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COUNTY NEWS Politics
VOL 8 NO.636
TUESDAY, JULY 15, 2014
See PG 2 & 3
CENTRAL BANK OF LIBERIA
MARKET BUYING AND SELLING RATES
LIBERIAN DOLLARS PER US DOLLAR
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, JULY7, 2014 L$90.00/US$1 L$91.00/US$1
BUYING SELLING
L$91.00/US$1 L$92.00/US$1
L$92.00/US$1 L$91.00/US$1
SATURDAY, JULY12, 2014
MONDAY, JULY14, 2014
News Extra pg.3
Bong Village Gets New
Health Facility
30 YEARS
OF HURT

US CITIZENSHIP CLAIMS DOGGING
MONTSERRADO SENATORIAL RACE IN LIBERIA


GEORGE WEAH
VS. ROB SIRLEAF
Photocopies of an American passport purportedly belonging to football legend George
Weah is stirring debate on the social media network Facebook, just weeks after a
purported application for Liberia residence permit belonging to President Ellen
Johnson-Sirleafs son, Robert, made the rounds on the social media circuit.
WHERE IS
NIMBA
$4 MILLION?
Lawmakers partly blame
GoL for Mittal Disturbance
Page 2 |
Frontpage
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Wade C. L. Williams, wade.williams@frontpageafricaonline.com
Monrovia-
T
he Doe Community football pitch was swamped by
supporters, well wishers and detractors alike as the
son of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Mr. Robert
A. Sirleaf fnally turned up to accept the long talked
about petition to challenge the likes of soccer legend George
M. Weah of the opposition Congress for Democratic Change
(CDC) for the Montserrado County Senatorial race.
Residents from the 17 electoral districts of the County thronged
the area almost in a stampede to petition Mr. Sirleaf to contest
in the senatorial election come October. But the acceptance
speech was to come at a later date that has not been announced
yet.
I have to think, I will be very honest with you all, I do not
know the characterization in this folder; I will look into all
your eyes, I want to see your hope, I want to see your dreams,
I want to see your aspirations, Mr. Sirleaf told the cheering
crowd.
I want to thank you all for giving me this folder. I hold this
folder to my heart and I will take it to God tonight and I will
wake up tomorrow morning and I will ask Godif whats in
this folder represents the dreams of the people of Montserrado
County and then God will send me a message that in this
folder, if I would make a decision, I would do so.
The crowd perhaps the second largest to be compared to the
CDC crowd pulling mechanics in the county seems to have
no match even though supporters of Mr. Sirleaf braved the
storm to hold the petitioning ceremony in a recognized CDC
dominated area.
The residents and supporters of Mr. Sirleaf, headed by the
Montserrado Redemption Squad at the offcial program held on
Monday July 14, 2014 stated that their decision to petition Mr.
Sirleaf comes against the backdrop of his (Sirleaf) contribution
made to improve the lives of ordinary Liberians.
They named, his support to education, infrastructure
development especially in slums communities in Montserrado
County, such as the Samuel K. Doe Community.
We have realized with great disappointment and shocking
political disdain over the period about the high level of
legislative abandonment meted against our people in this
county and we have suffered for nine years from the hands of
leaders we elected over the period, said Lassana Fofana on
behalf of the petitioners.
Due to his passion for our county and country at large, we
have made our political calculation to bring Mr. Robert Allen
Sirleaf to the legislative spotlight to adequately represent the
peace loving people of Montserrado County.
The residents of the county in their petition statement also
described Mr. Sirleaf as a man who has over the year
concerned himself with developmental activities in and around
the country especially in providing incentives for economic
empowerment.
Mr. Sirleaf receiving the petition did not out rightly accept the
request of the petitioners as everyone was expecting but said he
is aware of the importance of what is contained in the petition
and with divine revelations he would make a fnal decision.
He praised the people of Montserrado County for standing by
him and believing in his ability to lead them hence the petition.
There is a level of responsibility in this folder. That level
of responsibility is make sure that every young man, young
woman, every old person, every baby gets something in
Montserrado County the same way I get in Montserrado
County, he said.

This folder is a very serious thing, this is not a folder that is
going to be for six months, this is not a folder thats going to be
for one year, this is a folder thats going to be for nine years of
representing the people of Montserrado County.
Some disappointed
Many persons had anticipated that Mr. Sirleaf would put the
icing on the political cake and give his opponent something
to worry about but his decision to take the petition home and
ponder over brought some level of discontent among some
people in the crowd.
The people of Montserrado County has come to petition
this brother and leaving the people in dilemma I think is a
complete disservice to the people, said a disappointed Saydee
Z. Saywea, Speaker District youth council, District 14.
Robert Sirleaf should have come with his mind made up
owing to the fact that he has been the one engineering the
reason why people should come and support him. Saying that
he has not made a fnal decision, Im taken aback. I think he is
not certain and believe that Robert Sirleaf is not prepared for
the process.
But for the ardent Sirleaf supporters, he has done more than
enough for the people of Montserrado County and feels that he
should be given a chance to lead them.
Mr. Sirleaf made a great statement to the people of Doe
Community. I am one person that is benefting from his
scholarship. We think through Mr. Sirleaf, this district is going
to be a great district, said Charles Smith, a resident of Doe
Community and a Sirleaf fan.
Betty Jah, resident Doe Community agrees and tells
FrontPageAfrica that she has felt the impact of initiatives
orchestrated by Sirleaf. She said her son beneftted from the
Sirleaf Scholarship initiative and that she is happy for Sirleaf
and a proud supporter.
I enjoyed Mr. Sirleafs statement; were looking for people
to help us in our community right now. He is always there for
us, she said.
Mr. Jowel Ama Hansford of the Montserrado Redemption
Squad the group, which led the organizing of the Petition
Robert Sirleaf Campaign told FrontPageAfrica that Mr.
Sirleaf withholding a decision to endorse the petition should
not be taken out of context but believed for what it is.
If someone says they are going to pray to God, it means they
are a devoted Christian. But what I have to say is that words
are inadequate to express how we feel, said Hansford.
You can see the mass turnout here today; it suggests that we
have worked hard. People laughed at us and insulted us on
facebook. They said a whole lot, but thank God today, with
God above we were able to make this identical program a
success.
Some government offcials including the Director General of
the General Services Agency Madam Mary Broh former Acting
Mayor of Monrovia and Jackie Capehart Deputy Minister for
Administration, Ministry of Youth and Sports attended the
program, which was marred by the disorderly conduct of some
overzealous supporters due to huge security lapses.

Frontpage
Tuesday, July 15, 2014 Page 3
Rodney D. Sieh, rodne.sieh@frontpageafricaonline.com
US CITIZENSHIP CLAIMS DOGGING
MONTSERRADO SENATORIAL RACE IN LIBERIA


GEORGE WEAH
VS. ROB SIRLEAF
Photocopies of an American passport purportedly belonging to football legend George
Weah is stirring debate on the social media network Facebook, just weeks after a
purported application for Liberia residence permit belonging to President Ellen
Johnson-Sirleafs son, Robert, made the rounds on the social media circuit.
Monrovia
P
hotocopies of an
American passport
purportedly belonging
to football legend
George Weah is stirring debate
on the social media network
Facebook, just weeks after
a purported application for
Liberia residence permit
belonging to President Ellen
Johnson-Sirleafs son, Robert,
made the rounds on the social
media circuit.
The pair is among the leading
contenders in the Mid Term
Montserrado County Senatorial
elections slated for October.
Sirleaf received a petition
from his supporters Monday
afternoon during a football
match in Clara Town while
Weah is expected to declare
his intentions later this week.
He arrives from Brazil on
Wednesday and is expected
to be greeted by mounting
questions about the U.S.
passport that may or not be
his as he and his party look to
address the controversy upon
his return.
Sirleaf is yet to address claims
of his purported U.S. citizenship
but the Bureau of Immigration
and Naturalization in Liberia
recently ordered a full scale
investigation into what it
described as serious breaches
to its administrative procedures
and protocols in the wake of a
recent leaked application form
purported to belong to Robert
Sirleaf, who is also a former
board chair of the National Oil
Company of Liberia.
Joey Kennedy, Public Affairs
Director at the National
Elections Commission told
FrontPageAfrica Monday that
NEC has not received any
offcial complaint from anyone
questioning the citizenship of
any candidate in the senatorial
race.
In both cases, verifcation has
been a burning issue.
The Bureau of Immigration
and Naturalization recently
suggested that the Sirleaf
documents may have been
doctored We have immediately
ordered a full scale investigation
into these infringements which
contravenes the ethical value
of the Institution, including,
the Standard Operational
Procedures and the Code of
Conduct section 15.0 that serves
as a sentry principle for the
institution, and maintains the
highest standard of integrity.
On Monday, BIN followed up
that claim with the indefnite
suspension of six personnel
at the immigration agency.
The Bureau of Immigration
and Naturalization has with
immediate effect disrobed
six (6) of its offcers for time
indefnite without salary
for forgery, doctoring of
Immigration related documents,
taking bribe and falsifcation of
the Commissioners signature,
the statement said.
The agency named the offcers
involved as Ltc. Othello
Choloply, Chief of Intelligence
of the Grand Bassa Detail, Capt.
James Sibley of the Anti Human
Traffcking Unit, Maj. Dennis
K. Yorgbor, Chief of Budget
(BIN), Capt. Isaiah Williams,
Press and Public Affairs, Lt. Joe
Kerbah, Task Force and Capt.
Anthony Taylor, who is on
the run. All of whom violated
Section 15.0 of the BIN Code
of Conduct Integrity Related
Misconduct.
The Robert Sirleaf documents
included two pages of a letter
dated June 2010, purported to
be written by Mr. Sirleaf stating
that he is an American citizen
seeking a change of status in
consonance with the Alien and
Naturalization Act of Liberia.
The second is a form flled
in handwriting requesting an
adjustment in immigration
status.
Article 28 of the Liberian
Constitution states that Any
person, at least one of whose
parents was a citizen of Liberia
at the time of the Person's
birth, shall be a citizen of
Liberia; provided that any such
person shall upon reaching
maturity renounce any other
citizenship acquired by virtue
of one parent being a citizen of
another country. No citizen of
the Republic shall be deprived
of citizenship or nationality
except as provided by law; and
no person shall be denied the
right to change citizenship or
nationality.
In the case of Weah, several
chatters on Facebook have
been deciphering and coming
up with various theories while
some have suggested that the
passport purported to belong to
Weah may have been doctored.
A key issue of contention is
the identity of the person who
posted the passport. Roberta
Angel Wilson may be someone
using a fake name and identity
to discredit Weah.
A complaint was fled by Mr.
George Fahnbulleh and the
images of the George Weah's
"alleged" passport was removed
by Facebook because it violates
their community standards.
Fahnbulleh wrote: I reported
these images to FaceBook
since the Administrators of the
Center REFUSED to remove
them. I received the following
from FaceBook: "We reviewed

