Summary: By Fatu Kamara with New Narratives When Dominic Gbordoe completed high school this year, his biggest challenge wasn’t exams. It was simply seeing the blackboard. The 23-year-old found his vision starting to become blurry several years ago. By 2023 it was having a big impact on his schooling. “When I sit in the back,…
Following a chaotic rollout and mounting public frustration, the Liberian government has indefinitely suspended its controversial compulsory national identification program. The government announced the move in a press release from the Ministry of Information Monday. “The National Identification Registry (NIR) informs all public social service providers to take note and act in compliance with this…
By Tetee Gebro and Joyclyn Wea with New Narratives MONROVIA, Liberia—The Liberian government has extended the deadline for compulsory registration of national Identification Cards by 76 days. The move followed a chaotic rollout process that had sparked national outrage. Long queues, poor communication, and limited infrastructure had triggered widespread frustration and service denials for millions….
By Joyclyn Wea and Tetee Gebro with New Narratives MONROVIA, Liberia — Members of Liberia’s House of Representatives are pushing for the government to make the country’s mandatory National Identification Cards free of charge in the wake of the chaos and frustration surrounding the registration process. The National Identification Registry is charging $US5 for a…
By Tetee Gebro and Joyclyn Wea with New Narratives RED LIGHT, Monrovia – Rick Scott arrived at the National Identification Registry center here on a recent morning at 5 a.m., joining a line of hopeful citizens in the predawn darkness. By evening, the 54-year-old businessman returned home empty-handed for the fourth time in a week,…
Summary: By Grace Joshua with New Narratives YARNWEILLE, Margibi county —Beatrice Paye has a firsthand experience of the impact of waterborne diseases. In April, the community leader’s eight-year-old daughter was hospitalized for a week with a dangerous case of diarrhea. Paye blames the illness on water her daughter drank from the creek here. Paye and…
By Joyclyn Wea, senior correspondent with New Narratives Summary: OLD ROAD, Monrovia – The wooden box bolted to the wall at the Ministry of Education looks ordinary enough. But according to the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission, the country’s independent corruption watchdog, this simple contraption could be a game-changer in the country’s long fight against entrenched corruption….
Summary: By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives U.S. Immigration Authorities announced Monday they had deported a Liberian rebel commander. Although the Immigration and Custom Enforcement, (ICE), said Mayama Sesay, 43, was deported on September 5th, it only made the announcement this week. The decision of an immigration judge to deport her in…
By Nemenlah Cyrus Harmon, senior reporter with New Narratives NEW JERUSALEM, Montserrado- When R. saw her son emerge drug-free after five months in a rehabilitation center in 2022, she thought her long nightmare had ended. The beauty salon owner had drained her savings—over $LD50,000 ($US270) to pay for the 33-year-old’s treatment at three centers over…
By Joyclyn Wea, senior correspondent with New Narratives Summary: Liberia has approved its third Nationally Determined Contribution committing to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 44 percent by 2030 and reach net-zero emissions by 2050. The plan, unveiled by Boakai government officials at a validation event with international partners and stakeholders at the Monrovia City Hall…
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Summary: A U.S. federal court Friday sentenced a former member of The Gambia’s feared paramilitary unit to more than 67 years in prison for acts of torture carried out under the dictatorship of Yahya Jammeh. Michael Sang Correa, 46, was sentenced by Senior Judge Christine M….
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Summary: Leading justice advocates are urging the government of President Joseph Boakai to make the creation of a war and economic crimes court its top priority and remove the proposed anti-corruption court from the mandate of the Office of the War and Economics Crimes Court, the…
By Aria Deemie, climate change reporter with New Narratives At the close of the second Africa Climate Summit, with brought African leaders together in Addis Ababa, campaigners are warning governments not to fall for “false solutions” such as carbon offsets markets that they said can worsen the climate crisis. In a press statement, ActionAid International…
By Jake Duffy with New Narratives PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania – Laye Sekou Camara, known by the war names “K-1” or “Dragon master”, a former commander of the Lurd rebel group, was taken into custody Thursday after being sentenced by a federal court to 57 months in prison for lying in U.S. immigration proceedings about his role…
By Anthony Stephens, senior correspondent with New Narratives Summary: A top European Union diplomat warned Tuesday that disinformation poses a growing danger to democracies, as waves of Russian-backed propaganda from neighboring Sahel states reverberate across West Africa. João Gomes Cravinho, the European Union’s Special Representative for the Sahel spoke at a press conference in Monrovia…
By Eric Opa Doue with New Narratives KANGBO TOWN, River Cess— On a hot morning in this forest-fringed village of Gborgar Town deep in south-central Liberia, Marthaline Gbar sits hunched outside her zinc-roofed home, stirring a pot of simmering cassava leaves. The pot, barely half full, was meant to stretch across four children aged 5…
By Augusta S. Lafalay with New Narratives Summary: · Liberian mothers face a hidden postpartum depression crisis, with cultural stigma, spiritual beliefs, and lack of diagnosis leaving many to suffer in silence. · Experts warn that inadequate screening and minimal funding are undermining maternal mental health, destabilizing families and worsening outcomes for children. · Survivors…
This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the “Investigating Liberia” project. The Swedish Embassy provided funding, but the founder had no say in the story’s content….
By Nemenlah Cyrus Harmon with New Narratives Liberia is facing a full-blown drug crisis according to a new report that finds the reasons for the crisis are rooted in poverty, failures of post war justice, unemployment and a growing regional drug trade. The report, the first to look at the reasons for the growing problem,…
By Joyclyn Wea with New Narratives WEST POINT, Monrovia-When the sea turns rough, Elizabeth Gray and her family have nowhere to run. Water floods through their home in this low-lying informal settlement, forcing her three children to relieve themselves indoors while waves crash just meters from their door. As this year’s rainy season gets underway,…
By Nemenlah Cyrus Harmon, senior reporter with New Narratives Mount Barclay, Johnsonville —Inside a fenced compound lined with barbed wire Jakuba Kamara sits quietly among dozens of recovering youths once gripped by drug addiction. After six months at this rehabilitation center Kamara reflects on the harrowing life he left behind. The 42-year-old remembers the stench…
