Liberian Daily Observer 01/22/2014

VOL. 16. NO. 61 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2014 PRICE: LD 40

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EDITION

EDITORIALExporting

Guinea’s Iron Ore through Liberia: Great Economic

Integration Opportunity

LOCAL NEWSSRSG Honors 19 Pakistani

Peacekeepers

COMMENTARYMemo to the Legislature: Redistribute

Power, Not Money!

BUSINESSMoneyGram

Renews Confidence in

Liberia

SPORTS2013 Progress Report: What

Will President Sirleaf Tell Nation on

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Amara Konneh Shifts Blame

Minister Konneh blames slow revenue collection for the economic woes

By Keith Morris

Finance Minister Amara Kon-neh has blamed government rev-enue generating entities for the

current state of budget recast the country is experiencing.

Appearing before plenary of the House of Representa-

tives Tuesday, 21 January in Monrovia, Minister Konneh blamed revenue generating entities like Liberia Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC), National Port Authority (NPA) and Liberia Telecommunica-tions Authority (LTA) and others for playing active roles in the ‘poor collection’ of rev-enue to support the approved National Budget 2013/2014

Fiscal year.Konneh noted that amongst a

series of outstanding revenues, US$3 million from LPRC, US$1 million from NPA and US$3 million that should have been remitted to the National envelop are yet to be realized.

He announced that there re-mains a “serious task evasion”

Cont’d on pg. 10

-Over US$1.75m Controversial Car Wash BudgetSenate Fails to Invite GSA

L-R: GSA boss Mary Broh; Senator Tengbeh: “Executive Branch of Government should account for its stewardship”

By J. Burgess Carter

A request by Lofa County Sena-tor Tengbeh for the Senate ple-nary to invite

the General Services Agency, (GSA) to make a comprehen-sive report on the controver-sial US$1,750,320.00 of the 2011/2012 national budget said to have been given for car wash under the Fleet Man-

agement Policy, Tuesday, Jan-uary 21, failed to materialize.

Contained in a communiqué to his colleagues on their 3rd day sitting, Tuesday, that re-

Cont’d on pg. 10

Ellen Attends World Economic Forum

-Expected to Serve as Panelist on Various Sessions, Including Resilient Economies and the Water, Food and Energy Nexus

By William Q. Harmon

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Tuesday Jan-uary 21, flew to Davos-Klosters, S w i t z e r l a n d ,

to participate in events of the

World Economic Forum.The World Economic Fo-

rum, founded by Klaus Mar-tin Schwab, is an independent international organization that brings commitment to improv-ing the state of the world by

Cont’d on pg. 10

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 22, 2014, vol. 16, No.61indd 2 1/22/14 12:33 AM

Daily Observer Tuesday, January 21, 2014 Page 4Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Foreign BriefsWorld NewsWednesday, January 22, 2013

US

UAE

Libya

Nigeria

CAR

South Africa

Syria Accused of Torture and 11,000 Executions

(BBC) There is clear evi-dence that Syria has system-atically tortured and executed about 11,000 detainees since the start of the uprising, a report by three former war crimes prosecutors says.

The investigators examined thousands of still images of dead prisoners, many report-edly smuggled out by a defec-tor.

A Syrian spokesman said the report had no credibility as it was commissioned by Qatar, which funds rebel groups.

The report comes a day be-fore peace talks are due to be-gin in Switzerland.

The talks, known as “Gene-va II”, open in Montreux, and continue in Geneva two days later.

It is seen as the biggest dip-lomatic effort yet to end the three-year conflict, which has left more than 100,000 dead, and millions displaced.

Meanwhile, in its annual report released on Tuesday, Human Rights Watch accuses Russia and China of allowing abuses to take place by block-ing action through the UN.

It also accuses both gov-ernment and pro-opposition forces of human rights abuses including torture and extraju-dicial killings.

There have been many re-ports and much evidence col-lected by human rights groups and international investigators alleging systematic torture and killings in Syrian government detention centres.

But the latest report carries such allegations into a new di-mension. The figure of 11,000 victims documented in the 55,000 photographs is clearly

just the tip of the iceberg, rep-resenting the numbers in one location only, and with a large number of the images (27,000) taken by one official photog-rapher.

This man, codenamed “Cae-sar”, was later smuggled out of Syria and questioned by three top war crimes prosecutors for several days at an undisclosed location. They concluded that his testimony was “not only credible, but most compel-ling”.

Issues of political motivation - the commissioning of the re-port by Qatar, and its release just before the Geneva talks - should not obscure the reality of the evidence produced.

Geneva II, it says, “shouldn’t become the latest excuse to avoid action to protect Syrian civilians”.

‘Significant starvation’ The report by the former war

crimes prosecutors is based on the evidence of a defected military police photographer, referred to only as Caesar, who along with others reportedly smuggled about 55,000 digital images of some 11,000 dead detainees out of Syria.

He said his job had been to

take photographs of corpses, both to allow a death cer-tificate to be produced and to confirm that execution orders had been carried out.

“There could be as many as 50 bodies a day to photograph which require 15 to 30 min-utes of work per corpse,” he is quoted as saying.

He did not claim to have witnessed killings or torture himself.

The photographs cover the period from the start of the uprising in March 2011 until August last year.

All but one of the bodies shown are male. Investiga-tors say most were emaci-ated; many had been beaten or strangled.

Some had no eyes, and some showed signs of electrocution.

One of the authors of the re-port, Prof Sir Geoffrey Nice, told the BBC’s Newsday pro-gramme that the scale and consistency of the killings provided strong evidence of government involvement that could support a criminal pros-ecution.

Forensic pathologist Stuart Hamilton told Newsday that in the images that he saw, a large

number of detainees were showing “evidence of signifi-cant starvation”.

He said many looked as if they had been bound or re-strained.

The report says the images are “clear evidence” of “sys-temic torture and killing of de-tained persons by agents of the Syrian government”.

However, a spokesman for the Syrian ministry of infor-mation, Bassam Abu Abdul-lah, questioned the report’s ev-idence, telling the BBC it was unclear where the information had come from or if the pho-tographs were “from Syria or from outside Syria”.

He said he was “astonished” at the figure of 11,000 victims, saying it had not been raised before this report.

He said: “I doubt this report. We should check these photos. Who are these people? Where are the names? From which prisons? Who is this person who has the authority to have these photos?”

Mr Abdullah said the inter-national courts should direct their questions to Qatar.

He said: “If Qatar financed this report, there is no credibil-ity because Qatar is one of the states who financed interna-tional terrorism and who sent killers to Syria. We have pro-fessional killers inside Syria from around the world. We are defending ourselves.”

Boycott threat The Syrian government and

the main exiled opposition al-liance, the National Coalition, are due to send delegates to the Geneva II conference, which begins on Wednesday.

leaked pictures ‘show evidence of starvation, beatings and strangulation’

Iraq Executes 26 men on ‘Terrorism’ Charges

(BBC) - Iraq has executed 26 people convicted of “ter-rorism” offences, according to officials.

The deaths came despite international criticism of the country’s increasing use of capital punishment.

The justice ministry said Adel al-Mashhadani - alleg-edly a leader of a local Sunni militia known as Sahwa - was among those put to death on Sunday.

Iraq executed at least 151 people last year, up from 129 in 2012 and 18 in 2010, ac-cording to Human Rights Watch.

‘Brutal crimes’ It follows calls from the UN

High Commissioner for Hu-man Rights for an immedi-ate halt to executions in Iraq. A spokesman for Navi Pillay said in October large-scale killings were “obscene and in-humane”.

The claim that the death pen-alty helped deter terrorism was a “fallacy”, given the surging

violence in Iraq, the spokes-man added.

“Iraq’s increased use of the death penalty... is a futile at-tempt to resolve the country’s serious security and justice problems,” Phillip Luther Am-nesty International.

“The justice ministry carried out the executions of 26 men convicted of crimes related to terrorism on Sunday,” a jus-tice ministry statement said on Tuesday, adding that all of those put to death were Iraqis.

It said Mashhadani was “fa-

mous for sectarian crimes”. He was a leader of a Sahwa, or Awakening Council, in Bagh-dad, according to reports.

“All 26 who were executed carried out brutal terrorist crimes against the Iraqi peo-ple, and they were tried and condemned, and the verdict was approved by the presiden-cy,” Justice Minister Hassan al-Shammari said.

He added that the ministry would “continue to carry out sentences against those who have been condemned, after

the final decision has been made”.

The Iraqi government main-tains that it only executes people who have committed terrorist acts or other serious crimes against civilians.

The findings published in Human Right Watch’s annual world report on Tuesday put the number of executions in Iraq at its highest since the US-led invasion of 2003.

It is broadly in line with other tallies. The UN said 140 people had been put to death - usually by hanging - in the months leading up to October last year.

“Iraq’s increased use of the death penalty, often after un-fair trials in which many pris-oners report having been tor-tured into confessing crimes, is a futile attempt to resolve the country’s serious security and justice problems,” said Phillip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International, in No-vember.

The number of people executed in iraq in 2013 was the highest since the Us-led invasion in 2003

Kenyan Author Binyavanga

Wainaina: “I am Homosexual”

binyavanga Wainaina won the 2002 Caine Prize

for african Writing(BBC) - Leading Kenyan au-

thor Binyavanga Wainaina has come out to say he is gay, mak-ing him one of the most high-profile Africans to do so.

He made the disclosure in an article entitled: I am a homo-sexual, mum, coinciding with his 43rd birthday on 18 Janu-ary.

Homosexual acts are illegal in Kenya and many other Af-rican states.

His statement comes amid a fierce debate about gay rights in several African countries.

“Of course my friends knew, but I had been toying with how useful it would be to make a public statement for close to eight months,” Binyavanga Wainaina.

Nigeria has recently passed legislation tightening restric-tions on homosexual groups, while Uganda’s president has blocked a similar bill.

Mr Wainaina has strongly criticised Nigeria’s anti-gay law, saying it “shames us all”.

His decision has drawn mixed reaction among Ke-nyans on social media.

Some people have praised him for being courageous while others have warned that he could face a backlash, says the BBC’s Caroline Karobia in the capital, Nairobi.

‘Lost chapter’ “Nobody, nobody, ever in

my life has heard this,” Mr Wainaina wrote in the article published first on the Africa is a Country and the Chimurenga Chronic websites.

“Never, mum. I did not trust you, mum. And. I. Pulled air hard and balled it down into my navel, and let it out slow and firm, clean and without bumps out of my mouth, loud and clear over a shoulder, into her ear. ‘I am a homosexual, mum,’” he wrote.

Mr Wainaina’s article was styled as a “lost chapter” from his 2011 memoir One Day I Will Write About This Place.

“Of course my friends knew, but I had been toying with how useful it would be to make a public statement for close to eight months,” he told the GlobalPost news website on Monday.

He won the 2002 Caine Prize for African Writing for his short story, Discovering Home.

Gay and lesbian people risk a jail-term of up to 10 years if they are convicted of homo-sexual acts in Kenya.

(BBC) - US President Barack Obama will visit Pope Francis on a European tour in March, the White House has said.

The White House said Mr Obama looked forward to dis-cussing their “shared commit-ment to fighting poverty and growing inequality”.

While in Rome, Mr Obama will meet Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and Prime Minister Enrico Letta.