the photo you reported for
containing hate speech or
symbols. Since it violated our
Community Standards, we
removed it. Thanks for your
report. We let Roberta Angel
Wilson know that their photo
has been removed, but not who
reported it."
Isaac Vah Tukpah, head
of Weahs Congress for
Democratic Change in the
U.S. told FrontPageAfrica
that an internal investigation
is underway. Locally, CDC
offcials have been mum
although Youth Chair Jefferson
Koijee contends that the
passport posted on Facebook is
rubbish.
Fake and fabricated
Mulbah Morlu, Vice Chairman
of the CDC for Operations and
Mobilization has described the
photograph allegedly bearing
the US citizenship of Weah as
false and fabricated document
produced by opponents of
Weah.
We do not want to lend
credence to this fake, fabricated
document, fawed with
inaccuracies, this is a trash and
does not need to be discussed,
Ambassador Weah cannot be
proven to be a non Liberian, he
has always been a Liberian and
will remain a Liberian forever,
said Morlu.
Morlu said the document is the
work of detractors of Weah who
have gone through the work of
art to copy and paste in order
to produce a fake document
against Weah.
If they are looking for
American citizens, they
should look in the direction
of Mr. Robert Sirleaf whose
Immigration document recently
leaked where he was asking for
his Liberian citizenship to be
restored. The President even
said there are more people
working in her government with
foreign citizenship, so what else
are they looking for, the CDC
Vice Chairman stated.
The CDC offcial said Weah
had travelled a lot and has
businesses in several countries
including Ghana, France, the
United States of America and
other countries but that has not
made him to take up foreign
citizenship.
He maintained that Weahs
quest to become senator of
Montserrado County remains
irreversible as the CDC political
leader is looking to become
senator and push to be Senate
Pro temp in preparation to
becoming president of Liberia
in 2017.
Awaiting Weahs Response
Benjamin Sanvee, Liberty
Senatorial candidate for
Montserrado County has also
stated that individuals holding
nationalities are violating the
laws of Liberia by contesting
for elective positions.
Our laws are very clear when
it comes to nationalities of other
countries seeking elected offce.
It is illegal. I too have seen
the document that is alleged
to be the US passport of Amb.
George Weah. At this point, I
will hope that everyone seeking
elected offce in Liberia will be
in full compliance of our laws,
said Sanvee.
The senatorial aspirant
expressed that his opponent
in the race, Weah needs to
come out and comment on the
document.
Said Sanvee Im waiting
for an offcial response from
Amb. Weah on this issue either
confrming or denying the
authenticity of this document,
then I will be in a position of
strength to take a defnite and
solid position on this issue. But
I will go further and say that
if it is indeed true that Amb.
Weah is a US citizen; I expect
that he will do what is right
and honorable by obeying and
respecting the laws of Liberia.
In a related development,
Businessman Simeon Freeman
says President Sirleaf has
repeatedly violated Liberias
constitution with full impunity.
Said Freeman Non Liberian
citizens are appointed to
positions in government in
clear violation of our laws.
Robert Sirleaf, an American
citizen, offcially advised her
on Presidential matters before
applying for a Liberian status;
though it is unclear whether this
has been granted. An offcial
extradition process was begun
for Ellen Cockrum and Melvin
Johnson.
The opposition politician said
the courts of Liberia need to
take judicial notice of this
action.
When a person that is not a
citizen of a country serves in
leading positions, the impact
on the national morale and its
associated impact is priceless.
Such blatant constitutional
violations are part of what
she calls these destructions.
Such destructions undermined
economic growth and the
perpetrator must submit to the
police; be placed behind bars
while awaiting speedy trial as
the action both violates the oath
of offce and the constitution of
Liberia, said Freeman.
Page 4 |
Frontpage
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
JEFFERSON KOIJEE, Contributing Writer
ROBERT SIRLEAFS SENATORIAL
DECLARATION LAUNCHES THE SIRLEAFS
THIRD TERM PRESIDENTIAL BID?
FrontPage
Commentary
COMMENTARY
E
very nation has its basic identifying characteristics,
identifying marks burnt through the pleasant
experiences of collective consensus or the unpleasant
chaos of national upheaval. For Liberia, two issues
stand out. One, developed through collective consensus is that
a Liberian can be a citizen of only this country. The other, made
abundantly clear by the blood of our compatriots and those who
desired
to make it otherwise is that a President serves no more than two
terms. Today, we see a President prepared to make us pay with
our blood for her errors as she attempts to bring this country to its
knees in the service of the Sirleaf dynasty.
Robert Sirleaf, a foreigner will be declaring his intention to
contest for the Senate seat of Montserrado County. He has already
been assured by his mother, as poster boy of the Sirleafs dynasty
that she will do everything to ensure that he wins, including using
the machinery of the state where necessary. It would appear to
any well-meaning person that people should hope to hold offce
in the country of their
citizenship, but the Sirleafs are not well-meaning. They swim
in a pool of stolen wealth, as every audit report has testifed and
every leaked recording publicized. Former Auditor General and
patriot, John
Morlu stated emphatically that this government is three times
more corrupt than the corrupt regimes it replaced when he spoke
while in offce at the beginning of their frst term. Now even that
fgure has
become an understatement, and Mr. Morlu has recognized the
need to enter politics and join ranks with the popular peoples
movement, the Mighty Congress for Democratic Change and
liberate the people from the shackles of Ellens creative suffering
imposed on the Liberian population.
But Robert Sirleaf is not running because the Sirleafs want a voice
in the Senate. After all, the Presidents party, UP has the highest
number of seats in both houses and all her nominees, except for
one, during both terms have had a smooth confrmation. And he
is also not running because there is intense clamor by the people
in Montserrado County for the type of leadership the Sirleafs
provide. After all this is the same county where citizens, less than
two weeks ago were breaking the Presidents fence in disgust,
after their homes where overtaken by food.
The Sirleafs have a whole new ball game in mind. President
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf wants to run for a third term in offce,
contrary to our organic law, and wants to butcher the constitution
of Liberians by
frst implementing a daring move. Have her son, who is a
foreigner apply to contest the Senate. Have the National Elections
Commission accept him. Have the Supreme Court endorse his
candidacy. If there is no national uproar, then the cronies at the
Constitutional Review Commission will propose the removal of
term limits to the Liberian Presidency.
This situation would not occur in vacuum. President Sirleaf is
vigorously hunting peace hoping for unrest that would enable
her to clamp down on her critics even more. It is just inhumane
for the Presidents men to be unable to prevent labor matters
from derailing the sanity of strategic Nimba County. It is
even more discomforting that she would pledge to use County
Development Funds to repair damage despite the fact that her
investigation committee has not yet been formed, much less
made recommendations. It is completely baffing to her while
there has still not been any violence in Grand Gedeh, which they
could blame on the CDC, despite her persistent hunt of citizens
from that county. It is unclear if the President has not learned
anything from the SIFCAs case in Maryland or the LAC situation
in Grand Bassa which could lead to better management of the
nations concessions during her time. But wondering is something
Liberians have a lot of time to do these days, particularly since
even in the urban center of the county where the Presidents son
wants to be a Senator, pregnant women have to walk distance to
unequipped health facilities even when there is heavy rainfall.
We think it is the right of every Liberian to seek to serve in posts
in which he or she is legally ft. Sadly, that does not apply to
Robert Sirleaf, who is a foreigner, popularly known as (Teodoro
Nguema Obiang Mangue of Equatorial Guinea) should rather
be concentrating on returning those stolen wages and salaries
he took from our nations taxpayers under extreme pretense. It
should not be overlooked when state security apparatus document
on recording the interactions with a foreigner purporting to be a
Liberian.
Madam Sirleaf cannot give Montserrado to Robert Sirleaf because
she has never owned it. And even if Robert Sirleafs late father
were to risen from his grave to Chair the Elections Commission
and his mother serve as the Co-chair.
The task is not for any one Liberian anymore. The challenge is
now toour national identity and principles: Is this a nation of
laws, or a nation of demagogue? This is not a situation that can
be shoved by
the roadside. Before she was chased out of the country by Robert
Sirleaf, the Presidents elder sister Jenny Bernard advised her that
she and Mommy-boy Robert Sirleaf will be making the country
unsafe,
as the peoples patience would not go beyond the regime turning
over power in 2017. She asked her sister to recognize that despite
spending over US$40 million and being awarded the Nobel Prize
during the electoral period. The President still could not claim a
clear cut victory when there was no recognized legal restriction.
How much more diffcult would it be if she tries to challenge the
past rejection by
the people and existing legal limits? These words felt on deaf
ears and she chose to leave Liberia for New York over six months
ago and preserve her life from the threats within and anger of the
masses
without.
Let this be a clear message to the international community whose
sweat, dollars, blood and tears form a portion of the currency
with which this peace has been obtained. You have a chance to
safe a
situation before it occurs. We are prepared to lead and the
masses are prepared to stand together, fght together, go to prison
together and have sleepless nights together and together ensure
that Montserrado
County will never be surrendered, no matter how many millions
are wasted, as long as there is breath in our lungs and life in our
bones, we will not surrender our melting pot!
As Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, Truth pressed to the
ground will rise again. And so could the masses.
As mere job seekers and hustlers who seek to send this country
back into mayhem will improve their visibility by attacking me,
let them know, that not only now, but even always I will remain
in this intellectual fght for a very long haul while been robust
and vigilant.
. Until my pen runs dry, more enlightening articles will be
realized.
JEFFERSON T. KOIJEE
National Political Activist

v
EDITORIAL
LIBERIANS MUST LEARN to Control their anger even
in the wake of our darkest moments, the ballot box, not
violence should be our last option as violence has led the
country nowhere but total destruction.
FOR NEARLY ONE and half decade, Liberians held the
country hostage with acts of violence and vandalism while
other countries were moving forward.
WHEN THE COUNTRY GDP was comparable to
powerful nations like Japan and others, in the 1970s,
there was a good moment to seize and take the country
to nobler destiny but as a nation and people, we opted for
the opposite.
AFTER THE 1979 rice riot, which served as one of the
basis for the senseless violence that engulfed the county,
the aftermath of the riot, which was complete breakdown
of law and order and destruction of lives and properties,
Liberians still did not know that violence could not solve
any problem.
AGAIN A MILITARY coup occurred further degenerating
what was now a volatile situation created by the memory
of the rice riot. The coup witnessed the brutal execution of
13 Liberians and other acts of barbarism and inhumanity.
IN THE 1980S, the emerging economy and country
growing at as fast pace declined tremendously with
anarchy and dictatorship taking over the nation.
AS THOUGH THE stagnant speed of development
beginning with the 1979 rice riot was not enough in 1989,
the country was plunged into a full scale civil war and the
ramifcations of the civil war is what Liberia is today, a
country categorized amongst failed state with the young
generation not knowing what is electricity, par borne
water and other basic social services.
BEGINNING 2006, THE country experienced huge infux
of investors who all came in to help Liberia rebuild the
broken pieces.
IN NEARLY 10 years from 2006, things have changed
dramatically with semblance of development visible
showing up with the construction roads and other
infrastructure.
ARCELOR MITTAL, ONE of the largest investors in
post war Liberia has been operating in Nimba County,
operating the Nimba Mountain with benefts accruing to
the people of mainly three counties, Nimba, Bong and
Grand Bassa and overall beneft to the entire country as
taxes paid by the company are part of the national budget.
LIFE HAS RETURNED to Yekepa and surrounding
villages in Nimba County with the construction media
and educational facilities and restoration of commercial
activities.
THESE ARE GOOD news for every well meaning
Liberians to cherish and celebrate as it is a sign that there
is more development insight with peace prevailing.
THE RECENT ATTACK on Mittal facilities by angry
residents is a bad omen for the prevailing development
Nimba County and Liberia at large is experiencing. No
matter the concerns of these protestors, violence is not the
answer, as it has never helped in any given situation.
NO ONE LIBERIAN can point to a solution derived from
violence but there are countless instances where violence
has led to wanton destruction of lives and properties.
VIOLENCE IS NOT the answer and we condemn the
recent protest at Arcelor Mittals facilities and call on
the protestors never to revert to violence as a means of
expressing whatever grievances they have.
NO MATTER HOW much anger people have, they must
fnd a responsible and civilized way of expressing such
anger rather than using violence.
VIOLENCE IS NOT
THE ANSWER
THE ATTACK ON ARCELORMITTAL
WAS NOT NECESSARY
Frontpage
Tuesday, July 15, 2014 Page 5
WHEN THE CENTER
CAN NO LONGER HOLD
NIMBA WILL PAY FOR
THE DAMAGES
A PRESIDENTIAL LOOSE
TALK....
FrontPage
Send your letters and comments to:
editor@frontpageafricaonline.com
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COMMENTS FROM
FPA ONLINE
DISCLAIMER
The comments expressed here are those of our online readers and
bloggers and do no represent the views of FrontPageAfrica
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
Sports Editor, Danesius Marteh, danesius.marteh@
frontpageafricaonline.com, 0886236528
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
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frontpageafricaonline.com, 0886-484666
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0886257528
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E
DITORIAL TEAM
WHAT READERS ARE SAYING
ABOUT OUR STORIES ON THE
WORLDWIDE WEB
The Reader's Page
Kehleboe Gongloe Researcher at Opportunity Infnitum
If a leader does not understand history, the nation and its people
will always suffer. The crisis in Yekepa was not a spontaneous
uprising against ArcelaMittal. It developed over a course of
time and only reached its escalation point because GOL did not
demonstrate the capacity to prevent crisis. Use of riot police or
force by government has never stop people from pursuing their
legitimate demands through other means. The Nimba situation
is not the frst act of violence against concession in Liberia and
the entire world. I believe that something positive will come out
this violence provided GOL is willing to learn from the past. The
next time GOL is crafting any concession agreement, it will take
into account her experiences with the implementations of existing
concession agreements. Lest I forget, I do not support violence
but we need to be careful also about which violence is unjustifed.
I do not violence from government against poor harmless people
anywhere in the world. Would I condemn violence by the ANC
during the struggle against the atrocious apartheid system?
Certainly not.

