Kona Khasu calls on Liberian Govt. to support arts

                                                   

11 Questions: Kona Khasu, Cultural Aficionado

Khasu is a long time Liberian culture promoter and currently heads the Liberian Arts and Culture Council in Liberia as post war Liberia moves to position the arts at the center of national development. To simply called Kona Khasu a cultural enthusiast would be unfair, he has been at the center of education and social policies in his native Liberia for close a decade and half, and if anyone knows anything about Liberian theatre also, they would know Kona Khasu.

Albert Porte Versus William V.S. Tubman

A. Porte 1906-1986

Introduction: Veteran Liberian social crusader Albert Porte's letter to President Tubman on August 25, 1951 brought out the best in the veteran Liberian political journalist and pamphleteer. Porte, with verve took on President William V.S. Tubman in an era when it was unwise to do so given Tubman's autocratic tendencies especially at a time when he was near to silencing his critics. He cautioned the Liberian chief executive not to purchase a luxury Presidential yacht which is said to have been 463-tons with a passenger capacity of 36. The posh carrier required an international crew, and a separate department within the Department of State and bought at $125,000.00.  The exchanges gives the reader a comprehensive glimpse into Porte’s character who is also considered by many as the father of social justice in Liberia

President Sirleaf “Enduring Legacy”: A Rejoinder

ralph geeplay

President Sirleaf

                                   

Let’s pick some bones with Ms. Shirley N. Brownell, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s Communications Director and her well written op-ed, “Journey to Partnership: An Enduring Legacy for President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.”

Liberian editor speaks truth to power

                                 

11 Questions: Activist Stephanie C. Horton

Horton is the managing editor and founder of Sea Breeze Journal of Contemporary Liberian Writings (SBJ), an e-publication that promotes Liberian arts and culture.

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.

Liberia’s Sirleaf: the burden of leadership

By ralph geeplay

The Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has been busy touring Europe: getting awards, giving speeches and receiving investors. For a Liberian president, Sirleaf clout in the international community is unmatched. On her most important trip days ago she stopped in Paris, France to receive France highest award, the Grand Croix of the Légion d’Honneur, commissioned by Napoleon in 1802 putting her in the company of the select few: Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Queen Elizabeth II, Aung San Suu Kyi, Toni Morrison and Lord Mountbatten, Etc.

Why the Murder of Five American Nuns Will Go Unavenged

Statue erected in memory of the nuns

Introduction: Liberia still remains a sore eye, half a decade after its war ended, as far as bringing war criminals to justice. Those responsible for the war and the foot soldiers who committed gruesome crimes still roam the country.  This week Time Magazine's Johnny Dwyer wrote about the five catholic nuns who were murder by Charles Taylor and his soldiers, during the infamous "Operation Octopus," in 1992.

The five women were from small town America but chose to live in the midst of one of West Africa’s most brutal civil wars. Each belonged to the Adorer’s of the Blood of Christ, a St. Louis-based Catholic order; each had volunteered to live in Liberia, not only as missionaries, but as desperately needed relief workers.