(BBC) - A court in Abu Dha-bi has sentenced 20 Egyptians and 10 UAE citizens to up to five years in prison after find-ing them guilty of national se-curity charges.

The Islamists denied setting up an “international” branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, and stealing secret information from the security services.

They will have no right to appeal.

(BBC) - Libya’s Justice and Construction Party, the second largest party in the interim ad-ministration, has announced it is quitting the government.

The Islamist party said its five ministers would resign after it failed to win sufficient support for a motion to censure Prime Minister Ali Zeidan.

Those affected include the ministers for oil, the economy and housing.

(BBC) - MPs in Lagos state, Nigeria’s economic hub, have passed a bill banning smok-ing in public places, includ-ing restaurants and on public transport.

Those who ignore the ban could face a $62 (£38) fine or up to three months in jail or both.

The bill also makes it an of-fence to smoke in front of a child - offenders will be fined $94 or be sentenced to a one-month jail term or both.

(BBC) - New Central Afri-can Republic leader Catherine Samba-Panza has asked both European and African coun-tries to send more troops to help restore order.

The 59-year-old former mayor of the capital Bangui was elected by the interim par-liament on Monday.

About a million people - 20% of the population - have fled their homes during months of religious violence.

(BBC) - Supporters of South African teacher Pierre Korkie held hostage in Yemen have launched a campaign to raise the $3m (£1.8m) ransom his al-Qaeda kidnappers are de-manding.

The kidnappers had threat-ened to kill him on Friday un-less the ransom was paid, but extended their deadline.

Daily Observer Wednesday, January 22, 2014 3

SRSG Honors 19 Pakistani Peacekeepersby Gloria T. Tamba

19 Pakistanis peacekeeping contingent serving with the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) have been honored by the head of UN-MIL, Madam Karin Landgren. The Paks were honored for their immense contributions to the realization of peace and many other services rendered the people of Liberia.

Madam Landgren is the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary Gen-eral in Liberia.

The 19 Pakistani peacekeep-ing contingent were honored over the weekend at their base near Hotel Africa in recogni-tion of their outstanding work in Liberia.

Madam Landgren said, “I would like to commend the Pakistani Contingent Com-mander Brig Gen.Tahir Mah-mood Wafai, for his leadership that has enabled his officers to give their best to the cause of

peace and stability in Liberia. I also express my deepest grat-itude to our Pakistani peace-keepers for your contribution to peace and stability in Libe-ria over the past 10 years.”

The honoring program also

marked the departure of the PAKBATT 19 contingent, af-ter serving diligently in Mary-land, Grand Gedeh and River Gee Counties.

Madam Landgren made special mention of seven fe-

male health practitioners (two medical doctors and 5 nursing officers) serving with the Paki-stani Medical Team in Harper.

“You have played a vital role in treating local patients, espe-cially women. And I look for-

ward to seeing more women with the Pakistani contingent, in all aspects of peacekeep-ing,” Madam Landgren added.

The SRSG also paid tribute to her colleagues that lost their lives while serving the United Nations Mission in Liberia.

“I wish to pay tribute to our colleague from Pakbatt-19, Major Kamran Khalil, who passed away last August while serving the United Nations Mission in Liberia; may his soul rest in peace. I would also like to pay my respects to all the 21 Pakistani soldiers who have lost their lives while in service in Liberia. We will re-member them.”

In response the Pakistanis Contingent Commander, Brig Gen.Tahir Mahmood Wafai, thanked Madam Landgren and the Government of Liberia for their cooperation.

He said it was the objective of Pakistanis to stand up for peace in the world.

He said the Pakistanis’ work

with the Liberian Government allows citizens to live peace-fully and maintain cordial and friendly relations with neigh-bors and the world at large.

He promised that his country would continue to work with the Government of Liberia in restoring peace and stability to Liberia.

When the Daily Observer interviewed Hira Khan, the Pakistani Director General for Medical Services, she said her contingents’ being in Liberia has been rewarding to them and the people of Liberia.

“I feel good being in Libe-ria and working for the people of this wonderful nation. I have found them to be loving people who are willing to learn from us and we have learned from them as well. Liberia is a country blessed with vast natural resources and resilient citizens; these facts are proof that Liberia will eventually be-come great,” she assured.

Pak’s soldiers were also praised for their humanitarian services to liberians

LNRCS Signs US$700,000 Agreementby William Q. Harmon

The Liberian Na-tional Red Cross Society (LNRCS) has signed a coop-

erative framework (CFW) agreement with the Interna-tional Committee of the Red Cross. It is intended to pro-vide support in the amount of over US$700,000 to help the entity carry out its work for 2014.

LNRCS has indicated the funds are intended to help it adequately drive a five-year

strategic plan recently drafted by the national society for rapid humanitarian response to promote timely humanitar-ian services throughout the country.

The CFW agreement is an annual contract focusing ICRC financial and technical support to the Liberian Red Cross’ program implementa-tion and core cost.

The agreement is expected to be concentrated in five strategic areas the LNRCS has earmarked, including: Organizational Development, Disaster Management, Com-

munication, Restoring Fam-ily Links and Community Based Health.

The president of LNRCS, Mr. Emmanuel Kparh, signed on behalf of his entity, while the head of delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Jean Jerome, signed on behalf of his orga-nization

Mr. Kparh, at the signing ceremony said the Liberian Red Cross appreciates the existing partnership with the ICRC. He stated the agree-ment would enable the LN-RCS to address pressing

challenges to help alleviate human suffering.

Mr. Kparh termed the agree-ment a significant step in the LNRCS’s plans to consoli-date gains of the past years in providing quality and timely services to vulnerable people and communities in an effec-tive and efficient manner.

“Since 2007, we have formed a partnership with the ICRC that better posi-tioned us to address Liberia’s many humanitarian chal-lenges. With this agreement, the LNRCS and the ICRC have committed themselves to continue cooperation and have decided to base this on an overall cooperation frame-work agreement,” Mr. Kparh noted.

The LNRCS president fur-thered that he strongly be-lieves the aim of the coop-eration is not only limited to implementing LNRCS-ICRC joint projects, capacity build-ing, provision of financial aids and technical supports, but to ensure that mutual re-

spect, information sharing and trust become its hall-mark.

The head delegate of the In-ternational Committee of the Red Cross, Jean Jerome, ac-knowledged the partnership with the Liberian Red Cross and renewed the ICRC’s commitment to supporting the LNRCS in its humanitar-ian interventions.

Mr. Jerome noted that there is a lot of work to do for the vulnerable and underprivi-

leged people who suffer the worst during natural and hu-man made crises. The ICRC delegation boss detailed that the content of the agreement was discussed since July in line with the situation in Li-beria.

With the latest signing of the agreement, the Liberian Red Cross would be strength-ened to maximize its output to vulnerable people and communities through its pro-grams implementation.

BRAC Liberia Gets Award as Outstanding NGO for 2013-2014

For service render

by Gloria T. Tamba

Royal Commu-nications In-corporated has awarded BRAC

Liberia for what they termed “Outstanding contributions in helping the Government

of Liberia in buttressing its Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS).”

BRAC is a non-govern-mental organization (NGO), engaged in providing mi-crofinance/micro-loans to vulnerable Liberians as well as helping to boost the agri-

culture sector.According to the direc-

tor of news and program at Royal Communications Incorporated, Francis Pele-nah, the award came about following intensive discus-sions among editors and a survey of views among Li-

berians and non-Liberians. After much deliberations, they came up with BRAC as the outstanding NGO of the year 2013.

Upon receiving the award, BRAC’s Country Represen-tative, Mr. Mohammed Ab-dus Salam, thanked the RCI for their efforts to award his organization (BRAC) as the year’s outstanding NGO for its commitment to the peo-ple of Liberia.

He said building the ca-pacity of local groups is a priority for the organization and that they need to support them by encouraging them to do more to reduce the poverty rate in the country.

Mr. Salam also said that

his organization is aimed at building the agriculture sec-tor and supporting the poor for economic development.

“We are working with poor people in five counties in Liberia by giving out micro-loans to women in order to help them develop them-selves.”

He further stated that his organization would continue to provide loans for the un-derprivileged; adding: “Giv-ing loans to women will also help them engage in farming and other kind of businesses, which will help to boost the overall economy of Libe-ria.”

He disclosed that his orga-nization is also working on

health programs to reduce maternal mortality and teen-age pregnancy reduction in the country.

“BRAC is a very smooth running organization that doesn’t take long to give loans to its customers,” he boasted.

Other members of the BRAC organization like, Dr.Mahmud Hossain, the Program Manager and Sad-han Dey, the Managing Director of BRAC Micro-finance, expressed satisfac-tion about the award given to them. They promised to work tirelessly to improve the lives of most Liberians and the economy.

Mr. salam along with braC staff after receiving the award

Daily Observer Tuesday, January 21, 2014 Tuesday, November 5, 2013

OBSERVER CARTOON WITH A. Leslie Lumeh E-mail: [email protected] www.leslielumeh.com

Published by Liberian Observer CorporationP.O. Box 1858, Monrovia

Liberia’s First Independent Daily

0886812888, 0886472772www.liberianobserver.com

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Exporting Guinea’s Iron Ore through Liberia: Great Economic

Integration OpportunityIt has been long in the making, but is finally here. Finance

Minister Amara Konneh announced last week that an agreement had been signed between ArcelorMittal and Sable, one of the companies mining iron ore on the Guinean side of Mount Nimba.

Liberia, which borders Guinea, has an existing rail link to the Buchanan port in the Atlantic and offers a far shorter export route from deposits such as the giant Simandou project and Mount Nimba in Guinea. This is vital for mines to be profitable.

The rail line is currently operated by ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker.

“ArcelorMittal is open to the multi-use of the rail because it is enshrined in the mineral development agreement signed with them. The government of Liberia would like to use its rail as much as possible for economic integration that is going to benefit both sides,” Minister Konneh told Reuters.

“So this year I will be travelling between Guinea and Liberia bringing all the stakeholders together so that we can close this deal (between Sable and ArcelorMittal).” The Guinean government has so far granted permission to export through Liberia only to Sable Mining (SBLM.L), which is aiming to start production in 2015 and hit 5 million tonnes per year output after that.

To allow more companies to use the line, more works need to be undertaken to expand the rail’s capacity.

Adding a second rail line is also an option, the Minister said. There is a short and direct route from the Guinean mines to the Port of Buchanan, making it far cheaper than shipping the ore all the way to Conakry, the Guinean capital.

This agreement will benefit both Guinea and Liberia. Guinea will gain faster and cheaper means of shipping its iron ore to world markets; while Liberia will earn modest financial resources from the cost of shipping the ore through Liberia on its railway. This is a win-win situation for economic integration between the two sister countries, who are both members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and, closer home, the Mano River Union (MRU). There are vast iron ore deposits in Guinea’s Mount Nimba; so the deal promise a long term means of cooperation between the two sisterly nations.

This deal has been long in the making. Discussions began between the two nations in the 1980s, following the death in 1984 of Guinea’s first President, Ahmed Sekou Toure, when the government of President

Conteh began eying the exploitation of the Mount Nimba ore. But that politically and economically chaotic decade in Liberia, that swiftly led to the civil war, was clearly no time for such serious bilateral deals.

