) an assessment of the economic, social and environmental impacts of the conduct of Petroleum operations in and around the subject areas, and shall provide an opportunity for public comment on the proposal. In relation to the conduct of any such impact assessment, the Petroleum Directorate shall consult with the relevant Ministries or agencies in respect of any matter falling within the scope of functions and responsibilities of the Ministry or agency in question. The law further states that the opportunity for public comment shall be announced on the Ministrys website and in two national newspapers, and such announcement shall include: (i) the location of the areas to be opened up for Petroleum operations, (ii) a summary by the Petroleum Directorate of its preliminary impact assessment, (iii) the location where the full preliminary impact assessment report can be obtained, (iv) the format and manner in which comments can be made, and (v) the deadline for submitting comments which shall not be less than sixty days from the date of the announcement. Upon expiry of the deadline for submitting comments, the law states that the Petroleum Directorate shall submit its final impact assessment report to the Minister, including a summary of the comments received and indicating the extent to which such comments have been taken into account. The final report shall be published on the Ministrys website, and an announcement shall be in two national newspapers of the publication of such report, including the summary of the report and a Statement of the location where a copy of the report can be obtained. The locations at which reports shall be made available, according to the law, pursuant to subsection (2) or (3) shall include the county seat of each county in which areas will be opened up for Petroleum operations and, in respect of offshore Petroleum operations, the county seat of each coastal county adjacent to the areas in questions. Announcements concerning any opportunity for public comment under this section and the locations at which report shall also be made on the national radio. The law clearly states that the Lands, Mines and Energy Minister, not the NOCAL CEO, shall give due consideration to the technical

AS PITCHED BY DR. MCCLAIN

FrontPageAfrica has obtained copies of two almost identical presentations, one given by the head of the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) and his partners, TGS NOPEC, in South Africa to oil company executives while the Legislators were on a nationwide tour presenting the proposed new law.
evaluation and the impact assessment report shall decide whether to open up the subject areas for Petroleum operations and whether to impose any exclusions, restrictions or other special conditions in connection with the opening up of the areas in questions. Any decision to open up areas for Petroleum operations and any conditions imposed in relation thereto shall be published on the Ministrys website and in two national newspapers. Nowhere does the new law mention NOCAL in the process as coordination with GOL in the tender process. Who are the Lone Rangers Accomplices? One industry observer confided to FrontPageAfrica that McClains unilateral decision without board approval have led some to dub him as the Lone Ranger, prompting some to question whether the NOCAL CEO could pull off this type of subversion without assistance from key people around President Sirleaf or without creating a scenario that leaves open acreage and economic sabotage at a loss for the Country. On Wednesday, another local daily, the National Chronicle reported that the economic sabotage by the NOCAL CEO resulted in a loss of $US180M, denying Anadarko, Tallow and Repsol an extension. Lost in all of the cloud dogging the NOCAL CEO is the lack of oversight of the board. President Sirleaf recently tipped her legal advisor Cllr. Seward Cooper as head of the board, a move some industry observers say is a clear violation of the constitution because Cooper has not yet resigned his position as an employee of the Executive Branch of government as a legal advisor to the President of the Republic. ARTICLE 3 of the 1986 constitution makes it emphatically clear that: Consistent with the principles of separation of powers and checks and balances, no person holding office in one of these branches shall hold office in or exercise any of the powers assigned to either of the other two branches except as otherwise provided in this Constitution; and no person holding office in one of the said branches shall serve on any autonomous public agency. In the absence of oversight from the board in a nation recovering from war, many Liberians remain baffled at how the head of the company regulating Liberias budding oil industry continues to fall into one misstep after another, costing millions of dollars in losses to Liberia, monies which some say could go a long way in contributing to the national budget, attempts to resurrect the damaged hydro at Mt. Coffee or restoring electricity throughout Liberia.

FrontPage EDITORIAL
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Thursday, March 6, 2014

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COMMENTARY

PRESIDENT SIRLEAFS RELATIVE MUST TAKE THE LEAD HERE

AN UNHERALDED incident on Valentines Day, February 14, this year has resurrected the debate over an unheralded war in post-war Liberia, the issue of rape which which is rapidly taking away innocence of scores of young girls, falling prey to predators hiding under the cloak of darkness. THE INCIDENT IN QUESTION involves a 12-year-old girl, whose name is being withheld because of the nature of the case. The incident so happens to have taken place in the home of a close relative of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf who happens to work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. HER ALLEGED perpetrator has mysteriously slipped through the hands of law enforcement authorities and her family, particularly the grandmother, is refusing to cooperate with the police. THE RELATIVE of the President is considered to be the victims granddaughter but is actually caring for the girl because her actual mother is dead. SIRLEAF, Africa's first female president, came to power in Liberia promising to tackle the problem of rape, which had become increasingly common during the previous 14 years of conflict in the country. Sirleaf drew attention to the issue during her 2006 inauguration when she said: "I know of the struggle because I have been a part of it. I recall the inhumanity of confinement, the terror of attempted rape." THIS MYSTERY comes on the heels of a number of highprofile cases involving young girls who died mysteriously under similar fashion. Young rape survivor Olivia Zinnah of Liberia was buried 22 December 2012 after suffering years of pain and surgeries following a rape when she was only 7 years old. According to the Liberian Ministry of Gender and Development, Olivia was the fourth girl to die of raperelated injuries in 2012. The ministry covered the costs of her funeral. Olivia Zinnah is the subject of an upcoming documentary entitled Small Small Thing to be released this spring. In an article published by Front Page Africa only a few days ago, the producers expressed hope that the documentary will raise awareness about rape and gender violence and also put pressure on the government to find and prosecute the perpetrator. IN MARCH 2010, Defendants Hans and Mardea received a Verdict of Guilty and were sentenced to death by hanging. The ruling was made by Judge Blamo Dixon, presiding judge of Criminal Court B at the Temple of Justice on Capitol Hill in Monrovia. The Supreme Court of Liberia is yet to rule on the appeal. The pair was arrested in January 2008 by the Liberia National Police (LNP) after the death of 13-year-old Angel Togba, a relative ofMardea and who until her death, lived with the couple as a foster daughter. The case remains a mystery for many as its verdict lingers in the high court. MANY SEE the election of Sirleaf and a government inclusive to the most women since the founding of Africas oldest republic, as perhaps the last hope for the abuse of young Liberian girls. In contrast, the issue of rape remains a dogging concern. In 2012, the ministry of gender and development reported a total of 2,493(TWO THOUSAND, FOUR HUNDRED AND NINETY THREE) sexual and gender-based violence crimes across Liberia, up from 2029 cases in 2010. A majority of these (58 per cent) were rape cases, of which 92 per cent or 1,348 involved rapes of children between the ages of three months to 17 years. In the first six months of 2013, four referral hospitals in Monrovia alone treated 814 rape cases, 95 per cent of which were children. In 2012, a total of five child deaths were recorded as a result of rape. So far this year, ten children have died as a direct result of being raped. The incidents are rising and becoming more brutal. MORE THAN a decade after the war, rape remains an issue. A total of 1,475 rape cases were officially reported in 2011, according to a recent gender-based violence statistics report prepared by the Norwegian Refugee Council. But most rapes, many sources there said, go unreported. The high level of abuse of children marks a troubling change in the nature of the violence, experts said. During the war men systematically raped women who were unknown to them. Now most of the

