Speedy trials

A mysterious death. After a gold miner was found dead, "tensions escalated when during the procession into town, residents claimed that, in line with traditional practices, the corpse allegedly identified Thomas Cooper as responsible for Morris’ death."

That would certainly explain the mob that tried to kill Thomas earlier.

Following the incident, Thomas Cooper reportedly confessed, alleging that Morris was killed through traditional means. He claimed that food and alcohol consumed at the gold mining site were poisoned through witchcraft. He also alleged that others were involved but has not disclosed their identities.

Authorities say investigations into the matter are ongoing.

There's a picture of a partly destroyed house that Thomas was hiding in. I rarely saw palm-branch roofs--they weren't legal. Crowded villages tended to have one house set the rest on fire, so corrugated metal or asbestos roofing was mandated.

I wonder when during the various proceedings the confession happened. I'd bet it was before the authorities rescued him.

Vanya Da Dua

One of my sisters gave me this memoir for Christmas. Erik d'Azevedo was abouit 6 years old when his family went to Liberia in the late 50's for his father's anthropological research. It is profusely illustrated with black and white photos, mostly of places and people I never saw, but looking very familiar.

His family lived up-country in a village in a compound owned by the Chief. I lived (at first) in a school campus (500 students) about 30 minutes from the capitol (not that far, but the roads were poor). He made friends easiy, and remembers details to a degree I can't come close to.

There are a few glitches: termite queens are 3-4 inches long, not 3-4 feet. But you won't care.

The title was a name given to Erik after the people heard his stories about America. It was the name of a folk hero of the Gola, who was as famous for his tall tales as his deeds. Bridges that can stand the weight of many cars? You're joking with us.

He started as an object of fear, and then of fascination. The friend he called Bobby suffered injustices Erik couldn't do anything about, and many of their friends were thieves. His sister was almost of marriagable age by village standards. Her story would have been an interesting addition.

The obligations of the children impressed him--they had roles from young ages. Some of the tribal rules seemed reasonable, and some crazy.

The supernatural played (and still does) a huge role in village life, and he had some close calls when his curiosity about the secret societies' doings got him in trouble.

Read it. Yes, the formatting is sub-par and an editor should have caught a duplicate story. Don't worry.

Expediting your way through government

Golden Touch is a new service in Liberia, advertising "One Stop Compliance": "established to help clients navigate Liberia’s often complex administrative and regulatory landscape. ... created in response to persistent challenges faced by entrepreneurs and individuals dealing with delays, red tape, and unclear procedures."

“This institution stands between you and unnecessary headaches,” Ross said, noting that the center will eliminate informal middlemen, excessive fees, and uncertainty. He assured clients that official costs would be clearly stated, with only minimal processing fees added, and that applicants would be updated throughout the process.

I think I'll just leave this here. I don't think it needs much commentary about the situation in Liberia, and the likely trajectory of the agency.

Mementos

The carving of the hut isn't very well done, but given that the sculptor didn't have all of his fingers, or good use of the rest, you can let that slide. But without knowing that this came from a leprosarium and represented the inmates efforts to support themselves, at best you'd think "An interesting tropical wood."

The place looked like other villages, though in retrospect there weren't any kids there that I noticed. We were on a tour, and had several other places to visit. This one sounded more interesting than it was. To me, anyway.

My mother bought it for me. I was a bit dubious--could one catch leprosy from an object?

I asked about the place (in Ganta, I think) a few years later, and was told it was closed. That report must have been either mistaken or temporary; it is still going.

I don't think this memento will mean much of anything, even with its story, to anybody but me. Perhaps it already served its purpose--earning a little money for a crippled sculptor.

What should come next for it? I can't imagine the kids arguing over it (wouldn't want them to anyway). It's value seems to be tied to me.

A little lack of planning

A fire at Liberia pavilion at the COP30 meeting in Brazil may be due to a bit of confusion. Liberia uses both 110 and 220 systems, sometimes in the same building.(*)

The Liberian Pavilion had reportedly been dealing with electrical challenges since the opening of the conference due to a mismatch between the 220 volt wiring used in the pavilion and the 110 volt wiring standard across the broader facility, according to the source.

According to the source, several devices brought in by the Liberian delegation had burned out earlier in the week after being plugged in, prompting them to purchase step-down equipment to manage the voltage difference.

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(*) Upstairs was 110, downstairs 220, and the exact same style of outlet (American 2-prong) was used in both. When the manager's son innocently loaned the downstairs tenants a replacement microwave, the magic smoke came out and they had to come borrow the use of ours (upstairs).

Don't ask questions

you don't want to know the answers to. "Liberia's Education Ministry has blocked controversial plans to introduce mandatory drug testing in all of the country's schools."

