Does Liberian Bureaucracy Need a Religious Advisor?
By: Lamii Kpargoi

I recently heard about a huge debate that engulfed the country when the Religious Advisor to the president, Madam Ester Nyumah reportedly stated on public radio that she would boycott any state function at which a Moslem clergy was allowed to pray.

According to reports on the issue that I have read in the local media, the presidential religious advisor’s stance stems from her belief that Liberia as a Christian state was giving too much leeway to Islam although this favor was not returned in other countries which were Islamic. Her reason was further founded on the belief that the Islamic religion is intolerant.

I am no religious expert, and in no way I am going to portray myself in that light in my attempt at giving my viewpoint on this issue.

The first point is that Liberia is not a religious state or a theocracy of any religion. According to the constitution of this country, everyone has the right to worship whatever god (s) they want to, so long as they do not harm the “safety, order, health, morals or fundamental rights and freedoms of others…” And even this caveat can only be exercised by law – not arbitrarily or according to the whims and caprices of anyone.

So I was quite dumbfounded when the presidential religious advisor was quoted as saying that because these people are intolerant, they should not be allowed to participate in state functions.

My understanding is that she came under a barrage of criticisms from various sections of the public most especially the Islamic community.

Statements like the one attributed to the advisor, whose salary and allowance are paid by taxpayers – among whom are many Moslems and people of other religious persuasions – should be condemned in the strongest possible terms because such statements have the propensity to cause disquiet and conflict in this country. Anyone who understands that the peace currently been enjoyed in Liberia is still fragile would never contemplate such talk.

There is a saying in the Vai language that in effect translates to mean that people should be very circumspect in voicing out their thoughts. The rationale behind this saying is that there is no problem in thinking anything evil about anybody so long as that thought is not expressed or manifested. In other words there is no thought crime.

In October and November of 2004 deadly riots engulfed Monrovia as the result of the same religious claptrap. According to the conclusion of a committee that was set up to investigate the issue, a land dispute snowballed into the riot which left scores dead and thousands of dollars of properties damaged across Monrovia. Not even a curfew starting at 5PM and the presence of the United Nations UNMIL troops could quell those riots. It was only after the belligerents had exhausted themselves that they stopped.

There was another experience I had in high school. A friend of my, in fact the smartest guy in the 12th grade at the end of the first period, was expelled from the school simply because he was a Jehovah’s Witness. Although there was no written rule at the time nor do I think one exists now, that students were forced to salute the flag at the Monrovia College & Industrial Training School.

I was taken aback to hear that it took only an apology by the advisor to keep her in her job. It was my thinking that her resignation would have been immediately demanded by the president.

In apparent furtherance of this inane debate, I heard a pastor the other evening on Star Radio calling on the United Methodist Church to defrock Information Minister Laurence Bropleh for worshipping in a Mosque. According to the news, this pastor also called on the president to come out with a position on religion. As a proponent of unbridled, free, and responsible speech, I do not think responsible media institutions should be giving air time or space to people who, under the guise of religion, attempt to ferment religious hatred. The pastor most likely is unaware of constitutional guarantees of “freedom of religion,” nor that his call resembles those made by German political theologists to Adolph Hitler to nationalize reformed Christian Protestantism in advance of his launch of the Second World War.

I recently traveled to the West African States of Senegal and Ivory Coast. In both these places I noticed a level of religious harmony that we Liberians could learn a thing or two from.

Senegal is predominantly Islamic, but the first president of that country Leopold Senghor was a Christian. Was that by accident? Definitely no! It was due to the respect the people of Senegal held for him. In Ivory Coast which is a country with a majority Christian population, the recent Moslem holiday of Tabaski (Idul Adha) was observed as a national holiday. I could hardly get into an internet café to check my email. And Abidjan’s usual traffic jams were nonexistent. So my ride from the Koumassi area to the Airport took just a few minute, although the day before it had taken over 30 minutes.

Considering all that has been said, the issue that comes to mind is whether the Liberian Presidency or the nation itself needs a religious advisor, considering that this person, is paid by taxpayers who may themselves not share the person’s religious persuasion? In my view, neither the country nor the president needs one, especially in an official capacity.

The official role of religious advisor in a multi-religious environment like ours is a bit erroneous especially if the position is occupied by someone whose only understanding of religion is from the narrow standpoint of their own faith, and perhaps the only element in their moral universe.

