Liberia: President Sirleaf Rolls Out First Bash of 2nd Term Cabinet

Liberia: President Sirleaf Rolls Out First Bash of 2nd Term Cabinet.

Liberia: President Sirleaf Rolls Out First Bash of 2nd Term Cabinet

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf today rolled out the first bash of her second term of office of the small West Africa nation of Liberia, three days after her she was inaugurated to a second term of office on Monday.

Amara Konneh, Minister of Finance

The first of the first bash of her cabinet appointments include, former Finance Minister, Augustine Ngafuan, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Former Planning and Economics Affairs Minister, Amara Konneh, as Minister of Finance while former Acting Information and Culture Affairs Minister, Jerelinmek Piah takes over as Press Secretary to the President.

Augustine Ngafuan, Minister of Foreign Affairs

With the appointment of the former Finance Minister to the Foreign Affairs, the it is clear that the Standard Bearer of the opposition, Congress for Democratic Change, CDC, With the appointment of the former Finance Minister to the Foreign Affairs, the it is clear that the Standard Bearer of the opposition, Congress for Democratic Change, CDC

         Jerelinmek Piah, Press Secretary

Cllr. Winston Tubman who had been speculated to take over Liberia’s foreign policy won’t be  and the Liberian public is waiting to see which cabinet appointment President Sirleaf will entrusted to as well as his Vice Standard Bearer, George Weah.

Minister of Finance

Amara Konneh

Liberia: Oath of Office Could Be Re-administered to President Sirleaf

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf  of Liberia was on January 16, 2012 inaugurated to begin her  second term of office.

But in the midst of the pageantry of President Sirleaf’s inauguration with several world leaders and dignitaries in attendance, major blunders and mis-steps in protocol overshadowed the fanfare as the audience and observers  noticed  kept murmuring.

 

One of the most embarrassing and perhaps a constitutional headache and gaff in the  administering the Oath of  Office to the Liberian President iin keeping with the constitution which dictates as follows:

This Schedule shall form and be an integral part of this Constitution and shall have the same force as any other provision thereof.

2. All public officials and employees, whether elected or appointed, holding office of public trust, shall subscribe to a solemn oath or affirmation as

follows:

“I, , do solemnly swear (affirm) that I will support, uphold, protect and defend

the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Liberia, bear true faith and

allegiance to the Republic, and will faithfully, conscientiously and impartially

discharge the duties and functions of the office of to the best of my ability.

SO HELP ME GOD.”

As the Chief Justice administered the Oath of Office to the Liberian President, rather than raise her right hand in confirmation to taking an oath and as the country’s constitution dictates and followed by all Liberian President before the 24th Liberian President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, she instead was given a microphone through which she repeated the oath as the Chief Justice, Johnnie Lewis administered  the oath of office to her and neither did she place her hand on the Holy Bible and kiss it at the finish of the reading of oath as the normal and usual ritual of all Presidents, including President Sirleaf when she was inaugurated the first time in 2006 to her first term of office.

The failure of President Sirleaf to raise her right hand  to conform with the constitution and legal essence of taking an oath, which then binds  that person to uphold the oath he or her is taking and can be reprimanded if it is breached, raises the stick that, the Liberian President did not take her oath office since it was not done properly and needs to be re-administered just as president Barrack Obama Oath of Office was re-administered the next day by Chief Justice  John Roberts the next morning in the White House because the Oath of Office was mistakenly read by the Chief Justice.

In essence, by President Sirleaf not raising her right hand and kissing the  ”Holy Bible”, raises the question and doubts that she was not constitutionally and legally inaugurated as President and is therefore can not be bound to the oath office of the Liberian Presidency or not under legal and constitution responsibility to uphold the Oath of the Liberian Presidency and laws.

The gaff at the inauguration were so enormous, the Chief of Protocol of the Inauguration, failed to announced several world leaders and dignitaries  as well as to announced and usher in the Legislature.

Liberian Dictator Charles Taylor Had U S Spy Ties

JEAN-MARC BOUJU/ASSOCIATED PRESS/FILE 199

COURTESY: BOSTON GLOBE

A three-judge panel of the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone is deliberating over charges against Charles G. Taylor.