BLOJAY NATION TOP COMMENTER JANITORIAL
SCHOOL OF GOOD GOVERNANCE
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf should have said, "the direct and
associated damage done to Arcelor Mittal facilities in Nimba
County is more than an attack on a private company; rather they
are attacks on [her bad government] and that the suffering people
are getting fed up with her greed and disregard to their pains
ELIJAH BARNARD TOP COMMENTER UNIVERSITY
OF LIBERIA
It is the responsibility of the court to decide who pays for the
destruction of properties be it public or private and mot the
president. The Justice minister should had advised the president
before she made such embarrassing statement. Liberia is a country
and nobody personal toy.
SAYON.TARPEH (SIGNED IN USING YAHOO)
One of the problems with our country is that people cannot read
with comprehension. Nowhere in the Sirleaf's remarks did she say
"Nimba will pay". That is a fabrication. Here is her exact comment:
"As is to be expected, the government of Liberia will dutifully
undertake a repair of the damaged roads and bridges, but the cost
will be sourced from funds directly allocated for the development
of Nimba County," In simple English, this means that it is not the
responsibility of the company to repair roads and bridges damaged
by Liberian citizens. Since these roads and bridges are in Nimba
County and they were damaged by Liberians, the Government has
to repair the roads and bridges. It is not the responsibility of the
company. The question then is where would the money come from
to repair the roads and bridges that where destroyed. T...he county
has development funds allocated to it, so those funds will be used
to repair the damaged road and bridges rather than leave the roads
and bridge in a state of disrepair. Did people expect the President
to say that we will increase taxes on the whole country to repair
the roads and bridge or that we will use money allocated to the
University or the JFK hospital to repair bridges damaged in Nimba?
Can someone tell me where the money is going to come from to
repair roads and bridges that were destroyed by Liberians. Arcelor
Mittal, or any company for that matter, is not in the business of
repairing infrastructure damaged by citizens in countries that they
operate. They will replace the equipment from their insurance
but they cannot repair public roads and bridges that they do not
own. This hogwash about 'collective punishment' of Nimba makes
no sense since Sirleaf said nothing of the sort. Reading with
comprehension is very important. The headline of this article is
misleading. Sourcing funds from the country development funds to
repair the roads and bridges destroyed in Nimba is not 'collective
punishment'.
SAYON.TARPEH, SO WHAT IS YOUR INTERPRETATION OF
THE STATEMENT BELOW, BY THE PRESIDENT:? As is to
be expected, the government of Liberia will dutifully undertake
a repair of the damaged roads and bridges, but the cost will be
sourced from funds directly allocated for the development of
Nimba County. --President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
The Editor,
N
ews emanating from the mother land Liberia is very
discouraging . With the leadership of the Harvard
trained economist ;Ellen Johnson Sir leaf , the
exchange rate between the United States dough and
the Liberian dough is $ 92.00 to $ 1.00 . Ebola is now the
centered of intellectual exchanges. Our people are dying in their
numbers, as a result of this terrifc virus . Flood has over taken
most parts of the capital of Liberia, Monrovia. Young people
are dying in their numbers from heart attacks and other related
illnesses. Delta airlines decision to stop their fights from going
to Liberia by way of New York. Protest in Nimba County,
resulting in damages of properties, over the amount of one
million United States dollars.
The Liberian legislature seeking their selfsh interest. Young
people in Liberia are walking with angered on their faces as a
result of Joblessness. Massive corruption in governmental circle
is the song of the day. All hope seems to vanished.
Where are we heading as a nation and people? Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf was elected to protect and defend the constitution of
Liberia. President Sirleaf appears not to be listening to the
cries of the ordinary people. Article 20 (a) of the Liberian
constitution clearly state No person shall be deprived of life,
liberty, security of the person, property, privilege or any other
right except as the outcome of a hearing judgment consistent
with the provisions laid down in this Constitution and in
accordance with due process of law. Justice shall be done without
sale, denial or delay; and in all cases not arising in courts not of
record, under courts-martial and upon impeachment, the parties
shall have the right to trial by jury.
The Ebola issue is becoming very scaring and discomforting,
Liberians are dying from the EBOLA virus. A violation of their
constitutional rights to live ,which is clearly stated in article 20
(a) No person shall be deprived of life. Liberians are been
deprived of life by evidences of the continue EBOLA deaths in
Lofa and Montserrado Counties.
We am calling on both the Executive and Legislative branches
of government to step out their fght against this killer Infection.
or else, we will have no alternative but to prevail on the Liberian
people to invoke their rights which is clearly stated in Article 17
of the Liberian constitution.
Article 17
All persons, at all times, in an orderly and peaceable manner,
shall have the right to assemble and consult upon the common
good, to instruct their representatives, to petition the Government
or other functionaries for the redress of grievances and to
associate fully with others or refuse to associate in political
parties, trade unions and other organizations.
We want to harass this government ,to see this warning as being
in the interest of the Liberian people and make appropriate
adjustment. So as to rescue our people from this deadly EBOLA
virus .
Additionally, We will like to use this medium to advice our
brothers and sisters in Nimba county to desist from any form
The Editor,
I
listened to President Sirleaf on Thursday July 10 addressing the
nation on the issue involving some aggrieved protesters in Nimba
county and Arcelor Mital.
She made a pronouncement that the peace loving people of Nimba county
will bear the full weight of what transpired between the protesters and
Arcelor Mital.
To pronounce the usage of portion of the Nimba people's share of the
national cake (County Development Funds) to pay for damages caused by
few Nimbians on properties of Arcelor Mital is a complete Presidental
Loose Talk and not applicable. President Sirleaf needs to know she
running a country and not her house. The actions of the protesters were
not sanctioned by Nimba county as such Nimba must not be the victim.
Any attempt of the President to use Nimba's share will be a violation of
the budget law. Let it be known to her that Even common law does not
support collective guilt . so should we hold her children responsible after
the leaves power for the criminal enterprise she has built?
If the President wants to please her criminal partners at Arcelor Mital let
her not use a little incident like this, her desperation for corrupt money
should not be a factor to punish the people Nimba that overwhelmingly
voted her to power. For me, it is not surprise for the president to speak
such loose talk evidence of her previous loose talks," That all her critics
need to see a psychiatrist, "That people who complain of unemployment
are noisy minority" etc; what is surprising to me now is her gross
ingratitude to the sons and daughters of Nimba who gave her preference
over other qualifed and competent Liberians and elected her.
Madam President I say to you, enough is enough, stop the fun, stop the
loose talks and do the Liberian people work effectively but if you are too
old and facing some mental disability then the most honorable thing to do
is to resign and stop embarrassing the Executive mansion. ..
RANDALL MASSAQUOI DOBAYOU II.
randallmassaquoi@yahoo.com
Monrovia
NIMBA WILL PAY: EJS, CAUCUS
SPAR OVER YEKEPA DAMAGES
on violence . Violent is not the way forward in the development
of Liberia. Intellectual dialogue is the way forward. We
intellectually condemn the recent wave of violence and the
hostage situation on the compound of Arcellor mittals in Nimba
county.
Finally, we are calling on the government of Liberia to investigate
this matter without delay and bring the perpetrators to justice.
This will serve as a deterrent for future vicious elements in the
Liberian society.
DASHWARD A. WUMAH
politicaldash@yahoo.com
Northern Virginia, USA
Page 6 |
Frontpage
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
F
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PAGE
COUNTY NEWS
Selma Lomax, selma.lomax@frontpageafricaonline.com
Jorquelleh District #1, Bong
County-
O
n Monday, July
14, 2014, the day
began with the
promise of a great
future for the residents of
Wainsue town Jorpolu clan,
Jorquelleh District #1, a rural
community in Gbarnga, Bong
County. That has not been
there for decades. As a town in
Jorpolu clan, social amenities
were not within their reach.
And for many years, life has
been diffcult without a single
medical center nearby.
The absence of healthcare
facility has thus impacted
on safe delivery of children
and the life expectancy of
the people of the community.
No doubt, the increase rate in
infant and maternal mortality
recorded so far in Liberia owes
so much to poor health care.
So for the people of Wainsue
community and its adjoining
villages in Jorpolu town,
the commissioning of a new
modern health care facility
with ultra-modern equipment
within their reach gave them
reasons to be cheerful.
The new health care facility
called Wainsue Health Center
indeed brought smiles to the
faces of residents in the town.
Indeed, residents including
chiefs trooped out to catch a
glimpse of the new medical
center Monday when it was
dedicated.
And as women in the
community strapped the babies
to their back to trek to the clinic
for a glimpse, one could feel
how they had long hope for
such an opportunity to come
their way.
Even from a distance it was
obvious the joy could be seen
in them. While the women
trekked, men cheered and paid
homage to their lawmaker,
Rep. George Sylvester Mulbah
(NPP district 3), who gave
goodwill messages and lauded
the County Health Team and the
United Nations Development
Program (UNDP) who gave
them a new lease of life.
30 YEARS OF HURT

Bong Village Gets New Health Facility
Before now, the nearest
primary health care center to
Wainsue town was about one
30 minutes drive, while the
nearest general hospital to the
community is still about one
hour away in Wainsue.
Thus, the 15 bedded-clinic,
which is well-equipped and
spacious, brought great joy
to their hearts. Expectedly,
the clinicwill offer services
including pediatric/child
health, dental, optical,
cardiology/health disease
clinic, dermatology disorder
and immunization, according
to hospital sources.
The new lease of life provided
to the community dwellers
also attracted the attention of
the head of the Bong County
Health Team, Dr. Sampson
Arquakoi, who lauded such
bold step and described it as a
rare gift to mankind.
He also praised UNDP for
the effort exerted in turning
the tide for the people of the
town. This is the kind of
idea the government and our
partners should buy into. It
should adopt this facility as
healthcare providers on behalf
of the government for the
community.
That is the kind of phase
governance must follow now
to ensure better and quality
healthcare services. Whether
public or private health centers,
they must be seen as one part
of the health system. There are
various things available that
have been time tested in other
climes. When government
adopts such a clinic as this,
other facilities will strive to
meet up to the standards. It will
serve as a stimulus in the health
sector, he said.
According to Rep. Mulbah,
the vision of Wainsue Health
Center is to ensure that mothers
and their children die no more.
He added that community-
based health insurance scheme
would be introduced as part of
efforts to ensure that medical
services are affordable for
everyone in the community.
With the slogan, Mother must
live, babies must thrive, the
family must be functional,
he said that it was no more
acceptable for mother and
child to die.
We will catch the pregnant
women young. If you cannot
afford the cost of treatment,
we will give you a buffer, he
reiterated.
Giving the account of how
the idea of the clinic was
conceived, the district #3
lawmaker explained that he
was moved by the tears team
of the Wainsue and residents of
Jorpolu clan.
The agitation for a standard
health facility has been on
around this community for a
long time so we only listen to
the cry of the people of this
community for medical center
that can serve both secondary
and primary purpose in terms
of healthcare provision. So
this health facility is planned
to provide primary and
secondary healthcare services
to residents of the clan. The
clinic was established to
provide affordable, accessible
and available healthcare
services for the community and
environs, he explained.
He added: I have had to
work with other committed
individuals and groups in the
community to embark on self-
help development projects such
as energy, road and security.
Now, for Wainsue town,
Jorpolu clan, a new life has
begun.

Rep. George Mulbah (left) acting Bong Supt. Anthony Sheriff (middle) and the head of Bong County Health Team
Sampson Arzuakoi during Mondays delegation program
UNDP COUNTRY
DIRECTOR ENCOURAGES
YOUTH TO OWN THE
CONSTITUTIONAL
REVIEW PROCESS
Monrovia -
T
he Country Director of the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) in Liberia is
encouraging youth Representatives to stay engaged
with the constitutional review process of the Country.
Dr. Kamil Kamaluddeen said young people play a pivotal role in
reforms that shape the destiny of their future and as such, their
participation in such democratic exercise is necessary. Take
this process as your own business says Dr. Kamaluddeen.
The UNDP Country Director made the comments at a two-day
national public consultation organized by the Constitutional
Review Committee (CRC), for youth groups across the country,
to identify changes they want refected in the constitution.
Speaking earlier, one of the Commissioners at the CRC, Soko
Sackor, described the views of youth groups, as valuable
to the entire process. Mr. Sackor urged the delegates to help
disseminate the message of constitutional reform to their
respective communities and constituencies.
He lauded the role of UNDP and other partners in providing
support to this process. Over 200 youth delegates were selected
from 73 electoral districts across the 15 counties of Liberia to
participate in this initiative.
During the discussions, youth representatives recommended
among other things, that 30% of resources discovered on
lands be given to land owners while the illegal sale of land be
considered a criminal offense and punishable under the laws of
Liberia.
The groups also recommended that the tenure of Senators and
Representatives be reduced to six and four years respectively
but with no limitation to the number of times he/she is to be
elected by the people. They added that the constituents must be
left to decide whether or not a Legislator has performed well
and deserves re-election as many times as the people deem
expedient.
These CRC consultations are part of a series of activities
being held to lead discussions and debates geared toward
deriving proposals for amendments to the 1986 constitution.
The proposals would be submitted to the National Legislature
and subsequently to the voting population in a referendum for
approval.
The CRC Programme is being supported by UNDP, the United
Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), as well as the United
States Agency for International Development (USAID) through
the Government of Liberia.
Several constitutional topics including: land rights, tenure of
the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary, qualifcation of elected
offcials, elections, integrity in governance, and decentralization
among others have been under the spotlight during these
consultations.
Support to Constitutional Reform is one of several programmes
being supported by UNDP under its new programme cycle 2013-
2017. It is a key priority of the Government of Liberia in its
Agenda for Transformation Framework which is people driven
and creates the platform for nation building, reconciliation,
peace consolidation, security and development.

Frontpage
Tuesday, July 15, 2014 Page 7
F
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PAGE
COUNTY NEWS Monrovia-
I
n recent days the violent
action of some individuals
in the Arcelor Mittal
concession area where
properties belonging to the
steel company were destroyed,
bridges damaged, amongst other
destructions, has led to growing
calls from several quarters that
the Government of Liberia
should bear part of the blame for
failure to heed to the concerns of
the people of Nimba.
According to Mittal 25
year Mineral development
Agreement (MDA) signed with
the Government of Liberia, the
company is expected to pay
an amount of US$1.5 million
annually to Nimba County
where the company is operating
a mining site, extracting iron ore.
Whether Mittal has been living
up to the terms of the MDA
has not been made public until
the recent violent action in the
county which has led to barrage
of comments from several
lawmakers of Nimba county
blaming the government for
failing to disburse payments
made by Mittal to the county as
Social development fund.
Following the violent action,
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
like many other Liberians
condemned the action by the
perpetrators and announced that
justice will be done but again
pronounced two other decisions,
establishment of a Special
Committee to probe the matter
while the case is also in court and
the use of Nimba County portion
of the social development fund
to repair damages incurred.
About 41 people are currently
in prison facing trial for their
alleged connection with the
destruction in the aftermath of
a violent protest in the county.
Many believe in the absence of
a court ruling President Sirleafs
two pronouncements run
contrary to the legal process.
Outrage over Prez Sirleaf
comments
President Sirleaf comment has
met stiff reaction from cross
section of Liberians including
citizens of Nimba and elsewhere.
Representative Worlea S.
Dunnah, Secretary of the
WHERE IS NIMBA $4 MILLION?
Monrovia -
T
he Bureau of
Immigration and
Naturalization has
with immediate
effect disrobed and six (6) of
its offcers for time indefnite
without salary for forgery,
doctoring of Immigration
related documents, taking
bribe and falsifcation of the
Commissioners signature.
Those offcers involved are:
Ltc. Othello Choloply, Chief of
Intelligence of the Grand Bassa
Detail, Capt. James Sibley of
the Anti Human Traffcking
Unit, Maj. Dennis K. Yorgbor,
Chief of Budget (BIN), Capt.
Isaiah Williams, Press and
Public Affairs, Lt. Joe Kerbah,
Task Force and Capt. Anthony
Taylor, who is on the run. All
of whom violated Section 15.0
of the BIN Code of Conduct
Integrity Related Misconduct.
Which states: Integrity is
essential to the effective
functioning of BIN, only
by which every employee
maintaining the highest
standard of integrity and
professionalism will help the
BIN keep the public trust and
confdence which is very critical
to effectuating our statutory
responsibilities and section 4.1
of the Standard Operational
Procedure Portraying Good
Image. Which states an
Immigration Offcers should
portray good image and provide
an impartial professional
service in the discharge of his/
her duty.
These offcers were contacted
by aliens to obtain their resident
permits and the renewal of other
permits of residents which were
done outside of the normal
procedures and processes,
thereby obtaining faked fag
receipts, the issuance of fake
permit of resident thus denying
the national government of the
needed revenue.
Moreover, these offcers have
been asked to turn over all BIN
properties in their possession
and at the same time been
forwarded to the National
Security Agency (NSA) for
investigation.
Meanwhile, the Fula
Governor in Buchana Mr.
Mamadou Jalloh, who asked
an immigration offcer in
Monrovia to process residence
permits for three (3) of his
kinsmen has identifed Capt.
James Sibley as the offcer that
masterminded the procuring of
the faked fag receipts and the
issuance of the fake permit of
resident.
BIN SUSPEND SIX FOR DOCTORING
ROB SIRLEAF APPLICATION
Those three (3) fula kinsmen
violated section 5.21 of the
Alien and Nationality Laws of
Liberia.
The law states, that any person
who falsely and fraudulently
makes or obtains for himself
or another a visa, or other
documents permitting entry into
Liberia, or another person who
uses such a document knowing
it to have falsely or fraudulently
obtained shall be subjected to a
fne of not more than us 1000.00
or imprisonment for not more
than 1 year or both.
However, the authorities of
the Bureau want to assure
the general public that those
involve in forgery, doctoring of
Immigration related documents,
once they are apprehended, they
will be dealt with drastically in
accordance with the Standard
Operational Procedure, the BIN
Code of Conduct and the Pena
Law of Liberia.