If there is going to be an advisor with this tag assigned to any president in Liberia, it should strictly be on the personal basis and such person should in no way enjoy the privileges of officialdom. The person should not be paid from the state coffers and should not be entitled to possess diplomatic or official cover.

Religion is a personal affair. So we in Liberia should try our level best to ensure that we keep it that way. In doing so we would avoid the chaos that is bound to result if we do not strive to separate our religious beliefs from our political obligations.

The New Religious Suspects and God Politicians
By: Samuel Toe

When the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes offered 17th Century Europe a new political philosophy grounded on the possibility of achieving legitimate political power without invoking divine revelations, it appealed to many. This was Europe just emerging from the Wars of Religion, in which Christians, “idled by apocalyptic dreams hunted and killed Christians with a maniacal fury” which they once reserved for people of other faiths.

Few centuries later, John Locke consolidated Hobbes’ idea of the vital chasm between religion and politics, and advocated a complete disengagement of the two. The result, Hobbes argued, would be a society in which public laws would take precedence over canonical codes in the relations amongst citizens and institutions; and where religious diversity would be allowed to sprout free from state interference. The government, as the principle custodian of state sovereignty, would be obliged to protect individuals’ rights to their faiths.

This was the birth of liberal democratic order on which much of the West is today organized. Hence, political philosophy based on man replaced God at the center of public life. This was the “Great Separation,” and presumably, it was the cause which the “firebrand” Minister of Information, Dr. Lawrence Bropleh hoped to remind Liberians when he spoke recently at a Muslim ceremony in Monrovia.

In his speech, the Minister called on the Liberian government to dismantle and de-legislate all publicly commemorated Christian holidays, or legislate non-Christian ones as a means of finding a “more equitable religions arrangement.”

At first glimpse, the “firebrand” Minister’s statement holds much constitutional value. It speaks to the wisdom of keeping the poles of religion and politics apart, a blessing born out of enlighten Western philosophy.

While the Minister’s statement reiterated government’s unflinching adherence to the doctrine of the “Great Separation,” and sounded a clear caveat to those unsure of its zero tolerance of God politics, it also sadly shot a bullet in his wonderful effort, and undermined the sacred principle it hoped to champion.

Minister Bropleh’s statement was a public pronouncement of charges against his own government of religious in-equity. More then that, it was an appeal to religious sentiments of both Christians and Muslims, by urging on a religious sprint for public center-stage in which there can be no winner.

Amidst a cauldron of simmering religious disquiet in certain quarters of Liberia, it is impulsive to think that fiddling with matters of sacred religious rites and identity can pass without consequences. To date, the “firebrand” Minister is injured by the hail of condemnation his statement has provoked from all works of life, and he is now on a characteristic and desperate campaign of denial and apologies.
In a related situation, Liberia’s Religious Advisor Madam Esther Nyameh is reported to have threatened to boycott all official ceremonies where Islamic prayers are offered. For this she too has been intensely criticized by voices across society, amongst them the Minister of Information himself. No doubt, the Religious Advisor and many like her are now aware of the unequivocal message from these episodes: that religious zealotry and God politics will have no place in today’s public life.

The holiday context?
Today however, even in great Western societies, to whom we owe the doctrine of the “Great Separation,” political theologies have re-emerged from historic banishment. Somehow modern societies are still fiercely challenged by this powerful energy, affirming the French philosopher Jean Jacques-Rousseau’s assertion that man is a “theotropic creature,” innately aspiring to connect his earthly live with a higher being, and constantly discovering the “nexus of God, man and the world”. Even in the face of irresistible forces of democracy, modernity, and secularity, political theology still re-asserts itself. This situation is even more telling in vast swatches of the Muslim World – Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mauritania, Libya, Sudan, and many others.

For example, in a nation like the United States, a democracy that prides itself in the ideals of freedom of religion and secularism, Americans and their political rhetorics are alive with religious fervor resulting from their strong Protestant tradition of the 17th centuries. A Republican candidate and former Baptist preacher in the ongoing 2008 presidential primaries in the state of Iowa has just emerged victorious partly owing to his passionate coaxing of this energy.

Could this perhaps explain the religious energy that gorged through the minds and veins of Liberia’s founding fathers as they authored its constitution, who themselves shared the American Protestant heritage? Can it explain why the founding fathers nationalized such Christian holidays as Fast and Prayer Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving Day, Easter, and even Sunday?

During Liberia’s 1985 constitutional referendum, genuine attempts by Dr. Sawyer and his constitutional committee to entirely rid our most sacred document of religious undertones and explicitly secularize it still yielded to the powerful religious tradition prevailing at the time; and today, many of these holidays have remained with us.

