In part two of this two-part series with New Narratives, Evelyn Kpadeh Seagbeh finds Liberians are abandoning the Sande traditional society leading some leaders to resort to kidnapping and forced cutting. MOUNT BARCLAY, Montserrado – Deborah Parker was 15 when she was sent to a “Bush school” run by the Sande traditional society in her home…
Liberia
A New Bill to Ban Female Genital Cutting Looks Set for Defeat Even as Liberians Abandon the Practice
Liberia is one of just three West African nations where female genital cutting is legal. In this two-part series with New Narratives Evelyn Kpadeh Seagbeh finds strong resistance to the bill from traditional leaders and little political will to challenge them. At the same time Sande’s membership is plummeting. MOUNT BARCLAY, Montserrado – 18-year-old Dearest is one…
Fishing Industry Offers Big Opportunities but Challenges Linger
By Nemenlah Cyrus Harmon with New Narratives WEST POINT BEACH, Monrovia – Food is getting scarcer in Liberia. People can feel it every day in rice shortages at the market and higher prices. The pandemic and the war in Ukraine have played a role but the biggest factor is climate change and it’s only going to…
A revived fishing industry offers big opportunities for Liberia. But there is a long way to go.
Liberia has the lowest average fish per capita consumption rate in the Manor River region according to a USAID and ECOWAS reports. Each Liberian consumes an average of just fives kilograms a year although the average should be at 23.5kg per person the reports say. As Nemenlah Cyrus Harmon reports for Spoon FM experts say…
FGM Bush Schools Still Operational Despite Three-Year Moratorium
GARPUE TOWN, Grand Bassa County – Schools are now open in Liberia, but 14-year-old Tutugirl has not joined her classmates. Tutugirl says it has been impossible since she returned injured and traumatized from the “bush school” where she and her friends were forcefully taken after they were kidnapped from this town in September. While she…
Liberia gets Tough on Human Trafficking with Amended Law
In part three of this three-part series Anthony Stephens looks at the Liberian government’s efforts to get tough on human trafficking. In September 2021 the Liberian government sent a signal it was getting tough on human trafficking. The Legislature passed a revision to a 2005 law increasing the prison sentence for anyone found guilty of…
NSA Agent, Brother on Trial For Human Trafficking
MONROVIA – A disgraced agent of the National Security Agency has gone on trial with his brother for allegedly taking payments from international trafficking agents to mislead young Liberian women into traveling to the Middle Eastern country of Oman where they were to work as domestic servants. The indictment alleges Arthur Chan-Chan, and his brother…
Traditional Leaders Say They Will Not Stop Female Genital Cutting Without More Money
Massa Kandakai, the head of over three hundred FGM practitioners in Montserrado County, says she along with her women have fulfilled their part of the bargain with UN Women by closing all bush schools in Sonkay Town and Todee in Montserrado. Kandakai says UN Women should uphold the agreement by continually supporting them – with monthly salaries, access to cell phone networks, fishponds and processors for making Farina or flour from cassava and potatoes. The women say they will revert to the practice if their requests are not met….
Using Technology to Stamp Out Corruption
By: R. Joyclyn Wea with New Narratives MONROVIA-Corruption has plagued Liberia since its founding and threatens to engulf the Weah administration still reeling from the US Treasury’s dramatic move to place three top ministers on the Magnitsky Sanctions List. It is well proven that corruption constrains economic growth entrenching the majority of Liberians in extreme…
Liberian Public Prosecutors Call off Three-Week Strike
Monrovia – Liberian state prosecutors have called off a three-week strike which paralyzed courts across the country. The prosecutors, who represent the government in legal cases, were demanding the government increase their monthly salaries and provide benefits, including vehicles. But after a lengthy meeting among themselves, the prosecutors have conditionally agreed to return to work. By…
In a Whatsapp Group Trafficked Women in Oman Plead for Help, Suspect Flees
In part two of this three-part investigation Front Page Africa and New Narratives look at efforts to repatriate women trafficked to Oman and efforts to bring traffickers to justice. Monrovia – After a harrowing six months in Oman Sarah and Kolu, victims of human trafficking, returned home in early March. Their families were vexed with…
Door Closes on Oman as Destination for Trafficked Women
Monrovia – In separate chilly mornings in September and October 2021 Sarah and Kolu defied the weather to travel to Roberts International Airport with one thing in mind: a trip to “paradise,” where all their sufferings and hardship would end. The pair, cousins in their 20s whose names FPA/NN is concealing for their security, say…
Liberia: 2022, A Bad Year for Victims of Child Rape
Martu Yardolo had just turned 17 when she says she was given a drug hidden in a drink and gang raped by three men. It was the night of her birthday. Yardolo was looking forward to celebrating with her friends. Instead but it ended in violence that has destroyed her world Commentary by Evelyn Kpadeh…
Accused Oman Trafficker Skips Bail, Family Members Jailed Over His Escape
Monrovia – A Liberian man facing a minimum 20-year sentence for trafficking nearly 200 Liberian women to Oman has skipped bail and vanished leaving victims angry. Cephas Selebay, believed to be in his early 30s, worked as an accountant for the Forestry Training Institute in Bomi County before he was arrested in August. By: Anthony…
Police and Public Officials Step Up Attacks on Journalists in Liberia
As the 2023 general elections approach tensions are rising everywhere. No one has felt that more than Liberia’s journalists. Newsmen and women have faced arrest, threats and physical assault. Press freedom advocates say these are designed to intimidate them from doing their jobs. It has worked. Newsrooms across the country report a sense of fear…
Domestic Violence and Gender Based Violence Continue to Plague Liberians
Domestic and Gender Based Violence continue to be major problems in Liberian society including here in Bong County. Of about two hundred and fifty five inmates currently behind bars at Gbarnga Central Prison, seventy are there for sexual violence offences. But anti-violence activists say cases that make it to conviction are just a tiny share…
Call for Applications: NN Liberia Reporting Fellows
Journalists with at least three years experience are invited to apply to join New Narratives as reporting fellows for one year projects on a range of topics including governance, democracy, human trafficking, gender-based violence, climate change, pollution, biodiversity and land rights. Funding is provided by Swedish International Development Assistance, the US State Department, the UK…
Illegal Sierra Leonean Miners Dying in Liberia
HENRY TOWN, Liberia and KENEMA, Sierra Leone – Ibrahim Sesay, a Sierra Leonean miner, never signed up to die when he crossed into Liberia in 2008 in search of greener pasture on mines in Korninga Chiefdom of Gbarpolu’s Bopolu District. A New Narratives cross-border investigation by Mae Azango and Emma Black in Sierra Leone and…