WASHINGTON – When Charles G. Taylor tied bed sheets together to escape from a second-floor window at the Plymouth House of Correction on Sept. 15, 1985, he was more than a fugitive trying to avoid extradition. He was a sought-after source for American intelligence.

An assault rifle-toting Charles G. Taylor as a rebel leader in Liberia in 1990.

After a quarter-century of silence, the US government has confirmed what has long been rumored: Taylor, who would become president of Liberia and the first African leader tried for war crimes, worked with US spy agencies during his rise as one of the world’s most notorious dictators. The disclosure on the former president comes in response to a request filed by the Globe six years ago under the Freedom of Information Act. The Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s spy arm, confirmed its agents and CIA agents worked with Taylor beginning in the early 1980s.

“They may have stuck with him longer than they should have but maybe he was providing something useful,’’ said Douglas Farah, a senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center in Washington and an authority on Taylor’s reign and the guns-for-diamonds trade that was a base of his power.

The Defense Intelligence Agency refused to reveal any details about the relationship, saying doing so would harm national security. Taylor, 63, pleaded innocent in 2009 to multiple counts of murder, rape, attacking civilians, and

GUYOT/GETTY IMAGES

  An assault rifle-toting Charles G. Taylor as a rebel leader in Liberia in 1990

deploying child soldiers during a civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone while he was president of Liberia from 1997 to 2003. After a proceeding that lasted several years, the three-judge panel of the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone is now reviewing tens of thousands of pages of evidence, including the testimony of about 100 victims, former rebels, and Taylor himself, whose testimony lasted seven months. “We hope the verdict will come in the first quarter of this year,’’ said Solomon Moriba, a spokesman for the court in The Hague. Moriba said any relationship Taylor had with American intelligence was not related to his case before the court, but those who investigated the atrocities said it might explain why some US officials seemed reluctant to use their influence to bring Taylor to justice sooner. After Taylor stepped down as Liberian president in 2003 following his indictment, he lived virtually in the open for three years in exile in Nigeria, a US ally. The Bush administration came under intense criticism from members of Congress for not intervening with the Nigerian government until Taylor was finally handed over to the court in 2006. Allan White, a former Defense Department investigator who helped build the case against Taylor on behalf of the United Nations, said the news reinforced suspicions he had for years. “I think the intelligence community’s past relationship with Taylor made some in the US government squeamish about a trial, despite knowing what a bad actor he was,’’ White said in an interview. Taylor’s lawyer in the war crimes trial, Courtenay Griffiths, did not respond to several calls or e-mails seeking comment. The Pentagon’s response to the Globe states that the details of Taylor’s role on behalf of the spy agencies are contained in dozens of secret reports – at least 48 separate documents – covering several decades. However, the exact duration and scope of the relationship remains hidden. The Defense Intelligence Agency said the details are exempt from public disclosure because of the need to protect “sources and methods,’’ safeguard the inner workings of American spycraft, and shield the identities of government personnel. Former intelligence officials, who agreed to discuss the covert ties only on the condition of anonymity, and specialists including Farah believe Taylor probably was considered useful for gathering intelligence about the activities of Moammar Khadafy. During the 1980s, the ruler of Libya was blamed for sponsoring such terrorist acts as the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland and for fomenting guerrilla wars across Africa. Taylor testified that after fleeing Boston he recruited 168 men and women for the National Patriotic Front for Liberia and trained them in Libya. Over time, the former officials said, Taylor may have also been seen as a source for information on broader issues in Africa, from the illegal arms trade to the activities of the Soviet Union, which, like the United States, was seeking allies on the continent as part of the broader struggle of the Cold War. Liberia, too, was of special interest to Washington. The country was founded in 1847 by freed American slaves who named its capital, Monrovia, after President James Monroe. The American embassy was among the largest in the world, covering two full city blocks, and US companies had significant investments in the country, including a Firestone tire factory and a Coca-Cola bottling plant. A former ally of Taylor’s, Prince Johnson, told a government commission in Liberia in 2008 that he believed US intelligence had encouraged Taylor to overthrow the government in Liberia, which had fallen out of favor with Washington for banning all political opposition. Taylor’s ties to Boston reach back four decades. He arrived in 1972 and attended Chamberlayne Junior College in Newton and studied economics at Bentley College in Waltham. While in Boston, he emerged as a political force as national chairman of the Union of Liberian Associations. In 1977 he returned to Liberia and joined Samuel Doe’s government after a coup in 1980. Taylor served as chief of government procurement in the Doe regime but fled Liberia for Boston in 1983 after being accused of embezzling $1 million from the government. He was arrested in Somerville in 1984 and jailed in Plymouth pending extradition.

