Liberia: Democracy in Focus

Welcome to this special edition of Democracy in Focus, a collaboration between New Narratives and Front Page Africa. I’m Anthony Stephens. As plans for Liberia’s war and economic crimes courts get underway, we’re running a series of special interviews with Liberian and international experts and stakeholders about how the courts could work. In this interview, I speak with Peterson Sonyah, head of L...

In this episode: The dreams of young rural Liberians die early because of a lack of high schools.   Half of all stroke and heart disease deaths in Liberia are caused by air pollution. Liberia’s environmental protection agency takes its first steps to clean up our air.  Liberia's mpox cases rise as the government confirms the deadly strain that has killed one thousand people in the DRC has not...

Coming up in this episode ..   As plans for Liberia’s war and economic crimes courts’ get underway, we speak to experts on the major issues court designers will have to consider.  Who will be tried? How much international involvement is needed? And what are the security challenges? One thing is already clear - funding will be limited. And some worry the courts are already losing momentum. And… as...

Coming up in this episode ..   As plans for Liberia’s war and economic crimes courts’ get underway, we speak to experts on the major issues court designers will have to consider.  Who will be tried? How much international involvement is needed? And what are the security challenges? One thing is already clear - funding will be limited. And some worry the courts are already losing momentum. And… as...

Thanks to host: Korpo Kollie of Radio Kintoma in Lofa County Coming up in this episode … New data shows nearly 370,000 Liberian children are living on the streets. Many live a hellish existence of sex work and drugs.  Access to toilets is still a big problem for rural Liberians. Leading to sickness and death of thousands of citizens.  The Boakai administration charges five former government offici...

Welcome to this special edition of Democracy in Focus, a collaboration between New Narratives and Front Page Africa. I’m Anthony Stephens. As plans for Liberia’s war and economic crimes courts get underway, we are running a series of special interviews with Liberian and international justice experts and stakeholders about how the courts could work. In this interview, I speak with veteran Liberian...

Welcome to this special edition of Democracy in Focus, a collaboration between New Narratives and Front Page Africa. I’m Anthony Stephens. As plans for Liberia’s war and economic crimes courts get underway, we’re running a series of special interviews with Liberian and international justice experts and stakeholders about how the courts could work. In this interview, I speak with prominent Liberian...

Coming up in this episode ..   As plans for Liberia’s war and economic crimes courts’ get underway, we speak to experts on the major issues court designers will have to consider.  Who will be tried? How much international involvement is needed? And what are the security challenges? One thing is already clear - funding will be limited. And some worry the courts are already losing momentum. And… as...

Welcome to this special edition of Democracy in Focus, a collaboration between New Narratives and Front Page Africa. I’m Anthony Stephens. As plans for Liberia’s war and economic crimes courts get underway, we are running a series of special interviews with Liberian and international justice experts and stakeholders about how the courts could work. In this interview I speak by zoom with Liberian t...

Welcome to this special edition of Democracy in Focus, a collaboration between New Narratives and Front Page Africa. I’m Anthony Stephens.  As plans for Liberia’s war and economic crimes courts get underway, we are running a series of special interviews with Liberian and international transitional justice experts and stakeholders about how the courts could work.  In this interview I speak by zoom...

Welcome to this special edition of Democracy in Focus, a collaboration between New Narratives and Front Page Africa. I’m Anthony Stephens. As plans for Liberia’s war and economic crimes courts get underway, we are running a series of special interviews with Liberian and international justice experts and stakeholders about how the courts could work. In this interview I speak by zoom with Reed Brody...

DEH NEWS WE COMIN TUHK TODAY……… TWO BEE GROUP DAH WEHKIN ON  CHAYREN MATTERS IN LIBERIA DEH CALL MINISTRY OF GENDER AND UNICEF SAY, LIBERIA GEH ALMOST  370 THOUSAND CHAYREN ON DEH STREETS. DEH SAY SUMMAH DEH CHAYREN DEM DOIN HO-PO-JOE WEHK WHILE SUM CAN BE TAKIN DRUGS.  PLENTAY PEEPOH IN DEH INTEERUH STAY GEH BEE PROBLEM WITH  TOILET HUS BAYNAY… DEH CAN STAY BE PUPUING OUTSIDE AND IT CAUSING PLENT...