DO NOT LOSE THE WAR ON RAPE, TOO

THE PRICE OF POLITICAL DISHONESTY: THE PARADOX OF MR. DANIEL NAATEHN IN GBARPOLU COUNTY
Sam K Zinnah, szinnah@yahoo.com, Contributing Writer
he was not interested in any position in the county. Naatehn cleverly place Hon. Dickson Yarsiah and Mr. Kanie Wesso in a political box and allowed the two to face each other whilst he relaxed and served as a spectator to them. To date, Hon. Yarsiah and Mr. Wesso remain at logger head. In his effort to strengthen his political grips, Naatehn split Bokomu district into two and name the new district Gou Ngolala with the intention to keep the new district under his political belts. During the 2011 legislative elections, Naatehn, while working as a Unity party executive, covertly supported candidates of his choice against three incumbent Unity party candidates he worked with in the 52nd National Legislature thus causing all three Unity party Law Makers to lose their seats in Gbarpolu County. While Naatehn was busy digging holes for his colleagues, Armah Zulu Jallah was busy dismantling Naatehns political gangs in Gbarpolu County. Today, for his political dishonesty and undermining policy, former Representatives, Dickson Yarsiah, Armah Sarnor, Gbonojeveh Quah and Former Senator Naatehn cannot see eye to eye as the memories of those painful occurances still live on. Naatehn in a February 25, 2014 Analyst news paper edition claimed that the people of Gbarpolu County have lost confidence in Senator Momo and that he (Naatehn) is the best choice of the people of Gbarpolu. Many Gbarpolu citizens believe this is another attempt by Mr. Naatehn to undermine the work of the unity party in Gbarpolu and to steer political confusion in the County as he have done in the past. Naatehn have been heard on several radio stations accusing Gbarpolu County Unity Party chairman Mr. William Sei of single handedly selecting incumbent Senator J.S.B Theodore Momo Jr to contest the 2014 midterm senatorial elections on the Unity Party ticket in Gbarpolu County. Responding, Mr. Sei said Naatehn was busy running behind CDC to convince them to contest on their ticket and forgot to apply. Mr. Sei in a SKY radio interview described Mr. Naatehns action as deceptive with the intention to again undermine the partys effort and to steer confusion in the Party. During the July 19, 2012 County Council seating which was observed by former Deputy Internal Affairs Minister Florence Dukuly, Naatehn volunteered to help the ministry of internal affairs to verify the county payroll in order to eliminate ghost names from the county payroll. Instead, it is alleged that during Mr. Naatehn so called exercise, the former Senator plugged in names of some of his political agents in the county as part of his preparation for the 2014 senatorial race. Unfortunately for Mr. Naatehn, his covert operation has backfired thus making him further unpopular in the entire county. Chiefs and elder and others affected by his so-called ghost names elimination exercise have vowed to make sure that Mr. Naatehn does not elbow his way back to the senate. One of the affected chiefs, who choose anonymity because of his security, described Naatehns election as chasing a black goat in the darkness the description many referred to as very factual and exact. Another affected elder said because of Mr. Naatehns inconsistency and fear of yet another electoral whip, he has moved from his District (GouNgolala) to Gbarma where hes believed to have received the biggest defeat during the 2011 elections that kicked him out of the Liberian Senate. The elder further stated that not even the heavily intervention of the people of Gbarma will carry Mr. Naatehn back in the capitol building during the 2014 election. To date, it is not clear which political vehicle will carry Mr. Naatehn to the much anticipated 2014 Senatorial mid-term election as he still remain a member of the ruling Unity Party of which incumbent Senator J.S.B. Theodore Momo is comfortably seated. Two weeks ago in a radio interview, Senator Momo described Mr. Naatehn as a government bone who had no specific party but was confused roaming all over the place in search of party. Senator Momo further revealed that Mr. Naatehn was busy chasing CDC and Liberty Party to allow him to contest the election on their party ticket but every party Mr. Naatehn have attempt joining is very skeptical of him because of his assess baggage and his past deceptive record.

Commentary

he decision by former Gbarpolu County Junior Senator, Daniel Naatehn to declare no confidence in Gbarpolu County Senior Senator J.S.B. Theodore Momo ahead of the 2014 Midterm Senatorial elections has become a big joke in Gbarpolu County. Many Gbarpolu citizens have begun seeing Mr. Naatehns action as deceptive and beyond hypocritical. The fact that mr. Naatehn could not maintain his junior senator seat but is now roaming the streets of Monrovia and declaring no confidence in a sitting Senator is very troubling. In my opinion, the November 8, 2011 elections results in Gbarpolu marked a transcending moment of one of the many obstacles confronting the County. The ghost of painful political memories of Daniel Naatehn stand buried. The departure of Mr. Daniel Naatehn from the Gbarpolu County political and legislative block have been auspicious for political actions and countywide renaissance as sign by the kick out of the man who masterminded the downfall of all three representatives of the 52nd legislature. In my opinion and political view, the time has come for Gbarpolu County to force the hands of history for its own good. The outcome of the November 8, 2011 Senatorial elections gave Gbarpolu County a pause and reasons to re-evaluate its political future, monitored the next years to come and strategize the next course of political actions. Not surprisingly for many political analysts in Gbarpolu County who early predicted the current deceptive action of Mr. Daniel Naatehn, there is more to come out of the closet of terribly defeated former senator Daniel Naatehn. When legislative elections results were announced in Gbarpolu County, it was clear that Daniel Naatehn lost his senatorial seat to Armah Zulu Jallah. Naatehn had no option but to accept the results and congratulate the winner in that there were no protests or rejection of any results, the margin was just undisputable. Even the kids knew what had happen on that day, so it was laid to rest like it didnt happen. It was clear that the dignified people of Gbarpolu County had spoken through the ballot box. What I quickly said to myself was it would be a dreadful mistake to move on to doing business as usual without closely looking at events and analyzing the anger that brought about the political change in Gbarpolu County. In few months, it was becoming crystal clear that Naatehn was strategizing his next political move. Today, Daniel Naatehn is shamelessly patrolling around parts of Gbarpolu County in an attempt to re brand & re market himself to the electorates of Gbarpolu County after eight years at the capitol building and being ousted by Senator Armah Zulu Jallah. Frankly, this time should be used for alternative county wide introspection; not moments for cross and unbridled triumphalism despite Daniel Naatehns political divide in the County. Maybe some political opponents have been under or mis judged in the past. The last few years of Naatehn out of the capitol building have provide the new breed of law makers the opportunities to move the county in the direction they portrayed during their political campaign in 2011. Six or nine years sounded like a century to Mr. Naatehn but in the twinkle of an eye, he was back to the ballot box to be evaluated for his campaign promises and to be politically rewarded. At the ballot box, Mr. Naatehn got his reward for his political dishonesty. In politics, the traits that make for a successful political hustler are not always attractive; in fact, theres a dark triad of backstabbing character types disappointingly represented in Daniel Naatehns types of politics. Psychopaths politicians, who have no conscience, Machiavels, to whom others are but pieces on a backstabbing board; a narcissist, bursting with malignant self love regardless of what it takes or cost. In many Gbarpolu political observers opinion, Naatehn is a mixture of all three characters thus making him politically dangerous in Gbarpolu politics and a tragic political character to be associated with. How Daniel Naatehn undermined his colleagues in the 2011 Elections In 2003, Mr. Daniel Naatehn constituted a team comprising of prominent citizens from his neighboring Belle District to support his (Naatehns) political ambitions in Gbarpolu County. At first, he pretended as if
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perpetrators 85% according to Doctors Without Borders know the victim first hand. THE ISSUE WAS highlighted with much fanfare last year at the launch of Liberia's 2013 anti-rape campaign amid some disagreements between Sirleaf, Associate Justice Jamesetta Wolokollie and Chief Zanzan Karwah, head of the National Traditional Council of Liberia. WOLOKOLLIE acknowledged that courts dangled over cases because "at times evidence adduced is either not sufficient or immaterial to establish the gravity of the case as depicted in a lawsuit filed." Amongst issues dived into is the involvement of hospitals in getting needed record relating to a particular incident of rape. CHIEF ZANZAN KARWAH committed his group to spreading the message about the danger associated with rape but suggested a balance in the equation in that parents should get involved in the process by stopping their girls children from engaging in indecent dressing. Most men including women are of the conviction that indecent dress code by girls children is a principal source or case of rape. PRESIDENT SIRLEAF, in contrast said: "Chief Zanzan Karwah, this is not about dress; this is total wickedness and must stop," the president said. The Presidents disagreement

was also anchored in the fact that little ones as old as 7 years who are raped by men of age should be blamed on dress code. In similar tone and fashion, she looked in the face of Justice Wolokollie and said "Madam Associate Justice, I respect your views, but we will do this through the courts." MONTHS AFTER THE rhetoric, rape cases continue to linger and predators continue to escape the law. This has to stop. This is why we are challenging the high-profile women in the Sirleaf administration to wake up, stand up and do something about rape now when they have the power and influence to make a difference. WE CANNOT AND MUST NOT allow powerful predators to ruin the lives of our young women and escape the wrath of justice. Making rape a non-billable offense is not enough, the government must take the fight a step further and bring those powerful predators to book. THIS IS why we are calling on the Presidents relative, whose name we are withholding to protect the victim to help authorities, including the Liberia National Police and the Ministry of Gender, get to the bottom of this mystery. IT IS NO SECRET that Liberia, under President Sirleaf, has lost the war on corruption. We must not sit by and lose the war on rape, too. This nightmare must come to an end.