Whether Liberians accept it or not, this is a reflection of their country’s historic Christian tradition, or at least of its dominant social and political class. If U.S. State Department statistics is anything to go by, Christianity and strains of its indigenous mix still account for a sizable 40% of Liberia’s population. Without suggesting any preference for Christianity, as even Liberia’s traditional religions also constitute an equal 40%, the point can be made that this is an example of Liberia’s heritage.

So, why the fuss?
Post-Charles Taylor Liberia is gradually steaming up more and more to religious tolerance and freedom. Consistent with constitution, there is a genuine practice of religious freedom and inclusion, even more so then the regime of Samuel Doe, who whiles himself professing Christianity, conducted greater public cooperation with Islamic communities then any other non-Christian groups.

Many public ceremonies today open with both Christian and Muslim prayers. Since the Interim Government of Chairman Bryant, several excellent Muslims have enjoyed key governmental privileges as deputy and assistant ministers, commissioners, and members of boards of autonomous agencies. More then a dozen more have and still are members of the National Legislature.

Religious Christian education is thought in public schools but is not mandatory. Islam is freely thought in Islamic institutions. When taking oath of public office, Christians kiss the Bible while Muslims kiss the Koran. There are no religious prisoners in Liberia, and proselytizing is freely permitted provided it is free of coercion and divisiveness.

Although some members of Islamic communities have complained about having to close their shops and businesses on Sundays and major Christian holidays, the Supreme Court has ruled that this is legal and in no way violates the constitution. The Court decided not on religious grounds, but on grounds that market places and the city need to be cleaned on these days, or at least once a week. Sunday also is a day of rest in many countries around the world, even in places where Islam is the dominant faith. An example is the Republic of Senegal.

It is therefore pointless on the part of the “firebrand” Minister of Information to risk sparking tension on matters of religious freedom and holidays that the government is already actively committed to in practice. The presence or absence of these holidays has not denied an inch of the free practice of Islam or any other faith.

As the “firebrand” Minister of Information himself pointed out, “You can not legislate Christianity. It comes from the heart.” But why then advocate legislating non-Christian holidays? Don’t they too come from the heart? Observing “Christian holidays” is no proof of Christianity’s ownership of Liberia. It is merely a reflection of its historic Christian tradition.

The danger
The real danger in these kinds of statements by Minister Bropleh and Religious Advisor Nyameh lies not in fear of public condemnation, which both of them are already publicly injured by; but in the actual wedge that such inattentive statements smack between communities, and the divisions they provoke in public and national life.

God politics must not be allowed to take root. First, it provokes a religious sprint for dominance in public life. Lest we deceive ourselves, Liberia is not exclusive to Christianity and Islam. Forty percent of Liberians ascribe to traditional religions, and together with Islam, other faiths constitute some 20%. To demand legislation of holidays for all possible strains of religious persuasion is to convert our respectable national public space into a confused marketplace where there are stalls for Baha’is, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, atheists, and the assortment of known and unknown religions, in addition to the infinite fragments of scrambling Christian groups. This is unreasonable; and more so the reason why this energy must be restrained to the private lives of those interested in it.

Second, and even more dangerous, is the potential for conflict and violence in such religious marketplace. By a stroke of misfortune, this tension may translate into open hostilities, igniting Liberia’s version of the Wars of Religion, with its grievous consequences.

More vividly, it resembles moments in our recent history when grievances born out of religious discontent and persecution partly created the rallying call for the creation of such groups ULIMO, LURD, and others. Three days of street riots in Monrovia in October 2004 dubbed “Christian and Muslim War” is only a glimpse of the violent potentials of religions divisions, even though investigations later revealed it evolved from a petit dispute over property. Our society will resemble a disturbed beehive were religions fears and intolerance to be provoked and allowed to run amok.

The tendency of God politic is enduring, and we are often caught in its web. Even the most stable and peaceful societies with highly enlightened and decent believers, public life is vulnerable to political theologies and religious impulses. To address this vulnerability, we must be ever vigilant in identifying and promptly quelling its manifestations and threats, from whatever fanatical enclaves they emanate

While preserving our sacred entitlement to free expression of thoughts and beliefs, we must be wary of religious zealots and their “rhetorical fireworks,” especially those easily mistaking their public offices for the pulpit or the mosque.



_________
Publisher’s Note: Samuel Toe is a friend of mine who is presently studying in the United States of America. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those I personally hold.

