AACCL Observes Global Climate Week

The issue of climate change effect the world over the years has prompted many nations to get involve in the establishment of environmental clubs in order to sensitizer people of the emission of green house gases which tend to trigger a higher rate of nature disasters.
AACCL on Tuesday, September 22, 2009 visited several schools in Monrovia planting trees as well as educating students on the devastating effects of global warming and it causes.
This observance started on Monday, September 21, 2009 and have been named by the United Nations as The Global Climate Week coincide with the UN's Secretary-General's High Level Summit on Climate Change on 22 September 2009.
Global Climate Week aims at uniting efforts, whether individual or collective, calling for urgent action to combat climate change – the greatest challenge of our time. UN urges that Cities, organizations, groups and individuals are invited to mobilize their networks and join the effort.
This important week and the lead-up weekend will be marked by synchronized activities in more than 100 cities to urge world leaders to seal a fair and effective climate agreement at the UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen this December.

Go Slow Hits ELWA Hospital

Workers of the Eternal Love Winning Africa (ELWA) Hospital located on the Roberts field highway on Friday September 4, 2009 morning stage a go slow in relation to an expected employment of a Nigerian national as a supervisor of the hospital.
The go slow lasted from the early morning hours up about 12:30 P.M at which time many patience were not being attended to.
Minister. Kedrick White, Executive Director (ED) of the ELWA, then called an emergency meeting in to discourse the issue of bringing a Nigerian, identify as Hawa Sarwah to supervise the workers; journalists were banded from attending the meeting.
After the hour plus meeting, Minister White spoke to the media present on their progress with the workers at the hospital.
He said that they facing difficulties with many factors such as authorities, proceedings, procedure consultations and how to run and operate ELWA.
According to the excusive director, the hospital will host a one week meeting be to him the staff need to made knowledgeable of different positions hiring and processes among others that can be misunderstand.
He further added that the decision to host a one week meeting is to dialogue with the staffs over their current grievances for a liberalize ELWA to the Liberian Public.
Meanwhile, the staff representative, Jadeh Gesenius Gbablo, speaking to his fellow reluctant comrades about the out come of the meeting said that Minister White wanted for all workers to list the opinions on problems that they have being face with and channel it through three representative.
However, some of the Nurses raised qualms over representation of the entire staff by only three persons, especially in time like these. Mr. Gbablo responded to their say that their words are not the gospel and appealed to them to take up their working and go back to work.
Many of the staff show off reluctance to the appeal and slowly move toward their respective offices in a hope that the seven days cooling off dialogue will solve their many grievances which have haunted them over the years.

Bong Mines Youth Thirst for Justice

The youths of the one time, Bong Mines Company (BMC) that was operating in the west African state of Liberia have been face with series of problems. the rights of the youths are been infringed on by the local authorities as well as the scraping company that is operating in the area.
 Ihe scrape company which is in partnershiip with a british owned company known as horizons, has been scraping every structure of the bogn mines company and ship abroad thereby leaving the facility to be as i fa ghost town.
In September of 2009, the British prepierator, Hans Armstrong used tear gas grenade aginst the local there by injuring their eyes severely. he was then to appear in court but used his monetary might and call the case off to the Provencal city of gbarnga where the case is still pending investigation.

