The invalid votes, FrontPageAfrica has gathered, account for over 60 percent of the total votes in the referendum. Total VALID votes for all proposition in Grand Bassa County is 50,943 while INVALID votes for all propositions is 76,390. For Bong County, total VALID votes for all propositions is 194,369 against 403,275 total INVALID votes. In Rivergee County, the total VALID votes for all propositions is 26,957 and INVALID votes is 85,552. Therefore, the total valid votes is calculated by adding the ‘Yes’ votes to the ‘No’ votes.

2020 HAS been a challenging year for Liberia and countries across the world that have grappled with the implications of COVID-19. Liberia’s Environmental Protection Agency is already working with ministries, development partners, civil society, communities and businessesw to develop an ambitious NDC that will support sustainable development goals and demonstrate Liberia’s valuable contribution to global climate action. We will take steps to ensure that finance will flow to climate action. We want to ensure that the benefits of green recovery are accessible to the countries that are most vulnerable to climate change. Liberia has much to be proud of in her climate action and much to gain from sustainable low carbon development.

MONROVIA – Now that the dust is gradually settling, it has become clear that the Government of Liberia has a Herculean task of raising extra money for by-elections in four counties. The by-elections will be held in Senjeh District, Bomi County because the county elected Edwin Snowe to the Senate. Bong County District #2 will have a by-election for due to the election of Prince Moye to the Senate. While in Grand Gedeh County, NEC will have to conduct to find a replacement for Representative Zoe-Emmanuel Pennue. According to reports, the Government of Liberia is yet to provide the remaining money of a reduced US$13 million budget for the just ended electoral process.

The MOU was signed on Thursday, December 17, at the head offices of the LEC Down Waterside in Monrovia under the Presidential Transformer Replacement Project. During the signing ceremony, the Chief Executive Officer of the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC), Pascal Buckley, signed on behalf of the corporation, while the Chairmen or Co-Chairmen of the communities signed on behalf of their areas. She noted that the task appear like a “full time employment” for community leaders. It mandates community leadership and certain members of the community to collaborate with LEC Community Engagement Coordination Team in identifying illegal connections and power theft. Community leaders shall be involved with the process of checking of lines, disconnection, reconnection, etc by LEC technicians and will often communicate with LEC Community Engagement Coordinator to share information relating to LEC facilities”.

Liberia: Bong County Technical Community College to Put out 22 Grads Since Its Establishment in 2010Gbarnga – Ten years into its establishment, the Bong County Technical College will on Saturday, December 19 graduate its first batch of students. The college will dole out 22 students from two of the six departments – 16 will obtain degrees in Agriculture, while six in Secondary Education. “The graduation will be historic as our college gets prepared to dole a set of graduands,” Dr. Roland C. Massaquoi, president of the college said. Since its establishment, the university lost two semesters to Ebola in 2014 and two semesters Covid-19. Commenting on the completion of the college, Dr. Massaquoi said three million dollars is needed to complete the building.

MONROVIA – Civil society organizations (CSOs) will make more inputs into Liberia’s revision of its commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement to cut down carbon emission by 15 percent by 2030. CSOs, predominantly from the forestry sector, made limited inputs in the country’s plan—known as the nationally determined contributions (NDC)—at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference. Randa Moore, a consultant with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), one of the supporters of Liberia’s revision process, welcomed the involvement of a more inclusive NDC revision process. The world faces a climate change crisis due to increased level of greenhouse gases—mainly carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane—and a large-scale change in average weather patterns. It also promised to lessen the impacts of climate change by making changes in its agricultural practices, monitoring its rainfall pattern and build a coastal defense walls.

Liberia: Ruling Coalition for Democratic Change Grand Cape Mount Senatorial Candidate Goes Down in History as the Shortest Serving SenatorMONROVIA – Senator Victor Watson sat right in plain sight giving no clue to the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) that he was the “vacation senator” they were referring to when they promised to make Senator Abraham Darius Dillon a short-term lawmaker. On many occasions, partisans of the CDC, including the leadership of the party, promised to make Senator Dillon a one-year Senator and that he would go down in history as the shortest-serving Senator in Liberia. Little did they know that their own Senator Watson of Grand Cape Mount was preparing to break such unwanted record. Considered as one of the youngest Senators, Watson was certificated by the National Elections Commission (NEC) on November 18, 2019 as Grand Cape Mount senator, a little over two months after Senator Darius Dillon was became a lawmaker. Watson got the support of the ruling CDC and was one of those few candidates President George Weah traveled out of the capital to campaign for.

