Heritage Newspaper :: Liberia

One of the world’s leading iron ore mining company, the Severstal Putu Iron Ore Mining Company, has been given green light by the Government of Liberia (GOL) to operate in the country. Speaking recently to this writer in Tiama Town, Grand Gedeh County, the newly appointed Country Manager of the company, Mr. Christian Masurenko, disclosed that about 500 Liberians, most of whom are Grand Gedians, are now employed with the company.

This world is complex beyond comprehension. Happenings in this world sometimes beat the imagination. I will begin this narrative with a bizarre story I heard in Monrovia in March this year (2012) that left me totally bewildered. I had boarded a taxi bound for Monrovia along with a group of women who were total strange to me.  After exchanging greetings and niceties, the women focused their attention on one of their friends, who they said, was bereaved. This lady had lost her husband, a 50-year-old former employee of the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC). She displayed photos of his burial ceremony. 

Developments in the media in recent times indicate that relations between the government and the Fourth Estate otherwise known as the Media or PRESS is plummeting. The US$11 million lawsuit filed against two media institutions by Mr.  Robert Sirleaf, son of President Ellen Johnson -Sirleaf who also serves as adviser to the Liberian leader, indicates the gravity of the bad blood between the press and the government. Another indicator of the bad blood between the PRESS and Government is the recent impasse between a reporter of LOVE FM and a member of the House of Representatives, which led to the Legislative Reporters Association (LEGISPOL) issuing a threat to impose a media blackout on activities of the lower house of the country's bicameral parliament. Thanks to the timely intervention of the Media Advocacy Group, Press Union of Liberia (PUL), the impasse has been resolved.

In consonance with Liberia’s historical background as a haven for oppressed members of the black race, Liberians have over the ages been very accommodating to their fellow blacks, especially from other West African countries.   The goodwill of Liberians, which is informed by their generous nature, has encouraged large communities of Nigerians, Guineans and Sierra Leoneans to find a permanent home in Liberia.

The history of world acclaimed democratic elections in Liberia can largely be traced from the end of the Charles Taylor era with the introduction of the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) crafted by Liberians with the aid of the international community in the Ghanaian Capital, Accra in 2003. The CPA calls for the conduct of free, fair and transparent elections as a panacea to ending the senseless decade-long civil conflict in Liberia. With the introduction of the CPA, the stage was now set in Liberia once again for an internationally supervised democratic elections based on best international practices and system.