Does this teach anyone in Liberia today a lesson about the importance of political stability—especially those who, because they have differences with the present regime, have been calling for regime change? Who doesn’t have differences with this government? Could such an agreement as that sealed last week have been possible in such a chaotic environment? Who would enter any agreement with people they do not know and in an atmosphere of instability?

The promise of economic integration between Guinea and Liberia is further enhanced not only by the possible installation of another rail line between Mount Nimba and Buchanan. Rail transportation could open avenues for other forms trade, such as agriculture and timber. Minister Konneh has already hinted to the possibility of a second rail line to accommodate other companies mining in Mount Nimba.

If carefully planned, the rail between Guinea and Liberia could also include passenger transportation, making it far easier for Guinean and Liberian market women and other businesspeople to traverse (navigate, pass through) the two countries. This would be yet another boost to economic integration.

Memo to the Legislature: Redistribute Power, Not Money!

by ibrahim al-bakri Nyei, [email protected]

This piece is an initial contribution to the ongoing national discourse on the proposed 73 million dubbed as the Di-rect District Impact Fund. According to the proposal now discussed in the Leg-islature, this amount will be set aside annually in the national budget for the 73 electoral districts. While the inten-tion to have districts experience impacts of development is laudable, the mecha-nism of such transfer, the governance arrangement under which such develop-ment impact will be made possible, need to precede the disbursement of the fund. This is why progressive forces must critically assess this proposal and tease out workable policy options through de-bates before it is carried forward.

In revealing the plan the Speaker of the House of Representatives is quoted by FrontPageAfrica as saying “When one imagines that Gboe-pole Adminis-trative District in lower Grand Gedeh County has never experienced a motor road, makes this proposal belated, but this is one of the ways or means we be-lieve that the much needed development can reach and impact our people in rural Liberia.”

What the Speaker and his colleagues need to know is that a place like the Gboe-pole Administrative District and many other places that symbolize chronic poverty and underdevelopment in Liberia are not so because of shortage of money. Liberia has never had a short-age of money or the resources needed to generate more money. What Liberia has lacked is progressive leadership. If one argues that we have had some form of leadership, then the current state of underdevelopment and deprivation in places like Gboe-pole and Bomi Coun-ty, the home of Speaker Tyler and me, are consequences of tragic failure of said leadership. Speaker Tyler and his colleagues must devise a strategy to serve the people good leadership from which his sample Gboe-pole and others will have sustainable development.

The solution again is not money. Mwalimu Nyerere and others wrote in the Arusha Declaration of 1967 that it is not money that develops a nation, it is the people. People must be led, edu-

cated, healthy and mobilized for local self-governance through which all other forms of development can be possible. Learning from people’s power as the source of development as evidenced from history renders the ‘money-brings-development’ theory faulty.

The next fault with the proposal is that the proposed amount is to fund projects in electoral districts (1 million per dis-trict), not statutory and administrative districts. This clearly validates popular assumptions that lawmakers are finding ways of increasing electoral chances in the future, because by allotting money to electoral districts that have no lead-ership structures, but representatives, makes the said representative the pub-lic face of the so-called development impact. This obviously increases the electoral chances of the incumbent lawmaker. This, is in my view is an electoral strategy carved by the current incumbents, which progressive forces must mobilize against by advocating al-ternative options for local development in Liberia.

The experiences with the problems of limited social impact, improper ac-counting and corrupt procurement prac-tices in the implementation of the extant County Development Fund speak to the fact that dishing out money to sub-national units of government without adequate and rationalized governance arrangements cannot yield the intended outcome of social development. There-fore, the solution to Liberia’s develop-ment challenges begins with empower-ing the people for local self-governance. This means redistributing power be-tween the overly centralized govern-ment and local governments in counties, districts and cities. With the creation of local government structures and the em-powerment of local people and their lo-cal authorities with political fiscal and administrative powers, one can imagine how local development programs will be accelerated since government will be closer to the people. The fact that the underdevelopment and poverty of most of Liberia became a reality to the Speak-er only after a single trip highlights the need for government to be closer to the people before it can appreciate the con-cerns and needs of the people.

Let me turn to other factors that bring development. Again, it is not money

that brings development! It is the ‘space and structure’ given to people in a given society that bring development. Speak-ing about ‘space’ here, I mean the op-portunity for the people to participate in political and economic decision-making processes through local representatives or directly. By structure, I mean rules and institutions created to foster the as-pirations of the people in fair, equitable and transparent manners. One cannot understate the fact that the Liberian peo-ple have been deprived functional rules in the discourse of daily life activities. Theft of public resources, unethical and indiscipline attitudes in public places undermine the people’s aspirations for better lives. In short, there is a deficit of public integrity, not money, and be-cause institutions are weak, the rules are not been enforced; therefore, money as abundant as it may be, has been stolen, abused or wasted with impunity. The proposed 73 million will as well be sto-len, abused or wasted in the absence of functional rules and institutions at both national and local levels.

Finally, I make a case here for the legislature to consider three things that are indispensable to the advance-ment of any society: disciplined and active people, enforceable rules, and functional institutions. Development is a function of the three, and money is only a facilitator. It is therefore impera-tive for members of the Legislature to consider a governance arrangement that empowers the people with power for local self-governance, and support law enforcement through the strengthening of national and local institutions. With strong national institutions and enforce-able laws, a 1 dollar can make mean-ingful impacts than a 73 million in an environment with dysfunctional institu-tions and weak laws. In short, the Leg-islature must support local development by making laws that redistribute power through decentralization and not laws that only share money! Sharing money among 73 electoral districts will facili-tate decentralization of corruption and waste of public resources to the advan-tage of election-freak politicians.

in the Cause of Democracy and so-cial Justice the Pen shall Never run Dry

Ha-mweh Guin-ea wey pay us for passing their iron

ore thru here?

Kbbeh, it’s not how much money we get

from this deal, but the opportunities that open

up because of it.

Daily Observer Tuesday, January 21, 2014 Page 4Tuesday, November 5, 2013 Wednesday, January 22, 2014

[email protected] N. Tequah 0886345843

This offer document is simply an Information Memorandum and does not in any respect represent a prospectus. The offer document and the securities that it bears are directed at selected investors as well as the members of the general public. Every prospective investor to whom this document has been addressed is expected to conduct i n d e p e n d e n t evaluation of the Financial Position and operating results of the Liberia Cement Company.

Procedures:1. Application forms are free and available at LBDI Branches on 9th Street Sinkor and Randall & Ashmun Streets2. Payment can be made by Cash, Managers’ Check or Debit Authorization

Private Placement of

206,572Common Stocks of the Liberia Cement Corporation at US$12 per Stock Payable in Full On Application

OFFER CONDITIONS:Individual: Minimum of 5 stocks at US$12 eachInstitutions: Minimum of 1,000 Common stocks and additional common stock in multiple of 100.

NOV. 18, 2013: Close of Offer: Feb. 18,

2014

LBDI Central Monrovia Branch

Ashmun & Randall Streets

Monrovia, Liberia.

LBDI Sinkor Branch9th Street, Sinkor,

TubmanBoulevard,

Monrovia, Liberia

Liberian Bank for Development and Investment

Information Memorandum

INVEST

TODAY!Visit our branches

and be a proud owner of CEMENCO

Women Are Major Contributors to the Nation

-Give more respect to themby alvin Worzi

Romell A. Watson, a Liberian wom-en’s rights activ-ist working at

the Ministry of Finance, has described women as major contributors to the nation. Ms. Watson said that they should be treated as com-panions and equals by men.

In an interview with Ms. Watson at her office at the Ministry of Finance on Fri-day, January 17, she said Liberian women have been marginalized by their male counterparts in almost ev-ery aspect of life without any regard for their contri-butions.

She said that selling in the market and other areas was one way for women to con-tribute to the economy. Ms. Watson said men should show respect to the tedious tasks these women perform for the sake of the nation’s

development. “Women selling in the

market are relevant contrib-utors to the Liberian econ-omy; that is why we must include them in all discus-sions regarding building our nation,” she explained.

Ms. Watson pointed out that for this to happen Libe-

rian men must support their women.

“If you educate a man you educate a man; when you educate a woman, you edu-cate a generation,” she said.

Ms. Watson highlighted the progress made in the Sirleaf-led administration in the areas education, free speech, and international relations. In spite of these gains she expressed the belief that we should be-gin solving some problems without the President.

She also called on the students of the university of Liberia that are planning to disrupt the President’s annual message to rethink their decision, stating that more is expected from the leaders of the various stu-dents unions.

“The President’s decision to set up a committee to in-vestigate the situation is a welcome development, and I hope that the students and administration will embrace any result arrived upon,” Ms. Watson concluded.

Ellen Praises, Even as She Criticizes

Will 2014 restore to the education sector, the Proverbial “…years that the locusts Have eaten?”

In her annual message last year, President El-len Johnson Sirleaf ac-knowledged that the

education sector was in dire need of reform. She reported that although student enroll-ment last year was perhaps the highest the sector has experi-enced in decades, “the quality of education leaves much to be desired.”

This, to a large extent, was due to inadequately-trained teachers and a lack of text-books and facilities, such as libraries and laboratories, she said.

However, there was good news for the sector: A pilot for the West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Exams, (WASSCE) an extension of the West African Examina-tion Council, (WAEC) was launched among 32 schools in Montserrado and Margibi counties. The exercise was to eventually replace the WAEC.

According to the Presi-dent, the 2012 WAEC results showed marks of improve-ment. Quoting WAEC statis-tics, of the 25,425 Liberian students who sat the exams, 71.7 percent passed for the first time.

“The level of success can be attributed to improvement in our own teachers’ capacity, and to the deployment of 112 trained mathematics, and sci-ence teachers in all the major public high schools.”

The success story was partly credited to the arrival from Nigeria of volunteer teachers, teachers from the Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS) as well as Peace Corp Volunteers; these have been deployed in 14 of the nation’s 15 coun-ties, (Montserrado excepted) teaching English, Science and Mathematics in 45 local schools.

She disclosed that beginning in September last year, Libe-rian college students would teach alongside Peace Corps Volunteers, under a new pro-gram.

The contradictionShortly following the Presi-

dent’s message to the nation, which was actually delivered on the 3rd working Monday in January, the Cabinet hosted a ‘Special Retreat’ the next month-February, at the Baptist Seminary outside Monrovia, where the education sector came under serious scrutiny.

President Sirleaf finally found it necessary to speak about being disappointed with the performances of some of the officials from the Ministry of Education, (MOE) describ-ing the sector ‘a mess.’

In her remarks, the Presi-dent made specific reference to how official business was

being conducted at the MOE by some of her officials, who seemed to have addressed the ongoing outcry against ‘payroll-paddling and ‘ghost names.’

The President soon reshuf-fled her cabinet, dismissing some of the officials, while some were resituated, particu-larly the deputies. This exer-cise affected mainly the MOE.

Giving credence to the President’s description of the sector as a mess, all 25,000 applicants for the University of Liberia’s (UL) placement/entrance examination that sat the test administered in July, failed.

Prior to the test, the UL authority itself blundered in a number of ways when they failed to go by the schedule earlier set aside for the test.

