How Prof. Alaric Tokpa protected his family
Brooklyn Park, MN- In much of Liberia’s troubled history of dictatorial and military rule, many people never got to know the pains relatives of students’ politicians went through whenever their loved ones were imprisoned by the government. But for the first time last Saturday, during a gathering of Liberian and American guests, a Liberian lady […]
Female ‘armed robber’ resists going to jail
Drama erupted at the Monrovia City Court in Liberia recently when a suspected female armed robber resisted her imprisonment at the Monrovia Central Prison.Dekontee Morris and two others female were charged with armed robbery, an allegation they denied. Defendant Dekontee said she refused to go jail on the grounds that she was falsely accused by a relative of the […]
Sweden talks about Roma abuses
Today, I present the White Paper initiated by the Government on abuses and rights violations of Roma in the 20th century. The White Paper is based on interviews with Roma and Travellers, on archive material and research studies. It provides a description of a dark period in Sweden’s history that is more complete […]
Malaysian couple sentenced to prison
A Swedish court has sentenced a Malaysian couple to prison for “gross violation of their children’s integrity”. The prosecutor said the parents physically abused their children using sticks, belts and clothes hangers. The abuse happened between 2010 and 2013. A court statement said: “The mother is convicted of gross violation of the integrity of the daughter […]
Ivory Coast: Impartial justice for all
The United Nations Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Cote d’Ivoire, Doudou Diène, expressed concern over unresolved issues in the national reconciliation process of the West African country, ahead of presidential elections in 2015. The key, he stressed, lies in applying “impartial justice for all” in a country still recovering […]
Curbing West Africa’s Ebola outbreak
As health authorities and aid groups work to contain the spread of Ebola in Guinea which has killed 59 people and infected scores of others since January, suspected cases have emerged in neighbouring Liberia, prompting calls for a regional response. Haemorrhagic fever symptoms first appeared in Guinea’s southern forested region. Eighty-six people have so […]
Oil, family ties and corruption
Since 1990 the petroleum industry has invested more than $20 billion in exploration and production activity in Africa. A further $50 billion will be spent between now and the end of the decade, the largest investment in the continent’s history. But most Africans in these countries where oil are being produced are seeing little […]
No merit in $200m lobbying talk
About two years ago, I was in a conversation with some people in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, who accused the Liberian government of spending over US$ 200 million on lobbying in the United States. These individuals provided the website, www.foreignlobby.org as their source of information. I read all the reports on the website, but was […]
Sierra Leonean guilty of illegal land sale
A licensed surveyor at Liberia’s ministry of lands, mines and energy Arah Kamara, a Sierra Leonean, has been convicted for illegally selling 500 acres of land valued at US$4 million. Criminal Court ‘C’ jury last Friday brought down a unanimous guilty verdict against Mr. Kamara noting that the evidence produced by the state was overwhelming to […]
Private security firms gain as migrants detained
The riot at Australia’s offshore processing centre for asylum seekers on Manus Island, in Papua New Guinea (PNG), last month, which left one detainee dead and more than 70 others injured, has put the spotlight on the outsourcing of numerous aspects of migration control to private security companies. As states around the world have introduced […]
