Brumskine Grips West Point?

Slum Community Turnout En-mass To Welcome Liberty Party, As Party Dedicates New Office As Frank Jericho Nagbe Pledges Support….

Wade C.L Williams: wade.williams@frontpageafricaonline.com

 

Frank Jericho Nagbe, former Coach of the Liberian National Team (the Lonestar) now Coach of premiere side LISCR-FC led the way as hundreds of West Pointers spilled the street to take a glimpse of the political torchbearer of the opposition Liberty Party.

Esther Toe, resident of WestPoint stated that she joined Unity Party because she has seen no light in her previous party.

Toe: “if I can join Liberty party, then you must know that there is something good in liberty party. Today, If I be successful with Liberty Party through my effort, my people can enjoy.”

The Township of West Point in Monrovia turned out in their masses to welcome Liberty Party’s Charles Walker Brumskine on Saturday, May 14, 2011.

Cllr. Brumskine was in West Point to dedicate the office of his party. Citizens of the township, which is widely considered a CDC stronghold, were seen chanting political slogans to the LP’s standard bearer.

Coach Nagbe pledged his support to the LP and announced that he will be contesting the Representative seat of District # 1 on the party’s ticket.

Old man Winston, who says he’s got a thousand members following in the Wheelbarrows Union and owns more than one hundred wheelbarrows, says he was a supporter of the Congress for Democratic Change, but since the ceding of the standard bearer position by Weah  to Tubman, he has seen no reason to follow the CDC.

“Now they turn Oppong brain around, his eye ball turning”.

Cllr. Brumskine in remarks to the people of West Point described the day as historic for his party.

The LP strongman thanked the West Pointers, especially Nagbe for his support to the LP.

Speaking on the issue of unification, Cllr. Brumskine urged Liberians to put their differences aside regardless of political affiliation and start with personal reconciliation.

Brumskine: “I want us today to start with personal reconciliation, I ask every Liberian to reconcile with that family member with whom you have not spoken for many days.”

The former President Pro-Tempore of the Liberian Senate said it is time for Liberians to move forward.

Cllr. Brumskine, speaking at the Kru Beach community in West Point said Liberians are at cross-roads, moving towards the general and presidential elections which will see a new government taking the mantle of authority for Liberia.

“I promise you West Pointers that when I’m elected your President we will also elect our city mayors, we will also elect our paramount chiefs, we will also elect our town and clan chiefs, we will elect all of those people who are suppose to administer the affairs of government”.

He urged every Liberian to take advantage of the upcoming referendum and vote YES for all the amendments.

DUNN CHRONICLES ANNUAL PRESIDENTS’ MESSAGES

New book from former Minister of State now professor of Political Science at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, describes the social and economic development of an African country over a time span of more than a century and a half, from 1848 until 2010.

Dr. D. Elwood Dunn, a former Minister of State of Presidential Affairs has documented state of the nation addresses to the Liberian National Legislature from every year since 1848 in a book aptly titled: The Annual Messages of the Presidents of Liberia 1848-2010: State of the Nation Addresses to the National Legislature.

Dr. Dunn, currently a professor of Political Science at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, USA says the compilation publication captures a comprehensive longitudinal study which describes the social and economic development of an African country over a time span of more than a century and a half, from 1848 until 2010.

From 1974 until 1980 Dunn served in the government of Liberia, becoming a member of the Cabinet in 1979. He was editor of the Liberian Studies Journal from 1985 until 1995.

The book represents the first major research contribution to the history of the political system of one of the first countries of the continent to attain independence.

The speeches illuminate the area of conflict between the autochthonous and the black emigrant populations and also document the relations with the U.S. as “founding nation” and constitutional role model, especially in the 19th century. The presidents’ speeches are a rich source of information for gaining a better understanding of Liberia’s past and the country’s current challenges and future prospects. With The Annual Messages of the Presidents of Liberia 1848–2010, the speeches scattered in various Liberian and American archives and libraries have now for the first time been collected and reconstructed in one single edition.

Liberian presidents have delivered a state of the nation address reflecting the various facets of the political, social, economic and ethno-cultural situation of the country. Liberia, the first and – for more than a century – the only independent state in Sub-Saharan Africa, was founded in 1822 by an assortment of American non-governmental organizations as an asylum for black Americans.

The book has been described as an important contribution to the ethno-cultural history of Liberia, the first (and for more than a century the only) independent state of Sub-Saharan Africa. The contents have been compiled from numerous American and African archives and are now available in one edition for the first time. It also includes biographies of the presidents and a scholarly introduction by the editor supplement the 146 speeches. The edition is a valuable source of information on the history and political situation of Africa during the past 163 years.  This is Dr. Dunn’s second publication in recent years. His last work, Liberia and the United States during the Cold War: Limits of Reciprocity was widely acclaimed and explored the dynamics and limitations of reciprocity in Liberia-US relations.

