By Tetee Gebro, New Narratives health correspondent Summary: SWAKAMORE, Monrovia – Here in this community on the outskirts of the capital, silence has replaced laughter. On Friday morning, three young men from the community, who had been preparing to paint a store, were found dead after sleeping inside the enclosed space. The store, in Camp…
Former Legislator and Abortion Advocate Says Public Health Bill Is Not “Abortion on Demand,” But Live Saving Measure
By Joyclyn Wea, New Narratives health correspondent Summary When a pregnancy turns dangerous, doctors do not always have time to debate words. Liberian pharmacist and former politician Joseph Somwarbi told a recent workshop in Monrovia that abortion opponents have taken advantage of the issue to score political points at the cost of thousands of Liberian women’s…
U.N. Begins Training Lawyers Ahead of War Crimes Court’s Establishmen
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Summary: The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the primary United Nations body responsible for global human rights, is today beginning the training of Liberian lawyers focused on accountability for past crimes, as momentum rebuilds toward the establishment of a war crimes court in…
A 15-Year Wait: The Unfulfilled Promise of Kerr Mot Ali’s Exiled Residents
By Yankuba Jallow Fifteen years ago, in 2009, the village of Kerr Mot Ali in The Gambia was a peaceful, thriving community, home to many families and followers of Sering Ndigal, a religious group known for its teachings of peace and spiritual healing. But that peace was shattered when the Gambian government launched a violent…
Trump Aid Cuts Bad News for The Gambia’s Hybrid Court
By Yankuba Jallow, Justice correspondent In one of its first moves the Trump administration has frozen all government assistance programs across the world for 90 days. Though much remains unclear, the new administration has indicated most of those programs – funded by USAID and the State Department – will be shuttered. The Gambia is not…
Liberian Warlord Pleads Guilty in US in Move that Experts Say Could Foreshadow the Trial of Gambian Defendant Michael Correa
By Yankuba Jallow The US trial of an accused Liberian warlord Laye Sekou Camara, alias “K-1” or “Dragon Master” has ended in a guilty plea. Camara, facing forty years in prison for lying about his war activities on US immigration forms, pleaded guilty days before his trial was set to go ahead. In a move…
U.S. Embassy in The Gambia Faces Possible Closure Amid Trump-Era State Department Retrenchment
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives The United States government is reportedly considering shutting down its embassy in The Gambia, an unprecedented diplomatic retreat that would mark the first closure of an American mission in Banjul since it was established shortly after the country’s independence in 1965. According to a leaked internal memo from the…
Liberian Government Relocates Rape Survivor Family Over Safety Threats
By Tetee Gebro, gender reporter with New Narratives Summary: The Liberian government has approved an emergency relocation for the family of an eight-year-old rape survivor after her mother reported intimidation, unauthorized filming, and repeated visits by strangers following media coverage of the case. Officials say the intervention was driven by safety concerns, underscoring both the real risks…
Radio: Experts Warn Lack of Price Information Keeps Farmers Trapped in Cycles of Exploitation by Predatory “Middlemen”
More than one million Liberian farmers grow the food that feeds the country, but many of them do not know the real market prices of what they produce. Without this information, farmers often sell their crops at very low prices to middlemen who later make big profits, leaving farming families struggling to survive. Without access…
Ghana spends billions treating chronic diseases but fails to tackle the air pollution causing them
By Kingsley E. Hope The science is clear: every breath of polluted air is an assault on the human body. Tiny particles in dirty air are so minute that they pass deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream. Doctors say these particles can damage the heart, raise the risk of stroke and diabetes, and…
Video: Diesel, dust and death: How Ghana’s reliance on trucks over rail is fueling a public health crisis
Every day, diesel fumes choke Ghana’s highways. Thousands are dying. Children breathe air 100%more polluted than kids abroad. Ghana had the solution decades ago-railways that could move freight cleanly and efficiently. But broken promises and stalled projects left the country with less than 1% of cargo on rail. The cost? Ghana’s health, roads and future….