UL Placement Exams The 25,000 candidates who

registered for the UL entrance and placement examinations were on June 22, left hanging around the various designated exam centers; the UL Admin-istration had failed to admin-ister the examinations. The state-owned flagship institu-tion also failed to provide the candidates an explanation for the postponement of the tests as scheduled.

Commotion began around 10:30 a.m. when a group of students who had become dis-gruntled, stormed the Stella Maris Polytechnic campus near the UL main campus on Capitol Hill in an effort to dis-rupt any test in process. The brief fracas at Stella Maris foreshadowed things to come for UL vice president for Aca-demic Affairs/Provost, Dr. Wede Elliot-Brownell, includ-ing a call for her resignation.

Earlier, the UL had issued a strong warning to those hop-ing to enter, believing that some members of admission personnel could be counted on to continue ‘business-as-usu-al,’ willing to make it easy to squeeze---or buy---their way through.

The Administration said that paying money to enter the UL had been a custom-with bad consequences on the education system of the country.

Admitting the mass failure in the entrance Dr. Brownell, joined by her colleagues, stressed that the failure sig-nals to stakeholders that high schools around the country are not doing enough to prepare students for university stud-ies, and that the UL is quite pleased to have such results, because they were not tam-pered with this time around.

“No more passing through the back door to enter the university as our students had done over the years.”

Other professors stressed that the result of the entrance was sad for the country, “not because the university has

performed poorly, but because students are not learning in high schools as expected.”

The UL administration de-cided to admitting 1,626 of the candidates that had done a little better the rest, scoring at least 40% in Math and 50% in English in the undergraduate program: 25 were welcomed at the College of General Stud-ies, (Continuing Education) 93 at the six graduate programs; 37 for the Law School; and 24 for the School of Pharmacy for Academic 2013/2014.

Teacher Strikes In the wake of this aca-

demic rigmarole coupled with the ‘messy system,’ teach-ers who were supposed to be in the classrooms were seen demanding full employment status, reinstatement, salaries, and other benefits.

Taking into consideration all these noisy situations in the sector, one would agree that, indeed, the educational system was a mess during the year 2013. However, one wonders why the President said in her last annual message that some improvement had was in the sector whereby the necessary mechanisms had not been put in place by her government. Those things have to do with needy reform including teach-ers’ capacity-building, build-ing of laboratories and librar-ies across the country.

2014 Expectations Now that 2014 is here, Li-

berians are of the view that the President will not only men-tion in this year’s message an education policy that would focus on the necessary reform she perceived, but must, be-fore mentioning the reform, firstly see the University of Liberia fully reopen.

That, the resumption of aca-demic activities including the opening of classes and the re-turn of students and teachers to classes.

Also, various schools are being constructed across the country during the year in re-view; the schools need to be well-equipped with libraries and laboratories, with trained and committed teachers as-signed therein. Al least, these are a few of the policies that if the President considers, would be interpreted as parts of the necessary education reforms she had hoped to achieve.

Moreover, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf must note that employment and ghost names still remain problems at the Ministry of Education to ad-dress.

Taking a tangible step to ad-dressing these problems will reflect not only a positive side of the MOE, it will also help government to reduce over-spending that is yielding no positive result in the education sector.

by C.y. Kwanue

Daily Observer Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Request for Proposals (RFP) Supply and Delivery of Motorcycles for FED County Offices

Food and Enterprise Development (FED

• RFP No. RFP FED-‐NPO-‐015 • Date 14 JANUARY, 2014 • Title Supply and Delivery of Motorcycles • Issuing Office &

Address for Submission of Proposals

DAI USAID Food and Enterprise Development (FED) 6th Street-‐Sinkor, Tubman Boulevard, Monrovia

• Closing Date for Questions

7 FEBRUARY 2014 not later than 17:00 GMT

• Closing Date 14 FEBRUARY 2014 not later than 17:00 GMT • Contact Person for

Questions Arthur Delacruz/DCOP-‐FAM Email: [email protected] Telephone: 0886-‐530-‐598

• Anticipated Award Type

Fixed Price Purchase Order

• Basis for Award An award will be made based on best price, required technical specifications, quality & availability to the vendor who best meets all the requirements as specified in the RFP.

PURPOSE DAI, implementer of the USAID funded Food and Enterprise Development (FED) Program, invites qualified vendors to submit proposals/bids for supply and delivery of project Motorcycles (see Appendix A) in support of program imple-mentation.

SUBMISSION OF QUESTIONSQuestions may be submitted via email no later than 17:00 GMT on 7 February 2014. No technical inquiries will be an-swered over the phone or in person except for administrative clarification regarding the submission format or location of the office, etc. Responses to technical questions will be distributed to all bidders.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBMISSION OF ProposalsProposals shall be submitted via Hard Copy, in English, marked on the envelope, Attention: Arthur dela Cruz, Deputy Chief of Party/ FAM, Food & Enterprise Development Program (FED), 6th Street-Sinkor, Tubman Boulevard, Monrovia no later than 17:00 GMT on 14 February 2014. Late proposals will be rejected and returned to Vendors unopened except under extraordinary circumstances at DAI’s discretion.

PROPOSAL SPECIFICATIONS (and EVALUATION): Proposals will be evaluated according to the following crite-ria. The relative importance of each individual criterion is indicated by the number of points assigned and a total of 100 marks are possible for each submission. Bidders should note that these criteria serve to: (a) identify the significant factors which bidders should address in their proposals (b) Set the standard against which all proposals will be evaluated. Points will also reflect the overall presentation of the proposal, which should be clear, complete, well organized, and well written. Most importantly, proposals should address all requirements listed in the RFP.(1)Technical Specifications Approach (Points Possible 40) Bidders will submit technical specifications of motorcycles they intend to supply. Note that models of motorcycles should be in the range 2009 to 2013. Also include all necessary qualities and warranty period.

(2)Past Experienced, Personnel Capability & References (Maximum 1 Page, Points 20) The proposal shall provide a detailed account of the bidder’s track record in providing similar goods in Liberia. Bidders should also list the names of entity (ies) they have supplied similar models of motorcycles for, along with references and contact information.

(3) Proposed Cost /Price (40 Points)Bidders shall submit a financial proposal which is separated in another envelope from the technical proposal. Note that financial proposals should be presented using Appendix A as a template for the format.

REQUIREMENTS FOR PROPOSALS TO BE DETERMINE AS RESPONSIBLE1. The quote must conform to all the technical specifications listed on Appendix A: Price Schedule. Quotes

which do not comply will be determined non-responsive and rejected.2. The prices per unit and total price shall be entered on the attached price schedule (See Appendix A). The

vendor must certify a validity period of 30 days for the prices provided.3. Quotes shall specify the delivery period (In Stock or Delivery Time).4. Vendor must agree for delivery of Motorcycles to DAI office in Monrovia. Please provide proposal for Duty

Free and Duty Paid. 5. General Sales Tax (GST) shall be included on a separate line (if applicable).6. Shipping costs, if any, for items procured outside of country, shall be included in a separate line item (if

necessary).7. Vendor must agree to a warranty for factory defects up to one year or agreed mileage past delivery with re-

placement at no cost to DAI-FED.8. Vendor must provide a list of at least 3 current and/or former clients which your firm has provided similar

Motorcycles for along with client’s contact person, telephone number, quantities provided and dates.9. Vendor must provide exact specifications for the equipment, including type and model.10. Vendor shall state the country of origin and source for the Motorcycles.11. A preference will be given to those vendors that can provide optional accessories.

REQUIREMENTS FOR PROPOSALS TO BE DETERMINE AS RESPONSIVE 1. Firm must possess an active Business License.2. Vendor must not be included on the US Government EPLS/SDN blocked persons/organizations list.

DAI may award a purchase order without discussions. Therefore, initial [proposals should contain the Vendors best terms from a price and technical specifications standpoint. Issuance of this RFP in no way obligates DAI to award a purchase order and Bidders will not be reimbursed for any costs associated with the preparation of this Proposal.

Appendix A

Item Qty Description/ Part Numbers Unit Price

Total Price

Remarks

On/Off Road Motorcycles

22

Brand new 2009-‐2013 model (please indicate Model and Year) Tropicalize Engine – 125 to 200 cc Air-‐cooled Started -‐ Kick start and/or electric Chain drive Head light, signal lights and tail light Side mirrors Liberia dealership (if any) availability of spare parts Terms and condition of Payment

Also indicate optional accessories with prices (helmet, registration, insurance, etc.)

4. Bidding will be conducted through the National Competitive Bidding (NCB) procedures specified in the Public Procurement & Concessions Act (PPCA) open to all bidders from Eligible Source Countries as de-fined in the Guidelines.

5. Qualifications requirements include: i) Working capital/liquidity to be able to execute the contract ii) At least three contracts of similar nature completed within the last five years. iii) Availability in Liberia of spare parts and after sales services. No margin of preference for goods manu-factured domestically shall be applied. Additional details are provided in the Bidding Documents.

6. Interested eligible bidders may obtain further information from the LCPS and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below between 9:00am to 5:00pm on business days from 6 January 2013.

7. A complete set of Bidding Documents in English may be purchased by interested bidders on the submission of a Written Application to the address below and upon payment of a non-refundable fee of One Hun-dred United States Dollars (USD 100.00). The method of payment will be bankers’ draft or wire transfer. Banking details will be provided upon request. The Bidding Documents will be provided in hard copy.

8. Bids must be delivered to the address at or before 6 February, 2013. Electronic bidding will not be permitted. Late bids will be rejected. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend in person at the address below on 6 February, 2013 at 11:00 hours GMT. All bids must be accompanied by a Bid Security of 2% of bid price or an equivalent amount in a freely convertible currency.

9. The addresses referred to above are:

For obtaining information For Bid Opening:and bid submission:

The Finance Manager Liberia College of Physicians &Liberia College of Physicians & Surgeons (LCPS)Surgeons (LCPS) Conference RoomOld Health Ministry, Old Health Ministry, Capitol Bye-Pass Capitol Bye-PassMonrovia, Liberia Monrovia, Liberia

Invitation for Bids (IFB)Republic of Liberia

Expand Support to County decentralized Health & Social

Welfare ServicesIFB No: LCPS/NCB/001

1. This Invitation for Bids follows the General Procurement Notice for this Project that appeared online in Development Business of January 6, 2013.

2. The Liberia College of Physicians & Surgeons (LCPS) has received Financing from the Government of Liberia to expand support to strengthen the health care delivery system and it intends to apply part of the proceeds of this financing to payments under this Contract. Bidding will be governed by the Public Procurement & Concession Art (PCCA) of Liberia.

3. The Liberia college of Physicians and Surgeons now invites sealed bids from eligible and qualified bidders for the Supply of Vehicles under the following Lots:

Lot Description Qty Unit Bid Security Amount

1 Double Cabin Pickup Vehicles (4x4) 1 Ea 2 Mini Van/Bus 1 Ea

2% of Bid Price

Contracts will be awarded on Lot basis Delivery is expected within 12 weeks to the Liberia College of Physicians & Surgeons (LCPS).


