Liberianlistener

Just Sam [Samantha Diaz] on ‘American Idol’: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

American Idol returns for Season 18 on Sunday night and during the two-hour premiere on ABC, viewers will not only get reacquainted with the show’s three all-star judges – Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, and Luke Bryant, but will be introduced to a slew of fresh talent. With Ryan Seacrest returning as the series’ host, American Idol is kicking things off with a strong start, and one of the premiere episode’s standout contestants is Samantha Diaz, who goes by the stage name Just Sam. Adopted and raised by her…

Public Policy

Rwanda lawmakers approve Swahili as the Official Language

February 23, 2020February 23, 2020 admin20 comment

Members of the Lower House in 2017 passed the organic law establishing Swahili as an official language. Swahili joins Kinyarwanda, English and French as the country’s fourth official language. For now, the language will primarily be used for administrative purposes, appearing as one of the official languages in some official documents. Appearing before the lawmakers to provide insight into why the law is necessary, the Minister for Sports and Culture, Julienne Uwacu, explained that the decision was motivated by both obligation and a variety of many other benefits. “Rwanda joined…

Where have you ever heard about this being done politically in the selection of political leader for an opposition group? Where? This is what happens when a group of people listen to some little guy who just completed a degree or certificate program and still finds it hard to distinguish between ideology and real life experiences.

Op-ed

The Alternative National Congress: A charity agency or political party?

February 23, 2020February 23, 2020 admin2ANC, Charity, Political Party0 comment

The Editor, Is there any smart person in the ANC? The disability gesture or advocacy program is good but to put a humanitarian gesture under a political mechanism just serves as a turned off and skews the undertaking. Mr. Cummings is a nice guy and a brilliant corporate leader but his entire effort lacks a team of political and policy smart. This man can’t win and will never win Liberians over if he continues to rally a think tank full of and led by people with impractical ideologies. Liberians…

Four years ago, Richardson will admit he wasn’t truly prepared for that level of competition. Now he’s ready to swim with the sharks. “I’ve proven that I can handle competing against the best in the world,” Richardson said. “In GLORY, I was facing some of the best in the world at what they do. If the UFC is the next opportunity for me, you know I’m going to take that shot. “Regardless if you’re undefeated or you’re a champion if you fight me you’re going to know you’re in a fight. Cause I don’t give anything to anybody easy.”

Sports

Nate Richardson from a war-torn Liberia, to UFC dream

February 22, 2020 admin2Liberia, Nate Richarson, UFC0 comment

Damon Martin Nate Richardson still has fond memories of his former home in Africa despite leaving the country when he was just a child. The featherweight prospect, who competes in the co-main event at LFA 82 this Friday, grew up in the west African country of Liberia, where his family made a good home until a volatile civil war broke out in the late 1990s. “As a kid, you remember the good times,” Richardson told MMA Fighting. ‘I didn’t have toys as much, but I just got to play…

Overall Performance: Consider whether the participant’s physical presence, voice and articulation, dramatic appropriateness, and evidence of understanding all seem on target and unified to breathe life into the poem. “Overall performance” is worth more than other categories, with the value up to nine points. This category evaluates the total success of the performance, the degree to which the recitation has become more than the sum of its parts.

Society Arts & Leisure

International Women’s Day Poetry Competition

February 22, 2020 admin2Competition, Liberia, poetry0 comment

Program Overview: The Liberian Poet Society in collaboration with support from the Embassy of Sweden in Liberia, requests the general public to freely participate in a poetry competition in celebration of International Women’s Day. The competition encourages a dynamic culture of creativity and recitation competition of writers/poets across the country. This mini event shall help writers/poets enhance their writing techniques, master their public speaking skills, and build their self-confidence. Prizes • 1st Winner – USD $ 250.00 • 2nd Winner – USD $ 200.00 • 3rd Winner –…

First Lady Djene Conde of Guinea and First Lady Fatima Jabbe-Bio of Sierra Leone do not have the leverage that First Lady Clar Weah of Liberia has to expend US$1.5 million of our taxes on “Humanitarian Outreach” just in a period of 15 months.