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The Reader's Page

Thursday, March 6, 2014

MACK JOURIDINE CEO & FOUNDER AT SELF EMPLOYED AND LOVING IT! Eric Bracewell is nothing but a damn liar, not only that, he is a convicted criminal and was barred from entering the US for 10 years. This habitual liar was tried and convicted in the city of Atlanta, Ga in 2011 . He is being spiteful. BENJAMEN QUAYE UNIVERSITY OF LIBERIA These are serious charges by Erik Bracewell against Mr. Nyekan. So Bracewell has information that Nyekan was responsible for the death of Charles Gbenyon, and he did not tell the President? And if he had all this damning information about Nyenkan, why did he allow Nyekan in the SSS given he Bracewell's close relationship with the President? I see this as Bracewell's display of ignorance as to be spiteful against his former colleague, and the Senate should not take these allegations lightly. I also think Nyekan should sue so that Bracewell will be forced to produce evidence before a judge. MICHAEL PAYE GONQUOI MANAGER AT SELFEMPLOYED Is this EPS Director-Designate telling the truth? Was he waiting for Senate confirmation to inform Liberian people that Liberia is the hideout for Boko Harem where they sleep or rest? If he had this intelligence, why he's never informed state security apparatus and Liberian people? Is it now that he will show Boko Harem's hideout in Liberia? Senate, kindly do due diligence before confirming nominees. JOE N. TEAWAY GIBBS COLLEGE Thank Mr Quaye, but remember that all those guys are not well trained to protect Our Leaders because they lied on people to gain favor from the President. Mr. Nyankan was trained by tax payers money to protect our Nation Leader, ( SK. Doe )in SATU Unit, today he's saying that SATU was Late President SK. Doe's death squad. So Liberian be careful and watch their movement. Their loyalty to the President is questionable. NO ACCESS TO FAMILY: TAYLORS WIFE LAMENTS AFTER UK DENIES VISA Sam K Zinnah Chief of Office Staff at Liberian Senate :Hahahaha, you will stay long inside. this reminds me about the spirit story. Once upon the time, there was a gentleman who died and found himself in the home of the spirits in the great beyond. After spending few days, he began counting the amount of days he had spent in the great beyond. One old man who had been there for almost hundred years said to him "my friend, you see that big cutton tree? I planted it". so please stop counting days here. you are not a visitor here, you are now a citizen. So, Mss Ghankay, please stop crying wolf and be brave, strong and intelligent like your husband. when we were been slaughtered in Liberia, your husband told us to be "brave, strong & intelligent". George Alonzo Kamara Primecomputersstore.com CEO & Founder at

LIBERIA IS BOKO HARAM HIDEOUT: EPS BOSS DESIGNATE DECLARES

COMMENTS FROM FPA ONLINE

WHY THE 2017 PRESIDENT ELECTIONS MATTER

The Editor, Decisions have consequences. Every decision one makes or avoids to make not only has a good or bad consequence, but the potential to change the entire path in which his or her life heads. For every nation therefore, the decision to vote, especially in presidential elections, not only matters but remains the most consequential and crucial decision in a life time. This is precisely why the 2017 Liberian presidential election matters--even more than we had thought. In 2017 Liberians will not only decide as to who becomes their next president, but the beacon of hope rather than the status quo of greed, corruption, nepotism, misrule, poverty, high unemployment, underdevelopment and criminal canvassing. The 2017 Liberian presidential election matters for two important reasons: 1.It will either set the path to perpetuating the country's ugly past, and the current organized and widespread corruption, public theft, and nepotism, or provide a new beginning that requires technical competence and measurable leadership to eliminate corruption, ensure good and effective governance, fiscal transparency and accountability, judicial independence, freedom of the press, assembly and speech; and facilitate economic opportunities and prosperity by investing in science, technology, engineering and math as well as manufacturing, infrastructural development, agriculturalfood production, and workforce development and training. 2. It will signal to the world that Liberia and Liberians mean business and are willing to break away from the misery and crunches of a third world country to the promise of a first world nation. These two imperatives are precisely why people like Liberia's current self-centered and no- fiscal policy central bank governor, Mills Jones, and former warlord Charles Taylor's ally and business associate, Benoni Urey, are not and should never be considered as credible candidates that the Liberian people should take seriously. Furthermore, both Mills Jones and Benoni Urey lack the technical competence and minimum leadership Liberia desperately needs to break away from its dark past. In addition, they are unsuited in projecting the relevant credibility and influence required to ensure national unity, stability and peaceful coexistence in the country, and within the West African sub region. Beside, these two individuals have a very subjective view of governance, economic growth and leadership. In 2017, Liberia should not be entrusted to a set of organized opportunists with questionable characters and ill-gotten wealth. The mere fact the names of people like these surfaced not only makes one to wonder whether Liberia is a cursed nation, or a perpetual laughing stock of the international community. As the former U.S. president John F. Kennedy once said "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country". Both Mills Jones and Benoni Urey fall short of Kennedy's dictum when it comes to redeeming Liberia in these critical times, and here is why. As the so-called executive governor of the country's central bank, Mills Jones not only presides over a failed, unaccountable and corrupt economy that subjects ordinary Liberians to painful inflation

LOOKING AHEAD

YOU WRITE; WE PUBLISH; THEY READ!

and capital flight, extreme unemployment, extraneous hardship and abject poverty, he capriciously, unilaterally and subjectively uses the country's finances for his personal gains with no regard for acceptable oversight, accountability and sound economic plan. Using a country's money to promote one's personal and misguided political ambitions through a bogus macro-finance scheme to a vulnerable segment of the population has no place in any form of conventional economics; except in Liberia's corruption economics. Instead of marshalling a viable and pro-growth economic policy that will provide tangible and sustainable long-term impacts for the country and its citizens, Mills Jones uses President Sirleaf's leadership vulnerability to treat Liberia's finances like his personal fortune. The sad part is that the more Mills Jones wastes the country's finances on his backward no-vision economic catastrophe for his self-fulfilling political ambition the more Liberians are drifted in dismal poverty. For his part, Benoni Urey, unlike Mills Jones, is a special character who does not in any way, form and shape deserves to be considered for any kind of credible discussion nonetheless a public office. This is an individual who, by association, sanctioned the criminalization of the country. Apart from participating in the looting spree of Liberia with his business partner and ally, former warlord Charles Taylor, and a host of foreign business cartels that included people like criminal-minded Dutch businessman, Gus Kouwenhoven, Urey lacks every itch of credibility with the international community. In fact, Liberia cannot afford to have a president who was placed on a United Nations' travel ban for a decade, and whose removal was based on a lobbying deal with the current Liberian government at tax payers' expense. Liberians who think that electing a Mills Jones or Benoni Urey as president in 2017 can reverse the ongoing widespread corruption, the loot of public funds, nepotism and bigotry, and the increase in poverty and high unemployment, are dreaming. If either of these characters mistakenly become president of Liberia, conditions will be worst than we see today under the Sirleaf's administration. Liberians must take note and forget about the ill-gotten wealth of these individuals and examine their credibility and characters. It is therefore important that all Liberians take the 2017 presidential election seriously. Liberians' voting decision should be based on electing not only a God-fearing man, but an individual that has the vision, leadership, international credibility, moral background and training, and that is incorruptible to change the course of Liberia's ugly history of the past ten years and more. We have been there several times before, and going there in 2017 with a Mills Jones or Benoni Urey as president would simply be the most disastrous error Liberians will never forget because, even though we are at the edge of a cliff under the current administration, if one of these people are successful in becoming president they will put us and the country over that cliff. The good news is post 2017 Liberia is poised for change, a change from a third world country to a first world nation if we as Liberians make the right decision and go with a leadership that comprises visionary and incorruptible individuals with superior ideas, discipline and ingenuity who desire to change Liberia into the Singapore of West Africa. ####

Miss taylor had stated that she will be staying in Newcastle United which UK immigration officer have taken to consider and mean Newcastle. Your husband is currently serving a long sentence at HMP Frankland which is in Durham. I myself just did a gps map research and the distance from where Miss Taylor wish to reside is like from New York to California. or for my fellow citizen to better understand is like from Monrovia to Nigeria; or Libya. Now in this case, she cannot be 100 to 300 miles or kilometers away from the prison compound/complex for three months and claim to have just this little amount. Also she have provided one photocopied bank statement, it cannot be verified as the original has not been provided. The comments expressed here are those of our online readers and bloggers and do no represent the views of FrontPageAfrica

