Liberia Mourns Nelson Mandela

                                             

Tribute: Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela [1918 – 2013]

Here, tears laced, the
broken heart must dance

What must have
been a great loss to Afrika

Has turn into stumping
     feet of songs for joy in Soweto!

In merriment of a
drum major who played the bass 

Gandhi must be pleased
that apartheid mailed us

Two giants---fathers of two nations
sprung like wells from evil

Excellence is inexplicable where
     malevolence brings out the worse in man

Liberian news editor free for 30 days



Sieh is escorted by Liberian security men

By ralph geeplay

Lawyers representing Frontpageafrica Editor Rodney Sieh have secured his release for 30 days in the Liberian capital of Monrovia. The lawyers contended that Sieh's imprisonment violated various provisions of the Liberian constitution of 1986, including the prohibition against debt bondage in Article 12, the Equal Protection Clause of Article 11, the due process clause of Article 20, and the directive against extreme punishment in Article 21. Kwame Clement [Pro bono] a former Liberian journalist and broadcaster in collaboration with Musa Dean and Samuel Kofi woods are leading the charge to see Sieh release.

Rachel Pulfer Takes On President Sirleaf!

Introduction: President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf visited Toronto in September of 2013 to celerate the WE Day annual festivities  that drew celebrities from arround the world. In a rare departure from diplomatic niceties which usually greets the Liberian president [in western media] on her foreign travels given her stature as a world leader and a peace laureate, the Toronto newspapers were  a rare exception, with both the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail in the mix with strong worded commentaries and news articles about press freedom and corruption in the Western African country under Liberia's 24th president. The Liberian leader would respond also...below are both pieces...

Liberian Lawyer Accuses President Sirleaf Govt

By Hawa Wesseh

A prominent Liberian human rights lawyer and former Minister of Works in the Sirleaf Unity Party (UP) led administration has accused the Liberian government of being behind the incarceration of FrontPage Africa editor Rodney Sieh. Samuel Kofi woods spoke recently when Justice Minister Christina Tah and Liberia Solicitor General Cllr. Betty Larmie Blamo rubbished attempts by Woods to represent Sieh at the ECOWAS Human Rights Court in Abuja Nigeria. The libel case which has drawn international disapproval from Roy Gutterman, Director of the Tully Center for Free Speech, The World Newspapers Association, the World Editor Forum and the Committee to Protect Journalist, pundits say shows the UP led administration intolerance towards the free press in Liberia. Sieh was arrested on the 21 of August and is currently under heavy security guards at the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Medical Hospital in the Liberian capital of Monrovia. Sieh began a hunger strike about a week ago at the Monrovia Central Prison before he was admitted at the sanatorium for malaria.

President Sileaf: “Hustlers Become Heroes through Poisonous Pens"

By: Hawa Wesseh




Liberian president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf says her public officials are assuming their responsibilities in the country at a time when the political environment is a difficult terrain in the country.
The Liberian president made the remarks this week when she commissioned 27 government executives including former controversial city mayor, Mary Broh who now heads the General Services Agency (GSA), a department of government that purchases and manages assets for the government.

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!

Paean For Philip N. Wesseh: The Citizen Journalist

A Tribute: By ralph geeplay



Philip has given so much to Liberian Journalism over the course of his practice and to the art as we know it, to me though, he is the citizen journalist, his passion is incredible!