My Journey to Senegal

By: Lamii Kpargoi

On December 12, I started a journey to the Republic of Senegal for the purpose of attending the 3^rd Regional Workshop on ICT and Media Issues in West Africa.

As I headed back home, I took some time to reflect on one of the most challenging travels that I’ve encountered since I started traveling outside my home country – Liberia.

In order to get my readers to fully appreciate the challenges that I encountered on this journey, I have decided to tell my whole story, or at least the most of it, from the beginning.

I received an email from a trusted friend advertising this ICT workshop for Dakar, Senegal and I told myself why not apply and get yourself in the technology circle of West Africa, after all you can never tell what opportunities this my bring.

So off I went to try to meet up with the application deadline. I had to write a short article on ICTs and Governance, submit my CV, a letter of recommendation, and provide proof that I worked in the media sector of my country.

After submitting all these documents, I was informed in due course that I had been selected for the program, and arrangements for my travel was been made. This was when the real trying times began.

An email from one of the workshop organizers informed me that they were having “difficulties” arranging/finding a flight for me from Monrovia to Dakar. She then suggested that I try to find alternatives. I quickly replied, not knowing the actual reality at the time that I was arranging my flight with Slok Air, the only air line that is authorized to deliver passengers directly between Monrovia and Dakar. But it turned out a short while later that that airline had been grounded for some reason that was and still is not clear to me.

So I set about finding alternatives with just a few days to go to the conference/workshop arrival date. I went to every airline or travel agency available in Monrovia. And the answer I got from all of them was either that they could not make the flight or would have to route me through places as far a field as Narobi to ones in the region like Lagos, Accra and Abidjan.

While this search was on, I received another email from my friend who earlier put me on the workshop trajectory informing me that a mutual friend was also due to attend the same event. He gave me his contact number and I immediately called him and we started collaborating on getting to Dakar.

After evaluating all our options, we eventually settled on traveling through Abidjan, the capital city of Ivory Coast via an airline called Aero Contractors and then flying from there to Dakar on Air Senegal. I purchased my ticket in Monrovia from the Air Senegal local agent while my friend’s Air Senegal ticket was procured electronically by the conference organizers.

So we departed Monrovia early on December 12 for the Roberts International Airport. We boarded the Aero Contractors flight bound for Abidjan at around 11am and by 12:30pm we were at the Félix Houphouët Boigny International Airport in Abidjan. We waited for about three hours for our connecting Air Senegal flight; and departed Abidjan around 4pm arriving in Dakar pretty close to 7pm.

We were to be picked up by someone at the airport but there was no one at the Panos sign. So a very friendly policeman assisted us by calling the workshop organizers at the Panos office on his mobile phone. The overture of that policeman was one of the very few instances of benevolence we encountered in Senegal. It is worth noting that though the Senegalese people are generally friendly, when it comes to commerce they will often times prefer cheating you then being friendly.

Dakar is a beautiful place of merchants who, in 90% of the cases set about to extort exorbitant amounts from unsuspecting buyers especially foreigners. I had an interesting and annoying experience with a taxi driver on the morning I departed. I will save that bit for last.

Anyway someone was dispatched to meet us at the airport and take us to our hotel in central town – the Hotel Faidherbe. This hotel is just a few blocks from the harbor and the Independence square. The rooms are generally nice and clean. Its upper floors have a great view of Dakar’s harbor – a view that is a sight to behold at night.

So we were finally in Dakar. My second visit by the way and my friend’s first. It was Harmattan and as usual the nights were cold and windy. By the time we collected our keys and rode the elevator up to our rooms it was about 10PM. So we just went to bed in anticipation of the next morning.

Day one of the conference was quite interesting as we quickly set about meeting new friends. Bill Jarkloh, my Liberian colleague and I met a charming South African at breakfast. Alette Schoone, a lecturer at Rhodes University in South Africa was friendly and along two intellectual Gambian exiles (Sheriff Bojang and Mamodou Jaiteh) sat in the hotel lobby discussing the situations in our various countries and the continent.

The workshop, which was geared towards discussing Information and Communications Technology in the West African region, commenced with an opening ceremony at which a representative of the Ministry of Information of Senegal, the Head of Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), and the Head of Panos Institute West Africa (PIWA) spoke. All of them underscored the need for paying attention to new media in the sub-region.

So for three days, from December 13 to 15, we discussed a wide range of topics from citizen’s journalism to blogging. A lot of us even set up blogs at this forum.