F
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PAGE
GOVERNMENT NEWS
Nimba Legislative caucus told
FrontPageAfrica Monday that
the Government of Liberia has
failed to make available more
than US$ 4 million of the social
development fund from Arcelor
Mittal intended for the county.
They owe the county more than
4 million dollars, in 2011/2012
they did not give all the money for
the county, again 2012/2013 they
still held some of the money and
now in 2013/2014 they have not
given any money to the county
from the social development
fund, said lawmaker Dunnah.
According to Dunnah, the
Nimba Legislative caucus has
been making efforts to get the
Government to pay the money to
the county but to no avail.
Other lawmakers from Nimba
including Larry Younquoi,
Garrison Yerlue, Jr. all took to
several radio stations denouncing
the action of the Government to
hold onto the social development
fund intended for the county.
Representative Younquoi
expressed that there were early
warning signs from residents of
the concession area expressing
their anger in the dealings with
Mittal with the locals.
He said the locals staged a
protest early this year against the
operations of Mittal and they-
the lawmakers had to move in to
settle calm the protest.
The lawmaker revealed that
Mittal equipment recently killed
a man in the concession area and
the body is still at the funeral
home.
the people can no longer make
farms because of the scale of
operations of Mittal using heavy
machines, just recently Mittal
machine killed one man and we
have been running after that only
because of this situation they
have agreed to underwrite the
cost of the funeral and burial,
the lawmaker said.
Bong County lawmaker George
Mulbah also described the
president pronouncement as
violation of the 1986 Liberian
constitution which calls
for the Legislature to make
appropriations.
Mittal has paid
Deputy Finance Minister for
Revenue, Dr. James Kollie
confrmed to FrontPageAfrica
that Mittal has paid the social
development fund for Nimba,
Bong and Grand Bassa Counties
to the Government of Liberia.
Responding to FPA inquiry on
whether Mittal has been paying
in full social development
fund to the three counties from
2011-prsent, Deputy Minister
Kollie stated yes they have
been.
On whether why the payment
has not reached the people of
Lawmakers partly blame GoL for Mittal Disturbance
Nimba for whom it is intended,
Deputy Minister Kollie referred
to the Expenditure Department.
When contacted, Deputy
Minister for Expenditure, Angela
Cassell Bush did not respond to
FPA inquiry.
The Government of Liberia
experienced budget shortfalls
during the just ended fscal
period but the Mittal payment
is not in the category as other
taxes and with confrmation that
the company made available the
payments to the Government of
Liberia, the government is yet to
explain reasons for its inability
of remitting the money to Nimba
county.
In a 2013/2014 A Citizens
Guide to the National Budget,
the Ministry of Finance
confrmed that Mittal paid 1.5
million for the fscal period to
Nimba County.
On Page 51 of the Ministry of
Finance publication, the Ministry
stated that Nimba County
received a total of US$1,667,000
as social development funds.
Of that amount it was stated
that transfer from Nimba
county, Mittal amounted to
US$1,500,000; transfer from
BHP Billiton, US$100,000 and
transfer from FDA, ICC (Nimba)
US$67,000.
GoL to blame
The Federation of Nimba Youth
and Students Organizations
(FENYSO) squarely blames
the Government for the fracas
insisting that the government
lacks human feelings.
Stated FENYSO Today,
many are crying wolf-fully
and condemning, criticizing
the manner and forms in which
the Youths over acted in the
quest and plead for their just
and integral benefts which
trumpets of various sizes have
been blown and yet there still
no fruitful results. Government
should be blame for the episode
in Nimba because this event is
simply as a result of the delay
and lack of human feelings for
the people of Nimba couple
with opulent and disobediently
unconscious altitude calculated
in stopping the social benefts of
the company to the people.
The group said it is clear that
justice will be precedential,
as evident in some quarters as
prejudgment followed by actions
has been established and vocally
air by requesting that the county
funds will be used as a pay back
to venerated damages caused by
the citizens and youth of Nimba.
The group further stated We
denounce this statement and wish
to profess that in the existence
of unitary state governance, the
cost which may be attached to
the already mediated concepts
of state actors be drawn from
government coffers rather than
the county in line with the public
fnancial rules which gave birth
to social and county development
funds. And therefore, request our
beloved president to retract this
unorthodox statement.
FENYSO described comments
by President Sirleaf and other
government offcials regarding
the Nimba incident as an attack
on the county.
We want to make it
unequivocally clear that the
manner and form in which
government is handling the
Nimba situation is different from
all other situations and believe
that statements made by Senator
Sando Johnson, the reneging
of speaker Tyler on the Issue
Representative Tokpah fogging
and Above all the president view
on confscating of Nimba social
development is nothing but an
attack on Nimba. And therefore
the public should condemn such
attribute of government offcial.
Page 8 |
Frontpage
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Monrovia -
I
n the wake of denial of
the outbreak of the Ebola
virus in Liberia by many
Liberians, a group calling
itself the Concern Students
of the United Methodist
University Against the Spread
of Ebola in Liberia; Friday,
July 11, 2014 launched a
campus based campaign
called Sanitization to Safe the
Nation.
The program brought together
scores of students, faculty
staffs, the Executive Director of
Education Today, Inc., James-
Emmanuel D. Cole, Jr, partner
from the Ministry of Health,
Dr. Kumblytee L. Johnson and
other invited guest.
The Team Leader of the
Concern Students of the
United Methodist University
Against the Spread of Ebola in
Liberia, student Darius Popo
Bleh called on students to take
key preventive measures to
avoid the spread of the Ebola
virus and reminded them that
as youth of Liberia the future
is now and it depends how well
they manage it.
He also commended the
Ministry of Health, represented
by Dr. Kumblytee L. Johnson
who provided wide range of
education on the outbreak of
the virus and how it can be
prevented.
The Executive Director of
Education Today, Inc., James-
Emmanuel D. Cole, Jr, called
for an emergency national
response alliance among youth
and students who contribute
more than 65% of the countrys
population to fght against the
Ebola outbreak in the country
and said his organization
also launched its EBOLA
campaign called Taking
the Lead to End EBOLA in
Liberia and appreciated the
invitation extended him, by the
Concern Students of the United
Methodist University Against
the Spread of Ebola in Liberia.
He underscored the importance
of training; awareness and
sensitization campaigns and
encouraged the benefciaries
to demonstrate high level of
patriotism and commitment in
the discharge of their specifc
duties.
Encouraging students, he
also warned them of doubting
Thomass reminding them, that
the virus is real and is killing
TAKING THE LEAD
many Liberians.
Some will come to you and
say that its a scam by the
health ministry to steal money
from government covers,
all you need to do is take
preventive measure because
Ebola is real and is in Liberia,
James-Emmanuel D. Cole, Jr.
He urge Dr. Johnson to
continue her contribution to
the fght against Ebola and
challenge the students of the
United Methodist University
to take bold step by serving
as Ebola Ambassadors in their
various communities, which
will help in fghting the spread
of the virus in the country and
said he is optimistic that the
virus will be eradicated only if
all work together by reporting
suspected cases on time.
Remember EBOLA fght
is everyone business
get involve to support the
overall response to the deadly
epidemic, said Cole.
Dr. Johnson, on her part
appreciated the students
initiative and called on
everyone to take the lead in
fghting the virus.
There is no stupid question
about Ebola, so if you want
me to spend my whole day
here answering Im willing to,
because Ebola is everybody
business, Dr. Johnson said.
Student Joyce T. Teage
appreciated the Ministry of
Health for honoring their
invitation, which provided
them the opportunity to ask
question and Dr. Johnson was
able to clear their doubts.
I promise to be an Ebola
Ambassador in my community
and where ever I go, student
Joyce Teage of UMU.
Liberian Students and youth group enter EBOLA fght



James-Emmanuel D. Cole, Jr - Executive Director,
Education Today, Inc. Dr. Kumblytee L. Johnson presentation at United Methodist University Campus with UMU Darius Bleh, Team Leader
F
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NEWS EXTRA
F
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DIASPORA
NEW PASTOR FROM LIBERIA
USING HIS PAST TO HELP OTHERS
W
hen the Rev.
Jakes Sei
Voker moved
to America in
2000, his native Liberia was in
the midst of a civil war.
He had previously worked in a
hospital and he had witnessed

families torn apart and children
who were enlisted into the
forces. He saw the trauma it
caused.
Even without a war, Voker said
trauma can occur in peoples
lives and, as the new pastor at
First United Methodist Church,
745 Main St., he plans to help
people through that trauma.
His frst offcial day preaching
in Racine was on Sunday,
following a four-year
appointment in Oshkosh.
Describing what trauma
is, Voker, 55, who has fve
children aged 17 to 28, said,
Its any emotional event that
affects a persons life.
That can be relocation, divorce,
death of a loved one or a
sickness, he said.
Part of his mission, he said,
will be encouraging his
congregation to reach out
beyond the walls of the church
and to help people in the
community going through hard
times.
At the same time, Voker said,
he is also hoping to bring
awareness to some of the issues
continuing in Liberia. The war
has since ended, but he said
there is still lots of rebuilding
that needs to happen.
He and his wife, Esther, have
helped establish a school back
in Ganta, Liberia, for children
ages 4 to 15. He is also hoping
to eventually add trauma
counseling services to help
the many people affected by
trauma during the civil war, he
said.
He personally didnt realize
how affected he had been
until he was in America and
someone threw a frecracker
near him, he said.
He started running and
screaming, he said, because he
thought he had been shot.
He was able to talk to someone
and get through it, but he said if
people go through trauma and
their emotional concerns are
not taken care of, it can result
in problems.
By working with the
community, he is hoping to
help address those issues
before they become problems.
Page 16 |
Frontpage
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
8a
Monrovia -
W
ith the ruling
Unity Party set
on Ali Syllah
as its candidate
in the Montserrado County
Senatorial Race, it is all but
concluded that Robert Alvin
Sirleaf, should he decide to
accept a petition fled Monday
by his supporters, would run as
an independent in his quest to
become Senator of the county.
That Robert is running against
the norms of the party which
gave his mother state power,
speaks volumes about the
complexities of a man his
supporters say could defy
convention within his mothers
political ranks en route to what
many anticipate would be a
high-stakes senatorial bid,
pitting him against one of the
greatest footballers ever to play
the game in George Manneh
Weah.
The irony of Mondays petition
was as complicated as the race
is poised to become. Petitioners
aptly chose the Slip Way feld
where Weah began his craft
that prepared him to conquer
world, a feld, until Sirleafs
intervention, was dubbed a pool
of dreams, due to the heavy
fooding which engulfed the
area and kept many youngsters
from following the footsteps of
their idol, Weah.
It is the backdrop of many
of Sirleafs interventions in
communities like this one that
his supporters say, gives him
the guts and even the dare to
challenge Weah, in his own
backyard.
His supporters point to his
aggressive engagement in
Weahs stronghold of New
Kru Town, West Point and
Clara Town where he was
instrumental in mini-football
stadium on the turf where Weah
learned his craft. Sirleafs
supporters see his many
charitable ventures in areas
considered CDC strongholds
as a key asset likely to give him
and edge and that much clear in
their petition Monday.
We have realized with great
disappointment and shocking
political disdain over the
period about the high level of
legislative abandonment meted
against our people in this
county and we have suffered
for nine years from the hands
of leaders we elected over the
period, lamented Lassana
Fofana on behalf of the
petitioners.
Sirleafs petitioners described
Mr. him as a man who has
over the years concerned
himself with developmental
activities in and around the
country especially in providing
incentives for economic
empowerment.
But even on a day, his
supporters hoped he would
accept, Sirleaf chose the
route of suspense, telling his
supporters Monday: I have
to think, I will be very honest
with you all, I do not know the
F
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PAGE
ROBERT SIRLEAFS COMPLEX QUEST
to Become Montserrado County Senator
characterization in this folder;
I will look into all your eyes, I
want to see your hope, I want
to see your dreams, I want to
see your aspirations.
Sirleaf went on to say that he
would take his petitioners plea
to divine intervention before
making formally what many
have been skeptical for months
that he is indeed looking to
challenge Weah and the rest of
the feld that includes Liberty
Partys Benjamin Sanvee and
his former peer Dr. Christopher
Neyor. I want to thank you
all for giving me this folder.
I hold this folder to my heart
and I will take it to God tonight
and I will wake up tomorrow
morning and I will ask Godif
whats in this folder represents
the dreams of the people of
Montserrado County and then
God will send me a message
that in this folder, if I would
make a decision, I would do
so.
But even if Sirleaf accepts, his
quest for the Senate is expected
to be a bumpy one, flled with
criticisms of his mothers reign
marred by corruption, charges
of nepotism and a lack of
political will to tackle graft, his
fallout with Neyor, with whom
he worked at the National Oil
Company of Liberia and the
impact his independence from
a party political backing could
have on his candidacy.
The perception in some
political circle has been that
although Sirleaf may run as an
independent, the ruling party
deliberately put up what many
say is a weak candidate in Sylla
in a bid to give Sirleaf an edge
in the October race.
Adding to the likely problems
for Sirleaf could be the fnal
decision from Neyor on his
quest for the Senate. Neyor,
who had earlier announced
his decision to drop out of
the race, told a group of his
supporters upon his return to
Monrovia last weekend, that he
would reconsider, after hearing
appeals not to drop out of the
race.
With Neyor in, many political
observers anticipate a dirty
period of campaigning between
the pair.
Neyor struck the frst blood
recently when he accused
President Ellen Johnson-
Sirleaf of masterminding a plot
to destroy him so that her son,
Robert Sirleaf, could have an
easy path to the Senate seat
for Montserrado County and
eventually to the Presidency of
Liberia in the 2017 election to
succeed his mother.
Wrote Neyor: Your threat
to destroy me comes at a
time when there are media
reports of your son, Robert
frantically trying to buy off
all the Montserrado Countys
senatorial candidates and
promising cash for others to
abandon their political parties
to support his candidacy for
Montserrado. Your threats
with Roberts millions. Despite
these threats, I will remain
a formidable candidate for
the senate race. I take your
statement as a serious threat to
my person because in our part
of the world when a President
with all the power of the State
wants to destroy a citizen, the
order is usually followed to the
letter.
Robert, in a response, averred:
We will continue to see
shallow, factually incorrect,
and politically-motivated
statements. We feel for those
individuals. We believe time,
effort, and energy, is better
spent actually doing positive
things for the people, than
creating fctional story lines
which havent any impact
on the lives of the average
Liberian.
Sirleaf said at the time that his
priority is and always will be
to care for the Liberian people
and as such, continues to show
concern for people, and even
from a privileged position, has
continued to demonstrate this.
It is the privilege position from
which Sirleafs critics say, he
could have the most problem
with many of his critics
questioning whether he could
have made the gains he has if
he was not the son of a sitting
president.
There are also concerns about
how a Senator Sirleaf would
vote on a gay rights bill if
elected in the Senate. While
he has not addressed the
issue of sexual orientations,
some political observers say,
the issue could be a thorn in
Sirleafs quest and a nagging
issue, his opponents could toy
with in the rugged innings of
what is expected to be a brutal
campaign season. But more
importantly, a Robert Sirleaf
candidacy could very well
prove to be a referendum vote
on his mother.
While some of his supporters
say, a win could weaken Weah
politically, a loss would also
serve as a litmus test for his
mothers reign as president,
one in which voters, unhappy
with President Sirleaf, could
deal a stinging indictment
through her sons candidacy.
As Robert Sirleaf ponders
the petition of his supporters
in the backdrop of an
emerging debate about his
U.S. citizenship murmurs, he
has so far not addressed, it
remains to be seen how voters
would respond, even amid new
revelations that his main rival,
Weah, is also entangled in
citizenship issues of his own.
It is a debate many anticipate
would draw a defning line
in the race for Montserrado
County.
As Sanvee insisted to
FrontPageAfrica Monday, no
one should be spared on this
issue. Our laws are very clear
when it comes to nationalities
of other countries seeking
elected offce. It is illegal. I too
have seen the document that is
alleged to be the US passport
of Amb. George Weah.. . . I it
is indeed true that
Amb. Weah is a US citizen; I
expect that he will do what is
right and honorable by obeying
and respecting the laws of
Liberia. In the same vein,
many of Sirleafs critics could
argue that the law applies to
him, too.
While some of his supporters say, a win could weaken Weah politically,
a loss would also serve as a litmus test for his mothers reign as
president, one in which voters, unhappy with President Sirleaf, could
deal a stinging indictment through her sons candidacy.
Rodney D. Sieh, rodney.sieh@frontpageafricaonline.com
Frontpage
Tuesday, July 15, 2014 Page 17 8b
F
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PAGE
POLITICS Monrovia-
T
he political leader of
the Movement for
Progressive Change
(MPC) Mr. Simeon
Freeman said President Ellen
Johnson Sirleafs statement
to punish lawless people must
not only be limited to the
Nimba raid but to all those
accused of participating in the
destructions.
Freeman said Justice must be
done to all and not a select few
adding that Liberia is a country
of laws and not men.
Presidents of Liberia
do solemnly swear to
conscientiously uphold and
protect the laws and constitution
of the Republic and urge Gods
help in the fulfllment of so huge
a responsibility, said Freeman.
We do support and endorse
the statement made by Ellen
when she says All accused of
participating in these destructions
will have their full day in court
as quickly as possible. All those
found guilty will face the fullest
penalties imposed by law.
Freeman said President
Sirleaf has violated Liberias
constitution with what he calls
full impunity. Freeman said non-
Liberian citizens are appointed
to positions in government in
clear violation of the countrys
laws.
Robert Sirleaf, an American
citizen, offcially advised her
on Presidential matters before
applying for a Liberian status;
though it is unclear whether this
has been granted, said Freeman.
An offcial extradition process
was begun for Ellen Cockrum
and Melvin Johnson. The courts
of Liberia take judicial notice of
this action.
Freeman said when a person is
not a citizen of a country and
serves in leading positions; the
impact on the national morale
and its associated impact is
priceless.
Freeman said when institutions
spend collected revenue outside
of nationally prescribed laws and
they are not persecuted speedily,
their actions in all respects is
more costly to the state than the
Nimba raid and therefore called
for PresidenSirleaf and other
offcials of government to face
investigation.
SIMEON FREEMAN ON
LAWLESSNESS IN LIBERIA
That offcers at NOCAL or LISCR or the
Maritime Bureau or Ellen herself must
submit to the police, be placed behind
bars for the speedy trials they deserve,
said Freeman at a news conference held
at the MPC headquarters in Congo Town
on Monday
Such blatant constitutional violations are
part of what she calls these destructions.
Such destructions undermined economic
growth and the perpetrator must submit
to the police; be placed behind bars
while awaiting speedy trial as the action
both violates the oath of offce and the
constitution of Liberia.
The MPC political leader told journalists
that the Public Financial Management
Law of Liberia is clear on the management
of public funds and its subsequent
expenditure but public institutions
continue to violate the rules.
Institutions like LISCR and NOCAL;
collecting millions of dollars annually
and expending most of that money for
Ellens public Relations and associated
expenditure in clear violation of the PFM
law of Liberia, he said.
Continued Freeman: Under Ellen,
concession agreements are in clear
violation of Liberian laws. When a well-
intentioned investor is awarded illegal
privileges to enable unspeakable but
special favours for the negotiators, at the
expense of the people, especially those in
project affected areas; it undermines the
equitability of wealth distribution and is
globally a source of national confict as
documented by the United Nations Panel
of Experts on Liberia and the Centre for
International Confict Resolution of the
Columbia University. The CICR visited
Liberia since 2012 and published a report
entitled Smell No Taste. Ellen was
quoted in that report as saying.