Charles Taylor as an inmate at the Plymouth CountyHouse of Correction in 1984.

The acknowledgment now that Taylor worked with US intelligence agencies at the time raises new questions about whether elements within the government orchestrated the Plymouth prison break in 1985 – as Taylor claimed during his trial – or at least helped him flee the United States. Four other inmates who also escaped that night were soon recaptured. “Why would someone walk out of a prison that’s never been breached in a 100 years?’’ said David M. Crane, who was the chief prosecutor for the Sierra Leone war crimes court from 2002 to 2005 and now teaches at Syracuse University College of Law. “It begs the question: How do you walk out of a prison? It seems someone looked the other way.’’ Taylor recounted the episode during his trial testimony, insisting that a guard opened his cell for him. “I am calling it my release because I didn’t break out,’’ Taylor testified. “I did not pay any money. I did not know the guys who picked me up. I was not hiding [afterwards].’’ AP/HANDOUT

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               He said two men – he assumed they were American agents – were waiting for him outside the prison and drove him to New York to meet his wife. Using his own passport, he said, he traveled to Mexico before returning to Africa.

Brian Gillen, the superintendent of the maximum security jail in Plymouth who was director of security at the time of Taylor’s escape, declined to comment when reached last week by the Globe. Taylor reemerged in Liberia in 1989 as head of a rebel army. “I assigned an officer to maintain a watch on the Taylor people,’’ recalled James Keough Bishop, US ambassador in Liberia from 1981 to 1989. Bishop said he was not aware of ties between American intelligence and Taylor. After a series of bloody civil wars that lasted much of the 1990s, Taylor eventually assumed power. He was elected president in 1997. Several former officials and specialists believe US intelligence had probably cut ties with Taylor by the time he became president, but Farah said he believes that even in the early years of their associations with Taylor, US intelligence agencies knew what kind of character he was. “Even at the time, there were atrocities going on,’’ he said. “He wasn’t clean when they hooked up with him. We had a high tolerance for people who were willing to inform on Khadafy. The question is whether he actually provided anything useful.’’

Liberia: President Sirleaf Inaugurated to a Second Term, Opposition Graced Occasion

Liberia: President Sirleaf Inaugurated to a Second Term, Opposition Graced Occasion.

Liberia: President Sirleaf Inaugurated to a Second Term, Opposition Graced Occasion

Africa’s first female president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was today inaugurated to a second  term of office with several world leaders in attendance  including U S Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton heading the United States delegation.Liberia is no longer a place of conflict, war and deprivation.  We are no longer the country our citizens  want to run away from, our international partners.

Courtesy: VOA

In her inaugural speech, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate said ”  a watching world, we inaugurate a new beginning, a rebirth of our democracy and a restoration of hope” and that “Liberia is no longer a place of conflict, war and deprivation  and  no longer the country our citizens  want to run away from, our international partners  pitied, and our neighbors feared. President Sirleaf declared,  ”we have earned our rightful place as a beacon of democracy – a country of   hope and opportunity.

The Liberian President told her countrymen  her inauguration was their  moment  and  they were the heroes of the day and the triumph they came to celebrate together.

Addressing the deep division in her country and the urgent need for reconciliation, President Sirleaf said, “ reconciliation defined not by political bargaining

or by an artificial balance of power by tribe, region, religion or ethnicity but by the equality of opportunity and a better future for all Liberians;

true reconciliation means a process of national healing”.  ”It means learning the lessons of the past to perfect our democracy,  but above all it means economic

justice for our citizens and the spread of progress to all our people”.