Liberia has a major problem with drug abuse among youth: UNFPA guessing 1 in 5 (maybe only 1 in 18, but that's still a lot). So, what do you do? Test, maybe?

Setting aside accuracy issues, and ignoring the cost of a testing program, what do they plan to do with the information? What can they do, if they identify someone as a drug abuser? Is what they're doing now working at all?

Someone described an expert as a person who can explain how bad your situation is, but not tell you how to get out of it.

College shutdowns and warnings

"In a crackdown on substandard tertiary institutions, the National Commission on Higher Education (NCHE) has shut down 31 unauthorized colleges and suspended the licenses of 22 others for violating accreditation standards and regulatory requirements."

The list of the shutdown and suspended can be found in a Facebook post. I've never heard of them. A large fraction are religious institutions. I'm not sure what "Divine Airline School & Management Studies" is.

More interesting to me is the list of schools that got the "one-year compliance ultimatum" issued to them. Big names: "University of Liberia, Cuttington University, Bomi County Technical College, Adventist University of West Africa, Salvation Army Polytechnic University, Apex University of Liberia, and Nimba University. The full list is here. I taught the first (and AFAIK only) physics lecture at African Methodist Episcopal University (and exited the building through a mob of students on an unrelated strike), and my father was buried at Liberian Baptist Theological Seminary. The latter is pretty specialized, unlike University of Liberia--which I'm sad but not surprised to see on the list.

In a formal statement, the NCHE cited multiple risk factors threatening the viability of the affected institutions, including: Severe financial instability, declining student enrollment, insufficient qualified academic staff, substandard infrastructure, poor institutional governance and administrative inefficiencies.

That's for the ones they issued the warning to. The others were worse.

I was lucky

The mamba was three feet long, and coiled in a neat oval. As I trotted out on an errand I planted my foot on something soft and looked down. My left foot was squarely across the middle of the snake's coil, and about two inches back from its head.

I wasn't known for atheletic prowess, but I put in good speed as I yelled "Snake, snake!" Men congregated, bearing sticks and a shovel, and the snake soon came apart. At first the snake must have been surprised -- it didn't move much, but when the blows started landing it whipped around pretty fast, though fruitlessly.

I don't remember who got to take the meat home.

Unexpected hazards

"SEEKON – Two DayLight reporters narrowly escaped a masked dancer last Wednesday in the Seekon Pellokon Community Forest in Sinoe County."

The two were covering a story involving probable corruption surrounding a forestry contract, when a "country devil" showed up in town, looking for them. He was not reported as having any assistants with him, but the village people stood ready to assist him in whatever he wanted.

AID reduction

AID cuts have downstream consequences that are easily foreseeable, and, as expected, reported on skew. "the cost of cancelled projects could be as high as \$US300 million, equal to a third of Liberia’s \$800 million yearly budget." Apples to oranges here: the government budget isn't the GDP.

The first story is about a nutrition project--one in which the object was to spur local intrepeneurs to market a local infant food. And then another anecdote:

For nearly a decade, Julie Sundaygar, 29, of the Bong Mines Bridge community on the outskirts of Monrovia, has sold bananas and shelled peanuts to workers who poured out from the Ministry of Finance’s Mechlin Street entrance. Sundaygar recalls almost doubling her sales when USAID-funded projects filled the ministry with USAID workers. “I could sell \$LD15,000 (about \$US75) first,” says Sundaygar who brings her fruit here from a twice weekly hour-long journey to Omega Market. Now her prices have halved. “Nobody here now gets their fruit.”

When I was last there, one of the popular job training choices the NGOs offered was furniture-making. There was quite a market for American/European style chairs, but if you looked closely the market was NGO workers and UN peacekeeping troops. The peacekeepers were never going to stay forever, and the NGOs come and go--and when they go they rarely pack furniture to go with them, so the market glutted.

An economic plan that's contingent on money coming for free forever is crazed. Tourism is challenging but they have people working on that. Infrastructure is a problem, of course, both the building of and the maintenance of.

The first link above tells of one aid project, but the first one they reported on I took note of: a 17M USAID project to advise the government on tax policy.

I was told the main purpose of USAID when founded was to funnel money to the right people to encourage good behavior and presumably wise choices; secondarily to help out the poorer populations (hopefully as a consequence of those wise choices). That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it lends itself to corruption and recently quite a bit of their money had been going to political influence buying in this country, which is way out of line. I'm not impressed by the motte-and-bailey defenses I've heard.

Ambitious plans for banking in Liberia

CBL Unveils National Electronic Payment Switch to Drive Cash-Light Economy and Financial Inclusion

The Central Bank of Liberia has officially announced the upcoming launch of a national electronic payment switch, a transformative initiative aimed at modernizing Liberia’s financial infrastructure, promoting financial inclusion, and reducing reliance on physical cash.