Op-ed

Is First Lady Clar Weah a Philanthropist?–A Call To Audit Her Office for US$2.2 Million

February 21, 2020February 21, 2020 admin2Clar Weah, First Lady0 comment

About 2 weeks ago, First Lady Clar M. Weah toured her privately-owned ‘City of Hope Project’ which sits on 15 acres of land in Marshall City, Margibi County. The First Lady has been priding herself as a ‘philanthropist’ even though she is overly dependent on public funding to implement her projects and programs. It was shocking but not surprising when Sheroes Forum in Ghana gave First Lady Clar Marie Weah a humanitarian award in May 2019. A few pro-regime establishments, seeking financial assistance and presidential approbation, have deceivingly bejeweled and…

Moran has interesting passages on the social institutions of southeastern Liberia and on understandings of elections, but her general argument is less than fully persuasive. This is so not least because it is based on memories of Liberia as it was more than twenty years ago and on a reading of Glebo political institutions that, while instructive, is predicated on a liberal view of society whose applicability to Liberia is not beyond question.

Artists & Reviews

Liberia: The Violence of Democracy, Review

February 21, 2020February 21, 2020 admin2Democracy, Liberia, Mary moran0 comment

Mary Moran, an anthropologist, did fieldwork in the southeast of Liberia in 1982–83. Since that time she has continued to follow the twists and turns of Liberian affairs from her vantage point in the United States, benefiting from the possibilities offered by modern communication and by the presence of an important Liberian diaspora. This book was provoked by her frustration at the ways in which Liberia has been represented in international media since its descent into war in 1989. In her view, moreover, proponents of some academic disciplines—political…

For a little over a month since being elected and installed Senator of Montserrado County, critics of Dillon have chastised him for failing to live up to a campaign promise he made to make his salary and benefits public. Until Tuesday, September 24, Sen. Dillon had always claimed of not being informed about his entitlements as Senator.

Public Policy

Liberian Assembly say it will honor Sen. Dillon call to audit National Legislature,

February 21, 2020 admin2Liberia, Sen. Dillion0 comment

Senators on Thursday, February 13, voted unanimously to welcome submission by Montserrado County Senator Abraham Darius Dillon, for the audit of the National Legislature, but that it be limited to the Liberian Senate as of the 53rd Legislature to the present. A motion proffered by Grand Cape Mount County ranking Senator Cllr H. Varney Sharman, however, suggested that the Senate’s Public Accounts Committee “be the entity to Investigate and prescribe the process for that auditing, and that report be made to us next Thursday.” The Senate’s decision was…

Interviews

Patrice Lumumba: 50 Years Later, Remembering the Pan Africanist leader

February 20, 2020 admin20 comment

On the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the first democratically elected leader of what is now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lumumba’s Pan-Africanism and his vision of a united Congo gained him many enemies. Both Belgium and the United States actively sought to have him killed. The CIA ordered his assassination but could not complete the job. Instead, the United States and Belgium covertly funneled cash and aid to rival politicians who seized power and arrested Lumumba. On January 17, 1961, after being beaten…

Marshall, Margibi – Julie Vanasscue is a professional zookeeper from Belgium but right now she volunteers and serves as the Director of the Libassa Wildlife Sanctuary in Liberia. She says the team at the sanctuary has started touring the beach for “illegal activity.” The tour which is done twice a week is called the “Sea Turtle Beach Patrol.” It is intended to monitor both the presence of female sea turtles on the beach, which are listed as endangered species, and at the same time, monitoring illegal activities from locals who hunt the turtles.

News

Conservation: Liberian Sea Turtles are at Risk of Extinction

February 20, 2020February 20, 2020 admin2Conservation, Liberia, Sea Turtle0 comment

Marshall, Margibi – Julie Vanasscue is a professional zookeeper from Belgium but right now she volunteers and serves as the Director of the Libassa Wildlife Sanctuary in Liberia. She says the team at the sanctuary has started touring the beach for “illegal activity.” The tour which is done twice a week is called the “Sea Turtle Beach Patrol.” It is intended to monitor both the presence of female sea turtles on the beach, which are listed as endangered species, and at the same time, monitoring illegal activities from…