The Liberian President acknowledged the challenges of creating  jobs for the unemployed and promise to provide opportunities for young people whom she said are impatient and eager to make up for years of conflict and deprivation,  anxious to know that their homeland offers the grounds for hope. President Sirleaf said to the youth of her country, “we heard that message and it is our solemn obligation to ensure that their hope will not be in vain.”

President  inauguration was graced by the opposition though they boycotted the November 8th run-off election with many of their leaders attending the ceremonies including Liberia leading opposition leaders, Cllr. Winston Tubman, U N diplomat and standard bearer of the Congress for Democratic Change, CDC and his running mate, football icon George Weah.

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Inaugural Address- “The Value of a Patriot”

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Inaugural Address- “The Value of a Patriot”.

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Inaugural Address- “The Value of a Patriot”

INAUGURAL ADDRESS

“The Values of a Patriot”

By Her Excellency Mrs. Ellen Johnson- Sirleaf

President of the Republic of Liberia

Monrovia, Liberia,

January 16, 2012

Special Guests, Special Representatives of Colleagues, to Compatriots, to our Opposition Leaders sitting there:

We observe today, for the first time in two generations, the swearing in of a second successive democratic government elected peacefully by the will of the

Liberian people.

Today, Monday, January 16, 2012, on this Capitol Hill, in the presence of international dignitaries and the eyes of  a watching world, we inaugurate a

new beginning, a rebirth of our democracy and a restoration of hope.

Today, we can state with conviction that our country has turned the corner.

Liberia is no longer a place of conflict, war and deprivation.  We are no longer the country our citizens  want to run away from, our international partners

pitied, and our neighbors feared.  We have earned our rightful place as a beacon of democracy – a country of

hope and opportunity. The achievements marked on this day, my fellow citizens, are yours.  This is your moment.

You are the heroes of the day, and it is you whose triumph we come together to celebrate.

I am deeply honored to have been re-elected to the Presidency of the Republic of Liberia, to serve this great nation for another six years.  I have sworn, for

the second and final time, “to protect, and defend the Constitution and laws of the Republic,” and faithfully execute the sacred duties of this office.

The second election in any emerging democracy is the most important.  The first takes place on the world stage, in the spotlight, with great fanfare.  But

the second election is the true test of the will of the people and the institutions they have created.  If the second election works, it establishes a pattern, a

tradition, a routine of democracy that subsequent elections can follow.

You, my fellow Liberians, have conducted another national election, described by all observers as free and fair.  It was a miracle  summoned by the people,

and in so doing, we as a nation have set our faces irrevocably toward democracy and peace.

The cleavages that led to decades of war  still run deep. But so too does the longing for reconciliation – a reconciliation defined not by political bargaining

or by an artificial balance of power by tribe, region, religion or ethnicity but by the equality of opportunity and a better future for all Liberians.

True reconciliation means a process of national healing.  It means learning the lessons of the past to perfect our democracy.  But above all it means economic

justice for our citizens and the spread of progress to all our people.

It means creating jobs, opportunities and giving our young people the skills they need to prosper and create the life they choose.

The youth of Liberia are our future, and they  sent us a message.  They are impatient.  They are eager to make up for years of conflict and deprivation.

They are anxious to know that their homeland offers the grounds for hope.

Let me say to them: We heard that message and it is our solemn obligation to ensure that their hope will not be in vain.

I believe that the achievements of the last six years, and the challenges of the next six, come down to hope.   Hope is being restored to people from whom it

was brutally ripped by war and chaos.  Hope is making it possible for our people to imagine a future of security, of progress, and of improvement for

themselves, their families, and their society.  Hope is fuelling the fires of ambition, and an ambitious people, secure in their homeland, capable of great

things.

But now we must follow through on the commitments we have made to our people, so that their hope is not in vain, so that their hope is real and

they can actually taste the fruits of their hard work and dedication.

To all who have yet to feel the hand of progress touch your life, your time has come.  We have laid the foundations for peace and prosperity, and we must

now  hasten our true mission: putting people, especially young people, first and lifting the lives of all Liberians.

This mission, and our national challenge, will test our love of country.  Some of these  challenges may be confronted and resolved during the  next  six years.

Some will require more years than will be left to me, or to my administration. But we commit to you that we begin today.