McIntosh At Foreign Ministry: Employees reject Bush and Greaves’ nomination

Pleads With Senate Not To Confirm Both Nominees….

 Jetee J. Tarr (intern Reporter) 05479629 holy4christ.tarr@gmail.com

Employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have rejected the appointment of Miss Angela Cassell-Bush and Mr. William Greaves as inspector General and Assistant Minister for European affairs of the Foreign Service respectively.

In opposition to the appointments, the employees sent out numerous press statements cautioning the Liberian President against appointing Madam Bush who have reportedly undermined several officials and ambassadors of the Ministry, resulting to a lot of dismissals at the Ministry during the “poor and dark administration of former Min. Olubanke King Akerele”.

Accordingly, during their first interactive meeting with Minister Toga McIntosh Gayewea following his confirmation, the workers openly requested the Minister to have Madam Bush removed from the Ministry, if the Ministry was to regain its status as the point line Ministry of government, but Minister McIntosh greatly disappointed them by turning down their request.

The workers stated that Madam Bush does not have the vigor, moral rectitude and technical expertise to operate the dedicated office. They stated that Miss Angela Cassell-Bush emphatically is inexperienced, inept, unprofessional, incapable and lacks basic diplomatic training for the post, as she is on record for lobbying for the retirement of the former Inspector General and several Ambassadors-At-Large, including the dismissal of over 50 employees as-well-as dozens of Foreign Service officers during the failed administration of former Minister King Akerele.

“She is the one that indirectly runs the financial bureau at the ministry and decides who receive monthly allowance and gas slips, as well as who get on the payroll, while the Deputy Minister for Administration’s office is being remotely run by the ghost of the former Foreign Minister”.

She also runs the show at the ministry and on a daily basis feed former Minister Akerele with information relative to happenings at the Ministry. She undermined former Inspector General Francis Johnson and senior Ambassador at large Karlton Karpeh and three other ambassadors at large, leading to their forceful retirement”, the employees stated.

 The workers have made it known that they are never going to work neither cooperate with Madam Angela Cassell-Bush and will resist her confirmation for the post of inspector General of the Foreign Services Department.

They are also calling on members of the Liberian Senate not to confirm Madam Bush and Mr. Greaves and appealing to the President to withdraw their appointments.

“For Mr. William Greaves, Jr., who has been nominated to the post of Assistant Minister for European Affairs, he is a High School dropout and holds no college or university degree, this contradicts the government’s policy that to occupy a Ministerial post, the individual must hold a university degree. His apt naïveté, inexperience, gullibility, plus his greenness as a playboy and above all cannot compose or either express himself better disappoints us. Our officials of the ministry have violated every norms and laws of the ministry and are engaged in every vile act of administration and immorality from sexual exploitation and harassment, administrative malpractices, bribery, favoritism, corruption to nepotism.

Also the Deputy Minister for International Integration and Cooperation and the Deputy Minister for Administration and Finance and other senior officials are requiring sex from female staffers in return for their (female staffers’) official entitlements and elevation.

This ugly act is increasing: for a female staffer at the ministry to obtain cash allowance or get promotion, foreign assignment or go on foreign trip and obtain scholarship or given gasoline slip without having an affair in bed with the two Deputy Ministers and other officials in decisions making.

As a result of the unacceptable practices at the ministry, some ambitious female staffers including Ranisa Summon, Antoinette Wolor, Kartura Morgan, Christiana Tobey, Reginal Dortue, Annie Kennedy, Musu Kromah and Patricia Harris have failed to meet the demands of our officials. While other officials of the ministry ranging from Assistant Minister to Directors are also engaged into similar repugnant acts by constantly subjecting their staff members to sexual exploitation and harassment, while those who resist are sidelined”, the statement added.

The press statement: “Despite efforts that have been made by Minister Togo Gagwea to restore the Foreign Ministry to its pre-war status, immoral activities are being practiced including malpractices, sexual abuses and harassment, favoritism, bribery, corruption and nepotism, which are strenuous and killing the ministry”.

For a female staff to be included on the monthly allowance list, they have to sleep with officials responsible for listing individual names on the allowance list while those exempting themselves are either abandoned or cast aside from the list, which is one of the malpractices the employees are seeking to end.

Those securities officer that are assigned with guests visiting the country have had continuous complains about the unfair behavior of assigned protocol officers who usually demand money from visiting guests whenever the guests are about to leave the country, while female protocol officers usually sleep with guest for money.

The office of the Deputy Minister for Administration is drowned in administrative malpractices, nepotism, and preferential treatment by employing relatives and family members while at the same time being engaged in disparity into the distributions of allowances among the work force, bulk of who are left out in the process.    

