Liberia

When I Met A Liberian writer, Eudora Aletta

July 19, 2019 admin2 Liberia, Nvasekie konneh, Writer

Inter-Generational Transfer of Knowledge The Editor, On the sideline of the 2019 Felmausa Convention, I had an enlightening conversation with fellow Liberian writer, Eudora Aletta. She is a Canada based multi-talented artist. She is a singer with a beautiful melody. She performed and wowed the crowd with her soulful melodious songs. Not only is she a singer, but she’s also a writer with a passion for social justice advocacy. Her current novel is titled, A Wind of Change. Her politic is Pan Africanism, inspired by the heroism of Pan…

But Esther sees no problem with it. All she wants is to make her from ‘hand-to-mouth’ livelihood for her siblings and her son. Watching Esther works, she pours the gasoline from the jars into a safe-made funnel attached to the hollowed rod leading to the gas or fuel tank of the vehicles. She is so smart and fast and has to be precise as more kehkeh riders pull in asking her to hurry up so they can go back and grab more passengers.

News

Liberia: For Esther, the day has just begun

July 19, 2019 admin2 Liberia, Mae Azango

Liberia: ‘Can- Girl’, A Female, Street Gas Seller By Mae Azango Monrovia – The clouds were gloomy from the very heavy rains that had just fallen in Monrovia. The rain had formed streams, which ran on both sides of the tarmac road at the intersection of Benson and Newport Streets. At this particular spot, are parked three-tire vehicles (tricycle) locally known as Kehkeh whose operators usually rush to anyone approaching them so as to be the lucky one to ferry that or those persons to their destinations. Also at…

Op-ed

Our Land Stands Ravaged And Our People Disconsolate

July 16, 2019 admin2 Boimah Fahnbulleh, Liberia

EXCERPT FROM A SPEECH Compatriots, [‘Compatriot’ means ‘Beloved Ones’], Friends of Liberia, Ladies and Gentlemen: [It has been many years] since our country was engulfed in a brutal and macabre war. This war, genocidal and pathologically traumatizing, bordered on the insane as it was fratricidal and resolved nothing, except to expose to the world how reckless and callous some of our people could become in their orgy of blood-letting and barbarity. You will agree with me that rarely in the annals of AFRICAN HISTORY has a…

Speaking to reporters at their Old Road Community residence, Mrs. Georgetta Kolubah told reporters that she and her six children were traveling to Ghana for vacation as they have usually done; their passports were stamped and boarding passes were served, according to her.

Op-ed

Family of Weah Critic Stopped From Traveling Out Of Liberia

July 16, 2019 admin2 Liberia, Representative Kolubah

ALJA Condemns Liberian Govt. for Obstructing Rep. Kolubah’s Family Travel New Castle, Delaware – The Association of Liberian Journalists in the Americas (ALJA) has termed as unfortunate the recent action by some officers of the Liberia Immigration Service (LIS) reportedly acting on the order of President George Manneh Weah to prevent the family of Montserrado County District #-10 Representative, Yekeh Kolubah, from traveling out of the country. On Saturday, July 13, 2019, it was reported in Monrovia that immigration officers deployed at the Roberts International Airport…

And finally please ENCOURAGE your supporters to continue supporting you substantively rather than keep cursing and disrespecting the Liberian citizens who are taxpayers and who basically own the country. Their unruly behavior reflects negatively on you and makes your critics unpatriotic to our country. Finally, please clear the confusion surrounding your faith. Are you a Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, etc? Thank you, sir.

Op-ed

A Note to President George M. Weah: Open Lette

July 14, 2019 admin2 Liberia, Massa Washington, TRC

Finally, please clear the confusion surrounding your faith. Dear President Weah, Please give the green light for War Crimes court in Liberia to hold accountable perpetrators of gross human rights violations in Liberia. A War Crimes Court will help clean up the mess created by the civil war, give our respite and justice and give you a break to lead effectively. And finally please ENCOURAGE your supporters to continue supporting you substantively rather than keep cursing and disrespecting the Liberian citizens who are taxpayers and who basically…

Richard P. Feynman notes, ”The idea is to try to give all the information to help others to judge the value of your contribution; not just the information that leads to judgment in one particular direction or another. ” Unfortunately, this is the case with some Liberians who are community leaders, educated people, and advocates. The argument was never about whether Mr. Rockefeller Cooper completed medical school as it is been erroneously spread around. We contended that he is not qualified to perform an autopsy and forensic death investigation. We advised that it was in the family best interest to work with the government, and many of you ignorantly assumed that we were paid agents, speaking in the government’s interest. You attacked us with unfounded allegations and insults.