My friends, dear  compatriots, let us recognize here today that securing a future of prosperity and democracy will require commitment and hard work

from all of us.

Liberia will not reach its potential unless each and every Liberian resolves to reach his own.  We will rise or fall on the spirit of purpose

and patriotism that we summon between us today.

I swear before you now, to do all my position as President allows to broaden and to deepen the opportunities for a better life available to you.  But it will be

up to you  – it will be up to each of us  – to seize those opportunities, and translate them into prosperity for ourselves and for our children.   Yes, our

government must do better; we have an obligation and a sacred oath to fulfill.  But it is up to us all to ensure that this country lives up to its true potential.

Your government should offer you education worthy of our heritage, but it will be up to you to stay in school, to study hard, and to learn the skills

required for success in this new technological world.

Your government should foster equality of opportunity so that you can get a job, and to know

the dignity of receiving an honest day’s wage.  But it will be up to you to work honestly and hard to  realize those ambitions.   Your government should

provide a system of justice that all of us can trust: law enforcement officials who act out of a sense of duty; judges who interpret and apply the laws fairly;

administrators who live up to their oaths of office whatever the temptations may be.

  But it will be up to you  and to me in demanding transparency and accountability. Six years ago, I stood before you in this same place, and pledged to you my

commitment to a process of national renewal.

Now I address a new and very different Liberia.  I call on you to join me in the completion of that formidable task.

I call on you, my fellow citizens, to join me in renewing our resolve to restore our country and lead it to its grand destiny.

I call you today to share a healthy pride in what we have done, but a still fiercer resolve to do all that must yet be done so that all Liberians thrive in freedom, equality and friendship.

I call you, my compatriots, to a new age of patriotism!

I am asking you to join me in a rededication to the enduring values set out in our Constitution, and consistent with our deepest gratitude for the gifts the

Almighty has conferred on us as individuals and on our country.  It is are discovery of what it means to be a Liberian – a proud citizen of a country

that has suffered from wars but now a dignified African nation with a simple dream of Liberty.  The patriotism and resolve we summon today honors that dream.

Patriotism does not mean blind loyalty to power.  Indeed, sometimes the highest demonstration of patriotism may well be seen when citizens

peacefully and respectfully express their opposition to particular policies proposed by those elected to govern them.

Patriots freely and openly and even passionately disagree about what is best for the nation they love.  Patriots compete for the support, and for the votes, of

their fellow citizens.  Patriots acknowledge that those who may not embrace their particular views are nonetheless acting out of their own understanding

of what is best for their country.

Patriots believe that equality of opportunity applies to all citizens, regardless of tribe or ethnicity, regardless of geographic or economic status, and

regardless of sex.   My administration remains  particularly  committed to achieving equality for women and girls in all areas of life: education, business,

and in the family itself.

 Patriots believe deeply in democratic processes and institutions, and when those processes and institutions waver or fail, patriots resolve to repair them.

They believe in a democracy of policies not personality, merit not money, action not words.  They believe in the sacred right to free expression and the

responsibility to exercise that right with care.

My fellow Liberians, we know all too well what can happen when the tenets of democracy and freedom are not jealously and vigorously defended, when the 5

true love of country is abandoned for narrow interest.   We have suffered the years of deprivation and terror, during which democratic principles were

exiled from our shores.  We have looked into the vacant eyes of a generation of young Liberians whose hope for the future was stolen.

We  all, together,  will never allow those mistakes to be repeated.  We will never again shed the mantle  of democracy,  of freedom,  of national unity, of

patriotism.

 Let us go forth from this Inauguration Day to roll up our sleeves, to make the sacrifices necessary for our continued growth and development: economic,

educational, moral and spiritual.

Let us resolve that our pride in our Liberian nation, and in our  tradition and  heritage, will be manifested in a new commitment to the democratic processes that we mark on this solemn occasion.

I invite you to join me in the next steps toward restoration and the progress of our beloved Liberia.  The future that has beckoned us is finally here.  Let us

walk along this road together, our steps enlightened by our Creator, and grateful to Him and the blessings He has bestowed upon us.

