Robtel Neajai Pailey

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Supporters of soccer legend George Weah rally for the official launch of the senator’s presidential campaign at the party headquarters on Aug. 19 in Monrovia, Liberia. Liberia’s presidential and legislative elections are scheduled for Oct. 10. (Ahmed Jallanzo/European Pressphoto Agency)

MundoÁfrica,

In landmark elections slated for Oct. 10, Liberians will vote in the country’s third postwar presidential and legislative races. Incumbent Ellen Johnson Sirleaf — Africa’s first female president — is ineligible to run because of constitutionally mandated term limits. So January 2018 will mark the first time in recent memory that a democratically elected Liberian president will hand power to a similarly elected head of state.

A nation of 4.5 million people, Liberia is a sliver of a country in West Africa “founded” in 1847 by black migrants from the United States, the Caribbean and the Congo River basin. Clashes between these settlers and the 16 ethnic groups already occupying the territory spiraled Liberia into more than a century of political upheavals.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfrica,

I remember the first time I stared corruption in the face.

It was 2010, and I was chairwoman of a Liberian government committee responsible for reforming the awarding of international scholarships. We discovered that a group of 18-year-old boys had forged their national exam records to become eligible for a scholarship to Morocco.

I wasn’t surprised; fraud has become a national pastime in Liberia. If you’re ethical and upright, you’re called stupid. If you’re ruthless, greedy and cunning, you get praised as a national hero.

In her 2006 inaugural address, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf vowed to make corruption public enemy number one, despite the country’s long history of patronage and graft.…  Seguir leyendo »