Op-ed

Doing things the ‘Liberian way’: A dangerous phenomenon!

July 13, 2019 admin2 Death, Liberia, Odell Sherman

The Editor, A group of sober-minded women reached out to a Liberian pathologist in the DMV area to advise them on how to proceed with the Odell Sharman autopsy. According to the lady who initiated the contact with the pathologist, the experienced Liberian pathologist told them exactly what we have previously recommended for the family. The doctor told them to work with the government of Liberia. He also calls into question the competence of Mr. Cooper to perform an autopsy and forensic death investigation. Meanwhile, the family of…

Main pic: Gabriel Bacchus Matthews(deceased), leader of the Progressive Alliance of Liberia(PAL), Togba-nah Topoteh, leader of Movement for Justice in Africa(MOJA), H. Boimah Fahnbulleh, Jr. of MOJA and Amos C. Sawyer of MOJA. PAL and MOJA were the two progressive political advocacy groups that led the struggle for social justice and democratic change in Liberia.

Op-ed

I honor the progressive class of Liberia

July 13, 2019 admin2 Liberia, Progressive Class

Legions of my homeland, Liberia. The Editor, Today, with deep conscience, I honor the progressive class of Liberia. Only people with barren sense of history or possessed by historical prejudices will not appreciate the profound depth of contribution made by these great legions of the homeland. Like all of us, mortal beings, they are not free of faults and filths, but their contribution to the homeland cannot be ranked any less, it remains outstanding and indelible. To those of you who throw tantrums and diatribes at the…

Wanibo Toe would have been in his 70s this month. Liberia must not forget Toe: he “was a Great Hero” as eulogized in a song. Happy anniversary, Waniboe Toe, the “Great Football Wizard”!

Sports

Wanibo Toe: A Great Liberian Football Wizard

July 11, 2019 admin2 Great Football Player, Liberia, Wani Botoe

January 2019 marks the 52nd anniversary of the death of Liberian football legend Wanibo Toe. The Liberian Age newspaper of January 13, 1967 carried the sad news under the caption “Great Football Wizard Dies.” Toe’s death shocked football fans across the nation. An illustration of the public reaction is the six-stanza poem entitled “A Lament to Wanibo Toe” published 1/17/67 of the same newspaper. Excerpts read “Who knew Toe would ever give way to death At so early an age of twenty-five . . . Wanibo Toe…

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

The One Million [usd] Budget Of lst Lady Clar Weah Is Unacceptable!

July 9, 2019 admin2 Clar Weah, Liberia

The Editor, Is Liberia’s Jamaican-American First Lady a Humanitarian or she is pretending to be one? In this edition of our series “The Red Rooster from Ducor”, we are pointing our torch on First Lady Clar Weah with specific focus on her whopping US$1.5 million budget for “Humanitarian Outreach” Is First Lady Clar Weah really a philanthropist or a pseudo-philanthropist? The Red Rooster will endeavor to proffer a more convincing response to this question. First Lady Djene Conde of Guinea and First Lady Fatima Jabbe-Bio of Sierra Leone…

Though she was not a fiction writer, any discussion of Liberian literature will not be complete without mentioning A Doris Banks Henries. She was a prolific writer who wrote many books on Liberia. Among the many books written by A Doris Banks Henries, only three I came across and they were my favorites. Those three books are "Heroes and Heroines of Liberia," "Civil for Liberian Schools," and "Africa: Our History."

Artists & Reviews

A Lifetime of Writing Books: The Legacy of Banks Henries

July 9, 2019 admin2 Books, Doris Banks Henries, Liberia

A. Doris Bank Henries was born on February 11, 1913, in Live Oak, Florida and died on February 16, 1981, in Middletown, CT. She was married to Richard Abrom Henries, former speaker of the Liberian House of Representative, who was one of the 13 government officials that were executed on firing squad in the wake of the 1980 military coup in Liberia. Doris Banks Henries graduated from Willimantie Normal School (now Eastern Connecticut State University) with BSc in 1920s; She also attended Connecticut State Teachers’ College as…