One major negativity at the Ministry is the failure of the authority to combat corruption, especially at the Bureaus of Archives, legal, protocol and passports, where staff members at these bureaus usually demand illegal money before working on important documents such as articles of incorporation, verbal notes, duplication of legal instruments and documents and processing of passports to the detriment of the applicants.

The situation of administrative malpractice has dramatically become the order of the day, with those employed in recent time being either family members, close associates or friends of the Deputy Minister for Finance and the Assistant Minister for Administration as-well-as other officials of the Ministry.

The staff offices of the Assistant Minister for Administration and the Deputy Minister for Administration receives monthly allowance and gas slips and better allowance, while some  highly favored securities receive monthly allowance and gas slips, with nothing for other secretaries assigned in other bureaus and departments.

Some females at the ministry have continuously complained of the burden of sexual harassment by two deputy ministers assigned on the third floor,  in which the officials have manipulated their said position to abuse and exploit females sexually, having others falling prey to it.

This indecent practice is allegedly led by one black looking, light skinned, big-legs lady assigned on the fourth floor and another bright female assigned on the third floor, among several ladies who are involved due to greed of being promoted and assigned at foreign missions and also for cash, benefits, and preferential treatment from officials of the Ministry.

Another issue which has taken a center stage for the past three months is the issues of some low rank employees receiving high allowances and more gas slips than others like Directors and those with BSC and Masters’ Degrees.

Even those who were sent abroad to undergo studies have returned with Masters’ Degrees, but there has been no promotion with their monthly allowance for the month of January being US$125.00, while they still receive civil servant salary. Those assigned in Madam Angela Cassell-Bush’s office without degrees receive a monthly allowance of US$200.00-US$350.00, while some staff members gets between US$ 20.00-US$50.00 as allowances.

Of major concern are the attitudes of one Deputy Minister and Assistant Minister Offices on the ground floor and the third floor and the Chief of Protocol being the only one to attend all foreign trips without surprising their auxiliary to attend any.  These clandestine behaviors have made them unpopular in the eyes of their staffers.

REPRESENTATIVE KIDAU HAS ACTUALLY UNDERPERFORMED

The Editor,

An independent analysis of one of the foremost Newspapers, FrontPageAfrica

in its two recent lead articles on the performance of Lawmakers and the
questions: “What have they done for you lately”? and “Do they deserve your
vote”? require an in-depth and retrospective scrutiny of people we voted
into office and the aftermath results of their performances.

Not to go into the terrain of other Districts in responding to the questions
of the Newspaper, I have chosen to stick directly to where my strength and
interest lie. As legitimate citizen and voter of District number 4 of
Bahn-Garr in Nimba County, the analysis of FPA in my view was even more of a
blessing to the current Lawmaker, Rebecca Nohn Kidau, though her performance
worth a bit little from the account of the Newspaper.

According to FPA, the District number four Lawmaker is one of the few
females in the House that occasionally contributes to debates. Occasionally
in this framework and taking into account the generic view of the article,
it indirectly classified the Nimba Lawmaker as a “sitback” Lawmaker. This
analysis should further ring bell in the minds of voters who are still
confused over the underperformance of Madam Kidau for the past five years in
the House of Representatives. We have said this and continue to inform the
people of Bahn-Garr District out of prejudice and pretense that our dear
sister, mother, aunty has underperformed and her quest for re-election only
risk the already ceremonious vacancy the District has suffered for the past
years.


We again mentioned earlier that the Nimba District number 4 Lawmaker serves
as a spectator in the parliament. Lawmaking is not only casting of vote but
a firm agenda that will protect your people’s interest. This agenda means
listening to your people and forwarding their ideas to the legislature
because everyone can be there at the same time.

FPA further states that Kidau is not noted for bill submission. It has been
overwhelmingly accepted in the District that the Madam desire for the
Legislative seat is built around jobs and does not have a well defined
legislative plan for the people of Bahn-Garr in Nimba County least to
mention bill submission.

Admittedly, Madam Kidau is among the finest females in the District and as
such, preference was given her in the 2005 elections with the hope that her
education and alleged contacts would have re-shifted the focus of the
District but her stay at the legislature raises more questions than the
required answers we needed.

I am of the conviction that the Lawmaker could serve better in other areas
in the County and perform very high than occupying the legislative seat
without result.

Her frequent absence from the parliament of late is no mistake to me because
she is under severe pressure to relinquish the District seat honorably or be
voted out in the next election.

Lastly, for the sake of clarity, the radio station built in the District is
no essence to the county because it is intended to blow her trumpet which is
not really working well for her.

The answer to “What has she done for us”? The answer is 20% of what the
District expected of the Lawmaker. The answer to “Does she deserve your
vote” is absolutely no, because 20% of any grading system is a poor mark.

Michael Kpayili"
payekpayili@gmail.com