What's wrong with this picture?

Yep, electrical power is unreliable, even in Monrovia. And the climate isn't kind to electronics.

“If someone in Liberia can pay for goods in Ghana without U.S. dollars, that’s not just convenience—it’s transformation,” Ngafuan said.

OK, that seems like a nice ambition.

“Digitization helps fight corruption. You can trace every payment,” Balogun said. “We, the banks, are ready to support."

That, if true, sounds like a good reason for the system to never get implemented. Who in the government has an interest in fighting corruption?

Although it opens the door for spying on business rivals, so maybe... And it suggests ways of doing taxation or asset seizure conveniently.

Fireworks and family

When I was young and in California, Mom wasn't fond of fireworks or cap guns, and I didn't have the budget to buy them anyhow. Dad didn't seem to mind them, but he went along. I found out later he was a decent shot--he'd been in the Pacific in the war and the Naval Reserve afterwards, so he'd had training.

Things changed. When the civil war got closer and closer to Monrovia, and the booms were light artillery and the cracks in the distance weren't firecrackers, it got on both of their nerves after a while. You never knew when Taylor's men would make a breakthrough, or if government troops would go freelancing.

The US evacuated its citizens (with just a suitcase each), and they came back to the States for a while. (And couldn't leave to go to work in Ivory Coast until they paid the evacuation costs, but the gov't couldn't figure out what the costs actually were for months.)

But neither of them enjoyed fireworks displays after that.

I do, but this year I think I'll rest; maybe watch the neighbor's instead. Not a lot of energy back yet.

Learn something new every day

I lived there for some time, but never realized(*) that Liberia grew its own coffee variety: "quite different (and somewhat superior) in every way compared to other species, including Arabica and Robusta". It's a bit rarer and pricier, and has a "more complex flavor profile with distinct fruity and floral notes."

The main growers are now Malaysia and the Philippines, not Liberia.

---

(*)Of course I hadn't acquired a taste for coffee then. Nor have I now, though if there's nothing else to drink or I need to stay awake ...

Wrong kind of bird

Roberts Field has had power outages, and sometimes planes have had to divert.

The Liberia Airport Authority (LAA) has informed the Senate Transport Committee that a group of birds, feeding from nearby dumpsites, has been causing significant disruptions to the airport’s power supply.

Initially, the LAA had attributed the disruption to an electrical issue stemming from the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) power grid.

However, in a subsequent update, LAA officials revealed that the birds have been perching on the airport’s transformers, leading to frequent electricity problems. This unusual interference has resulted in intermittent power outages, significantly impacting operations at the airport.

Image taken from Knews Online.

Politics and religion in other climes

I was chasing down a familiar name (my mother had worked with the man) in the news, and a rabbit trail brought me to an interesting election dispute:

NEC rejects Justin Oldpa Yeazeahn CKA New Zoe Prophetkey application to contest for the bi-election for Senate seat in Nimba. It is reported that he fraudenly inserted voter registration number on his application form, where as he didn't register to vote during the last election.

Mr. Yeazeahn who has asked young people in Nimba to have plenty children by impregnating their girlfriends and wives, and he will pay the hospital bills has responded to NEC communication to him as attached.

He said the National Elections Commission didn't send the communication in time , to allow him use the 48 hours appeal period to file an appeal. He indicated that the commission refused to use his email to address the communication which would have given him opportunity to immediately respond.

Mr. Yeazeahn also accused the NEC of not giving the signed copy of his rejection communication to the person he sent to receive it

Many who think that Prophetkey shouldn't run for public office because of his unruly behavior , noted for abusing women will be happy if NEC decision stands.

The public is watching to see what happens next!!!!

Thanks to HOTT FM 107.9 and Super Bongese TV.

Chewing sticks

Some trees are preferred (arak?) for this dental hygiene product.

It's popular enough that the FDA (Forestry Development) had to ban their harvest for a while to keep down the clear-cutting of trees, although permits are available after sub rosa payments.

I've seen them in use, but never realized that the resource was limited.

Cuts

"Elon Musk’s DOGE Axes $17M USAID Project In Liberia"

It sounds dramatic.

cancellation of a $17 million USAID-sponsored project for Liberia—a project originally intended to provide tax policy advice to the Liberian government.

Oh.

I'm not an expert on tax policy, though I do know the first rule is to actually collect them. Figuring out how other countries have fared with different policies would take me a bit of research, and maybe some translation services. I think I'd have the basic grasp of it after a few months, and a few more for details (devil is in the details). Call it a year, just for round numbers, and maybe assume salary and services costs of $300K. OK, now I'm an expert, or probably no worse than the ones out there, and I write my report. Step 1: weed out as much corruption in the revenue department as you can, etc.