Presidential Task Force Dissolved

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has dissolved the controversial task force under Madam Mary Broh, the embattled Acting City Mayor of Monrovia, for apparently flexing her muscle after a brief clash with Muslims who were breaking their day-long fast over the weekend.
The incident on Benson Street provoked an uproar among Muslims and some Christians who described the Mayor’s act of using baton-carrying members of the task force to disrupt the traditional rituals of the fasting Muslims as ‘barbaric and ruthless’.
In the meantime, President Johnson Sirleaf has expressed disdain and repugnance over the action of Mary Broh when the latter ordered the Special Presidential Task Force to raid the area along the Benson Street Mosque in a routine clean-up exercise.
Presidential Press Secretary Cyrus Wleh Badio, quoting President Johnson Sirleaf, said the ‘uncalled for action’ of the Task Force, led by Madam Mary Broh, affected some members of the Muslim Community who were preparing to break their fast.
Badio made these disclosures yesterday at the Executive Mansion’s weekly news briefing held at the Foreign Affairs Ministry on Capitol Hill in Monrovia.
According to him, the President has been identifying with Liberian Muslims by distributing rice to various mosques in Monrovia and its environs, as they celebrate the Holy Month of Ramadan. But the incident on Saturday, August 29, 2009, threatened to overshadow that gesture.
At the same time, Badio said during a well-attended meeting with representatives of the Muslim Community and the National Muslim Caucus, President Johnson Sirleaf offered an apology for the incident.
The Liberian Chief Executive has also accepted a request for a meeting with representatives of Muslim groups in the country following the Fast Month.
Muslim leaders in the country have also requested a meeting with the President to discuss issues of concern.
Meanwhile, the Executive Mansion said President Sirleaf had dissolved the Broh-led Special Presidential Task Force with immediate effect. Madam Broh and her team had used the Force to demolish makeshift structures and market stalls to the discomfiture of their owners.
The Task Force, according to a briefing note issued by the Press Secretary’s Office, is not necessary; ‘now that the structure of the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) is in place’.
At the same time, eyewitnesses, in separate interviews with the Daily Observer on Monday, expressed dissatisfaction over the action of Madam Broh and the now disbanded Presidential Task Force, last Saturday, “when they wasted food and other eatables belonging to Muslims who were breaking their Fast”.
According to the eyewitnesses, the move of the Task Force provoked anger and annoyance from the Muslim Faithful, but the situation was swiftly and professionally put under control by gallant officers of the Liberia National Police who later arrived at the scene.
Other eyewitnesses said the action of the Presidential Task Force was aimed at discouraging indiscriminate throwing of waste materials near the Benson Street Mosque and other nearby areas where some of the fast breakers were seen throwing dirt onto the principal streets.
Others, too, are of the opinion that such an act was a potential source of violence; something, they say, Liberia, which has just graduated from 14 years of armed conflict with unimaginable negative impacts, was not prepared for.

