August, 2021 |

Twelve Goals in three test matches as Butler face Nigeria and the Central African Republic

August 31, 2021August 31, 2021 admin2Headline News, Liberia Lone Stars, Nigerian Super Eagles0 comment

LL Staff Report Liberian English coach Peter Butler’s North African tour in July was so bad, that when his team faced Mauritania, Libya, and Algeria, his team was unrivaled and demolished— that it came as a total surprise when his contract was renewed by the Liberian FA to qualify Liberia for the next World Cup. Basically, his team lacked creativity and fighting spirit, according to football enthusiasts. The friendlies took place in Tunisia on 11 and 14 June respectively, and 17 June against Algeria. For the friendlies, Butler called up…

News

Gull Draws Port Authority Director Tweahway Into Corruption Fray

August 30, 2021August 30, 2021 admin2Headline News, Liberia0 comment

By: Yassah J Wright As promised to not be used as a scapegoat into the ongoing investigation over an alleged missing US$200,000.00, which was reportedly withdrawn from the account of the Buchanan Port, Suspended Charles MacArthur Gull, said the entire money withdrew from the account was US$1.5 Million instead of US$200,000.00 initially reported. According to Gull, National Port Authority (NPA) Managing Director Bill Tweahway ordered the withdrawal of a total of US$1.5 million under the title special order. In a rather short dispatch from the United States, Gull indicated…

A member of the opposition Liberty Party and Senatorial candidate in upcoming elections was attacked at a rally in the slum community of New Kru Town allegedly by supporters of the ruling CDC. Senator Abraham Darius Dillon shortly, thereafter, angrily reacted by threatening to have his supporters stone the Presidential convoy. The National Security Agency (NSA)reacted by warning that such action would be dealt with decisively. The Senator later retracted his statement and threat. Liberia holds midterm elections in December and General and Presidential elections in 2023. To date, no investigation has been concluded by Liberian authorities nor anyone held to account for these election related violence. In Guinea and Cote’Ivoire, the opposition have been protesting against attempts by the incumbents to extend their rule by amending the constitutions Deadly shases and injutries have been reported. By Our Political Reporters in Wasgington DC and Monrovia/African Star

Public Policy

The real debate ahead of 2023 is electoral reform

August 27, 2021August 27, 2021 admin2Elections, Liberia, Reforms0 comment

CDC Presumptive Standard Bearer, incumbent president George Manneh Weah, could rig 2023 General and Presidential Elections if appropriate safeguards through electoral reform are not put in place. The likelihood seems high as anti-democratic precedents are fast sufficing in his remaining months. We have been calling for electoral reform since 2018 and this pressing national concern cannot be overlooked. Thankfully, the European Union (EU) reinforced our call by echoing 23 previous recommendations it made after a flawed 2017 election. I have done a summary for national review. Twenty-three (23) Recommendations from…

Sports

Liberia Lone Stars named 22-man squad to face Nigeria and Central African Republic

August 27, 2021August 27, 2021 admin2Butler, Liberia, Liberia Lone Stars0 comment

Peter James Butler after extending his contract with the Lone Star not least until August 2022, has trimmed his Lone Star squad to 22 players to compete with Nigeria and Central African Republic for Match day 1 & 2 for the second round of Qatar 2022 World Cup Qualifiers. The squad consists of 14 oversea players, 7 players who play their club football in Liberia and Van-Dave Harmon (unattached). There are five new additions who Coach Butler could give debuts to and they include: Paeek’s FC versatile midfielder Abrahim…

News

Liberian rebel sentenced in Switzerland for war crimes, cannibalism

August 23, 2021August 23, 2021 admin2Headline News0 comment

Geneva—A Liberian rebel commander was sentenced in Switzerland to 20 years in jail on Friday for rape, killings and an act of cannibalism, in one of the first ever convictions over the West African country’s civil war. The case was also Switzerland’s first war crimes trial in a civilian court. It involved 46-year-old Alieu Kosiah who went by the nom de guerre “bluff boy” in the rebel faction ULIMO that fought former President Charles Taylor’s army in the 1990s. Kosiah faced 25 charges including one where he was accused of eating slices of a…

Op-ed

The Power Of Narrative In Modern Liberian Presidential Elections

August 20, 2021August 20, 2021 admin2Elections, Liberia, Presidency0 comment

By Samuel Sakama Carl Jung states that psyche is the totality of the human mind (conscious and unconscious). The position of this article is that the modern Liberian voter’s psyche is unique which is evident in our patterns of voting for the presidency especially over the past 24 years. In the last 24 years, we have voted for a warlord (Charles Taylor) in 1997, the first democratically elected woman in Africa (Ellen Johnson Sirleaf) in 2005 and 2011, and the first democratically elected footballer in Africa (George Weah) in 2017, as Presidents…

Sports

Nigeria D’Tigers FIBA Afrobasket final roster released

August 19, 2021August 19, 2021 admin20 comment

D’Tigers head coach, Mike Brown has announced his final 12 man roster for the 2021 FIBA Afrobasket holding in Kigali, Rwanda. Daniel Utomi who plies his trade with Vichy Clermont in France will be joined by Ikenna Ndugba, Emmanuel Omogbo of Apoel BC of Cyprus and Benjamin Emegolu (Rouen Basket Metropole, France) after days of training in the United States of America TK Edogi makes a return to the team after missing out on the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo alongside Stephen Domingo (Lake land Magic – G League, USA),…

Editor's Desk

Blood in the backstreets

August 18, 2021August 18, 2021 admin20 comment

When impoverished people trying to access water or land are killed by the police, the whole of society is complicit in these contemptuous murders committed by the state. Speaking to the press shortly before the non-violent protests against the pass laws planned for 21 March 1960, Pan Africanist Congress president Robert Sobukwe declared that “we have sworn that we are leading them, not to death, but to life abundant.” The fact that 69 people lost their lives at the hands of the state in Sharpeville that day, and another…

Weah: “What was damaged during the 14 years of civil war,” he said, “cannot be fixed in a day’s time. This government is focused on rehabilitating Liberians whose lives were damaged. I want you not to join those who are undermining the country through protests. Join me to rebuild the country.” As part of his development plans, President Weah said the government was exerting efforts to change the lives of Liberians, by building concrete homes in place of the huts they have been living in over so many decades.

Op-ed

Makenneh L Keita – Assistant In George Weah’s Office Demands 5million From S. African Investors

August 18, 2021August 18, 2021 admin20 comment

Written by Socrates Smythe Saywon Monrovia – Smart News Liberia has reliably learnt through a source from Washington DC that the Coordinator of the Special Presidential Projects at the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs, Makenneh L. Keita allegedly demanded US$5 million from two South African investors who are in the country to invest in agriculture, mining and petroleum sectors. According to the source, Mr Mike Anthony Brummer and Gerhard Jacob Dirksen both of Imperial Investment LTD are two South African investors, whose arrival into Liberia was made possible by…

Public Policy

African opposition leaders congratulate Zambia President Elect Hakainde Hichilema

August 16, 2021August 16, 2021 admin2Africa0 comment

Farai Mutsaka, The Associated Press LUSAKA, ZAMBIA — Zambia’s veteran opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema has won the southern African country’s presidency with more than 50 percent of the vote. Hichilema was declared president-elect early Monday after getting more than 2.8 million votes to President Edgar Lungu’s 1.8 million votes, achieving one of the biggest electoral wins in Zambia’s history. President Edgar Lungu, 64, accepted defeat and said he would work for a “peaceful transfer of power.” Related Stories Celebrations as Zambian opposition candidate leads in count Zambia’s first president…