Apprenticeships available in many trade areas with Liberian and international companies, including:

• Bookkeeping• HotelManagement• Carpentry&Masonry• Electronics• Beauty• Nursing

• InteriorDesign• Sales• AutoMechanics• ITandComputers• Administration• Catering

…and many more!How does it work?1. Mercy Corps is offering 3-month apprenticeships to match YOUR skillsAnapprenticeshipcangiveyouon-the-jobexperience,buildyourskills,andgiveyouthechancetosecureajob.Findtheapprenticeship which matches your experience, educationandinterestsfromMercyCorps’ApprenticeshipCatalogue.2. Mercy Corps provides a stipend of $3 per day for the duration of the apprenticeshipWeprovidea stipend tohelp facilitateyour transport.Youcanfocusonwork!3. Build your skills through training and mentorshipDuring apprenticeships, Mercy Corps will provide youwith business skills training.Your host business will alsodesignateamentortogiveyoufeedbackonyourworkandprovideyouwithtrainingandadvice.4. Apply today to the apprenticeship which matches your interest and experienceFindtheopportunitywhichsuitsyoufromtheApprenticeshipCataloguepostedatoneofthefollowinglocations.Fillinanapplicationformandsubmittous!Ifsuccessful,youwillbeinvitedtointerview.

• MercyCorpsoffice,Sinkor• GardnervilleTownHall• NewKruTownAdministrativeBuilding

Call0886106172formoreinformation,[email protected]

Applications: Tuesday 21 – Saturday 26 Jan 2014

Looking to jump start your career? Need experience?

APPLY FOR ON-‐THE-‐JOB TRAINING

TheLiberiaExtractiveIndustriesTransparencyInitiative(LEITI)incollaborationwithitsIndependentAdminis-trator(Ernst&YoungGhana/MGIMonbo&Company)is reconcilingallpayments fromtheoil,mining,agri-

cultureandforestrysectors totheGovernmentofLiberiafromJuly1,2011toJune30,2012.Aspartofitsmandate,theLEITIrequestedallentitiesoperatinginthesesectorstosubmitreport-ingtemplatesofpaymentsofpaymentsmadetothegovernmentfortheperiodunderreviewandinsupportofits5thReconcilia-tionReport.

ItisimportanttonotethatafterseriesofextensionindeadlinesfromNovember22,December20,2013andJanuary15,2014thebelowlistedcompanieshavenotsubmittedreportingtemplatesasrequired.

LEITIisthereforeconstrainedtoenforcetheMulti-StakeholderSteeringGroup(MSG)Regulationof2009whichinpartcallsforPublicCensure.FailuretosubmitreportingtemplatesmayleadtoadditionalsanctionbytheLEITIMSG.Thecompaniesconcernare:

AgricultureLiberiaAgricultureDevelopmentCorpLiberiaForestProductLIBINCOilPalmSimeDarbyTheLiberiaCompany

Forestry1. B&VTimberCompany2. Bargor&BargorEnterprise3. EcowoodIncorporated4. EuroLiberiaLogging5. GebloLoggingInc.6. InternationalConsultantCapital7. LiberiaHardWoodCorp.8. ThunderBirdInternational

Mining1. AcquarianCommercialHoldingsInc.2. AmlibUnitedMineralsLtd3. AscensionResourcesLtd4. BukonJeddehResourcesLtd5. InvestmentDevelopmentCorporation6. KonbloBumiInc.7. LiberiaDevelopmentInitiative8. MiddleIslandResources9. MountBelleResourcesLiberiaLtd10.PlanetMineralsLimited11.ShankilResourcesInc.12.SouthernCross13.ThacketMiningInc.14.ViolaInternationalInc.15.WestPeakironLtd.

For Immediate Release


1 December 2013

Peace Corps/Liberia Education Programming and Training Specialist (ED PTS)

REPORTS TO: Programming and Training Manager (PTM) POSITION BRIEF: The ED PTS serves as a member of the Programming and Training (P&T) team and supports 80-100 Volunteers in training, program, administration, and other Volunteer support issues. The ED PTS has responsibility for supporting the planning, development, implementation and administration of Peace Corps Liberia’s programming and training activities. The ED PTS will support all P&T related activities for the Education Project with support and direction from the Education Program Manager (ED PM) and PTM. During the Pre-Service Training (PST) and In-Service Training (IST) cycles, the PTS will be the full-time technical trainer for the Education Project and will receive support and direction from the TM and ED PM. The ED PTS also represents Peace Corps Liberia with governmental officials and representatives of non-governmental and host country organizations. MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES A. Project and Program Support Site Development Site Visits Administrative Program Support Volunteer Program Support B. Development and Implementation Of Training Activities C. Administrative and other Volunteer Support D. Grants Coordination and Management E. Information Resource Center Management F. Safety and Security QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED FOR EFFECTIVE PERFORMANCE Education: Bachelor’s degree in education, project management, community development or relevant field. Experience: Three years progressively responsible experience in Education field and/or community development. Trainer of trainers and adult training experience. Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes: Knowledge of and experience with adult education, education in Liberia, and participatory community analysis for development. Strong experience with group facilitation, session plan design, and cultural adaptation & sensitivity training. Computer skills with Microsoft Office required. Ability to work with minimal supervision Ability to manage and administer small grant programs. Position requires a valid Liberia driver’s license and ability to drive a manual vehicle (stick shift). ED PTS must be available and willing to travel throughout Liberia approximately 50-60% of time either accompanied by PM or alone. For a complete Statement of Work please send a request to pcjobs@[email protected]. Submit a letter of interest, resume and three reference contacts as attachments via email to: [email protected]. No phone calls please. The deadline for applications is January 13, 2014. Applications received after this date may be considered at the discretion of the Contracting Officer. A detailed Statement of Work can be obtained at the guard stations of the Peace Corps Office in Congo Town.

No. Description Unit Quantity Unit Price Total Price 1 Bath soap-Medicare dozen 1,575 2 Body lotion-Cocoa Butter-

medium size dozen 525

3 Small size “Ghana Must Go bag” dozen 580

American Institutes for Research (AIR) has been contracted by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Liberia to implement the USAID-Girls’ Opportu-nities to Access Learning Plus (USAID-GOAL Plus) Project. GOAL Plus, in its partner-ship with the Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Education, is committed to improving primary school age girls’ enrollment, attendance, retention and completion in grades 1 through 6 of selected schools in Lofa, Bong and Grand Bassa counties.

In preparation of our second semester scholarship distribution for girls in sixty (60) se-lected schools in Bong, Lofa and Grand Bassa counties, we are seeking quotations and or proposals from vendors who are able to provide the following items as follows:

TENDER NOTICE FOR STUDENTS’ SUPPLIES

The selection will be based on the criteria of quality, reasonableness of price, the capacity to pre-finance required work or services, past performance history, and lead time. All bid-ders are required to submit samples of the items quoted for and copies of their current tax clearance issued by the Ministry of Finance. Interested vendors must quote for all the items.

The bids must be submitted at the office of the American Institutes for Research (AIR) on 17th Street, Sinkor, Warner Avenue latest by Wednesday, January 29, 2014 up to 12.00 P.M. The bids will be opened on Thursday, January 30, 2014 at 10:00 A.M at American Institutes for Research Office, on 17th Street, Warner’s Avenue, in Monrovia in the presence of the bidders or their representatives who wish to attend the proceedings.

For any query related to this tender notice, please feel free to contact any of the following cell numbers: 0886541152 and 0886417619.

In Monrovia 21st January 2014

Howard WilliamsChief of PartyAmerican Institutes for Research USAID-GOAL Plus Project

LAND COMMISSIONMONROVIA, LIBERIA

January 20, 2014

TITLE INVESTIGATIONS SURVEY AND DEMARCATION NOTICE

The general public is hereby notified that the Land Commission in collaboration with the Ministry of Lands, Mines & Energy will be conducting a survey and demarca-tion of properties, which hold claims to the proposed Roberts International Airport land in Lower Margibi County to determine who hold legitimate land claims.

The Roberts International Airport proposed land is bounded in the northeast by Borbor Dahn’s Rubber Farm, Boedrun Town and Sammy Kollie’s Rubber Farm, Sundaygar Joe Blow, and Sana Town; it is also bounded in the Southeast by the Fish Creek and the Farmington River. In the Southwest and South are December Village and Batro Village, Charlesville, Tarr Gblo Gblo, Pualabahn Town, and Zor respectfully.

It should further be stated that the Land Commission will not accept any deed(s) or diagram(s) for areas lying above Fish Creek and across the Farmington River in the Southeast. Lahai Town is outside of the demarcation area.

All claimants should come along with copies of their deeds and other relevant land docu-ments and should be present with their technical representatives on January 22, 2014 in Smell No Taste for the commencement of the demarcation exercise. The following are par-ticularly asked to be present: Charles E. Pitchford & Theresa G. Pitchford, John G. Bestman and others, George G. Mcgee Sr., Augustus Feweh Caine, Gedeon & Joanna Gadegbeku, and Albert D. Peabody.

Those with copies of their deeds and other relevant land documents that have not been submitted to the Land Commission should submit same to the office of Mr. Tiswen N. Synyenlentu, Program Officer for Land Administration, Land Commission, or present them at the site of demarcation.

Contact numbers: 0886544063/0776544063Email: [email protected]

Signed: Arthur R. Tucker Information and Communication Officer

Approved: Dr. Cecil T. O Brandy Chairman, Land Commission

Job advertisement for the position ofData Based Administrator/Analyst REPORT TO : LAVO Project Coordinator

SUPERVISE : None

LOCATION : Monrovia (with possible travel in the fields)

WORKING HOURS : Monday to Saturday 0800 to 1700 (to a maximum of 48 hours a week)

Background of LAVOThe Liberia Armed Violence Observatory (LAVO) is a platform of Multi Stakeholders that influence the reduction of armed violence through the collection, analysing and dis-semination of armed violence data across Liberia. The LAVO goal is geared towards the reduction of armed violence across Liberia. The establishment of LAVO was facilitated by an International Organization called Action on Armed Violence (AOAV). LAVO is sponsored by the Norwegian Government through AOAV. LAVO has 25 stakeholders with 15 of them being active. LAVO response to Liberia’s commitment to the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development of reducing armed violence and its negative impact it imposes on Socio-Economic and human development. The LAVO is currently housed at Action on Armed Violence (Donor). The LAVO’s work is based on the three pillars (Advocacy, Measurability and Programing) of the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development.

Summary of PositionUnder the supervision of the Project Coordinator the Data Administrator is to provide support to LAVO program by collecting, inputting and analysing data. This position re-ports to the LAVO Project Coordinator of LAVO.

