Standing on a makeshift stage hooked on to two trucks at the jam-packed Antoinette Tubman Stadium in Monrovia, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf seems assured by the crowd assembled for her party’s launch that she will win a second term. “Ellen’s got the Mansion Key,” she sings amid cheers from her supporters. Johnson Sirleaf is…
New Narratives in Newsweek
A piece by NN’s Prue Clarke and Emily Schmall for Newsweek magazine caused an uproar in Liberia this month by highlighting the disparity between the way President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is viewed by the international community and the way she’s seen at home. With vote counting underway the President looks certain to face a tough…
Broken Promises of Foreign Palm Oil Company Anger Locals
Two years ago the government of Liberia signed an $800 million dollar concession agreement with Malaysian palm oil giant Sime Darby to cultivate 220,000 hectares of land. In the agreement, the company promised to build schools and clinics and provide workers with decent housing. More than a year later workers are living in the shells…
In Run-Up to Election, Women’s Views Diverge on Liberia’s First Female President
INTRO: Six years ago in the Liberian presidential elections slightly more than half of voters were women, giving rise to the first female president in Liberia and Africa. But with barely two months to go before elections women say the president shouldn’t take their vote for granted. From Monrovia, New Narratives fellow Fabine Kwiah reports….
FrontPage Africa and New Narratives Fellow Mae Azango Wins Pulitzer Grant
FrontPage Africa reporter Mae Azango has been selected as one of four African journalists to win a prestigious grant from the U.S.-based Pulitzer Center to cover reproductive health issues. Mae will join 3 other African journalists awarded the grants at the International Conference on Family Planning in Senegal from November 28 – December 3. The…
Drug Trafficking on the Rise in Liberia, Leaving a Legacy of Users (PART II)
Cocaine trafficking through Liberia, a country with few effective counter narcotics programs, is on the rise. The United Nations says it’s exacerbating an addiction problem stemming from Liberia’s civil war. In a collaboration between New Narratives and Radio Veritas, Fabine Kwiah takes a closer look. …
Is Liberia Losing the Battle on Water and Sanitation?
A Diary from World Water Week, Stockholm, Sweden “We run the risk of losing the battle on water and sanitation in many cities around the world, and that is a fight we cannot afford to lose.” These are the words of Anders Berntell, Executive Director of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), one of the…
Wade Williams Alum
Wade C.L. Williams is an investigative reporter and chief of the news desk for FrontPageAfrica newspaper and website. Some call her the most powerful newswoman in Liberia where few women have been able to make a career in the media, let alone reach the top ranks. Since joining NN in January 2011 she has interviewed warlords and written…
Return to Conflict? Upcoming Elections Threaten Post-War Liberia’s Security
MONROVIA, Liberia — On a rainy August evening three days before a national referendum, white United Nations tanks rolled down Tubman Boulevard, the Liberian capital’s main road, and took up positions in front of the president’s house and the national legislature. It was a signal Liberia’s security forces and the U.N. force feared poll violence….
UN Prepares for Violence in Liberia’s poll
MONROVIA, Liberia — On a rainy August evening three days before a national referendum, white United Nations tanks rolled down Tubman Boulevard, the Liberian capital’s main road, and took up positions in front of the president’s house and the national legislature. It was a signal Liberia’s security forces and the U.N. force feared poll violence….
NN Welcomes First Opinion Writing Fellow, Robtel Pailey
New Narratives welcomes its first opinion writing fellow, Robtel Pailey. Robtel is a writer and activist who has extensive experience in the development world and government. She is a graduate of Howard and Oxford universities and is undertaking her Ph.D. at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African studies in London as a…
She Na Fini Yet ‘O: Why Ellen Is the Only Choice on October 11
There was a lot “spoiled” about Liberia in January 2006, when a woman draped in regal gold, with a glitter of hope in her eyes, took the podium, offering a promise of renewal. Monrovia roads had pot-holes the size of bomb craters, and the streets were littered with dirt and debris. Rural roads were barely…
‘No Vote For Ellen In Nimba’: Candidate Prince Johnson Claims Referendum Victory
The flag bearer of the National Union for Democratic Progress, NUDP, Nimba County’s senior Senator Prince Y. Johnson says, he will make sure that President Johnson-Sirleaf does not get any vote from Nimba County. Senator Johnson addressing a number of issues over the weekend said President Sirleaf has lost the confidence of the people of…
Dangerous Pregnancy: Unsafe Abortion a Problem for Liberian Teens
Monrovia – Pale and weak, Pauline Kule was rushed to the James N. Davis Memorial hospital in July because she had been bleeding profusely. The 19-year-old swallowed 15 pills hoping to get rid of an unwanted pregnancy. A ninth-grade student, Kule says she was afraid her father would withdraw his financial support if he found…
‘I Do It To Survive’: Women Caught Up In Liberia’s Drug Trade
Dealing heroin is a risky business, she says, but she would rather do it than sell her body. “I do this just to survive and not be on the street. To sell your body cheap for money on the street, that is not fine, so I rather help people to sell their drugs,” she says….
Environmental Activists Threatens to Sue Liberian Government Over Rights Abuses
The Key campaigner of Green Advocates, Cllr. Alfred Brownell has threatened a lawsuit against the government for allowing Sime Darby, an oil palm production company to operate in Cape Mount and Bomi Counties in violation of the citizens’ rights under the constitution of Liberia. Cllr. Brownell said in an exclusive interview with this paper that…
New Narratives reporter wins prestigious Pulitzer Center grant to travel to World Water Week in Sweden and report on water and sanitation issues.
Tecee Boley, NN fellow and Liberian Women’s Democracy Radio reporter, becomes the first Liberian to win a grant with the US based Pulitzer Center. Tecee will travel to Sweden to attend World Water Week – her first trip outside West Africa. Tecee and the Pulitzer Center will then travel to Liberia to report on the…
Doctors Blame High Number of Child Burns on Parental Ignorance
Two-year-old Rosetta Fokpa lies on her back, left foot raised in the air. A pretty little girl with braids, she cries bitterly. Boiling water scalded her legs, exposing a layer of fresh pink skin. It happened a week ago but the little girl is still in terrible pain. Fokpa’s mother says the child stepped into…
In Run-Up to Election, Women Debate Record of Liberia’s First Female President
Six years ago in the Liberian presidential elections slightly more than half of voters were women, giving rise to the first female president in Liberia and Africa. But with barely two months to go before elections women say the president shouldn’t take their vote for granted. From Monrovia, New Narratives fellow Fabine Kwiah reports. …
Women lifted Ma Ellen to president in 2005. Will they do it again?
Maima Sackie has lived here in Memeh Town, a collection of mud and thatch-roof houses 30 minutes from Monrovia, for fifteen years, selling potato greens to take care of her four children. The stout 46 year-old, wearing a dark t-shirt and flowery lappa, says incumbent President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf hasn’t done enough to improve women’s…
NN fellow Tecee Boley Reports from Water Week in Sweden for the Pulitzer Center
Tecee’s trip is part of a grant she won from the Pulitzer Center grant to cover water and sanitation issues. It’s Tecee’s first trip out of West Africa and she’s getting lots of ideas for how she’d like to see Liberia improve. …