UNMIL Gets DSR for Recovery and Governance

The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) has received a new Deputy Special Representative (DSR) for Recovery and Governance, Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator to assist the Mission.
Mr. Moustapha Soumaré from Mali was appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to carry out these tasks. He replaces Jordan Ryan who had served in this capacity.
Mr. Soumaré graduated with a Doctorate in soil and water conservation in 1979, and served as a skilled and seasoned professional in positions of increasing responsibility, both in his native country Mali and at the international level.
He later merged his skills with policy analysis, development issues and international affairs. His range of expertise and knowledge spans environmental management; project development and management; and management of human resources.
Mr. Soumaré brings to the UN family in Liberia a range of in-depth skills in partnership-building, policy development, operations management, team management and stakeholder dialogue.
The Recovery and Governance boss possesses a unique understanding and capacity to manage complex negotiations and relationships, borne out of his in-depth knowledge and understanding of international institutions, including the Bretton Woods Institutions and regional economic bodies.
In recent years, Mr. Soumaré’s career at the UN Development Program (UNDP) has seen him serve in a number of capacities, including as Head of the Directorate, Special Assistant to the Director, UNDP Africa, New York; Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Benin and Rwanda; and as Deputy Regional Director for Africa.
While in New York, he also served as Research Director for the Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on the UN system-wide coherence, in the areas of development, humanitarian assistance and the Environment. The UNMIL new chief is married with children.
It can be reached on UNMIL website that Mr. Soumaré’s predecessor, Jordan Ryan, UN’s Resident Coordinator in Liberia held an interview, when he first arrived at his new post three years ago, he soon discovered how much needed to be done to rebuild the war-shattered West African country. One of the UN’s early tasks was to help re-establish working government systems at the local and regional level. But “we faced a challenge where local officials had to sit under trees to hold county meetings,” says Mr. Ryan.
In an interview in December 2008, he had this to say: “They had no electricity, running water… much less functioning county buildings. Rather than disparate UN agencies acting in an uncoordinated fashion, what we did was to create a single team in each of the 15 counties, with the goal that they were there to support the restoration of state authority, to help the County Superintendent learn the basics.”
Mr. Ryan has a lot on his plate, both as Resident Coordinator, bringing together the work of the agencies, and as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, acting under the overall leadership of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Ellen Margarethe Løj, who was at the time Denmark’s ambassador to the UN in New York and now UNMIL Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG).
Mr. Ryan arrived just before President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first female elected head of state and a former UNDP director, took her oath of office in January 2006.
There were still IDP (internally displaced persons) camps, refugee camps and a nation not very clear on its way forward. “But after three years of engagement, there has been a real effort—that the UN is quite proud of—towards beginning a dialogue with the people of Liberia, focusing on their needs.”
The UN supported consultations that helped formulate the County Development Agendas in 130 districts across all 15 counties. Thousands of people were consulted for the first time as to what development should be in Liberia: from road networks, to schools and health services.
“Early on when I first came, we faced a very large vaccination campaign. We were able to use peacekeeping mission assets—helicopters—to get us and NGOs out to places that couldn’t otherwise be reached. The strength of the mission makes us stronger; and when you start working together, people realize ‘wow, we can do so much more,” Mr. Ryan disclosed.
While the SRSG is the overall voice of the UN, Mr. Ryan said the entire team “sees what we’re doing, that we’re all part of the UN.” Each agency has relationships with a variety of ministers, and they are encouraged to think outside their traditional roles.
As the DSRSG and Resident Coordinator at the time, he promised to take an enormous pride in the entire team; an enormous respect. He did as he promised. And other ordinary citizens who spoke to these new papers hope the new successor, Mr. Moustapha Soumaré, will do even better now that he is in charge.
The country extends thanks and appreciation to Mr. Jordan Ryan for his assistance.

WAEC Dux Explains Success Story

The 2008/2009 West African Examinations Council (WAEC) dux, Hester Andoh, in an exclusive interview with the Daily Observer, has explained her success story of her success in this year’s WAEC exams.
She spoke with the Observer on the campus of Joseph Jenkins Roberts United Methodist High School yesterday, September 3, 2009.
Hester, 16, told this reporter that ascending to this level in her life meant a lot to her. “The level of earning division one status in the exams came through hard studies and determination,” she said, beaming with smiles.
The former student of the J.J. Roberts United Methodist High School narrated that her success did not just start but began far back in her elementary school days, when her instructors saw her as a potential student who could make the difference in the lives of her fellow students. “My instructors then began to encourage me to continue to hard work,” Hester added.
She said she obtained her elementary education in Ghana, adding that at the time she was and is still very articulate in English but admitted having deficiency in Math.
“Notwithstanding, I improved on it [Math] and today I have become the dux for this year’s exams. My WAEC result is a plus in my life and I’m not surprised that I emerged as the dux because I know and believe that with hard studies and determination, it can happen not only to me but to any other person,” she asserted.
She then admonished her peers to study hard as a means of succeeding in their academic sojourn.
Hestor was born on June 24, 1993 in Ghana, to a Liberian mother and a Ghanaian father, who currently resides in his country with Hester’s siblings. The prospective college student is the only girl child of her parents and the only one in Liberia with her mother.
According to Hester, her father and mother were married but later divorced.
For his part, the JJ Roberts School Principal, Samuel K. Sagbeh, told the Observer that it was a victory for his school to produce the dux for this year’s exams.
“To a larger extent we are thrilled and fascinated for the kind of result we received this year. We, however, give special recognition to all of our instructors who took time impacting knowledge to all our students, including dux Hestor Andoh,” Mr. Sagbeh intoned.
He used the occasion to call on the Government to provide scholarship for his student.
Interestingly, there are high hopes from many quarters that Government will see reason to provide scholarship for Hester, whether in the country or outside.