My compatriots, my brothers, my sisters, my daughters, my sons:  I call on each of you to join me today and together let us forge our future in a spirit of pride, purpose and unity.

May God bless us on our journey, and bless our beloved Liberia.

Leadership of Liberian 53rd Legislature Must Reflect Credibility to Restore Integrity.

Editorial;

Tomorrow, January 9th, the 53rd Legislature of Liberia will be electing its new core of officers to commence another 6 year term of  government coming out of a tumultuous election last October.

Capitol Building, Seat of Liberian Legislature

Incoming lawmakers from the get- go, should pause,  look around  and ask themselves  how did they get to the capitol to represent their people when in fact the buck of their predecessors, about 98% of  incumbent lawmakers were kicked out by the voters,  sending a loud and clear message that they won’t settle for any of their representative who will put their personal ego at their expense as the incumbent did so robustly that  they were nicknamed “cold water lawmakers” (local jargon for corrupt) for entangling themselves in pathological bribery,  financial scandals, and gross ineptitude.

As Liberia’s first branch of government chooses its leadership tomorrow, lawmakers must remember the Legislature is not their private business entity to create wealth and make profit but a sacred and privilege body where the Liberian people interest and causes are effectively and vigorously articulated and fought for by their representatives. Their communities saw in them  trust and credibility that they can amicably articulate their causes  and  fight for their various communities and people interest and when every lawmaker takes the oath office, it is affirmation and sealing of the social contract between they and the people and communities they represent and should not compromise their part of the bargain,  replicating the  booted out  ”cold water lawmakers”.

The incoming 53rd  Liberian Legislature is under moral obligation to restore sanity and restore the integrity the people’s sacred house deserves which had been decimated for the past six year by the outgoing 52nd Legislature, embarrassing the  nation and Liberians around the world.

To restore the sanctity of the Liberian Legislature, incoming lawmakers should begin the first step of their million miles of their legislative journey by weeding out former leaders who ineptly led the Legislature and turned that noble body into public ridicule and embarrassment to Liberians around the world. Former leaders of the 52nd Liberian Legislature, including the Speaker Alexander Tyler, Senate Pro tempore,  Cletus Wotorson, and Deputy Speaker Tokpa Mulbah are inept and shame to the Liberian nation and people, making it inconceivable that if the 53rd Legislature mean well for their country and people, they will reject those failed and embarrassing leaders from the 52nd Legislature who want to take leadership again.

They have no leadership record and leg to stand on to pursue  another term of office but only relying on expanding money to incentivize incoming lawmakers who they perceive  are vulnerable financially and would prey on their vulnerability.

If the 53rd Legislature must be respected again by the Liberian people, they should not re-elect  any of the failed, inept, and embarrassing former leaders of the outgoing 52nd Legislature. Equally so, the Legislature should not elect to leadership members  within their ranks and file whose image will cast dark shadow on the already damaged integrity of the Legislature or whose by virtue of their leadership will render that noble body inefficient, denying the country and people needed opportunities desperately needed.

Electing  Representatives Rick Rupe of Nimba county as Speaker of the Liberian Legislature, Bhoffa Chambers of Maryland County to Deputy Speaker, and Senator Gbezongar Finely  of Grand Bassa County as Senate Pro-tempo  will indeed bring credibility to the Legislature and restore its integrity.

The 53rd Legislature of Liberia will receive repudiation if the Senate elects former First Lady of  Liberia and wife of war crime indicted and former President of Liberia Charles Taylor, Jewel Howard Taylor as leader of  that august  body. Senator Taylor will be a distraction and ineffective, subsequently rendering that body inefficient as well. How does the Senate and functional lawmakers conceive to put into leadership a leader who is on United Nation list and cannot leave the country?

Senator Taylor is also not a suitable person to lead the Senate, she is lame dog Senator who will be going for re-election in two years, what happens if she is not re-elected? Obviously, the Senate will be plunged into another leadership frenzy and distraction will engulf  it rather than  focusing on doing the work they were elected to do.

The Liberian Senate needs stability, electing Senator  Taylor as head of the Liberian Senate will bring about leadership instability and inefficiency; a Senator who is lame dog cannot lead   the Senate that will be going to election nine years from now.