Video: Ofankor – Nsawam Road: Dust, Diseases and Deaths
Communities along the Ofankor–Nsawam road are facing serious health risks as dust from road construction contributes to rising respiratory illnesses and other diseases among residents. Prince Owusu Asiedu reports in this social media Video. Ofankor-Nsawam road: Dust, diseases and deaths This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the Clean Air Reporting Project. Funds…
Video: Residents pay the price as the Ofankor-Pokuasi-Nsawam highway reconstruction runs two years late
Residents along the Ofankor–Pokuasi–Nsawam highway are paying the price for a reconstruction project that is two years behind schedule, with prolonged disruption to daily life and local livelihoods. Prince Owusu Asiedu reports in this social media Video. To read more about this story click this link: https://www.adomonline.com/residents-pay-price-as-ofankor-nsawam-highway-project-delays-health-workers-warn-of-rise-in-air-pollution-related-illnesses/ Nsawam Ofankor road dust This story was a…
Radio: Agbogbloshie pollution resurges as Accra Metropolitan Assembly, communities launch model clean-air response
Communities in and around Accra’s Agbogbloshie are launching a model clean-air response with support from the Accra Metropolitan Assembly to confront a resurgence of dangerous air pollution that harms health and could serve as a blueprint for other cities. New Narratives’ Joyce Gyekye reports from Agbogbloshie for GBC online. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o7vFx3ONIA-o3dk-51tBueVmUyEE-Xkd/view?usp=share_link This story was a collaboration…
Agbogbloshie pollution resurges as Accra Metropolitan Assembly, communities launch model clean-air response
By Joyce Gyekye As Pollution Returns to Agbogbloshie, the Metropolitan Assembly and Nearby Communities Take Action in What Experts Say Could Be a Model For Cleaning Toxic Air Across the Country. OLD FADAMA, Accra – In 2021, government cleared the Agbogbloshie e-waste site, once condemned as one of the world’s most toxic places. But four…
Diesel, dust and death: How Ghana’s reliance on trucks over rail is fueling a public health crisis
By Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith Summary BALUNGU CHECKPOINT, Upper East Region – Abdul Malik eases his heavy truck – a 12-wheel trailer hauling a 40-foot container – into a lower gear as it strains under its load. As he approaches this checkpoint in the region’s Talensi District, the roar of the 18-year-old truck’s engine gives way…
Government and Money Transfer Businesses Breathe Sigh of Relief as Trump’s Remittance Tax is Cut to 1%; But U.S. Citizens Now Also Face the Levy
By Aria Deemie with New Narratives The United States Congress passed the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” which President Donald Trump signed into law on Friday. The Senate sharply reduced a controversial tax on remittances, money sent abroad by immigrants from an initial 5 percent proposal to 3.5 percent, and finally to 1 percent, easing the burden…
Liberian Finance Official Defends Debt Strategy Amid Public Concern
By Aria Deemie with New Narratives As civil society organizations intensify calls for debt cancellation and fiscal reform, the Liberian government has defended what it calls a deliberate effort to rebuild trust with global lenders. Alice E. Williams, assistant minister for External Resources and Debt Management at the Ministry of Finance, acknowledged the country’s historic…
Liberia’s Civil Society Demands Fiscal Reform and Climate Justice Ahead of Global Finance Summit
By Aria Deemie, climate, environment, and science reporter with New Narratives As Liberia prepares for the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, a vital United Nations-led global summit focused on mobilizing resources to fund sustainable development, later this year, civil society leaders has mounted a bold challenge to the status quo — demanding transparency, tax justice,…
A Proposed U.S. Remittance Tax Could Hit Liberian Families Hard– Few know it’s coming but experts warn the impact could be profound.
By Aria Deemie with New Narratives In a quiet office on the outskirts of Monrovia, Isaac Success Yomah manages a stream of transactions from Liberians collecting money sent by loved ones abroad, mostly from the United States. It’s steady business, and for many of his customers, essential. But a provision in President Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill“ put…
EPA Shuts Liberian-Chinese Mining Company, Seizes Equipment Over Alleged Illegal Operations; Issues Ultimatums to Others
By Aria Deemie, climate, environment and science reporter with New Narratives Liberia’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has shut down and seized the equipment of a Liberian-Chinese mining company over alleged illegal operations and given 7-day ultimatums to a number of others, including a fully Chinese owned company. Scott Investment is co-owned by Gao Freng, a Chinese national,…