DISCLAIMER

Rodney D. Sieh, Managing Editor, 0886-738-666; 077-936-138, editor@FrontPageAfricaonline.com; rodney.sieh@FrontPageAfricaonline.com Wade C. L. Williams, News Desk Chief, wade. williams@frontpageafricaonline.com; 0880664793 Francis F.B. Mulbah, Layout Editor; 0886639382 REPORTERS Sports Editor, Danesius Marteh, danesius.marteh@ frontpageafricaonline.com, 0886236528 Henry Karmo, henry.karmo@frontpageafricaonline. com Al-varney Rogers al.rogers@frontpageafricaonline. com, 0886-304498

EDITORIAL TEAM

J. Nhinson Williams Leader, Unite Liberia for Change www.uniteliberiaforchange

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

Thursday, March 6, 2014

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LAND ISSUES

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Blayah, Town, Grand Bassa Countyalm Oil concession companies are sprouting up in Liberia but the issue of land and expansion has become a sticky one for all concerned. The expansion effort of the Equatorial Palm Oil Company to resurvey over 35,000 hectares of land caused upset for the local inhabitants last year. In a village where they hardly see police cars all year round, Famly Kpokoui was shocked by the sound of sirens in her town one fateful night. The night the police entered Taloes Town (name of one of the affected towns) located in Grand Bassa County, located 160 kilometers south-east of Monrovia, on September 2, 2013, reminded her of the war days when rebels ruled the interior and the people were subject to them. I heard the sound of sirens and it was loud and became afraid because we do not hear that normally. It was like some war was about to start, she told FrontPageAfrica. The light was blinking on top of the cars and we were afraid. I took my baby and put him on my back and we ran off into the bush. It was dark, we didnt have any light, I almost fell in the hole. Kpokuoi is among many citizens of at least thirteen villages each inhabited by at least 700 persons according to local authorities, who fear being forcibly evicted to give way for the expansion of the Equatorial Palm Oil Concession expansion. The Liberian government through the 2008 50-year concession agreement gave the palm plantation go-ahead to resurvey 34, 398 hectares of land and provided full police protection without prior consultations with the locals when the survey commenced. Its our fathers land Robert Behn 63, an elder and a farmer of Qwakpojilan one of the affected towns in Grand Bassa County who has been growing rubber, cocoa and pineapple said the villages are not willing to give up ancestral lands to the palm oil plantation because past concessions have not benefitted them. They want extension from Palm Bay to go to Tingbo River (EPO has signed a Memorandum of

GRAND BASSA LOCALS VS EQUATORIAL OIL PALM EXPANSION DIALOGUE TAKEN TO SIRLEAFS DOORSTEPS

STICKY LAND CRISIS

Wade C. L. Williams, wade.williams@frontpageafricaonline.com
the sooner we do this the better. I dont think our public officials understand this, said Freeman. Freeman says the government wants to repeat the bad policies of previous governments which failed to consult the people before awarding ancestral land to companies, something he says will lead Liberia in another saga of violence that will be even more disastrous. The way it happens is that if they give one million acres of land, every town within that area is dislodged; it becomes a corporate property and you are compelled to work for the corporation because you are not going to have much land to farm, he said. Will the government listen? The SDI urged the government then to listen to the concerns of the people who live in these communities that are being targeted for resurvey and do the right thing in the interest of the people who live in the area instead of a company which plans to cultivate 5,000 hectares of land per year for oil palm production. "The Government of Liberia knows there is a problem in this concession, but is refusing to heed the wishes of its own citizens by stopping the land survey and acknowledging that these communities have the right to make decisions about their own land, says Silas Siakor, Campaigner, SDI. The United Nations Special Representative to Liberia Karen Langren told the United Nations Security Council that the Liberian government is aware of the potential risk of new conflict that could result from any improper handling of either land rights or the management of Liberias natural resources. We know that implementation of concession agreements have been a significant source of tension, she said. On Wednesday, March 5, 2014, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf met with aggrieved persons from the affected concession areas. Time to include women A Monrovia Rally on International Womens Day

Understanding with the River Cess County, district and tribal officials also explore and farm on a minimum of 80,000 hectares of oil palms on land provided from local communities and the Tingbo river is the border between Grand Bassa and River Cess County), but we said no, enough is enough, he said. The tension between locals and the company, which lasted for weeks, later calmed because a local right campaigner Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) offered to represent the locals at the level of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). SDI urged EPO to cease conducting the survey of customary community land in Jogbahn Clan, District #4, Grand Bassa County pending resolution of complaints by citizens to the RSPO. Sitting in town hall meetings with the elders, men women and children of the villages, they all expressed one thing in common that they did not want EPO to expand any further and any attempt by the government to force the survey would meet stiff resistance. Surveyors attempted on September 16, 2013 to map out the vast green canopy but faced resistance as the locals stopped them. Not deterred they came back, a move that led to skirmishes. The EPO concession agreement, which was ratified in 2008, has

come under intense scrutiny because it seeks to expand to a total of 34, 398 hectares of land. The company seeking to process up to five tons of oil palm fruits per hour said it has not been given a chance to explain its policies to the people of the area. Organized tension Senior Assistant Plantation Manager, David Woah in an interview with FrontPageAfrica last year during the height of the tension claimed that the locals have been organized by some groups to resist the survey, even though he did not name those groups. The company established in 2005 is a UK publicly listed crude palm oil company and its

plantations include the former Palmbay plantation that seized operations due to the Liberian civil war, located near the deep-water port of Buchanan, 160 kilometers, southeast of Monrovia and 25 kilometers from the Buchanan port. Many are of the opinion that if the government does not handle the current expansion plans properly, there would be continued tensions between the local communities and the company. Simeon Freeman an opposition politician told IPS that the government must act properly to save the people in the area from being dislocated. We have to be able to come up with a functional local policy,

also looks to President Sirleaf at a Conference that brings Central and West African leaders together, to support the rights of Liberias women as it relates to land issues. The commemoration on March 8, 2014, (African Women's Network for Community Management of Forests (REFACOF), the Foundation for Community Initiatives, and the Rights and Resources Initiative will hold the Third Regional Workshop on Gender, Climate Change, Land and Forest Tenures in Africa in Monrovia. This conference will bring together more than 50 participants from 16 African countries along with donors, development partners, and issue experts. The conference will bring together women from across Liberia and Gender Minister Julia Duncan-Cassell, will host Cecile Ndjebet, President, REFACOF) (Cameroon), Julie T. B. Weah, Executive Director, Foundation for Community Initiatives (FCI) (Liberia) and Solange Bandiaky-Badji, Africa Regional Director, Rights and Resources Initiative. In Liberia, as in most Central and West African countries, Indigenous Peoples and local communities do not own the land and forests on which they have lived and cultivated for generations. But as the country moves towards adopting a new policy on land ownership, activists are pushing for the inclusion of women in a process that would rather push for respecting the tenure rights of the people who live on the land in question. Customary traditions does not recognize the right of women as it relates to land governance and as currently written, Liberias proposed land reform policy has no safeguards for women. With over 150 women from across the Liberian countryside attending the celebrations many will be looking to see President Sirleaf, President Sirleaf reaffirm an unprecedented promise to Liberian women, she made last year stating that Women will have the full right to own their land like anyone else.

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Outrage: Rep. Barclay took a dig at Senator Howard-Taylor despite advice from Bong Caucus chair Henry Yallah

YOU ARE A FAILURE

Selma Lomax, selma.lomax@frontpageafricaonline.com

REP. BARCLAY TO SEN. JEWEL TAYLOR:

Buchanan, Grand Bassa County urrently in Liberia, the Buchanan- Cotton Tree Highway is undisputed as the best highway in the country, even though the numbers of accidents have scaryingly increased over the last couple of months leaving more than 20 persons dead in the process. Police report shows that both pedestrians and passengers have fallen prey to series of fatal accidents since January 2014. Most of these accidents according to the Police and eyewitnesses are the results of reckless driving, while some are blaming the Ministry of Public Works for not erecting speed limit signs along the road. From January to February this year, five pedestrians have been hit and killed by cars plying the road while 15 others who were passengers died. According to Grand Bassa County accident statistics, two persons were hit around the Owens Groove area and three persons between the Compound One and St. John River Bridge. Residents of these areas who spoke to FrontPage Africa indicated that most of the casualties died instantly which means the vehicles were on excessive speed. When President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf dedicated the road last year, she changed the named from the Buchanan Cotton Tree Highway to the Gbehzohn Diahnblah highway. The change in nomenclature was to give the road a more local ownership so citizens of the county could appreciate the governments developmental impact, but the president also stressed the importance of the Ministry of Public Works (MPW) and the Liberian National Police (LNP) erecting road and traffic signs on the newly built highway. Up to now there are no speeds signs neither are drivers cautioned by Police for over speeding on the road. President Sirleafs request or order has been practically ignored. Just about a week ago a fatal accident involving three cars almost caused the death of a pregnant woman who was on her way to Buchanan. Grand Bassa County traffic commander, Inspector Allen Suah told FPA that since the road was reconstructed there have been lots of accidents leading to death and property damage. People take advantage of the road because they feel the road is paved; from here (Buchanan) to Monrovia is no distance and people who are not proper driver use the road. Most drivers want to make as many trips as possible on the road, excessive speed that they cannot control, Inspector Suah said. The accidents involved all categories of vehicles but Police reports justified that commercial vehicles have had the most number of accidents recently. A taxi driver only identified as Moses, argued that some of the drivers who are involved in

ROAD TRAGEDY
Accidents Caused Over 20 Deaths on Buchanan Highway in 2014
ALPHA DAFFAE SENKPENI, BUCHANAN

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COUNTY NEWS

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Accidents cars abandon on the road side, Buchanan Highway

speed limit signs on the road, Commissioner Saar said the LNP will talk to the MPW about erecting the signs while also expressing pessimism about the drivers attitude towards the road signs and how they adhere to these signs. But are the drivers going to adhere to these signs because the road is wide, so they take advantage of it. Most of the accidents on these paved roads are the result of over speeding, we are saying the best way forward is to have road safety campaign which is best approach, he said. He continued: If you should talk to them and tell them that the speed limit is this and tell them if you make accident this is what going to happen, if you make accident there are chances that you will not be able to feed your family again, so talking to them is better than just mounting a speed sign indicating the speed limit without telling them what the outcome is, Commissioner Saar added. Traffic experts have adopted the Three Es approach which involves engineering, education and enforcement. The LNP have often openly expressed confidence in working with the MPW especially with couple of roads been rehabilitated in the country, so Commissioner Saar like other senior LNP officers, believes that any request to the works ministry is often adhere to. According to the LNP traffic rules, drivers using highways are expected to drive 45 miles per hour (MPH), something that is not happening. Most drivers on the Buchanan highway now driver around 100 to 140MPH, ignoring the risks involve while the LNP highway patrol often reneged on cautioning the drivers about their speed limits. With the expected road safety campaign around the corner many will be hoping it helps reduce the number of accidents.

Senator Jewel Howard-Taylor being calmed by the Chairman of Bong County Civil Society Council Steve Mulbah following Rep. Barclays outrage Saturday.

Gbarnga, Bong Countypparently angered by her advocacy for 20 per cent of China Union fund to Salala district for 2013/2014 county development fund, District #7 Representative lawmaker, Corpu Barclay, Saturday descended on Senator Jewel Howard-Taylor, describing the former first lady as a failure and a disappointment to the people of Bong County. Barclay accused Howard-Taylor of squandering the goodwill and support of the people by failing to deliver any tangible project nearly eight years after she assumed the position as senator, regretting that the people of Bong County made a big mistake in entrusting the county to the senator. Barclay speaking Saturday during the county development sitting challenged Howard-Taylor to point out any project she had started and completed since her rise to power, accusing her of being clueless, unfocussed and unprepared to tackle the challenges of the county. Barclay said: Under Jewels watch, Bong County has slipped into the failed county category. A county that was once celebrated for strides in education, peaceful co-existence and environmental renaissance has rapidly descended into a beehive for criminality and ecological disaster as a result of abandoned road projects by Jewel. Barclay urged the people of the county to be wary of the lies from Jewel as the October 2014 senatorial election gears up. Continuing, Barclay added: We are compelled to alert our people in the county at this time that ahead of the October 2014 senatorial election, the only thing that will be left for the National Patriotic Party (NPP) is Howard-Taylors desperate bid to gain power, lord it over our people and further sharpen her capacity to lie brazenly. If anyone is in doubt over the antecedents of Jewel, a quick reminder of some of the lies told, which were never substantiated, will be enough. But Howard-Taylor fired back at Barclay, calling the district 7 lawmaker ungrateful element. The lawmaker, who spoke through her Budget Analyst, Fahnlon Gbakoyah, said the lawmaker had flopped over the years at the national legislature. Barclay has never achieved anything for her people since assuming the position eight years ago. The people of Sanoyea and Fuamah administrative districts are yet to realize the dividend of democracy. All of what she is doing is to envy the senator who has done so much well for Bong County residents, Fahnlon said.

LNP Assistant Commissioner for Traffic, John Saar

these accidents are not regular commercial drivers but only commercialize their vehicles because of the Police leniency. These are just-come drivers who do not even understand the road and they want to make quick money because the road is good, he said suggesting that the Police put in place a system that will ensure only certified license drivers use the road. But this is almost impossible, considering the already existing corruption allegations hanging on the police. The absence of speed limit signs seems to be a concern that most people ignored but Inspector Suah told FPA that though other signs are on the road, it is important to have the speed limit signs there. If you see on the road, there are few signs that will tell you this is a curve; this is a narrow bridge. I think it is important to have the speed signs; I dont know what the MPW is doing about this, but its very important the Grand Bassa traffic chief explained. CENTRAL POLICE HQS REMEDY When FPA quizzed LNP Assistant Commissioner for Traffic about the approaches the LNP will employing other to reduce the accidents, Commissioner John Saar said he was still awaiting a report from the Grand Bassa County detachment in other to know how greave the situation is, at the same time mentioning financial constrains as huddles for some of the road safety campaigns the LNP would like to embark on outside of Monrovia. However, the LNP Traffic Commissioner disclosed that a road safety campaign will begin shortly, something he assured will help educate the drivers, thereby, reducing the accident rate on the road. He said the LNP in collaboration with GTZ will launched the road safety campaign to the public on the 13thof March this year and the exercise will include the Motorcyclists Union, Road transport Unions and the Truckers Union among others. Reacting to the numerous concerns about the lack of

Thursday, March 6, 2014

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WORLD NEWS

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MONROVIA

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UKRAINE CRIMEA CRISIS S Hillary Clinton Compares Russian President

Garbage, garbage, garbage, is all we see all around us that we cannot eat our food in peace without the flies wanting to enter your mouth, Says Mary Forkpah, a local marketer at the Red-light Market.

THE GARBAGE WILL KILL US

illary Clinton said that tactics implemented by Russia in Crimea are reminiscent of those used by Nazi Germany before World War II. Speaking at a fundraiser in California, Clinton drew a parallel between Adolf Hitler's rhetoric that ethnic Germans living in neighbouring countries he later invaded were oppressed, and Vladimir Putin's claim that ethnic Russians in Ukraine are under threat by nationalists and radicals. The former US secretary of State, who is widely expected to run for US president in 2016, particularly criticised Moscow over the issuing of passports

Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler

to ethnic Russians living in Ukraine's Crimean peninsula. "Now if this sounds familiar, it's what Hitler did back in the 30s," Clinton said, the Long Beach Press-Telegram reported. "All the Germans that were ... the ethnic Germans, the Germans by ancestry who were in places like Czechoslovakia and Romania and other places, Hitler kept saying they're not being treated right. I must go and protect my people and that's what's gotten everybody so nervous." Clinton, 66, made the comment at a $1,500-a-head fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club of Long Beach. She also said that Putin believes "his mission is to restore Russian greatness." "When he looks at Ukraine, he sees a place that he believes is by its very nature part of Mother Russia," Clinton said. Harry Saltzgaver, who attended the event, told Buzzfeed that Clinton added there was "no indication that Putin is as irrational as the instigator of World War II." Earlier this week, Vladimir Putin was accused of acting like Hitler in 1930s also by the former foreign minister of the Czech Republic, Karel Schwarzenberg. "Since he wanted to invade Crimea, he needed a pretext and said that his compatriots were oppressed," said

Schwarzenberg."When Hitler wanted to annex Austria, he said that Germans there were oppressed." Putin has claimed it would be legitimate for Russia to use force to protect its interests in eastern Ukraine and Crimea. "We have received a request from a legitimate president," Putin told a press conference. "Also we have historical and cultural ties with those people. And this is a humanitarian mission. It's not our goal to conquer somebody." He said deploying the military would be the last resort but and denied that troops without insignia who took over strategic locations in Crimea are Russian.