Monrovia-
T
he Elections
Coordinating
Committee (ECC)
with mission to
instill public confdence in the
electoral process has trained
34 monitors from the 15
counties of Liberia to monitor
the political campaign, which
starts on August 12 of the 2014
Special Senatorial Election.
The two day workshop which
was held at Bassa Women
Development Association
Conference Hall in Buchanan,
Grand Bassa County took place
on 11th & 12th July 2014.
Topics covered included
Understanding Electoral
Process, Legal Framework
of Elections, Regulatory
and Oversight Institutions
During Elections, Media
and Communication
Monitoring During Elections,
Understanding Election
Violence, Security and Issues
Concerning Women During
Elections, and Campaign
Violence Monitoring. The
34 ECC monitors have been
deployed throughout the 15
counties.
These monitors are involved
with monitoring the electoral
processes of 2014. Their
activities commenced with
monitoring the Voters' Roll
Update, Voters Roll Exhibition,
Political Parties Primaries,
and it will continue with the
Political Campaign Period
and observing the October 14
election.
Representative of the National
Election Commission (NEC)
and Assistant Magistrate of
Grand Bassa County, Mr. Al B.
Smith welcomed participants at
the workshop and commended
the ECC for organizing the
workshop and its support to
the electoral process. He stated
that election is a process and
the monitoring of election by
an independent body is vital to
the enhance transparency in the
electoral process.
The workshop was facilitated
by executive members of
ECC from the Center for
Media Studies and Peace
Building (CEMESP), West
Africa Network for Peace
Building (WANEP), Institute
for Research and Democratic
Development (IREDD),
National Youth Movement
for Transparent Elections
(NAYMOTE), Actions
for Genuine Democratic
Alternatives (AGENDA), and
Search for Common Ground
(SFCG).
The ECC is a civil society
platform organized to observe
and monitor elections in
Liberia. It monitored the 2011
electoral process with the
deployment of 2,000 monitors
across the country. The ECC
will deploy the same number
on October 14th to observe
the 2014 Special Senatorial
Election.
The ECC is undertaking this
intervention with funding from
the United States Agency for
International Development
(USAID) in partnership with
IREX

AHEAD MID TERM ELECTIONS, ECC
TRAINS CAMPAIGN VIOLENCE MONITORS
Frontpage
Tuesday, July 15, 2014 Page 9
Kennedy L. Yangian kennedylyangian@frontpageafricaonline.com 077296781
Danesius Marteh, danesius.marteh@frontpageafricaonline.com
STAMP OF APPROVAL
Senator Jah Gets Liberty Partys
L
iberty Party has
endorsed Clarice
Alpha-Jah as its
candidate for the
ensuing senatorial elections in
Margibi County in October.
Senator Jah, the incumbent, was
chosen on a white ballot at an
elaborate ceremony held at the
partys headquarters in Kakata,
Margibi County at the weekend.
Charles Brumskine, the partys
former political leader who
graced the occasion, commended
the countys leadership for
keeping the partys doors opened
during the time of inactivity.
Cllr. Brumskine, who retired
from politics after fnishing
fourth in the 2011 legislative and
presidential elections, pleaded
with eligible voters to choose
Clarice on voting day.
We are back at a time when
Liberty Party must feld
candidates to take part in the
elections for senators for the
next nine years. Clarice Alpha-
Jah has just been endorsed by
Liberty Party as our candidate
for Margibi County, said Cllr.
Brumksine.
Cllr. Brumksine further said
People are asking what has she
done for me. In politics like in
life, no one person can please
everyone. It is easy when you
take Clarice and put her up
against an ideal person; a person
that doesnt exist. You are likely
to fnd problems with Clarice.
He described Senator Jah as
a strong candidate for the
senatorial seat.
But luckily for Clarice, shes
going up against other human
beings. And the voters will see
[for themselves]. When you
compared Clarice Alpha-Jah
with the other candidates, she is
the best for Margibi, Brumskine
stressed amid a round of applause
from cheerful partisans and well-
wishers.


