The closure of the account has arisen fears among diplomats at Liberia's mission in the U.S. with some wondering how the decision would affect their salaries, rent for the office, phone, gas and heat bills and other related expenses. Employees are paid every three month period: January-February-March payment have reportedly been made already with the next scheduled payment set for April-May-June, a source told FPA.
That kind of payment schedule seems calculated to maximize uncertainty and hedging via under-the-table deals.
Ebola made an appearance in Liberia. This outbreak came from Guinea, not from a local reservoir, but some government officials are trying to be extra safe--and running into push-back.
Monkey, one of the animals listed as a carrier of Ebola is a favorite bush meat for many Liberians, an aged old food and convincing people to stay away from a food they have been consuming for years is proving difficult.
As quoted later (dry meat is, if I recall correctly, smoked bush meat; in this case monkey):
"They said the sickness came from Guinea and people in Guinea do not eat dry meat so they just trying to spoil our business," said Ma Tenneh.
"During the war, they were eating human beings, that one na make them sick, that now they say that meat making people sick. They are spoiling our business and it is our living. The people who are eating dog meat, what they will say about them? They are just complaining about dry meat, people eating itchy dog, it is not killing them.They know how far the sickness coming from before they lying on meat."
The language may be unfamiliar, but the sentiment is very familiar: the bureaucrats in charge don't have a clue. ("lying on" = telling lies about)
In Guinea where the outbreak began this would be a reasonable precaution, but the Liberian cases were different:
Noting that the result has shown that the virus exist in the country, Dr. Gwenegale further said the two results indicated a lady has died from the virus in Foya Lofa County while her sister taking care of her was infected.
He explained that the infected sister who contracted the virus had ridden a taxi late Sunday evening, and slept in the home of the taxi driver who is thought to be suspected of catching the virus.
That suggests a possibly more effective angle for control. FWIW, private cars are not common and taxis are not terribly expensive, so this infected driver doesn't just expose the rich.
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