Duties and ResponsibilitiesThe specific responsibilities of the Data based Administrator entail, but are not limited to, the following:

Administration• Assist in organizing LAVO Working Group meetings and in the taking of minutes

during meetings;• Ensure proper circulation of official communication;• Collect, input armed violence data timely• Maintain regular contact with all data providers and ensure that data are provided

on time by the data providers;• Make sure that the data is cleaned • Maintain regular contact with all executive Officer

Other• Perform any other finance and administrative tasks as may be delegated by the

Project Coordinator and/or the Working Group/Executive Committee• Perform other tasks as be required• Must be willing to travel in the Counties if necessary

Skills, Knowledge, Abilities and qualification1. An advance certificate in computer application with emphasis in database

management;2. A minimum of three (3) years of progressive work experience in a relevant field. 3. Understanding of inter-disciplinary development issues with a focus on security

and development;4. High energy, very organized and detailed oriented with the ability to multi-task

and work under tight deadlines;5. Ability to work with other people from different background;6. Good written and spoken command of English;7. Ability to write report with graphic detail explanation;8. Strong `organizational skills;9. Excellent communication skills.10. Must acquire Bachelor degree in any of the social Sciences with emphasis in

Economics11. Must be innovative and initiative

All applications should be submitted on or before the1600 on January 31 2014

All applications should be addressed to:Mr. Jeremiah S. CollinsProject CoordinatorLiberia Armed Violence ObservatoryOff Newport Street, Mamba Point

With copy to

Mr. Martin KerkulaAVO ManagerAction on Armed Violence (AOAV)Off Newport Street, Mamba Point

YOU CAN ALSO SEND YOUR EMAIL APPLICATION TO [email protected] with copy to [email protected]

Note: LAVO is an equal employer and suitably qualified women are strongly encour-aged to apply.

Daily Observer Tuesday, January 21, 2014 Page 4Tuesday, November 5, 2013Wednesday, January 22, 2013

MoneyGram Renews Confidence in Liberia

-Money Transfer body reiterates Continued investments, support

MoneyGram (NASDAQ : MGI), one of the

world’s leading money transfer services with over 20,000 branches in Af-rica, has emphasized its confidence in the Liberian financial sector and reiter-ated its interest in support-ing the financial inclusion agenda of Liberia. Mon-eyGram is one of the top two international money transfer institutions in Li-beria; with its windows at all commercial banks and key business outlets across the country.

A statement issued by the company Monday an-nounced that Mr. Fran-cois Peyret, MoneyGram International’s Regional Director for North &West Africa, is undertaking a working tour of Liberia to beef up its business plat-

form in the country. Mr. Peyret’s visit to Liberia today marks what could be the first senior execu-tive visit to the country by a major global financial in-stitution.

Whilst in Liberia, Mr. Peyret will hold high-level business development dis-cussions with CEOs and executives of key players in the financial sector and inaugurate the Monrovia Mini-Van Branding Project of MoneyGram.

Mr. Kunle Olamuyiwa, the regional operations manager for Anglophone West Africa, and Mrs. Kemi Okusanya, regional business development manager Anglophone West Africa, will accompany Mr. Peyret on the tour. Both executives are members of the MoneyGram North &West African team.

On the future of the brand

in Liberia, Francois Pey-ret noted: “Our ambition is to double our network

of MoneyGram points of sale in Liberia in the next five years and become the dominant preferred choice for money transfer. To achieve this we shall continue to work with our partners to aggressively offer the best proposition and price to Liberians around the world. We shall continue to be a good cor-porate citizen, adhering to international best practice on compliance and service quality. We shall innovate and support the Central Bank and the Finance Min-istry’s agenda of bringing

more Liberians into the fi-nancial sector. To achieve this, we are seriously con-sidering introducing our mobile solutions in Liberia that would allow mobile phones to send and re-ceive transactions. As we all know mobile phone penetration exceeds back account penetration by a factor of approx. 1:5 and we intend to leverage this.”

MoneyGram offers over-the counter money transfer services in Liberia through its agent partners name-ly: International Bank, FIBank, LBDI, UBA, Ecobank, Global Bank, GT Bank &Afriland First Bank.

Through these agents MoneyGram is now avail-able all over Liberia, in almost 100 locations. From inception to date, MoneyGram International announced that it has un-dertaken over 2,000,000 transactions valued at over US$500 million, which is a direct cash flow into the Liberian economy.

According to Money-Gram, the service is a critical lifeline, allow-ing Liberians in the Dias-pora--- especially in the United States--- to send money home to loved ones for upkeep, healthcare and education.

MoneyGram disclosed that it has invested over a million United Sates dol-

lars in the last five years to market its proposi-tion in Liberia. “Efforts here more recently,” the company added “have in-cluded donations of school items-notebooks, waste bins, cash awards, etc. to various high schools and universities valued at over US$50,000.”

There has also been a do-nation of logistics materi-als to the Monrovia City Corporation in 2010 in ad-dition to various consumer reward schemes like the recently ended Double-Double promo (where lucky customers got their transactions doubled).

The brand is currently reputed to be the most popular money transfer in Liberia, with the best price offer in the market, starting at only US$2.00 for sends out of Liberia.

MoneyGram, a leading money transfer company, enables consumers who are not fully served by tra-ditional financial institu-tions, to meet their finan-cial needs. MoneyGram offers money transfer ser-vices worldwide through a global network of 327,000 agent locations — includ-ing retailers, international post offices and finan-cial institutions — in 200 countries and territories. MoneyGram also offers bill payment services in the United States and Canada.

Mrs. Kemi Okusanya is business development manager

of MoneyGram’s anglo West africa

DHL’s Focus on Africa Pays OffThe latest recogni-

tion, the Frost & Sullivan award for Market Pen-

etration in Sub-Saharan Africa brings the total number of external honors won by DHL Express since January 2013 to over 20

Over 20 external awards in 2013 across range of functions, including HR and Customer Ser-vice Managing Director, Charles Brewer: “We have 3,500 amazing people who put the customer in the center of their world and this is a great recognition for their efforts”

The world leader in inter-national express delivery, has reinforced its claim to be “The International Spe-cialists” with external rec-ognition in all continents in 2013 across a broad range of functional disciplines.

The latest recognition, the Frost & Sullivan award for Market Penetration in Sub-Saharan Africa brings the total number of exter-nal honors won by DHL

Express since January 2013 to over 20. Of these, awards have been won across numerous functions – from superior customer service, great operational

Charles brewer, Managing Director for DHl express sub-saharan africa

quality to our marketing efforts and social impact in local communities.

“I love my people and the great work that they do. These awards are tes-timonial to their passion, speed, can-do attitude and team-work,” said Charles Brewer, Managing Direc-tor for DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa. “An award in Mozambique, Uganda or Gabon is not just sig-nificant for that particular market. We hope that this sends out a message to our customers about our com-mitment to Africa and the service excellence that we have built over the last 35

years.”“When researching the

logistics and Express sec-tor, it was obvious that DHL was making major process in Africa, through its aggressive expansion program,” comments Frost & Sullivan Business Unit Leader for Energy & Envi-ronment, Cornelis van der Waal, who awarded DHL for its expansion program in Africa.

“Their foray into the in-formal retail market, and their partnership with postal operators has seen them more than quadruple their retail outlets across the continent in just a few

months. It was an impres-sive story, and one that needed to be recognized.”

“We have gone from 300 to over 2,000 retail points because our customers asked us to. We are lucky that we have people who put the customers in the heart of everything they do and when you combine the attitude of our people with the skills they learn from our global Certified International Specialist program (CIS), it creates a winner,” said Sumesh Ra-havendra, Head of Market-ing for DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa.


by many costumers inclusive of private entities ranging from real estate tax and in-come. Konneh then said, “We are beginning a massive tax collection campaign Wednes-day, [January 22,] and I want the Legislature [to] help us achieve this.”

The Finance boss disclosed that out of US$296.5 million

estimated to be collected in support of the budget; only 278.8 million has been col-lected, amounting to a US$17 million shortfall.

“We are expected to collect US$303 million by June 30 of this year,” he pointed out.

In furtherance of that, the awarding-winning Fi-nance Minister revealed that

US$68.6 million has been realized as “delay envelop,” maintaining that there was no need to panic as the economy is in good shape.

Minister Konneh also as-sociated the budget- shortfall to government domestic debt owed contractors particularly in the construction sector to the tune of US$33 million; a move he said is responsible for the delay in the completion

of several road projects across the country.

He announced that despite challenges faced by his regime in generating the requisite re-sources needed to support the budget, National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) is up to speed with its commitment to the budget and has provided US$6 million of the US$8 mil-lion projected.

The Finance boss’ appear-

ance was predicated on a com-munication addressed to the plenary by Margibi County Representative Emmanuel Nuquay requesting the pres-ence of Mr. Konneh before plenary to speak to several revenue issues affecting the economy.

Defending his economic policy, Konneh insisted that Liberia’s economy is stable and remains one of the best in

the sub-regions with inflation at 8.5%, an assertion many lawmakers dismissed.

Meanwhile, Minister Kon-neh announced that Liberia has projected US$2 billion in order to stabilize the economy and provide basic social ser-vices to the Liberian people. How and when such projec-tions will be achievable was not disclosed.

Amara Konneh

quest is a follow-up to one sent that body last week.

In that communication, Senator Tengbeh requested his colleagues to launch a full investigation into alle-

gations of misappropriation of US$1,750,320.00 of the 2011/2012 budget that was said to have been given for car wash under a ‘Fleet Manage-ment Policy’; an investigation

revealed that no car wash in the country received such an amount, he reported.

In his rephrased communica-tion, the Lofa County Senator asked the honorable Senate to have the General Services Agency (GSA) appear before the Senate plenary to make a

comprehensive report on the use of the amount by car wash-ers. The amount for car wash-ers could not be accounted for as the beneficiaries were not identified in the report. The Fleet Management falls under the GSA authority.”

“We believe that account-

ability, transparency and value for money in the use of public funds are essential elements for good governance,” he con-tinued.

Senator Tengbeh, who won the Senate seat on the ticket of the ruling Unity Party, argued that the Executive Branch of

Government should account for its stewardship of tax pay-ers’ money to the members of the legislature as well as the public in general.

Meanwhile, the Senate yes-terday voted and sent the com-munication to the committee on Ways, Means and Finance.

Senate Fails

engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, region-al and industry agendas.

In 1971, Mr. Schwab, a German, founded the World Economic Forum as a not-for-profit foundation committed to improving the state of the world, and later building it into today’s global partnership of business, political, and intel-lectual leaders.

The forum, for this year will be held under the theme: “The Reshaping of the World: Con-sequences for Society, Politics and Business.” It runs from January 22-25.

President Sirleaf will ad-dress the Plenary Session and be a Panelist on the subject of “Reshaping the World through Entrepreneurship, Education and Employment.” Her focus will be employment and gender parity, the Executive Mansion disclosed.

The Liberian President will participate, as a special guest

and/or panelist, at various ses-sions during the Forum, in-cluding Resilient Economies and the Water, Food & Energy Nexus.

“This topic is germane to Liberian, due to the state of the Liberian economy and the absence or the inadequacy of basic necessities such as water, food and energy,” a prominent Liberian said when he was in-formed of the Liberian leader’s trip.

He hoped that President Sirleaf adequately addresses this topic and learn from other world leaders how these funda-mental problems can be solved.

Other major topics to be ad-dressed by President Sirleaf include: Industry Partner-ship Meetings for Mining and Metals, as well as Energy; an Africa-Japan Roundtable on TICAD follow-up; an Informal Gathering of World Economic Leaders and Reshaping the Global Climate Agenda.

The Mansion also disclosed

that President Sirleaf will also attend a reception hosted by her alma mater, Harvard Uni-versity; a private reception, followed by a private dinner, hosted by Professor Klaus Schwab – the founder of the World Economic Forum – and his wife, in honor of Heads of State and Government, interna-tional organizations, co-chairs, members of the Foundation Board, International Business Council and Strategic Partners.