Woman factor?
With female representation
in the National Legislature
having reduced from 2005 to
2011, Brumskine was keen on
increasing that fgure.
He told the gathering that Clarice
shouldnt be elected simply
because shes a woman but they
should do so on the basis of her
experience as a legislator.
Clarice has the experience of
being a good senator. Clarice
knows what it is like to fail in
the Senate. She knows what it is
like to succeed. She knows what
needs to be done and she knows
what needs not to be done.
Clarice is the best person for
Margibi County, Brumskine,
who played a pivotal role in the
election of Nyonblee Karnga-
Lawrence as the frst elected
female senator of Grand Bassa
County in May 2013, pointed
out.
Clarice, who served in the
National Transitional Legislative
Assembly (NTLA) from 2003-
2005 and in the 52nd and 53rd
Legislatures from 2005 to 2014,
was exceedingly glad, at least, of
not being faced with a primary
that can be controversial for all
the wrong reasons.
But she says her senatorial career
has transcended party politics
and ethnic or regional division.
I am glad that the party could
have selected me. It shows
that I have been working in the
interest of Liberty Party, Margibi
and Liberia. I was looking
forward to a primary but thank
God I was chosen on a white
ballot. Throughout my career,
I have tried to be a senator
without borders and I think that
will help me a lot, she told
FrontPageAfrica in an exclusive
interview on Sunday.
Clarice is upbeat about her
chances of reelection but she
will face competitions from
Stanley Yuma, Edna Lloyd, ex-
Representative Richard Saah
Gbollie, Bill Garwaysharp, John
Josiah, Martha Sando, Dao Ansu
Sonii and George Tengbeh,
who have either declared their
intentions or are rumored to have
a desire to contest.
As of the 2008 national census,
Margibi had a population of
199,689, making it the sixth most
populous county, with Firestone,
Gibi, Kakata and Mambah-Kaba
as its districts.
In 2011, eight persons contested
the senatorial election but Oscar
Cooper of the Unity Party was
the lucky winner.
While some were merely in
the race to distract others from
attaining their goal as vendetta
for one misgiving or the other,
others were real contenders
seeking political power.
It is also believed that others
were in the race to announce
their presence and show-up
their popularity and political
credentials in readiness for
subsequent elections.
Already, there seems to be
posters and billboards war on
the streets of Kakata and other
areas in the county as posters
are springing up in every corners
mostly by political groups,
praising their choice of aspirants
while others simply advocate
for a section of the county to
produce the senator, irrespective
of who emerges.
And only time will tell who will
get the coveted one way ticket to
the Capitol Building.
Monrovia-
P
erry Dolo a Police
Commander assigned
with the presidential
escort vehicle at the
Executive Mansion standing
trial for drug traffcking and
illegal possession of narcotic
drug is expected to take the
witness stand on Wednesday of
this week.
Dolo along with four other
defendants also identifed
as Augustine Saah, Cyrus
Slewion, Mohammed Bah and
Sekou Rogers were arrested
by state security personnel
on November 11, 2013 at the
Teini Check Point in Grand
Cape Mount County allegedly
with 10 bags of compressed
marijuana on board an assigned
presidential escort vehicle, the
claim the fve defendants have
denied.
Despite their denial state
witness Augustine Doe
testifying against the fve
defendants told the court and
jury that the defendants were
all linked to the traffcking
of the drug from Grand Cape
Mount County to Monrovia.
Defendant Perry Dolo was
offered US$450,00 by one
of the defendants Augustine
Saah to transport the drugs to
Monrovia said Doe the state
fourth witness while on the
witness stand,
According to Doe who is also
a chief investigator at the Drug
Enforcement Agency (DEA)
at the time when the police
F
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PAGE
LAW & ORDER
escort vehicle was arrested at
the check point with the drug,
Dolo and two other defendants
Sekou Rogers and Augustine
Saah were the ones on board
but Dolo fed the scene into
hiding leaving the other
defendants with the security.
Doe furthered that Dolo was
later turned over to the joint
security at the Teini Check-
Point by one of the elders of
the town at which town he was
arrested and detained and later
forwarded to court.
He also told the court that the
two other defendants Cyrus
Slewion who is also a police
offcer and Mohammed Bah
who is a taxi driver were also
arrested and charged by the
joint-security when they have
gone to the check point to
negotiate for the release of
the drug and the police escort
vehicle which was used to
transport the drug from Cape
Mount to Monrovia.
The testimonies of Perry
Dolo and others is as a result
of announcement Monday by
state lawyers that they have
rested with the production
of both oral and material
witnesses.
Your honor the state wish to
state that as of todays date it
has rested with the production
of witnesses be it oral or
material said state lawyer
Theophilus Gould
Gould went on to tell the court
to accept, admit and put the
mark of identifcation on all of
its material evidence to form
part of the courts record but
his submission was rejected by
the defense lawyer Atty. Arthur
Johnson.
Atty. Johnson asked the court
not to admit the statements
of the fve defendants taken
by investigators of the Drug
Enforcement Agency (DEA)
because after careful review
of the statement the defense
counsels realized that the fve
statements were all written by
one person (DEA) investigator
and not the defendants
themselves.
In his ruling Judge Yussif
Kaba over ruled the defense
counsels objection adding that
the case is being heard by a jury
who are the judges of facts and
what the defense counsel needs
to do is to submit its point to
the jury who will act upon it at
the end of the case.
The case was ordered adjourned
to resume on Wednesday
where Perry Dolo or another
defendant will take the stand
with a testimony that will be
the frst public statement on the
matter by the defendant after
they were charged following
F
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POLITICS
TAKING THE STAND
Police Commander Dolo, Others To Take Witness Stand In Drug Traffcking Case
Page 10 |
Frontpage
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
CHANGE OF VENUE
Monrovia -
F
rontPageAfrica had reliably gathered that legal formalities are said to be ongoing at the
Circuit Court in Nimba County, for 41 alleged rioters currently in detention in Monrovia to
stand trial in the county. If all goes well the trial of the 41 alleged rioters is expected to start
this Monday in Sanniquellie a source close to the defense lawyers hinted FrontPageAfrica
strictly on the basis of anonymity.
When contacted the lead defense counsel representing the 41 defendants Cllr. Yarmie Gbeisay could
not deny nor confrm the information but revealed that the defense team has asked for assignment
from the Circuit Court in Nimba County and looks forward to the court for a possible response. We
want this case tried in Nimba County because it was there the incident occurred as the matter of law
said Cllr. Gbeisay.
The move by the defense lawyers comes contrary to the assertion made last Thursday at the Civil
Law Court by the Solicitor General Betty Larmie Blamo during hearing into a writ of habeas Corpus
when she told the Presiding Judge Emery Paye that Nimba County was not safe to try the defendants
because of attempts made by supporters and families to forcibly release the defendants when they
were detained at various police depots in the county.
Your honor, we could not investigate the defendants in Nimba County as their family members and
supporters wanted to forcibly release them from the police while undergoing investigation this was
why we have to bring them to Monrovia said Betty Larmie Blamo.
The 41 defendants were among 46 suspects arrested by the Liberia National Police (LNP) in the
aftermath of the July 3, 2014 demonstration staged at the mining site of the Arcelor Mittal Company
in the town of Zolowee In Nimba County. The July 3, 2014 demonstration which left several of the
companys properties vandalized comes in the wake of claim by the citizens of Arcelor Mittals
alleged failure to settle its corporate social responsibility.
A week after their arrest last Thursday the 41 defendants were arraigned in the Civil Law Court at the
Temple of Justice after the lawyers fled a writ of habeas corpus for their prolonged detention. Lawyers
representing the defendants told the court during the hearing that their clients were innocently pick-
up by the police and had been detained for a week something they claimed was unlawful.
Cllr. Tiawan Gongloe, Yarmie Gbeisay, Dempster Brown argued that under the law when a suspect
is arrested by the police the suspect is required to spend only 48-hrs into the custody of the police
before he/she is forwarded to court but in the instant case their clients were held beyond the 48 hrs.
Given the reason for the prolonged detention Solicitor General Betty Larmie Blamo counter argued
and told the court that the defendants could not be investigated within the 48hours timeframe due to
the large number.
Following an hour of hearing the 41 defendants were ordered released by the court presided over
by Judge Paye but they rearrested minutes later and charged with kidnapping, armed robbery, theft
of property and rioting and ordered detained at the Monrovia Central Prison pending prosecution.
Defense Lawyers Want Rioters
To Face Trial In Nimba
Kennedy L. Yangian kennedylyangian@frontpageafricaonline.com
077296781
Frontpage
Tuesday, July 15, 2014 Page 11
OUTBREAK DEEPENING
F
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PAGE
EBOLA
Ebola crisis in West Africa Claims 500+ dead
DAKAR, Senegal (AP)
D
eep in the forests of
southern Guinea,
the frst victims
fell ill with high
fevers. People assumed it was
the perennial killer malaria and
had no reason to fear touching
the bodies, as is the custom in
traditional funerals.
Some desperate relatives
brought their loved ones to the
distant capital in search of better
medical care, unknowingly
spreading what ultimately was
discovered to be Ebola, one of
the world's most deadly diseases.
Ebola, a hemorrhagic fever that
can cause its victims to bleed
from the ears and nose, had never
before been seen in this part
of West Africa where medical
clinics are few and far between.
The disease has turned up in
at least two other countries
Liberia and Sierra Leone and
539 deaths have been attributed
to the outbreak that is now the
largest on record.
The key to halting Ebola is
isolating the sick, but fear and
panic have sent some patients
into hiding, complicating efforts
to stop its spread. Ebola has
reached the capitals of all three
countries, and the World Health
Organization reported 44 new
cases including 21 deaths on
Friday.
There has been "a gross
misjudgment across the board
in gauging the severity and scale
of damage the current Ebola
outbreak can unleash," the aid
group Plan International warned
earlier this month.
"There are no cases from outside
Africa to date. The threat of it
spreading though is very much
there," said Dr. Unni Krishnan,
head of disaster preparedness
and response for the aid group.
Preachers are calling for divine
intervention, and panicked
residents in remote areas have
on multiple occasions attacked
the very health workers sent
to help them. In one town in
Sierra Leone, residents partially
burned down a treatment center
over fears that the drugs given to
victims were actually causing the
disease.
Activists are trying to spread
awareness in the countryside
where literacy is low, even
through a song penned about
Ebola.
"It has no cure, but it can be
prevented; let us fght it together.
Let's protect ourselves, our
families and our nation," sings
the chorus.
"Do not touch people with the
signs of Ebola," sings musician
and activist Juli Endee. "Don't
eat bush meat. Don't play with
monkey and baboons. Plums that
bats have bitten or half-eaten,
don't eat them."
Guinea frst notifed WHO
about the emergence of Ebola
in March and soon after cases
were reported in neighboring
Liberia. Two months later there
were hopes that the outbreak was
waning, but then people began
falling ill in Sierra Leone.
Doctors Without Borders says
it fears the number of patients
now being treated in Sierra
Leone could be "just the tip of
the iceberg." Nearly 40 were
reported in a single village in the
country's east.
"We're under massive time
pressure: The longer it takes to
fnd and follow up with people
who have come in contact with
sick people, the more diffcult it
will be to control the outbreak,"
said Anja Wolz, emergency
coordinator for the group, also
referred to by its French name
Medecins Sans Frontieres.
This Ebola virus is a new strain
and did not spread to West Africa
from previous outbreaks in
Uganda and Congo, researchers
say. Many believe it is linked to
the human consumption of bats
carrying the virus. Many of those
who have fallen ill in the current
outbreak are family members of
victims and the health workers
who treated them.
There is no cure and no vaccine
for Ebola, and those who have
survived managed to do so
only by receiving rehydration
and other supportive treatment.
Ebola's high fatality rate means
many of those brought to health
clinics have been merely kept
as comfortable as possible in
quarantine as they await death.
As a result, some families have
been afraid to take sick loved
ones to the clinics.
"Let this warning go out:
Anyone found or reported to be
holding suspected Ebola cases
in homes or prayer houses can
be prosecuted under the law
of Liberia," President Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf stated recently.
Her comments came just days
after Sierra Leone issued
a similar warning, saying
some patients had discharged
themselves from the hospital and
had gone into hiding.
At the airport in Guinea's capital,
departing passengers must
undergo temperature screening,
and those with a fever are pulled
aside for further evaluation.
Still, the stigma of Ebola follows
Guineans well outside the
region.
"The police treated us like we
were aliens. They said they didn't
want us in their country because
of the disease affecting Guinea,"
says Tafsir Sow, a businessman
who was briefy detained at the
airport in Casablanca, Morocco
before continuing on to Paris. "I
had tears in my eyes."
Still, WHO health offcials are
hopeful they will be able to get
the situation under control in
the next several weeks. A recent
conference in the capital of
Ghana brought together health
authorities from across the
affected areas, and the countries
agreed on a common approach to
fght Ebola.
"When you have it spread, of
course it's moving in the wrong
direction," said Dr. Keiji Fukuda,
WHO's assistant director-
general for health security and
environment. "You want to see
the number of infections going
down. So we really have to
redouble our efforts. But saying
that it's out of control makes it
sound like there are no solutions.
This is a virus for which there
are very clear solutions."

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh; blessed be the name of the Lord. The Gwengatei,
Pennoh and Lawrence families regret to announce the passing of their beloved wife,
mother, sister, aunty, cousin and friend, Mrs. Cecilia Akuavi Lawrence Gwengatei.
This sad event occurs on July 2 at her home in Logan Town, Monrovia, Liberia.
She leaves to cherish her memories, her loving husband Tarmue S. Gwengatei Sr;
three loving children, Cecil A. Gardner (Massa), James C. Lawrence and Tarmue S.
Gwengatei, Jr. and foster children Francis B. Gayte, Adolphus S. Gayte, Elijah Sackie,
DEATH ANNOUNCEMENT
Samuel Bondo, T. Patrick Newman and Garlimah Sackie.
Cecilia will be greatly missed by her siblings: Elizabeth Teta Lawrence Gooding
(Emmett), Alfred Kwasi Lawrence, Felix Kobblah Lawrence, Emmanuel Ayiettey
Lawrence (Amanda), Faith Ayele Lawrence, James Willington Lawrence, Sarah Seytu
Lawrence, Augustus Cafuema Lawrence (Barbara), Roland Rookie Lawrence, Adolph
Akwe Lawrence (Nyonblee), Anthony Wakie Lawrence (Lungille) and Roselyn Lawrence
and a host of uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, cousins, relatives and friends.
FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS
The body will be removed from St. Moses Funeral Parlor at 4:00PM on August 1 and
taken to the Faith AME Church in Logan Town for a night of wake keeping, which starts
at 6:00PM.
The funeral service will be held on August 2 at the Eliza Turner Memorial AME Church
on Camp Johnson Road, Monrovia on August 2 at 10:00AM.
Interment takes place in Duport Road, Monrovia Liberia, which will be followed by a
repast at the St. Kizito Church compound in Paynesville.
Contacts:
Cecil A. Gardiner (Massa) +231 886 757 013 +231 886 594 162
Francis B. Gayte +231 880 710 590
Elizabeth Teta Lawrence Gooding (Emmett) +1 231 886 517 309 / +231 777 513 429
Alfred Kwasi Lawrence +1 916 730 6638
Felix Kobblah Lawrence +1 404 468 7616
Emmanuel Ayiettey Lawrence (Amanda) +231 777 403 030 / +1 201 388 6548
Faith Ayele Lawrence +1 301 455 2501
George Garber (Stanita) +1 917 822 6281 / +1 631 231 3234
Claude Langley (Charlene) +231 888 494 573 / +231 775 933 439
Adolph Akwe Lawrence (Nyonblee) +231 777 057 177 / +231 777 777 560
Roselyn Lawrence +231 777 550 941
James Ambrose Lawrence +231 777 520 382
Page 12 |
Frontpage
Tuesday, July 15, 2014

F
RONT
PAGE
EBOLA
FRIGHTENING SPREAD
Deadliest Ebola Outbreak Continues 'Frightening' Spread;
Samaritan's Purse Directing Efforts at Liberia Isolation Center
CONAKRY, Guinea/KENEMA,
Sierra Leone, (Reuters) -
G
overnments and health
agencies trying to
contain the world's
deadliest ever Ebola
epidemic in West Africa fear the
contagion could be worse than
reported because suspicious locals
are chasing away health workers
and shunning treatment.
From Guinea, where the four-
month-old outbreak claimed the
frst of more than 500 lives, to
Sierra Leone, scores of patients
are hiding away, believing
hospitalization is a "death
sentence".
In Guinea's southeastern Forest
Region some terrifed villagers are
shutting off their communities to
medical workers, even blocking
roads and downing bridges.
Over the border in Liberia's Lofa
County, health workers trying to
screen two communities for the
deadly disease were chased off
by locals armed with cutlasses,
knives, and stones, according to
an internal U.N. report seen by
Reuters.
In eastern Sierra Leone, police had
to fre tear gas to stop relatives
trying to recover bodies of
Ebola victims for family burial
- a serious contagion risk - amid
popular suspicions the cadavers
might be used for experiments or
macabre rituals.
"We are seeing a lot of mistrust,
intimidation and hostility from
part of the population," Marc
Poncin, emergency coordinator
for medical charity Medecins Sans
Frontieres (MSF) in Guinea, told
Reuters.
The MSF treatment center at
Gueckedou, 650 kilometers (400
miles) southeast of Conakry, was
monitoring only one suspected
case. Two weeks ago it had been
treating around 25 Ebola patients.
But this was not, Poncin warned,
because the disease was waning,
but because he believed "dozens"
of suspected cases were hiding
out from medical teams in the
surrounding forest region.
"What we are now seeing are
villages closing themselves off,
not allowing us to enter, sick
people hidden in the community.
They don't come and seek
healthcare any more," he said.
This was increasing the risk of
further propagation, adding to the
challenge for medical authorities
of an unprecedented epidemic
spread across three nations that
threatens one of the poorest
regions of the world. Weak
local health systems and porous
national borders were magnifying
the infection risk.
The World Health Organization
reported on Friday a total of
888 Ebola cases including 539
deaths since February, saying the
epidemic had surged in Liberia
and Sierra Leone and calling the
situation "precarious".
To handle the increased Sierra
Leone cases, MSF was doubling
the number of beds at its treatment
center in Kailahun. It warned it
was racing against time to stop the
spread of the disease and feared
it was just seeing "the tip of the
iceberg".
West African governments who
met under WHO auspices earlier
this month agreed a coordinated
regional strategy but experts say
more is needed in terms of effort,
cooperation and funds.
"If we are to break the chain of
Ebola transmission, it is crucial to
combat the fear surrounding it and
earn the trust of communities,"
said Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF
Regional Director for West and
Central Africa.
"We have to knock on every door,
visit every market and spread the
word in every church and every
mosque," he added.
"More people, more funds, more
partners" were urgently needed,
the U.N. children's agency said.
"LIKE A DEATH SENTENCE"
Ebola causes fever, vomiting,
bleeding and diarrhea and was
frst detected in then Zaire, now
Democratic Republic of Congo,
in the mid-1970s. Spread through
contact with blood and body fuids
of infected people or animals,
it is one of the world's deadliest
viruses, killing up to 90 percent of
those infected.
Effective treatment needs
cooperation from local
communities to allow screening
and contact-tracing of suspected
cases, and then their isolation
in properly equipped treatment
centers.
But Poncin said people in
Gueckedou were now shunning
the center there, where only 2 in
10 infected patients survived the
disease.
"People see people arrive more or
less OK and then they die there. So
they start to mistrust the treatment
center," he said.
It was a similar story in Kenema
in eastern Sierra Leone. "They
think if you go to the hospital,
you will die, like Ebola is a death
sentence," said Red Cross worker
Augusta Boima.
In contrast, at a treatment center in
Telimele in north Guinea, where
more trusting patients had come
forward earlier, the recovery
rate was higher, over 75 percent,
Poncin said.
At roads in and out of Kenema, a
still bustling trading town, police
and health authorities have set up
checkpoints, questioning travelers
and checking temperatures for
fever.
"People say after they check you
they will take you to the hospital
and you will not come out again.
So this is why so many people
are afraid, why they will not
come here," a fsh trader at the
checkpoint, who asked not to be
named, told Reuters.
He complained his fsh trade was
"very bad", because people were
avoiding coming to town, fearful
of screening.
Across the three affected
countries, 'outreach' teams are
explaining the risks of Ebola and
the need for treatment.
But they are often not welcome.
At one village in Guinea's forested
Gueckedou prefecture, locals even
dismantled a bridge to block health
workers' vehicles, Poncin said, On
EBOLA DEATHS SURGE IN SIERRA LEONE AND LIBERIA: WHO
(Reuters) -
E
bola continues to
spread in Sierra Leone,
Liberia and to a lesser
extent in Guinea, with
a combined 44 new cases and
21 deaths between July 6-8,
the World Health Organization
(WHO) said on Friday.
This brought the total in West
Africa's frst outbreak of the
deadly viral disease to 888
cases including 539 deaths since
February, the United Nations
agency said.
"The epidemic trend in Liberia
and Sierra Leone remains
precarious with high numbers
of new cases and deaths being
reported," the WHO said.
Just one confrmed new case
had been reported during the
past week in Guinea, where
the WHO said it was closely
monitoring the situation. There
has been resistance among
some communities to measures
recommended to control the