Support the show Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish embassy in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org

Coming up in this episode … New data shows nearly 370,000 Liberian children are living on the streets. Many live a hellish existence of sex work and drugs.  Access to toilets is still a big problem for rural Liberians. Leading to sickness and death of thousands of citizens.  The Boakai administration charges five former government officials after independent audits found they had engaged corruptio...

 Welcome to this special edition of Democracy in Focus, a collaboration between New Narratives and Front Page Africa. I’m Anthony Stephens. In June President Joseph Boakai, appointed Liberian lawyer Jonathan Massaquoi as Executive Director of the newly established Office of War and Economic Crimes Courts. Ever since, a chorus of key stakeholders including leading human rights advocates, and the um...

Welcome to this special bonus edition of Democracy in Focus, a collaboration between New Narratives and Front Page Africa. I’m Anthony Stephens.  In recent years, Liberia has made big gains in tackling human trafficking, convicting several traffickers including an agent of the National Security Agency and bringing hundreds of victims home from the Middle East.  Those wins saw the county move up on...

Liberia's War Crimes Court Office is off to a rocky start as outcries from key stakeholders continue over President Boakai’s appointment of Jonathan Massaquoi to head the  office. A 90 percent cut in funding to anti-trafficking actions has seen Liberia returned to the US government’s trafficking Tier 2 Watchlist. There are repercussions, and the implication is, under the operation of us feder...

Hello listeners and welcome. This is Evelyn Kpadeh Seagbeh with an extended interview with Norwu Harris. Norwu is a climate justice activist with the civil society organization the Liberia Feminist Forum. We will explore a wide range of issues to do with the climate crisis and the devastation it is causing farmers across our 15 counties. Our interview follows from a New Narratives survey conducted...

Coming up in this episode … President Joseph Boakai makes history, taking the first step towards war and economic crimes courts for liberia. The move ends two decades of impunity for crimes that devastated the country and left two hundred and fifty thousand dead. We get citizen reactions from around the country. We ask what comes next with house speak Fonati Koffa. And we get reactions from the ad...

Looking at Liberia’s newsmedia, one might think that no one lives outside the capital, Monrovia. But rural Liberians face a range of hardships that don’t get any coverage.  We devote this episode to bringing those issues to light.   We visit a maternity clinic where giving birth means risking death. Six years since the Land Rights Act was passed just 16 communities have received land title. Expert...

Coming up in this episode …  In the second of our two-part series on climate change, a major New Narratives investigation has found Liberia’s farming emergency is fueling a migration crisis. A survey of Liberian farmers finds years of crop failure has nine in every ten wanting to leave the country. As the number of migrants rises so do the number of traffickers and other scammers preying on them. ...

As our new government takes shape we look at a looming problem that threatens to upend life as we know it.  We’re talking, about climate change. From Liberia’s coast to its forests people are feeling the impact of changing weather.  In the first of two programs devoted to climate change we explore a new problem plaguing farmers: pests. We find the Weah government’s failure to fund the massive coas...

This week… a special program  Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission said justice, reconciliation and commemoration of the country’s troubled history was key to moving forward. That has not happened. We visit a country that is dealing with is past … post-apartheid South Africa.   Thirty years since the system of racial segregation was ended we look at reconciliation efforts in South Africa...

After two failed attempts, 78-year-old Joseph Boakai is finally elected president. We look at what lies ahead after a bitterly contested poll. The presidential runoff poll was marred by low voter turnout….we ask citizens why they did or didn’t vote. And women’s representation in the legislature drops even further ….sparking anger and frustration among women’s rights advocates.  You’re listing to D...

Coming up in this episode ..  Liberia heads to a presidential runoff election in a rematch between incumbent president George Weah and former-vice president, Joseph Boakai.  Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner Massa Washington says the election of accused warlords to the legislature, and their allies to the executive mansion, is bad for the country.  And… Liberians elect an almost entirely new s...