eeing moving vehicles, slowly penetrating the crowd in the congested market, of sellers, buyers and passengers who are going about their normal businesses, Mary Forkpah is one of many petit traders who sit on the side of the road in the market, to sell on a daily basis. But amidst the flies from the huge garbage pile, many petit traders are seen eating while selling at the same time. When asked as to why do they sit near the dirt that brings flies and germs to eat, Mary answered; My sister, this whole business is what to do, because if you leave your selling spot for one minute, someone else will take your space to sell their own goods. And what will you do when they say the street is government land and is not for a particular person? Red Light market, is known as one of the largest markets because sellers from the various highways and rural Liberia, bring their goods to the gobachop market in Red Light, which means (you chop I chop) in order to auction their goods quickly and go back before dark meets them. But the Red Light Market is not the only market that suffers from huge garbage pile, but Duala, Waterside, Rally Time or Merry-go-Round and Old Road markets face the same problem of garbage overrunning the markets. The scent from the dirt and the flies can embarrass us that we cant be able to sit here when it rains. As for eating where we sell, is all part of it because we have no other choice if we must feed and send our children to school, Says Victoria Williams from Marry-go-round Market. Victoria, who said the garbage truck comes after three days to pick up the garbage, was driving away flies from her goods, while making business. She sells fresh pepper, okra, bitter balls, and red oil on a table, right near the garbage but that does not stop her from selling. One would ask if Zoom Lion that was awarded the contract to pick up garbage from around Monrovia and its environs, can do the job more efficiently when garbage containers from different sites are overflowing with dirt.

UN TO HAMMER OUT DETAILS OF C.AFRICA PEACEKEEPING PLAN

United Nations (United States) (AFP) nited Nations diplomats will begin hammering out the details of a peacekeeping plan for the Central African Republic on Thursday hoping to restore order to the strife-torn country. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has recommended deploying a 12,000-strong force to the former French colony, where political and sectarian violence following a coup last year has left thousands dead. In a 24-page report to the UN Security Council, Ban called for a force of 10,000 soldiers and 1,820 police officers to be sent to CAR in order to halt the bloodshed. A first discussion of the report is to take place at the UN on Thursday, but while there is a broad consensus that a peacekeeping mission is inevitable, agreement on fine details is a long way off. "Everyone agrees that there's likely to be some kind of UN peacekeeping operation, probably by the end of

JUSTICE TOO LATE

Angel Togbas father is dead!

H
September," one UN diplomat told AFP. "But how big, what configuration, what balance between police and army, military and civilians, what will be the exact task? There is still a huge amount of work to be done." Under Ban's proposal, the African Union would be required to turn over control of its 6,000-strong peacekeeping force to the UN, as it had done during a similar operation in Mali, by September 15. The African Union however remains reluctant to cede control of its operation without conditions, arguing for example that any UN force must be placed under the command of an African military officer. France, which has 2,000 soldiers already on the ground in CAR alongside the African Union force, is expected to submit a draft resolution to the Security Council by the end of the month.

e will no longer be around to see justice done in the case that led to the death of his daughter as the late Angel Togbas father Mr. Namuinue S. Togba, has finally passed out. The deceased who is not alive to witness the final judgment of his late daughters case, was sick with a liver disease months before his death. Mrs. Sue Togba, who few weeks ago launched an SOS call in said her husbands aliment started since last October, when he started complaining about stomach aches and his condition has been deteriorating since then. But unfortunately, the late Mr. Togba, who needed medical treatment out of the Country, passed out, February 28, 2014. Immediately, after the SOS call was launched, Mrs. Sue Togba, told frontpageafrica via mobile phone, that she had started receiving donations from kindhearted individuals to facilitate the travel of her husband to India, where the family Doctor was waiting to perform surgery. Oh my people your come for me ooooo, my husband has left me and gone when justice of our daughter has not come yet, cried Mrs. Togba via mobile. Why so soon, when we were almost at the point of flying you out of here? Some people were trying to send tickets for me to take you to India and you could not wait just a while? The late Angel Togbas father waited to witness the final judgment for the death of his daughter Angel Togba who died 2007. In 2008, Mr. Hans Williams lawyer took an appeal after his clients Hans Williams and fiance Madea Kpekue were sentenced to death by hanging, but nothing has be heard of the case since then.

Page 8 | Frontpage

Thursday, March 6, 2014

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (CONSULTING SERVICES INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT SELECTION)

Republic of Liberia Integrated Public Financial Management Reform Project (IPFMRP); Ministry of Finance Credit No.: IDA50260 Assignment Title: Security Consultant The Republic of Liberia has received a Financing from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the International Development Association (IDA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) toward the cost of an Integrated Public Financial Management Reform Project (IPFMRP), and it intends to apply part of the proceeds of this financing for consulting services. The consulting services (the Services) include the following: Develop comprehensive security plan for Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) HQ. Develop structure, job profiles and standard operating procedures for the Security Unit to be established in the LRA including operating forms etc., and also for the external security firm. Oversee installations of electronic security systems, such as closed circuit surveillance, entry controls, burglar alarms, ultrasonic motion detectors, outdoor perimeter microwave alarms etc. Work closely with Donor TA on the development of the technical documents and on all LRA security matters Any other security related assignment leading to the establishment of the LRA. The assignment is for five (5) months. The Ministry of Finance now invites eligible individuals (Consultants) to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services. The shortlisting criteria are: Bachelor Degree in Criminal Justice or related field. A Master degree is a plus 5 years working experience in Management position performing similar functions of security systems development & planning. Must be proficient in Microsoft Office Suite The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to paragraph 1.9 of the World Banks Guidelines: Selection and Employment of Consultants [under IBRD Loans and IDA Credits & Grants] by World Bank Borrowers , January 2011 (Consultant Guidelines). The Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Individual Consultant Selection method set out in the Consultant Guidelines. Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours - 0900 to 1600 GMT. Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form to the address below (in person, or by mail, or by fax, or by e-mail) by 19th March, 2014. Integrated Public Financial Management Reform Project (IPFMRP) Attn: Mr. Bernard Jappah, PFM Reforms Coordinator Ministry of Finance, 4th Floor Broad and Mechlin Streets Monrovia, Liberia Tell: +231886512462 E-Mail: bjappah@liftliberia.gov.lr Cc: ivanofei@hotmail.com

Thursday, March 6, 2014

TOO SMALL TO SUCCEED?

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MILITARY NEWS

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MONROVIA, Liberia rig. Gen. Daniel Dee Ziankahn stood solemnly in front of a Bible held open by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and swore to defend Liberias constitution and fulfill his duties as the first Liberian army chief since the end of this West African nations 14-year civil war. A soldier pulled the armys navy blue flag close to his chest with white-gloved hands before presenting it to Ziankahn to be hoisted beneath the red, white and blue national flag. As the colors flapped under the overcast sky on this February day, Ziankahn returned to his seat next to Johnson Sirleaf and the outgoing army chief, Maj. Gen. Suraj Alao Abdulrrahman, a tall Nigerian man whose bright green uniform was weighed down by colored medals and other regalia. A lone medal hung from the left breast of Ziankahns jacket. Ziankahn, 42, joined the military in 2006, three years after the wars end, and with training from the United States has risen quickly to head one of the worlds youngest armies. Johnson Sirleaf appointed Abdulrrahman amid concerns that a Liberian would be too entangled by the various factions that fought in the war; Ziankahns rise marks the latest step in the armys efforts to reinvent itself. Thirty-four years ago, behind the walls of these barracks, on a stretch of sand beside the Atlantic Ocean, 13 top government officials were tethered to poles and sprayed with machine gun fire by soldiers who staged a coup. President William Tolbert was killed in the executive mansion. The executions precipitated the armys descent into violence, and it was deemed a warring faction during the civil war, which claimed more than 250,000 lives. After the war, the army was disbanded. In 2005 the United States and the Liberian government called for the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) to be rebuilt from scratch. The U.S. has spent more than $300 million on the effort, relying on the private military company DynCorp to recruit and train Liberian soldiers. In 2009, DynCorps contract ended, and U.S. military mentors took over. Today the AFL numbers just under 2,000 men and women, a small fraction of its size during the war. Analysts say that while the army is a professional force, it may be too small and weak to protect the country. As the U.S. draws down its financial support, questions remain about whether the money spent to rebuild the AFL has been used wisely. In many respects, this long, 10year process has been successful in creating, I think, for the first time in Liberias history, a military that is well regarded, that is respectful of authority, that is popular with the people, says J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Councils Africa Center and author of Liberia: Portrait of a Failed State. But, he adds, the military force that Liberians can afford on their own is not likely to be large enough or sufficiently well equipped to do much good should they face a real, conventional threat. However, even a small force, especially if it is disciplined and nimble, can cause mischief. Liberia has avoided relapsing into violent conflict, even though many analysts expected it to do so within a few years of the wars end. Here in the capital, there are visible signs of change: new slick apartment complexes and tall commercial buildings, paved roads, neat rows of trees in the citys center and