outbreak, such as precautions
during traditional burial
ceremonies.
Ebola causes vomiting and
diarrhea, impairs kidney and
liver function and may cause
internal and external bleeding.
It kills up to 90 percent of those
infected and is spread by close
contact with the blood, body
fuids and tissues of infected
people. There is no treatment or
vaccine.
The Economic Community of
West African States (ECOWAS)
set up an Ebola solidarity fund
at a summit in the capital of
Ghana on Thursday in a bid to
back a regional approach to the
epidemic. Nigeria committed
$3.5 million to affected states.
"We must do everything
within our means and power to
defeat this deadly disease. We
must exercise vigilance and
caution and avoid any panic
or misinformation," Ghanaian
President John Mahama, who is
chairman of ECOWAS, said in a
speech in Accra.
another occasion, an MSF car was
surrounded by threatening youths
who came out of the forest.
In Liberia's Lofa County,
health workers who visited two
communities, Bolongoidu and
Sarkonnedu in Voinjama district,
were intercepted by village elders
and a mob of angry residents.
"They said the villagers were
not interested in messages on
Ebola because as far as they
were concerned Ebola does not
exist and that they should leave
immediately or they would be
beaten up," was how the incident
was reported back to the U.N.
mission.
"BODIES IN BAGS"
Poncin said that in Guinea's
southeastern forest region, where
age-old animist beliefs exist side-
by-side with imported Christianity,
many locals shunned the modern
world and its medicine, preferring
instead to rely on traditional
healers.
This had led to some associating
Ebola with witchcraft and sorcery,
or branding it an evil brought in by
foreigners.
Because of contagion risk,
authorities say the cadavers of
Ebola victims must be disposed
of securely. But families in West
Africa, where the washing of the
deceased by family members is
part of traditional burials, often
struggle to understand this.
"For us to now have to give our
beloved dead relatives away to
people who will wrap them in
a plastic bag and dump them in
a grave without us washing and
honoring them is hard to stomach,"
a traditional Sierra Leone leader
said, asking not to be named.
This incomprehension can tap into
deeper fears, still common in West
Africa, of body parts being used
for ritual or magic.
"Putting people in body bags
creates a lot of suspicion in the
minds of people; they think parts
of the body are being cut, and
that's why the body is not being
allowed to be displayed," said
Kenema health offcer Sheku
Bockarie.
While daily life goes on in Guinea,
Liberia and Sierra Leone, whose
people have suffered years of
confict, poverty and disease, the
Ebola fears are affecting some
social habits.
"We have decided to ask our
children to not play with any other
child because we do not know who
is the carrier. Also, I do not shake
hands. I only speak and wave,"
said Liberian mother Marie Wleh
in Logan Town, Monrovia.
Frontpage
Tuesday, July 15, 2014 Page 13
REGULATOR STILL IN LACC DRAGNET
Commission on Higher Education Director General long Corruption tale
F
RONT
PAGE
EBOLA
DEATH SENTENCE
As Ebola stalks West Africa, medics fght mistrust, hostility

(Reuters) -
G
overnments and
health agencies
trying to contain
the world's
deadliest ever Ebola epidemic
in West Africa fear the
contagion could be worse than
reported because suspicious
locals are chasing away
health workers and shunning
treatment.
From Guinea, where the four-
month-old outbreak claimed
the frst of more than 500
lives, to Sierra Leone, scores
of patients are hiding away,
believing hospitalization is a
"death sentence".
In Guinea's southeastern
Forest Region some terrifed
villagers are shutting off
their communities to medical
workers, even blocking roads
and downing bridges.
Over the border in Liberia's
Lofa County, health workers
trying to screen two
communities for the deadly
disease were chased off by
locals armed with cutlasses,
knives, and stones, according
to an internal U.N. report seen
by Reuters.
In eastern Sierra Leone, police
had to fre tear gas to stop
relatives trying to recover
bodies of Ebola victims for
family burial - a serious
contagion risk - amid popular
suspicions the cadavers might
be used for experiments or
macabre rituals.
"We are seeing a lot of
mistrust, intimidation and
hostility from part of the
population," Marc Poncin,
emergency coordinator for
medical charity Medecins
Sans Frontieres (MSF) in
Guinea, told Reuters.
The MSF treatment center at
Gueckedou, 650 kilometers
(400 miles) southeast of
Conakry, was monitoring
only one suspected case. Two
weeks ago it had been treating
around 25 Ebola patients.
But this was not, Poncin
warned, because the disease
was waning, but because
he believed "dozens" of
suspected cases were hiding
out from medical teams in the
surrounding forest region.
"What we are now seeing are
villages closing themselves
off, not allowing us to enter,
sick people hidden in the
community. They don't come
and seek healthcare any
more," he said.
This was increasing the
risk of further propagation,
adding to the challenge for
medical authorities of an
unprecedented epidemic
spread across three nations
that threatens one of the
poorest regions of the world.
Weak local health systems and
porous national borders were
magnifying the infection risk.
The World Health
Organization reported on
Friday a total of 888 Ebola
cases including 539 deaths
since February, saying the
epidemic had surged in Liberia
and Sierra Leone and calling
the situation "precarious".
[ID:nL6N0PM1RO]
To handle the increased
Sierra Leone cases, MSF
was doubling the number of
beds at its treatment center
in Kailahun. It warned it was
racing against time to stop
the spread of the disease and
feared it was just seeing "the
tip of the iceberg".
West African governments
who met under WHO auspices
earlier this month agreed a
coordinated regional strategy
but experts say more is needed
in terms of effort, cooperation
and funds.
"If we are to break the chain
of Ebola transmission, it is
crucial to combat the fear
surrounding it and earn the
trust of communities," said
Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF
Regional Director for West
and Central Africa.
"We have to knock on every
door, visit every market and
spread the word in every
church and every mosque," he
added.
"More people, more funds,
more partners" were urgently
needed, the U.N. children's
agency said.
"LIKE A DEATH
SENTENCE"
Ebola causes fever, vomiting,
bleeding and diarrhea and was
frst detected in then Zaire,
now Democratic Republic
of Congo, in the mid-1970s.
Spread through contact with
blood and body fuids of
infected people or animals, it
is one of the world's deadliest
viruses, killing up to 90
percent of those infected.
Effective treatment needs
cooperation from local
communities to allow
screening and contact-tracing
of suspected cases, and then
their isolation in properly
equipped treatment centers.
But Poncin said people
in Gueckedou were now
shunning the center there,
where only 2 in 10 infected
patients survived the disease.
"People see people arrive
more or less OK and then
they die there. So they start to
mistrust the treatment center,"
he said.
It was a similar story in
Kenema in eastern Sierra
Leone. "They think if you
go to the hospital, you will
die, like Ebola is a death
sentence," said Red Cross
worker Augusta Boima.
In contrast, at a treatment
center in Telimele in north
Guinea, where more trusting
patients had come forward
earlier, the recovery rate
was higher, over 75 percent,
Poncin said.
At roads in and out of Kenema,
a still bustling trading town,
police and health authorities
have set up checkpoints,
questioning travelers and
checking temperatures for
fever.
"People say after they check
you they will take you to
the hospital and you will not
come out again. So this is why
so many people are afraid,
why they will not come here,"
a fsh trader at the checkpoint,
who asked not to be named,
told Reuters.
He complained his fsh trade
was "very bad", because
people were avoiding coming
to town, fearful of screening.
Across the three affected
countries, 'outreach' teams are
explaining the risks of Ebola
and the need for treatment.
But they are often not
welcome.
At one village in Guinea's
forested Gueckedou
prefecture, locals even
dismantled a bridge to block
health workers' vehicles,
Poncin said, On another
occasion, an MSF car was
surrounded by threatening
youths who came out of the
forest.
In Liberia's Lofa County,
health workers who visited
two communities, Bolongoidu
and Sarkonnedu in Voinjama
district, were intercepted by
village elders and a mob of
angry residents.
"They said the villagers were
not interested in messages on
Ebola because as far as they
were concerned Ebola does
not exist and that they should
leave immediately or they
would be beaten up," was how
the incident was reported back
to the U.N. mission.
"BODIES IN BAGS"
Poncin said that in Guinea's
southeastern forest region,
where age-old animist beliefs
exist side-by-side with
imported Christianity, many
locals shunned the modern
world and its medicine,
preferring instead to rely on
traditional healers.
This had led to some
associating Ebola with
witchcraft and sorcery, or
branding it an evil brought in
by foreigners.
Because of contagion risk,
authorities say the cadavers
of Ebola victims must be
disposed of securely. But
families in West Africa, where
the washing of the deceased
by family members is part
of traditional burials, often
struggle to understand this.
"For us to now have to give
our beloved dead relatives
away to people who will wrap
them in a plastic bag and
dump them in a grave without
us washing and honoring
them is hard to stomach," a
traditional Sierra Leone leader
said, asking not to be named.
This incomprehension can
tap into deeper fears, still
common in West Africa, of
body parts being used for
ritual or magic.
"Putting people in body bags
creates a lot of suspicion in
the minds of people; they
think parts of the body are
being cut, and that's why the
body is not being allowed to
be displayed," said Kenema
health offcer Sheku Bockarie.
While daily life goes on in
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra
Leone, whose people have
suffered years of confict,
poverty and disease, the Ebola
fears are affecting some social
habits.
"We have decided to ask our
children to not play with any
other child because we do
not know who is the carrier.
Also, I do not shake hands.
I only speak and wave," said
Liberian mother Marie Wleh
in Logan Town, Monrovia.
Page 14 |
Frontpage
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
IN BRIEF
NIGERIAN LEADER TELLS
MALALA MISSING GIRLS
TO BE HOME SOON
AFRICAN NATIONS TO
HELP LIBYA CONTROL ITS
BORDERS
SGT. BERGDAHL RETURNED
TO REGULAR US ARMY DUTY

ABUJA (Reuters) -
N
igerian President
Goodluck Jonathan
promised on
Monday that more
than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls
kidnapped by Islamist militants
would soon return home,
teenage Pakistani activist
Malala Yousafzai said after
meeting him.
Malala, who became a global
celebrity after surviving being
shot in the head by the Taliban
for campaigning for girls'
education, was visiting Nigeria
to support an international
campaign for the release of
the teenage students abducted
in mid-April by the Islamist
insurgent group Boko Haram.
"The president promised me
... that the abducted girls will
return to their homes soon,"
Malala, who has called the 219
missing students her "sisters",
told a news conference after
a 45-minute meeting with
Jonathan at the presidential
villa.
WASHINGTON (AP)
B
owe Bergdahl, the U.S.
Army sergeant who
spent nearly fve years
as a Taliban captive
in Afghanistan, was returned to
regular duty Monday with a desk
job that makes him available to
Army investigators for questioning
about his disappearance in 2009.
In a brief statement, the Army
said Bergdahl is now assigned to
U.S. Army North at Joint Base
San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston
in Texas, the same base where
he has been decompressing and
recuperating from the effects of his
lengthy captivity.
HAMMAMET, Tunisia (AP)
L
ibya's neighbors are
offering to help the
country control its
borders, collect heavy
weapons and reconcile rival
political forces as security in the
North African nation deteriorates.
Tunisian President Moncef
Marzouki told a conference that
Libyan authorities have agreed to
create joint border control forces.
Foreign ministers from Egypt,
Sudan, Chad, Algeria and
Tunisia met in the Tunisian city
of Hammamet on Sunday and
Monday to try to fnd solutions to
Libya's turmoil. They also agreed
on a plan to help Libyan authorities
collect the heavy weapons that are
circulating widely and are falling
into the hands of terrorist groups
around Africa.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) -
R
esidents of a town
north of Baghdad
found 12 corpses
with execution-
style bullet wounds on
Monday, after fghting between
rival Sunni insurgent groups
that could eventually unravel
the coalition that seized much
of the north and west of the
country.
The incident points to an
intensifcation of infghting
between the Islamic State and
other Sunni groups, such as
supporters of former dictator
Saddam Hussein, which rallied
behind the al Qaeda offshoot
last month because of shared
hatred for the Shi'ite-led
government in Baghdad.
Police in Muqdadiya, a town 80
km (50 miles) northeast of the
capital, said residents from the
nearby town of Saadiya found
the 12 corpses on Monday
after intense fghting overnight
between Islamic State fghters
and the Naqshbandi Army, a
group led by Saddam allies.
Since the Islamic State swept
through Iraqi cities and
proclaimed its leader caliph of
all Muslims last month, there
have been increasing signs
of confict with other Sunni
groups who do not necessarily
share the al Qaeda offshoot's
rejection of Iraq's borders or its
severe interpretation of Islam.
Washington, which recruited
other Sunni fghters to defeat
al Qaeda during the U.S.
surge offensive in 2006-2007,
MAYHEM IN IRAQ
Bodies found north of Baghdad as Sunni insurgents turn on each other