She will also hold private meetings with mining execu-tives.

Mr. Klaus Martin Schwab, born March 30, 1938 is a Ger-man engineer, best known as the founder and executive chairman of the world econom-ic forum.

Dr. Schwab holds a Doctor-ate in Economics (summa cum laude) from the University of Fribourg, a Doctorate in Engi-neering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and a Master of Public Administra-tion from the John F. Kennedy

Ellen Flies

by Joaquin sendolo

Following suspen-sions of classes at the state-run University of Li-beria and calls for

resignation of Wede Elliot-Brownell and resumption of classes, the Board of Trustees has endorsed the appointment of Dr. Walter T. Wiles as Act-ing Vice President for Aca-demic Affairs & Provost. Dr. Brownell remains on a leave

of absence.Dr. Wiles has been serving as

Vice President for Institutional Research and Development.

According to communica-tions from the UL Board of Trustees, issues raised by the faculty union and students have interconnections, and Board is desirous of a full re-port from the mediation inves-tigation committee, in order to consider all sides of the com-plaints.

The board said the media-tion investigation committee is expected to submit its report on January 31, 2014 following which decisions surrounding the complaints made, will be reached.

It therefore called on the fac-ulty union to return to classes as being announced by the UL Administration to continue academic activities that have been suspended for about two months now.

The UL Administration on January 20, 2014, released to the public that classes were resuming on January 21, 2014.

However, a tour on the Capitol Hill campus on Tues-day showed that classes were

vacant without students and teachers.

The administration could not clarify why instructors could not go to class as was instruct-ed, but some independent sources told this paper that the faculty members are contem-plating the full resignation of Dr. Brownell.

With the shield of “Leave of absence” still protecting her, doubt still looms, regard-ing whether instructors will adhere to the Board of Trust-ees and the UL Administra-tion’s order that they return to classes.

Meanwhile, in a release is-sued the Daily Observer, Tuesday evening, the UL Ad-ministration said it regrets that classes did not resume on January 21, as was announced. “However, negotiations with the parties are ongoing. Mean-while, the administration is appealing to all stakeholder to remain calm as efforts are being made to resume classes. Furthermore, students are ad-vised to remain off the cam-puses until further notice.”

UL Board of Trustees Endorses New Acting Provost-administration Warns students to stay Off Campuses

by Joaquin sendolo, Observer Diplomatic

Correspondent

If any of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s develop-ment plans promised in her

last annual message to the Na-tional Legislature met failure, the area of foreign relations cannot be included.

The President of Liberia is clothed with the authority un-der the constitution to conduct the foreign affairs of the coun-try.

Predicated upon this consti-tutional obligation, President Sirleaf initiated some foreign programs for 2013; the results of which were quite rewarding.

In 2013 a major town hall meeting was held in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County, bringing together President Ellen John-son Sirleaf, President Alassane Ouattara of Cote d’Ivoire and a host of local chiefs from both countries in a reconciliatory dialogue.

Cote d’Ivoire--- like Libe-ria--- was facing a civil crisis; though Ivorian war dated back to 2002 and exacerbated (in-tensified) in 2011 following the capture of former Presi-dent Laurent Gbagbo when he refused to turn over power to elected President Ouattara.

Fighters suspected to have come from Liberia reportedly fought alongside with both government forces and forces loyal to ex-President Gbagbo, which brought hard feelings in the Ivorian Government against Liberia.

Some suspects were caught and are currently in prison un-dergoing trial in Liberian court for their alleged role in the Ivo-rian crisis.

To tighten the relationship between the two neighbor-ing countries that are also in-tertwined in the Mano River Union (MRU), the palava hut dialogue was initiated and held

between them to reach a con-sensus for security and peaceful coexistence.

President Sirleaf in her annual message last year proposed to the National Legislature for en-dorsement to send a platoon of the newly trained Armed Forc-es of Liberia (AFL) to the West African Country of Mali where the government was toppled by the military and northern part seized by Tuareg rebels and suspected Al-Qaida members.

The President, after a few months, received an endorse-ment from the Legislature to send the AFL platoon to Mali, and it (AFL) joined other peacekeeping troops from West Africa there early last year.

Strengthening ties with coun-tries to recognize Liberia as a member of the comity of na-tions is one key activity Presi-dent Sirleaf is known for. This in fact was responsible for waiving over US$2 billion debt on Liberia which facilitated Madam Sirleaf’s reelection in 2011.

Her innovative approaches to diplomacy and bilateral re-lations came to a top in 2013 when a major stakeholder meeting was held in Monrovia, bringing to the country the first time British Prime Minister David Cameron and Indone-sian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for discussion on the Millennium Development Goal (MDG).

President Sirleaf also in-formed the National Legisla-ture last year that her govern-ment was negotiating with EU Countries for assistance in the energy sector to enable the res-toration of electricity to Monro-via and environs that residents and institutions will find it cheaper.

In this direction, some Euro-pean Countries, including Ger-many and Norway, have con-tributed to the rehabilitation of the Mount Coffee Hydro Plant

with the EU itself committing more than 65 million Euros (US$90 million).

Germany has promised to contribute US$75 million while Norway is set to provide US$32 million for the rehabilitation of the dam.

When completed and dedi-cated in 2015 as promised by Finance Minister Amara Con-neh, electricity would be sold for 15 cent kilowatt per hour, and power would rise from 80 megawatts to 1,000 megawatts.

From the bilateral standpoint, Liberia and Equatorial Guinea signed an agreement to rehabil-itate the Roberts International Airport and build additional structures there. Work on the airport will soon be underway as Equatorial Guinea recently promised to commence the project as quickly as they could.

In a quest for ties with more countries, government was able to receive letters of credence from many ambassadors of var-ious countries including Nor-way, Britain, France, Sweden, Malta, amongst others.

ExpectationsAmidst this fantastic perfor-

mance in the Foreign Service area, it is expected that 2014 will see more diplomatic rela-tionships built with other coun-tries that have not been close to Liberia.

This would provide Liberi-ans with opportunities to travel to some of these countries for studies on scholarship basis while some (countries) may show goodwill gestures to Li-beria through aid.

However, the habit of relying on foreign aid must be reduced so Liberia can learn good gov-ernance and economic policies from donor nations rather than remaining dependent. An atti-tude of dependency has the pro-pensity to make people indolent and keep them retrogressing in development.

Results of Liberia’s Foreign Relations for 2013

School of Governance at Har-vard University. Additionally, he has been the recipient of over a dozen honorary doctor-ates and is an honorary pro-fessor of the Ben-Gurion Uni-versity of Israel and the China Foreign Affairs University.

Schwab was Professor of Business Policy at the Uni-versity of Geneva from 1972 to 2002. He is the author of several books. Since 1979, he has published the Global Com-petitiveness Report, an annual

report assessing the potential for increasing productivity and economic growth of countries around the world, written by a team of economists. The re-port is based on a methodology developed by Schwab, measur-ing competitiveness not only in terms of productivity but also based on sustainability criteria.

From 1993-1995, Schwab was a member of the UN High-Level Advisory Board on Sustainable Development. From 1996-1998, he was Vice-

Chairman of the UN Commit-tee for Development Planning. He also exercised a number of functions in the global public interest.

While President Sirleaf is away from the country, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Morris M. Dukuly, will coordi-nate the affairs of State in con-sultation with Vice President Dr. Joseph N. Boakai, Sr.

Dr. Walter T. Wiles, endorsed as acting vice President for academic

affairs & Provost

Daily Observer Tuesday, January 21, 2014 Page 4Tuesday, November 5, 2013For

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Read more sports articles on the Daily Observer website @ www.liberianobserver.com/sports

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

2013 Progress Report: What Will President Sirleaf Tell Nation on Jan. 28

--On GOl’s support to sports Development?by Omari Jackson

President Ellen John-son Sirleaf in her an-nual message to the Second Session of

the 53rd National Legislature of the Republic of Liberia on January 28, 2013 vowed a new focus to develop a more formi-dable national soccer team for the country.

Speaking on the theme ‘A Time for Transformation’ she summarized government’s support and the team’s lack of success.

President Sirleaf said, “To promote the more unifying force in our body politic, we allocated significant resources to the promotion of sports ac-tivities, particularly football.

“The results have been less than satisfactory, suggesting we need a new approach – one that focuses on the develop-ment of a young national team

and directing resources to oth-er sports.”

She added: “Consultations are under way with the various concerned entities to ensure commitment to this new ap-proach.”

The less than satisfactory results were the poor perfor-mance of the national team against Nigeria (6-1) Uganda (in Kampala 1-0) and Senegal (in Monrovia 2-1) that ended

both of Liberia’s World Cup and Nations’ Cup dreams.

Hence, there was a new be-ginning and the soccer com-munity expressed appreciation for the president’s announce-ment.

Now what are the facts? Did President Sirleaf’s vow, even-tually helped to develop a new but young Lone Star? The evi-dence, according to our inves-tigation, does not support the

reality of President Sirleaf’s pronouncement.

The president will be ad-dressing the nation on Mon-day, January 27, 2014 and will take stock on the achievement since 2013. As we anticipate the 2013’s Progress Report, we want to draw the president’s attention to how much ‘less than successful’ was achieved during the sports year in 2013.

As a result the Daily Observ-er sports desk contacted sports officials at both the Ministry of Youth and the various federa-tions to see if the government lived up to its commitment.

A ministry official admitted that there was no increase in the budget allocation to de-velop the national soccer team, Lone Star.

“We know the usual USD500, 000 that is provided for the Lone Star in the bud-get,” he said.

At the Liberia Football As-sociation, the Daily Observer gathered that there was noth-ing new in government’s sup-

port to Lone Star in 2013 and none at all went to support the regular leagues where players are developed to play for the national team.

“A USD5 million five-year football development budget was rejected by Lawmakers in the House,” an FA official said.

He added: “We have also submitted a 5-year football na-tional development plan to the government and we are yet to hear a response from the gov-ernment.”

The LFA said success in football will depend on two programs, which are player development and game devel-opment.

“In player development is where you provide a systemat-ic career path with incentives from the various age groups; and the game development includes infrastructure, that is stadiums and equipment,” he said.

The LFA said close to 10, 500 youths, including females participate in soccer from the 3rd, women, first and the sec-ond divisions in the Liberia Football Association orga-nized leagues.

“This makes soccer the high-

est employer for young peo-ple, and this can be said about other sports since there are equally significant numbers of young people who participate in them,” he said.

It is likely that President Sirleaf will take credit for the over USD1million provided for the 2013-2014 National County Meet. However, the recently concluded County Meet but we are making ref-erence to the president’s pro-nouncement to the success of the national team that was less than satisfactory in 2012.

“The players from the Coun-ty Meet must be absolved into the regular LFA league which is the only way to develop the players for the national team,” an FA official said.

President Sirleaf meanwhile said human development would be high on the govern-ment’s agenda, and therefore she must look into the provi-sion of adequate funding for sports development.

In the end the president will have a difficult task to explain to her compatriots the reasons her vow to provide a new fo-cus to develop young players for the national team did not materialize.

President sirleaf will address the nation on January 28,

County Soccer Meet’s Remarkable XI

by leroy M. sonpon, iii

FIFA 1995 World Player, George M. Weah, last Sunday expressed disappoint-

ment at the performance of Nimba County football team in the finals against Grand Bassa.