Liberias new army comes of age

by Clair MacDougall @ClairMacD

new electricity lines that deliver the most expensive public electricity in the world. The countrys security remains fragile, amid reports of endemic police corruption and mob and gender-based violence. A U.N. peacekeeping force of 5,700 still operates in the country. And while there have been changes in Monrovia, Liberia remains one of the poorest countries in the world, with the majority of the population living on less than a dollar a day. As the colors flapped under the overcast sky on this February day, Ziankhan returned to his seat next to Johnson Sirleaf and the outgoing army chief, Major General Suraj Alao Abdulrrahman, a tall Nigerian man whose bright green uniform was weighed down by colored medals and other regalia. A lone medal hung from the left breast of Ziankhans jacket. As the colors flapped under the overcast sky on this February day, Ziankhan returned to his seat next to Johnson Sirleaf and the outgoing army chief, Major General Suraj Alao Abdulrrahman, a tall Nigerian man whose bright green uniform was weighed down by colored medals and other regalia. A lone medal hung from the left breast of Ziankhans jacket. A new generation The day after the ceremony, Ziankahn, a tall and physically imposing man with a friendly manner, sits behind his dark wooden desk. He wears military fatigues and a thick silver ring with a blue stone from U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where he received a masters degree in military art and science. He came of age during the civil war but did not participate in it; he is part of a new generation of Liberian soldiers who do not carry the baggage of their predecessors. Ziankahn was 19 when armed men believed to have been from the AFL committed one of the worst atrocities of the war, storming a church compound in Monrovia and shooting and hacking to death more than 600 people. Many of those killed were from the Gio and Mano tribes and were suspected supporters of the rebels fighting the regime of then-President Samuel Kanyon Doe, who succeeded Tolbert. Until the 1980 coup, Liberias military, government and economy were dominated by Americo-Liberians, descendants of the freed slaves who founded the nation. After a 1985 coup attempt, analysts say, the army became tribalized, with Doe placing his fellow Krahn tribesmen in high posts; they targeted the Gio and Mano tribes. Then in the late 1990s, during the early years of Charles Taylors presidency, the AFL was led by a Mano man, Lt. Gen. Prince C. Johnson II, who fought alongside Taylors faction, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia. Johnsons son Col. Prince C. Johnson III is the new brigade commander of the 23rd Infantry Brigade and third in command of the army. Ziankahn is Bassa, an ethnic group not affiliated with the factions that participated in the war. He grew up in a poor family, one of 19 children. His mother sold palm oil and dry goods for a living, and his father held a midlevel job with the civil service. Ziankahn says the atrocities committed by the army during the war his cousin, for example, was shot dead after he was captured by rebels from the Liberian Peace Council, a proxy force of the AFL are a thing of the past. In arguing that the army can be a force for good, Ziankahn speaks of the role of the soldiers in Platos Republic and quotes American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. Today army members must hold a high school degree, and officers must have a university degrees Thats in sharp contrast to Doe, the illiterate noncommissioned officer who became president. US role The U.S. has longstanding ties to Liberias military. More than 5,000 U.S. troops were stationed here during World War II, and the U.S. has been training the Liberian military since the 1950s. U.S. funding to rebuild the Liberian military peaked in 2009. The military mentorship program now has 30 people, half the number at its start, and the program may conclude this year. Not all U.S.-sponsored military training missions in Africa have yielded positive results. Amadou Haya Sanogo, a captain in Malis army who received military training in the United States, led the group of soldiers who overthrew the countrys democratically elected president in 2012. And there are questions about the U.S. strategy in rebuilding Liberias army. One 2010 study found that DynCorps military training program failed to train the Liberians in basic infantry skills, such as the proper use of security patrols, noise and light discipline and other techniques. According to the study, DynCorp purchased the wrong types of equipment and spent too much on subcontractors salaries, at the expense of training on international law and other programs. Observers, though, say training has improved with the arrival of the U.S. military mentors.

Page 10 | Frontpage

Thursday, March 6, 2014

PRESS RELEASE

Ecobank EGM passes governance action plan Lom- 3rd March 2014: Ecobank shareholders meeting at an Extraordinary General Meeting today passed the Governance Action Plan proposed by the Board of Directors in compliance with the recommendations of the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) of Nigeria and contained in a joint report by SEC and the international firm, KPMG. The implementation of the detailed 51 point plan will commence immediately. At their meeting, which was attended by institutional shareholders as well as minority shareholders, the current 12 person Board of Directors of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated was retained following the decision by the institutional shareholders of the PIC, AMCON and IFC to withdraw a motion which they had proposed to create a smaller Interim Board. This would have run the Bank until immediately after the presentation of the 2013 results is expected to take place in June. The Extraordinary General Meeting also passed resolutions to amend the Companys Articles of Association. Under the new Articles of Association ETI shall not undertake any acquisition, merger or disposal of the Companys assets whose value is equal to or above 20% of the book value of the Company without the approval of a simple majority of the shareholders present in General Meeting. Shareholders voted to limit the maximum size of the Board be limited to fifteen (15) members and to ensure that no Directors could serve more than nine years in total. A resolution to authorise the Board of Directors to raise additional capital as the Company may require up of up to twenty percent (20%) of the current issued capital of the Company, without reference to the General Meeting, to at any time within a period of three years from the date of its adoption was not passed.
Notes to Editors

- END

About Ecobank: Incorporated in Lom, Togo, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) is the parent company of the leading independent pan-African banking group, Ecobank. It currently has a presence in 35 African countries, namely: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (Democratic Republic), Cte dIvoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Group is also represented in France through its affiliate EBI SA in 1 Paris. ETI also has representative offices in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, London, UK and Beijing, China. ETI is listed on the stock exchanges in Lagos, Accra, and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) the BRVM. The Group has more than 600,000 local and international institutional and individual shareholders. The Group employs 19,200 people from 40 different countries in 1,250 branches and offices. Ecobank is a full-service bank providing wholesale, retail, investment and transaction banking services and products to governments, financial institutions, multinationals, international organizations, medium, small and micro businesses and individuals. Additional information may be found at: www.ecobank.com.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Sports

Frontpage

Page 11

SPORT BRIEF

MESSI DOES NOT NEED WORLD CUP FOR GREATNESS: MARADONA

Danesius Marteh, danesius.marteh@frontpageafricaonline.com

Although Lawrence has been temporarily disqualified, there is a certainty according to LFA sources that he could be cleared and his chances of reelection, holding all things constant, could be great. From inside LFA indications, FC Fassell president Cassell A. Kuoh could be disqualified as his accusers are linking him to multiple charges even though the Election Commission will be left to decide Kuohs fate. If the Election Commission decides to disqualify Kouh, it could leave Lawrence and former Invincible Eleven vice president Alfred Sayon in a two-horse race. Lawrence and Bility have been enjoying a romantic friendship to the extent that the latter came closed to quitting his LFA post following his election as Montserrado County district #15 representative in 2011 according to sources but was persuaded to hold on by the former when it emerged that President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf would have made him minister of commerce and industry and Lawrences resignation would have set precedence for Bility to follow. But things soon move from bad to worse when Bility was accused of administering the affairs of the LFA singlehandedly. After a bit of diplomacy, Lawrences stance reached crisis proportion and he didnt hesitate to open a can of worms on administrative and financial malpractices at the LFA. Although the pair have since mend the broken pieces, avoiding him and picking Shannon is likened to a soldier sentenced to death by a firing squad, having been court-martialed. Some LFA top officials say Bilitys main interest is in Shannon and not Lawrence because he feared the ex-footballers main rival Sekou Konneh. The Barrack Young Controllers (BYC) president narrowly lost to Shannon four years ago and his campaign has been boosted by accusations against Shannon by some senior LFA Executives that Shannon has been arrogant to stakeholders, therefore, doesnt deserve reelection. Shannons colleagues say he is temperamental and that could hamper his re-election bid. An opinion poll conducted a year after the Bility-led administration labeled Shannon and Layefeatte Orinshall Gould, then chief of office staff to Bility, as bukumen. Absolutely, I wasnt surprise. It was just a matter of time [for Bility to endorse Shannon] because weve been monitoring all of their activities. This is not the first time. Even in the last election, they went as a team. So I am not surprise that Musa [endorsed Shannon]. And I think it is normal for him to endorse his vice president or other running mates, Konneh said. Konneh thinks Bilitys fears for his election could all be down to principles. Well, I think Musa has some serious apprehension and I dont know the reasons. Maybe he has followed my track records and my developments. Yes, we are going to work as a team but things that are going to jeopardize the growth and development of the game, of course, are things that I am going to challenge. Maybe, if he sees that as something that is threatening, then that is unfortunate because, I think, we need to work in such a way that we gave feedbacks to each other in such a way that it will help the growth of the game. We are not taking yes sir just for the sake of yes sir, which will not help the game, said Konneh, who insists that hes a team player that will not hesitate to tell his teammates about their faults in the name of the teams success. On the flipside, 10 persons will be elected, along with the president and two vice presidents, to fill the newly-configured executive committee. Eight of the current ECMs are seeking reelection and they will face a stiff competition from at least seven others, many of whom Bility have endorsed. So, the paradox is how can you endorse 20 persons when only 10 will be elected for four years? Sports pundits believe Bility needed to save his face by endorsing all candidates and later begin the behind the scene moves of pleading with some of the contestants to withdraw. Ashley, along with Harmon are being encouraged to withdraw, but it is Ashley who deserves to be discredited by all stakeholders should he bow to Bilitys game. And may the best candidates win on March 22.