hopes other Sunnis will again
turn against the Islamic State
and can be lured back into a
power-sharing government in
Baghdad.
The White House has pressed
for an inclusive government
in Baghdad, but so far Shi'ite
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki
has ignored calls from Sunnis
and Kurds to step down in
favor of a less polarizing fgure
who would allow Sunnis a
greater voice.
Saadiya, a mostly Sunni town,
was overrun by Islamic State
militants on June 10, the same
day the city of Mosul fell to
the insurgents. It is located in
Diyala, a mainly rural province
north of Baghdad where lush
irrigated felds have long
sheltered armed groups that
resent the arrival of outsiders.
Residents say the town is a
stronghold of Naqshbandi
Army fghters who supported
the Islamic State when it frst
swept into the area, but have
since clashed with the group.
A doctor in the Baquba
morgue, where the corpses
were taken, said the men all
bore bullet wounds to their
heads and chest, though there
was no sign of torture. He said
the men had been dead no more
than 24 hours.
The people who found the
bodies said the men were
Naqshbandi fghters in their
20s and 30s, and blamed the
Islamic State for the execution-
style killings. The Saadiya
residents brought the corpses to
police in Muqdadiya because
the police in their town fed on
June 10 when the insurgents
swept in.
Local government offcial
Ahmad al-Zarghosi, who
also fed, told Reuters that he
estimated 90 percent of the
town had fed north. Zarghosi,
speaking from the town of
Khanaqin, said fghting had
been raging for a week between
Naqshbandi locals and the
Islamic State militants.
F
RONT
PAGE
WORLD NEWS
IN NIGERIA, BOKO HARAM-STYLE
VIOLENCE RADIATES SOUTHWARDS
ABUJA (Reuters) -
A
s long as violence
perpetrated by
Islamist militants
was more or less
contained in Nigeria's remote
northeast, the attitude of many
citizens and expatriates in the
more prosperous south was a
shrug of the shoulders.
But growing evidence that Boko
Haram, or other violent groups
or individuals inspired by it,
are radiating attacks from their
northeastern heartlands across
Africa's most populous country
has many Nigerians feeling that
nowhere is safe.
Boko Haram leader Abubabar
Shekau claimed responsibility
for two blasts minutes apart
targeting a fuel depot on June
25 in the country's main port in
Apapa, in the commercial hub
of Lagos, saying he had sent a
bomber in do it.
The blasts were almost certainly
caused by bombs, three senior
security sources and the manager
of a major container company
told Reuters, and one was most
likely the work of a female
suicide bomber, although there
are doubts about whether it was
Boko Haram or another Islamist
group inspired by them.
In Owerri, a city in the oil-
producing Niger Delta, a botched
bomb in a pentecostal church
on June 15 before a Sunday
service was due to start bore
the hallmarks of Boko Haram,
one of the security sources, who
was investigating the blast, told
Reuters. Christian worshippers
have been a target of Boko
Haram Islamists for several
years, but this would be the frst
time the militants have struck the
strategically vital oil region.
Police have said there is no proof
that this was Boko Haram - the
Delta has a history of political
and criminal thuggery - but
churches in this very Christian
region were never attacked.
Add to these a string of bombings
across the north, center and in
the capital of Africa's biggest
economy and top oil producer,
all of them well outside Boko
Haram's main area of operations
in Borno state, and a pattern
emerges.
Some offcials say Boko Haram,
which made world headlines with
the abduction of 200 schoolgirls
in April, want to relieve pressure
on itself in the northeast, where
it has tried to carve out a de facto
Islamic state.
Others say Boko Haram's
ambitions never were confned
just to the historical Islamic
caliphates of the north.
"Not once has Boko Haram said
it wants a caliphate just in the
north. They see their constituency
as Muslims everywhere,"
said Fatima Akilu, director of
behavioral analysis in Nigeria's
national counter-terrorism unit.
"It's not a geographic caliphate
with a boundary that ends in the
north."
EXPANDING ATTACKS
The charred, bloodied wreckage
of a bomb blast outside Abuja's
Ebam Plaza in the upmarket
Wuse II district late last month
has mostly been cleaned up,
though the building's gate
remains locked. Police said the
fnal death toll was 24. Shekau
claimed that one, too, in his
video.
Boko Haram was seen as a
"northern problem" until a
bomber attacked Abuja's police
headquarters in June 2011,
killing several people in Nigeria's
frst recorded suicide attack.
Two months later a suicide
truck bomb targeting the U.N.
headquarters in Abuja killed 25
people.
But from mid-2012 the insurgents
seemed to lose interest in staging
attacks outside their core area
of operations, preferring to
consolidate their power base in
the northeast.
A military offensive since
May last year that was meant
to dismantle their hold on the
northeast changed that dynamic,
prompting the insurgency to
mutate in two ways: brutal
attacks on civilians in the region
dramatically surged, and efforts
to strike out in areas far from the
rebels' strongholds resumed.
As bombs spread across the
country, there has also been a
marked increase in deadly attacks
blamed on Fulani cattle herders,
especially easterly Benue and
Taraba states, but which some
offcials suspect might be linked
to Boko Haram.
Hundreds of settled farming
peoples have been killed in
night-time raids by heavily
armed gangs in the past four
months. Some of these attacks
were so unusually brutal, in
some cases including gunning
down dozens of people as they
fed and burning churches, they
look more like the Islamists, the
military says.
Defence Spokesman Major-
General Chris Olukolade said
in April that forces had engaged
"a group of terrorists operating
under the guise of herdsmen" in
Taraba state. They arrested some.
Governor Gabriel Suswam of
Benue state said attacks that
killed more than 200 people there
in March were being carried out
by people with sophisticated
weapons, not the homemade
shotguns traditionally used by
Fulani herders.
"The attacks are at night, the
victims terrifed. They don't
know if they are Fulani or not," a
military source told Reuters. "We
think this is something else."


Frontpage
Tuesday, July 15, 2014 Page 15
BRAZIL WORLD CUP 2014
Sports
SPORTS
MARADONA: MESSI
DIDN'T DESERVE
GOLDEN BALL
MAN UNITED CLINCHES
$1.3B ADIDAS KIT DEAL
BRAZIL BOOED AS
NETHERLANDS CLAIM THIRD

A
rgentina icon Diego
Maradona feels
Lionel Messidid
not deserve to win
the Golden Ball following his
performances at the World
Cup.
The Barcelona star beat the
likes of Thomas Muller,Arjen
Robben and James Rodriguez
to the prestigious individual
award after scoring four goals
in seven performances at this
summer's tournament and
guiding his team to the fnal,
yet Maradona feels the 27-year-
old only won it for commercial
reasons.
"I would give him heaven
if possible," Maradona said
during his show on Telesur.
"But it's not right when
someone wins something that
he shouldn't have won just
because of some marketing
plan."
Braslia (AFP) -
B
razil's miserable World
Cup campaign ended
in a chorus of boos on
Saturday as the hosts
slumped to a 3-0 defeat against
the Netherlands in the third place
playoff match.
A penalty from Robin van Persie
and a Daley Blind strike saw the
Dutch take a 2-0 lead after only
17 minutes as Brazil endured more
woe after their humiliating 7-1
semi-fnal rout by Germany.
Once again Brazil's defence was
hopelessly exposed, with the frst
Dutch goal coming when van
Persie sent Arjen Robben racing in
behind them.
M
anchester United
secured a record-
breaking $1.3
billion sponsorship
deal with Adidas on Monday,
signaling the club's enduring
global appeal despite its worst
Premier League campaign and
strengthening its fnancial muscle
for player transfers.
The 10-year kit deal, worth at least
75 million pounds ($128 million) a
year from July 2015 for an overall
750 million pounds ($1.3 billion),
was negotiated after Nike decided
that trebling the cost of its existing
13-year contract for having its
name on United shirts was not
good value for the company.
United fnished seventh in the
league last season at the start of
the post-Alex Ferguson era. But
the eagerness of Adidas to make
United kits and sell replicas is an
indicator of the expected durability
of the Red Devils' brand and
a worldwide following which
the club claims to be around 660
million supporters.

DESERVED VICTORY
Monrovia-
F
ootball enthusiasts
around the world have
classed Germany 1-0
triumph over Argentina
in Sunday grand fnale of
the 2014 FIFA World Cup as
convincing and a deserved
victory.
Some football enthusiasts in
Monrovia giving their views
about the match in separate
interviews with FrontPageAfrica
expressed that the Germans are
worthy winners of the crown.
David Payne Jr. predicted that
Argentina was to conquer
Germany and be crowned
champions for the frst time since
1986.
Payne was one of the confdent
Argentine fans and he told
FrontPageAfrica that Argentina
could have repeated history
as they did against the same
Germans in the grand fnale of
1986 World Cup held in Mexico
based on the presence of Lionel
Messi and all of his teammates
but his prediction did not
materialize.
D. Aliyu Samah described the
grand fnal between the two
countries as exciting and said
Germany been crowned did
not come as a surprise because
he predicted last Thursday that
any of the two teams could be
crowned champions at the end
of the day but he gave Germany
the edge.
I give Germany the edge over
Argentina based on the German
side ball possession and fnishing
ability in the matches played in
the tournament before the grand
fnale and everybody saw the
European side doing the same to
Johannesburg (AFP) -
A
frican hopes of
more teams at
the next World
Cup were dealt a
huge blow by a largely dismal
showing during the 2014
tournament in Brazil.
Algeria and Nigeria bowed out
in the frst knockout round after
Cameroon, Ghana and Ivory
Coast made frst-round exits.
More was expected from a
football-obsessed continent
that promises much before
each World Cup only to deliver
comparatively little.
When Roger Milla-inspired
Cameroon reached the 1990
quarter-fnals, Brazil legend
Pele predicted an African
winner of the tournament by
the close of the 20th century.
But the best Africa has
managed since is last-eight
appearances from Senegal in
2002 and Ghana four years
ago.
Many African football offcials
believe the odds are stacked
against the continent producing
champions because they have
only fve contenders compared
to 13 from Europe.
They argue that Africa and
Europe have 54 member
nations each of world football
governing body FIFA, so
why the large difference in
the number of World Cup
qualifers?
What they ignore is World Cup
results between Africa and
Europe and South America, the
strongest football continents.
There have been 80 match-ups
between Africa and Europe,
starting with a 4-2 victory by
Hungary over Egypt at the
1934 World Cup and Africa
have won just 16 games.
Nigeria did defeat Bosnia-
Hercegovina in Brazil, Ghana
held Germany in a four-goal
thriller and Algeria drew with
Russia.
But Cameroon were hammered
by Croatia, Ivory Coast
succumbed to Greece, Ghana
lost to Portugal, Nigeria fell to
France and Algeria were beaten
by Belgium and Germany.
The statistics against South
American sides are more
depressing with just three
victories from 25 matches.
"We need to have the results
to back our case," admits
Confederation of African
Football (CAF) president Issa
Hayatou.
Africa has not enjoyed great
success against Asian and
CONCACAF (North-Central
America) opponents either.
They won four and lost four of
14 games with Asia and won
three and lost three of eight
matches against CONCACAF.
Critics of greater African
representation at the 2018
fnals can point to just 26
African victories in 127 World
Cup games.
But Africa and Asia do have
powerful backers with FIFA
president Sepp Blatter and
Europe football supremo
Michel Platini saying the 32-
team World Cup could be
expanded.
Why did a fve-prong African
assault in Brazil peter out so
early? Ghana midfelder Kevin-
Prince Boateng says disastrous
preparations contributed
greatly.
"It was a nightmare from start
to fnish," Boateng revealed
after being kicked out of camp
before the last group match for
allegedly swearing at coach
Kwesi Appiah.
Boateng said the journey from
the Netherlands to the United
States took 19 hours, including
nine hanging around an airport.
"The fight from Miami to
Brazil lasted 12 hours, and
our legs ached from sitting
in economy class while the
Ghana FA president, his wife
and children were in business
class.
"We had a charter fight in
Brazil but my luggage was lost
-- two days without my football
boots was a disaster."
Boateng said the bonus row,
which led to $3 million (2.2
million euros) in cash being
airlifted from Ghana to Brazil,
was the "smallest problem".
"The association gets so much
money from sponsors and FIFA
-- it was certainly not used for
hotels, fights, preparations and
the team."
ODDS STACKED AGAINST AFRICA
Africa results don't justify more Cup places
-Analysts Speak on Germanys Triumph over Argentina
the South American side.
Abraham Kojo Jr. predicted
that Germany was to carry
the day base on the quality of
experienced players on their
squad and they all have shown to
the world that indeed they are ft
to win the world cup.
Kojo said he knows that
Argentina did whatever they
could to deny Germany from
scoring but all of their efforts did
not materialize and in the 123
minute Mario Gotze of Germany
scored his side unforgettable
goal after he received an in
swinger from a team-mate.
I did not support Germany
because I wanted for them to win
against Argentina but because of
their past excellent performances
against all of their opponents in
the same competition and I knew
they were to do the same against
the South Americans in the grand
fnale.
Alfred M. Sandi also gave
Germany the edge over Argentina
due to what he described as the
Germans midfeld and forward
line forceful ball control in all
of their games played in the
tournament and he predicted that
they were to do the same against
Argentina in the grand fnale.
If the Germans can knockout
the host country Brazil then
they can do the same against
Argentina because of their
absolute fnishing touches.
A. Macaulay Sombai, sombai121@gmail.com
www.frontpageafricaonline.com
Sports
FrontPage
PRICE L$40 VOL 8 NO.636 TUESDAY, JULY 15, 2014

ODDS STACKED
AGAINST AFRICA
Africa results don't justify more Cup places

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