YESTERDAY PATRIOTS: President Sirleaf and Press Freedom In Liberia!

Hawa Wesseh

Just freed from jail: Sirleaf at the hight of her advocacy for rights in Liberia

 

 

The future belongs to us, because we have taken charge of it. We have the commitment, we have the resourcefulness, and we have the strength … Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Just as last month came to an end two significant concerns popped up in post war Liberia! Depending on which one you want to take first, all 25,000 students sitting the nation’s most prestigious university  entrance exam fail to make a passing mark; it was perhaps the biggest front-page grabber since the Charles Taylor conviction, underscoring Liberia’s rotten education system ( both teachers and students in the country are indiscipline, the government alone cannot take the blame for this one), and there was the incarceration of Frontpage Africa’s editor, Rodney Sieh on woozy libel charges wrapped up in political undertones, according the Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ). Press freedom in Liberia Is under attack, and President Sirleaf is stoking the flames!

Liberia’s President Sirleaf gets cocky in second term

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

                          

Analysis

By: Ralph Geeplay

Early in her second term and on the last leg of her presidency, analysts say the Liberian president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is getting cocky, showing signs of someone who is not worry about reelection, and perhaps who’s also not a good reader of Liberian history. Sirleaf has been complacent to act when she wants to, and tends now to be expedient in the face of grave concerns to a segment of the population that disagrees with the way her leadership is being felt across the land. The Liberian president of late has been bold in dismissing public opinion observers say. Sirleaf now in a whiff is referring to legitimate critics as the “Noisy Minority”, a segment of the population she was once part of, the catch phrase that is a buzz word today.

Augustine Ngafuan and Liberia’s economy diplomacy

By: ralph geeplay

Liberia’s Foreign Minister (FM) Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan comes to the foreign minister  position with a core strategic objective for promoting Liberia policy initiatives by advancing what he and Sirleaf on many occasion have termed the “the economy diplomacy,” of the Unity Party led administration. The West African state which is still reeling from almost two decades of civil strive wants to build bridges with investors and foreign governments by winning investment to the country as it advance peace, and thereby, over all create stability.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Liberia’s Unsettled Peace

By; ralph geeplay

It seems the specter of war and Liberia’s march from conflict to peace is still elusive. Nobel laureate President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf efforts to the lead the Liberian government after almost two decades of war have received a sharp criticism from a major international organization. It is no secret that Liberia exported war to other West African countries and bred hundred of thousands of child soldiers in the process during the reign of President Charles Taylor. Taylor legacy still haunts Liberia say analysts because, the country teeters on violence continuously, while also threatening the fragile peace of its neighbors. In a stinging indictment by Human Rights Watch (HWR) recently, the globally respected organization accused the Liberian government of doing little to curb crossed border attacks from within the country. The report said the government was harboring mercenaries, while protecting criminals responsible for Liberia's two decade fracas, the report was issued on June 6th of this year.

Liberian mercenaries returning from Cote ivoire