t what was his final news conference to draw the curtains on an eventful first termon February 24, Liberia Football Association (LFA) president Musa Bility did the obvious thing by endorsing the reelection of Eugene Musa Shannon and Adolph Akwe Lawrence. Shannon means all things to Bility, especially,when it comes to sourcing for funds even in some of the fearful places in the world, like Iraq, and a demand for commission is inevitable. Take your pick between peacemaker and agent provocateur; lurking presence and reassuring hand on the shoulder; a king in waiting or a faithful retainer. Since his arrival as LFA vice president for administration on March 27, 2010, Shannon has, at various, times been perceived as any or all of the above. What is not in doubt is his former playing ability (though below George Weah and James Debbah) and a footballing brain that has attracted the admiration of international friendlies. Bility, who has been cooled about Shannons tight chances of reelection, was understandably delighted to describe the footballer-turned-administrator a trusted deputy. I want to thank someone that has not only been my friend but someone that has been a loyal servant. [And he is] my vice president for administration, Mr. Musa Shannon. Musa and I [have] come beyond [the] LFA. Weve come from school. When he was playing football, I was going to school in Colorado, [United States of America] and we were living together in the same house. And we made a promise to come back to our country and contribute to it. And in our various ways, we are contributing to that. In the LFA, Musa has been a true principal deputy. For me, Musa has been my executioner. As my principal deputy, he reflects my action. What I have asked Musa to do is what he has done. And Musa, I just want to tell the Liberian people that I really appreciate your loyalty, friendship and fairness. And I want to let you to know that as we await the elections committee to announce candidates, which we dont know the results but I know that you are seeking office [reelection] and if there is one person behind you, that person is me. And loyalty has to be paid back and this man has been loyal to me. And I will campaign for him as though as I was campaigning for myself, said Bility of Shannon, who has 14 international caps. Lawrence has had a fair share of criticisms and praises and has, at times, been viewed as a spy in the camp or aide-de-camp. The Musas (Bility and Shannon) have repeatedly accused Lawrence of leaking sensitive information to the press, particularly FrontPageAfrica, but the pair have been unable to substantiate their claims. Bility, who was accused of masterminding Lawrences unconstitutional suspension in April 2013, was caught in the middle with his public endorsement. I want to tell Hon. Lawrence that I am proud of you for being my vice president [for operations]. I am very thankful to you for your criticisms, which made me a better president. And I can assure you that this is a journey that we started together and we are in this journey together as colleagues and as friends and that, as we move forward, we will continue to support each other to make football better in Liberia, he said. There were standout praises for executive committee members (ECMs) Doris Sheba Brown, Rochell G. D. Woodson, Ansu V. S. Dulleh, Samuel Y. Karn, Wallace G. Weiah, Bishop Allen Klayee and Matthew Smith, who are seeking reelection. Bility also endorsed the candidacies of Georgian FC president Wilmot Smith, LISCR FC president Mustapha I. Raji and ELWA FC president Urias Glaybo as ECMs while female football clubs association president Ciatta A. Bishop was given the Nike sign as the lone candidate for the female representative to the ECM. This leaves the fates of Aries FC president Lemuel B. Sherman, Monrovia Club Breweries president Samuel Ashley, Nimba United FC coordinator Nyanqueh S. Borsay and Margibi County sub-association chairman Adolphus G. Harmon squarely on the electorates shoulders. There will be a compound-complex situation when Watanga FC president DeeMaxwell Kemayah, Keitrace FC president Korpu Beatrice Kpoto and NPA Sports Association president Cyrus Wright, who were temporarily barred, are given the green light to contest. But here is why the president was pushed into his paradoxical endorsement.

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) ionel Messi does not need a World Cup winners' medal to be considered among soccer's all-time greats, fellow Argentine Diego Maradona said on Tuesday. "Messi doesn't need to win the World Cup to be the best player in the world," Maradona, who inspired Argentina to the title in Mexico in 1986, told La Nacion. "(If he did) it would be great for Argentina, the fans and Lio, but (winning) a World Cup or not won't take away any of his achievements up to now to be among the greatest." Twice World Cup winners Argentina face Romania in a friendly in Bucharest on Wednesday as they begin to crank up their preparations for this year's finals in Brazil. Former captain and coach Maradona said everything appeared in place for Messi to shine although Argentina's task would be tough with hosts Brazil, title holders Spain and Germany among the sides to beat.

EDEN HAZARD DISPUTES JOSE MOURINHOS CLAIM THAT HE NEEDS REST

espite Jose Mourinhos belief that Eden Hazardneeds to be rested during Belgiums friendly match against Ivory Coast on Wednesday, the Chelsea midfielder claims the more games he plays, the better. I dont need rest, as Ive said before, Im at my best if I can play a lot of matches. But I must be aware that I dont let myself burn out, Hazard told Belgian publication Het Laatste Nieuws. The wingers adamance at playing Wednesday comes at direct odds with Mourinhos comments from last Friday. He needs a rest, the Chelsea boss said. Itd be perfect if his national coach did not play him. He can not have a rest in the club. In the national team he doesnt have to play friendly matches. Its a notion that Belgium manager, Marc Wilmots, is unlikely to share as he prepares his side for the 2014 World Cup. Hazard spoke to Wilmots earlier this week and claims the manager is will versed on Mourinhos worries. I spoke to the coach (Marc Wilmots) about it and we will see how long I will play. He understands the situation, hes not stupid. He knows Im playing a lot.

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VOL 8 NO.546

THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 2014

Sports

PRICE L$40

FrontPage Spot News DRAINAGE TURNS DUMPSITE

MAE AZANGO, azama20062007@yahoo.com

esidents of Lynch Street in Monrovia woke up one morning to witness the cleaning of the clogged drainage known as the Sonewhein Drainage. Men dressed in black rain boots, gloves and gauges over their nose, were down in the drainage using shovels to remove the dirt. The Sonewhein drainage that runs from Clay Street through Center, Gurley, Randall and Lynch streets, is connected to the Atlantic Ocean in PHP Community behind the Barclay Training Center, now known as the Ministry of Defense. But unfortunately, the Sonewhein drainage cannot flow freely anymore, due to the constant disposal of garbage by residents, pedestrian, cook shops, street garages owners and other businesses in the area. The drainage that is not limited to; human waste, fish gut, rotten food and meat, cans, plastic cups, bowls, bags, spoons and at times dead babies are thrown into the drainage that sandwich Lynch Street. How long before baby ma and people without bathrooms in their houses, start throwing pupu inside this drainage again? asked a passerby, witnessing the cleaning process. Holding his nose from the very offensive scent he said; Today, Lynch Street is called hold your nose and pass, because of the bad smell from this drainage, One would ask as to what protective measure is in place to ensure that no more garbage is thrown into the drainage, because true to what the bystander said, garbage was dumped into the drainage the same night after the cleaning, and was seen in the morning.