I'd bet my report wouldn't differ too much from what they already know to do; maybe a little futzing with the tax rates, but their economy can only stand so much. The US was going to spend over 50 times my estimate.

I can't tell why: "The details of the $17 million project had been sparse", so it could be just about anything.

Fire in Liberia

"fire engulfed the Capitol Building, the seat of Liberia’s Legislature." Also: "The Liberia National Fire Service and the Liberia National Police responded promptly to the emergency, but their efforts were hampered by limited and outdated firefighting equipment."

Second fire in about a week--first was attributed to an electrical fault, with no major damage. I'm not expert enough to know if a smolder can last a week and flare up again. If you don't have equipment to look for hot spots...

There's blame. Two factions in the House of Representatives claim to be in charge--one group removed Speaker Koffa from his position. Rep Foko is being arrested for questioning, accused of making "incendiary remarks" ("If they want us to burn the session, we will burn it.") Protestors had been out in front the day before, and were dispersed aggressively. You may believe Johnson or not as you please: ""rights as enshrined in our constitution can’t be trampled upon by neither Mr. Boakai, nor his irresponsible homophile police Director Gregory Coleman. The firing of live bullets at unarmed citizens speaks to the undemocratic and tyrannical nature of the Unity Party government and this reminds us of the numerous bloodshed orchestrated and executed by Unity Party over the years,” he said. "

I don't think I'd care to pay them a visit until the dust settles a bit.

UPDATE: 8-Jan-2025

Investigators say that a) the fire started in multiple places and b) they found a container with an accelerant. They have invited some people to appear to explain themselves.

Interesting. There's a chance for me to visit, but we wonders, aye we wonders.

Prince Johnson

is dead. He apparently collapsed and died in his shower early today (other sources say died in bed) (Thursday starts earlier in Liberia). During the Liberian civil war he became one of the warlords, and famously captured, tortured, and killed Doe -- and had it filmed.

Following continued clashes with Taylor and the pro-Doe ULIMO group, the INPFL was disbanded and Johnson was forced into exile in Nigeria in 1992, where he converted to Christianity and reconciled with the Doe family.

The "reconciled with the Doe family" is interesting. You always wonder if a famous conversion like this is real or political, but if he managed that, I'm guessing real. He became a pastor, and a senator--apparently not always a straight-up one, but that's not surprising in a senator. I never met the man and have no personal impressions.

Do I need to say that the tribes he represented remember him fondly, and the tribes he fought against are angry he never stood trial? His troops did a lot of ugly things during the war.

I've already opined about Truth and Reconciliation in Liberia, and I don't know of any new evidence to change my conclusion (it's probably a bad idea). I think the only political way forward is for the warlords to die off. There's another way, a supernatural way, and it sounds like Rev. Johnson found it.

Education in Liberia

"Dr. Benjamin Wehye, President of LICOSESS College of Education recently returned home from Zambia with his PhD earned in Education after five years of what he termed as “intensive online research based and solution development study,” accompanied by in-person seminars." What does he say about Liberia's well-known problems with education?

raised concerns about Liberia’s seriousness to break away from the 1860s educational philosophy which he said was centered around exclusively educating children of freed and repatriated slaves and neglecting back then, the native residents who laid the foundation for the country that is today known as Liberia. ...

Once a slave, the mindset becomes narrow and restricted to thinking that freedom is yet too far away. This is why they train their children in the same fashion, making them believe that a certain class of people does not deserve the opportunity to rise to certain levels.

Exactly what from the 1860's educational philosophy remains in the Liberian system today isn't specified. Nor is it clear what the limited educational opportunities a century ago (native tribes didn't get a lot of schools) has to do with all 25,000 applicants failing the entrance exam a few years ago: that's the descendants of the native tribes, of the "Congo" people, and of the Americos -- none passed.

If things are still pretty much as they were when I was there, problems include low salaries, unreliable payment of same, poor oversight, and low prestige for teachers--if you have an education, you want a better government job than mere teacher. There was also the problem of school fees that not all families could afford, though I gather there's been some effort to find the money in the budget to deal with that. (No doubt much will go astray.)

Rhetoric about historical offences seems unlikely to address those issues. For that matter, if this report about the LICOSESS Gbarnga school closing is a guide, the good Dr. Wehye has some housekeeping at home to take care of: "allegedly using course guides instead of a complete curriculum for its B-certificate program in Gbarnga".

If LICOSESS does what it's advertised to, that will help. They've graduated quite a few teachers already from several campuses--the important things are simple. Train teachers, and remember to pay them.