The Liberia Football Associ-ation last year, 2013, charged Ambassador Weah to identify potential players for the na-tional soccer team, Lone Star.

He however commended Grand Bassa for a disciplined defense and effective midfield and a striking forward that earned them the victory.

He was full of praise for Bas-sa’s David Paye, for a wonder-ful job.

He meanwhile suggested a

sample of players for the na-tional team’s technical coach Thomas Kodjo, who was re-cently one of the scouts from the Ministry of Youths & Sports.

At the same time a horde of former Lone Star players and coaches, identified with tee-shirts in national colors were also present at the 2014 Coun-ty Meet’s five venues to assist Ambassador Weah.

The coaches were Kaetu Smith, Lucretius Togba, Clar-ence Lee Chea, Joe Nagbe, and Janjay Jacobs, George Weah (not Amb. George M. Weah), Jonah Saweah, Nuku Goaneh, Oliver Markor, and Prince Daye.

The below lists of players (County Meet X1) were put to-gether by the Daily Observer’s desk, after following keenly

the preliminaries to the quar-ter finals, as well as the grand finals:

1. Sekou Bayou: the Bassa goalie, with jersey number 20 was very thoughtful between the sticks and made some ex-cellent saves. The quarter and semi-finals against Bassa and Sinoe and Bong showed his ‘magic hands.’

2. Nicholas Swen: The di-minutive right back of Nimba was awesome; his tackling, overlap and retreat, combined with his passes and throws made him ‘just right.’

3. Alex Bedell: the central defender of Nimba is burly with an iron will. His presence paid-off in all five undefeated games of Nimba County but Nimba’s final against Bassa was inarguably his weakness.

4. Jerry Wleh: The Grand Bassa skipper was impressive in the defense. He was aggres-sive and approached his game with effective communicative gestures as an inspiring leader.

5. Smith Kamara: Grand Cape Mount’s tall and nippy central defender deserves the status owing to his agility. Ka-mara, in my opinion was the best central defender of the tournament. He had superb skills in tackling and kicking. His overlap and passes created two goals for Cape Mount.

6 and 8. David Tweh and Ramson: The Bong and Bassa midfielders were ball distribu-tors and controllers. Their presence in the middle of the park compelled forwarders to make in-roads.

7 and 11. Varney Sando and Sam Jackson: The duo could be coined as ‘Desperate Twin” when they blended. Jackson was crowned twice as the ‘Player of the Match’ for his skills and scoring abilities. Varney, the brave and drib-bling player was the ‘Best Player of Bassa’ according to Coach David Doe.

10. This is hardly debat-able between Nimba’s Prince Choppy and Grand Gedeh’s Lewis Yarpah, but Lewis’s hat-trick against Bong on Sunday made him the potent forwarder

Nimba’s sam Jackson and bassa’s David Paye

Richard Manuba Sets for SWAL Presidential

DebateThe Sports Writers

Association of Li-beria’s presidential candidate, Richard

Manuba was ecstatic about this afternoon’s double debate.

First, Manuba will be on Lux FM to expound his vision for the association from 10-11a.m.

Second, he will be at the offices of the PUL on Clay Street, Monrovia at 2p.m. where other candidates, in-cluding Leroy Sonpon, lll, Martina Brooks and Roland Mulbah will also assemble to debate to convince the mem-bers why they think they are capable to run the association for the next two years.

At a private gathering yes-terday afternoon on 3rd Street, Sinkor in Monrovia, Candidate Manuba officially launched his campaign drive for the presidency.

The elections are set for Jan. 24.

Yesterday, Candidate Ma-nuba re-echoed his three key areas that he said he is pas-

sionate to change SWAL.“I want to make SWAL an

institution,” he said, “then seek corporate sponsorship for SWAL.”

Candidate Manuba further said his third target will be SWAL members’ welfare.

“We (SWAL) must be able to develop its members to get the needed support in times of need.

“At the same time I will make SWAL relevance to get its national recognition,” he said.

The debate is set at 2.p.m. today.

Candidate Manuba makes a point yesterday

of the County Meet’s XI.However, the coach for the

above collection would be Da-vid Doe of Bassa for winning the trophy, and specifically for

converting winger David Paye to a forwarder in the absence of the much-talk about Varney Sando.

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Published by the Liberian Observer Corporation (LOC), 23 McDonald Street, P.O. Box 1858, Monrovia, Liberia; Tel: 06 812-888; 06 578476; and 06 472772; Printed by the Observer Printing Press;

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Sometimes you have to look beyond the problem

in order to see the solution.

NOCAL Gets New Board ChairBy William Q. Harmon

Several months after the resig-nation of Mr. Robert Sirleaf as Chairman of the Board of Direc-

tors of National Oil Company (NOCAL), President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has finally appointed a successor to fill the void left by her son. The Chairman’s post at NOCAL is viewed by many as a sensi-tive but, lucrative, one, due to its cardinal importance to the country’s economy as a major generator of revenue.

The newly appointed NO-CAL board Chair, Cllr. Seward Montgomery Cooper, is Legal Advisor to President Sirleaf. It is unclear whether he will be relieved of this position as he heads to NOCAL; or will he occupy both positions as his predecessor, also senior advisor to President Sirleaf, once did.

Cllr. Cooper’s ascendency

to the head of what is being viewed as the nation’s most financially lucrative asset now depends on his success with the Liberian Senate. He will face thorough questioning at the hands of the Senate in a con-firmation hearing, which he is expected to attend shortly.

The appointment of Cllr. Coo-per as NOCAL’s board chair was announced by President Sirleaf’s office Tuesday, Janu-ary 21. His appointment comes exactly four months and four days since Mr. Robert Sirleaf tendered in his letter of resigna-tion.

Mr. Robert Alvin Sirleaf re-signed his post as NOCAL boss as well as Senior Advisor to the Liberian Chief Executive on Tuesday, September 17, 2013. His appointment by his mother had earlier received a barrage of criticisms from Liberians both at home and abroad. They termed President Sirleaf’s ac-tion as nepotism and cronyism.

In his letter of resignation

addressed to President John-son-Sirleaf, Mr. Sirleaf stated that his resignation “fulfills a promise made to the Liberian people” by the President, that his role at NOCAL would come to an end when “reforms were in place.”

He commended the Liberian Senate for the passage of the New Petroleum Law and NO-CAL Act which according to him were “important to safe-guarding a potential national resource.” It may be recalled that the Plenary of the Liberian Senate on Tuesday, September 11, 2013 passed the New Pe-troleum Law and NOCAL Act during its Special Session.

Speaking to the Daily Ob-server in an exclusive interview Tuesday, Cllr. Seward Mont-gomery Cooper said it was “an honor to be called upon by President Sirleaf to serve in such an important, yet chal-lenging, capacity.”

An acclaimed international and corporate lawyer, Cllr. Coo-per also serves as a member of both the Inter-Ministerial Con-cessions Committee and the Hydrocarbon Technical Com-mittee that negotiate conces-sion contracts for Liberia. He indicated that though the task at hand is a huge one, collec-

tive efforts can make President Sirleaf’s dream---regarding NOCAL assisting the country’s development---a reality.

He said that if properly man-aged within the correct frame-work, NOCAL would continue to be a vibrant revenue-generat-ing corporation.

Cllr. Cooper expressed the belief that Liberia is in a better position to learn from the expe-riences of other petroleum pro-ducing countries--- especially those on the African continent---to make this newly- discov-ered national asset a blessing for the Liberian people.

He explained that even though there are still challenges with the New Petroleum Law and NOCAL Act, he prayed that after the public consulta-tion exercises, now underway at the lower House, the matter becomes settled and the legal framework put into place.

Counselor Cooper was the first head of the African Devel-opment Bank (AfDB Integrity

and Anti-Corruption office. The AfDB is Africa’s premier devel-opment financial organization and globally is one of the seven leading international develop-ment financial institutions.

Prior to that appointment, he served as the first Chief Coun-sel and Unit Head for Good Governance at the African Development Bank, where he also served as founding editor-in-chief of the Bank’s Law for Development Review and as the first editor of the Bank’s Law for Development Bulletin.

As a principal counsel of the AfDB he negotiated complex legal transactions for the Bank’s private sector department. Be-fore joining the African Devel-opment Bank, Cooper led the international practice group of one of America’s largest multi-cultural law firms based in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. He also lectured as an ad-junct professor of business law at the University of Liberia.

Cllr. Cooper is a former presi-dent of the Liberia Chamber of Commerce and former Deputy Agriculture Minister of Libe-ria. He co-led the conception of, and drafted the basic docu-ment for, the establishment of the African Legal Support Fa-cility, a new multi-million dol-lar international organization of Member States, headquartered in Tunisia, that provides techni-cal legal assistance to African countries.

He is married to the Reverend Dr. Anne Fredericks Cooper, and is the father of three adult children.

Cllr. Cooper said he’s honored to be appointed to NOCAL Board Chair post

By Abednego Davis

Several rulings by the Board of Tax Appeal (BOTA) have been seri-ously challenged at

the Tax Court by some taxpay-ers.

BOTA was established in 2009, to provide taxpayers and taxing authority (Ministry of Finance) with an accessible, fair and efficient appeal pro-cess and to resolve appeals in a timely and judicious manner.

But, some of the taxpay-ers like DHL Limited and the Lone Star Communication Corporation (LSCC) have al-ready filed a motion for “Judi-cial Review of Tax Determina-tion” against BOTA.

In DHL’s case, they alleged that the Ministry of Finance

(MOF) audited the institution covering the period 2007, 08, 09 tax bills in the amount of US$328,678.98.

In that audit DHL operating expense totaling US$473, 474. 86 was not acceptable as valid deduction operating expense for lack of supporting docu-ments.

MOF disallowed it and add-ed the expenses of the deduct-ible to the revenue of DHL for each of the period audited.

DHL then requested the Ministry to provide particulars of the transaction for the tax period audited that it deemed unacceptable deduction ex-penses.

They even asked for the Ministry to provide a list of specific transactions for to allow for the offering of sup-porting documents to substan-

tiate whether the Ministry’s claims truly exist.

That request was rejected by the MOF.

It was this rejection that led DHL to complain to BOTA.

During the hearing at the BOTA, DHL argued that the Ministry’s failure to provide particulars that would enable it identify the disallow transac-tion and its request to enforce the collection of its controver-sial audit should be denied and dismissed.

Also requested was that BOTA ordered the Ministry to provide to DHL details re-quested to substantial whether or not the MOF claims were genuine.

Despite the evidence, BOTA ruled against DHL, stating that the “Ministry provided the

BOTA Rulings Contestedtaxpayer the reasonable refer-ence used to disallow the tax-payer operating expense.”

As for Lone Star, they claimed that BOTA errone-ously ruled confirming that

they should make payment in the MOF’s audit report and its re-assessment bill for ad-ditional taxes, penalties and interest for the taxable period 2007 to 2011, to the tune of US$19,197,903.44.

The cases are pending before the Tax Court for determina-tion.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 22, 2014, vol. 16, No.61indd 1 1/22/14 12:33 AM

Liberian Daily Observer 01/22/2014

Documents

Transcript of Liberian Daily Observer 01/22/2014