MONROVIA – The Catholic Educational Secretariat (CES) has commenced the distribution of a huge consignment of rice and oil to teachers and workers in its school system. “This is a project entitled ‘Bridging an Emergency Situation of Families/Personnel of Catholic Schools in Liberia Through Food Assistance’. 90% of the funding came from the German Embassy and 10% came from the Catholic Relief Service (CRS) in Liberia. Jallah, however, denied speculations that the latest move by the Catholic Church in Liberia is intended to discourage employees and workers of the Catholic School System against staging peaceful protest for the payment of their just benefits. Jallah maintained that the Catholic Church in Liberia “normally reach out to our people during time of disaster or when things are even normal”.

Monrovia —The Vice President of the Republic of Liberia Jewel Howard-Taylor has expressed serious concern over claims of intimidation of one of the leading female candidates, Madam Botoe Kanneh, in the Senatorial election of Gbarpolu County. The Vice President believes that females who muster the courage to aspire for national leadership positions should be protected and tactics of intimidation and harassment have no place in a civilize democracy. Madam Howard-Taylor is therefore calling on the National Elections Commission (NEC) to act swiftly to ensure that the situation is amicably resolved. She also wants the Liberian National Police to do all in its power to ensure that Madam Kanneh is protected. The Vice President has meanwhile welcome statement of solidarity by Women groups, civil society organizations, religious institutions, the media and the general public against the actions meted against Madam Kanneh which has the proclivity to dent our democratic credential and undermine the Nation’s peace and security.

The Senatorial Mid-term elections was a rude awakening for the ruling CDC. He resigned his membership from the former ruling Unity Party when he harbored the ambition to contest for the senate. Snowe resigned as a CPP member to contest for the Senate as an independent candidate, going against the CDC candidate Alex Tyler and Incumbent Senator Sando Johnson of CPP. It is arguably the highest number of votes won by a senatorial candidate in Liberia. Dillon is the incumbent Montserrado County Senator who received huge Public approval by the number of votes just after one year of service in the Senate.

Monrovia – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Bea Mountain Mining Company (BMMC) have assured the public that stringent measures are being put in place to prevent any explosion or harm associated with ammonia nitrate used for mining activities. FrontPageAfrica, in late August reported that a huge consignment of ammonia nitrate, about 4,000 metric tons, were imported into Liberia and stored at a heavily guarded area in the Port City of Buchanan, Grand Bassa County. At the time of the report, the EPA, the government office that supervises the import, export and use of chemicals, said it was unaware of the ammonia nitrate. The report of the importation of the substance sparked public outcry, with some experts calling for the substance to be banned from Liberia. It is the main component of explosive used in mining activities all over the world and hasn’t been banned as reported.

MONROVIA – Representative Jeremiah Kpan Koung of Senator Prince Johnson’s Movement for Democratic Reconstruction (MDR) has been declared winner of the Nimba County mid-term senatorial election by the National Elections Commission (NEC). He won with 37,899 votes constituting 36.12%. The votes are from 741 polling places in Nimba County. Though Koung won on the ticket of MDR, he was backed by the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change which decided not to field a candidate in Nimba. Rep. Koung’s victory over the CPP’s candidate who came very close is due to his alignment with Senator Johnson who is revered as the godfather of the county.

MONROVIA – Two men believed to be in their 20s have been nabbed by residents in the Fendall Community, lower Montserrado for allegedly attempting to burglarize a facility used to store stimulus package food materials, which is expected to be distributed in the community. Eyewitnesses and some of those who claimed to be victims of their alleged criminal acts said, the men also broke into three homes overnight. They were reportedly caught at about 3:00am on Wednesday, when some residents who were serving guard at the stimulus package warehouse decided to check in at their respective homes. “When we observed that the area was being hit over night, we went there and they escaped. As a result, our Town Chief of BlackTom Town, Mamie BlackTom decided to sleep at the warehouse,” Mr. Sunday said.

With all the exciting events that characterized the December 8 Senate race in the county, heroes and villains have emerged. FrontPage Africa weighs in on the winners and losers of the December 8 Senate race in Bong County. But on December 8, the story in District Five changed as Moye won District Five with 7, 678 votes which amounted to 61, 01 per cent compared to Yallah’s 3,866 which amounted to 30. He received the support of the people of Bong County and defeated Yallah with a wide margin. It would have been a disgrace on the political reputation of Briggs-Mensah had Yallah won.

MONROVIA – Influential Liberian youth, Thomas Tamba Bundoo, has been selected by YouthLead to serve as its Ambassador to Liberia. Mr. Bundoo currently serves as the executive Director of Hope for Young People Inc.YouthLead is a USAID-funded platform that is designed for young change makers, making positive impact on their community through service, activism, advocacy, education, and entrepreneurship. Through his ambassadorship, he will help other young change makers connect with relevant events, networks, resources, and funding opportunities; create content and organize different activities; and elevate their own project and its impact. “It’s with great honor and humble respect that I accept the role to serve as a Youthlead Ambassador to Liberia. On September 25 of this year, Bundoo was among the over 3,100 young people who applied globally to serve as Youthlead Ambassadors in their respective countries.