At the end of each day’s activities, which ended around 6PM, Bill and I walked around the neighborhood. On the second day of the workshop we walked down the road from the hotel and came across a nightclub called Club African. While approaching the area, I kept having this nagging feeling that I had been in that neighborhood before. And surely I was right. In December 2006, the year before, I had visited Dakar for another conference. On the last weekend of that conference, my colleague and I and two Liberian compatriots of ours who reside in Dakar visited this same nightclub. So here was I walking on the same street and going to the same club a year later.

Dakar seems to be virtually crime free. We walked late at night in some times dark areas and never got mugged or threatened. We inquired of this with a senior Liberian colleague of ours from the West African Democracy Radio (WADR) and he told us that for the over five years he had stayed in the country, he had never experienced crime.

To be continued

ICTs & Governance

ICTs and Local/Democratic Governance

By: Lamii Kpargoi

Photo: Female Broadcaster Using ICT

With the advent of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Liberia, and the introduction of the internet component ICTs in the second half of the last decade, the uses and powers of ICTs have quickly caught on with access to the technology having grown vastly over this period.

When ICTs, especially the internet, were introduced in the country in the latter 1990s it was a luxury that was largely the preserve of the wealthy class of the country’s capital and high ranking government officials who mostly belonged to the class of rich and affluent people.

At the time, Liberia was just emerging from seven years of civil war with the holding democratic elections in July of 1997. Those elections saw the election of former Liberian warlord Charles McArthur Taylor, who up to that point purportedly controlled the biggest militia group in the country. Many attributed his victory to the fact that he held the fear factor over the population of the countryside.

After Mr. Taylor took over the reigns of power in Liberia, he initially tried establishing his democratic credentials. But perhaps due to his militant past, he failed to make a proper transition from his status as a warlord during the time of chaos, to the statesman in charge of a war ravaged country.

Being a technology savvy person, he allowed technological advances like the internet and cellular phones to be introduced into the country. This move on Mr. Taylor’s part was probably to satisfy his own needs. That was the most likely reason why the cost of accessing the internet or using cell phones was so exorbitant during his tenure as president.

But the population some how caught on to the advantage of using these technologies. With the use of web based systems like Net-2-Phone, the internet in Liberia, for example, became the primary source of making telephone calls from the country to other places around the world. It was far cheaper, though not so convenient to place calls through the internet. But this drawback was offset by the fact that the only alternative was cell phones since no land lines existed at the time nor do they exist now in Liberia.

As the government’s mandate wore on, its style of governance of the country began to be more and more an issue of concern to Liberians both within and outside the country. Issues of abuse and repression started to be highlighted. The cost of living from one day to the next for ordinary Liberians began to skyrocket.

The government started to act with a heavy hand against the independent media for broadcasting the truth – in the government’s words for spreading lies and preaching hate messages. On March 15, 2000 it closed down the two main independent radio stations operating in the country, the Hirondelle Foundation sponsored Star Radio and the Catholic Church owned Radio Veritas. Radio Veritas was later opened, but Star Radio remained closed for the remainder of the Taylor presidency which ended in August of 2003.

With the resulting vacuum that was created, it was left to ordinary Liberians to continue the fight of making the world know what was happening in the country. Most Liberians did this by using the internet to send information to web based Liberian news organs. Notable among these Liberian internet news outlets were the New Democrat, which ran a newspaper in the country prior to the Taylor presidency and The Perspective, which ran its operation from out of the United States. Both these organs, along with others ensured that the plight of the Liberian people remained on the world conscience and that Liberians in the Diaspora and international partners were kept adequately informed of occurrences within the country.

After the demise of the Taylor government and the institution of a transitional government in October 2003, the use of the internet to debate national issues, especially among the intelligentsia became more prevalent. This was so much the case that by the time the latest democratic polls were held in 2005, there were tens of internet sites that were devoted to keeping the nation informed of the governance and electoral processes.

There was a lively debate and everyone joined in. If someone wrote an article that was disagreeable to another’s viewpoint, there was immediately a rejoinder. And in most instances the internet news organs made space for the publication of every viewpoint.

This contributed to the vibrancy of the governance and electoral processes and ensured a high level of participation among Liberians. For perhaps the first time in the country’s history there was genuine participation of the people in the governance of the state. And also probably for the first time, Liberian politicians were very mindful of the views of their subjects.

As it was the order of the day during the despotic days of Charles Taylor, when his officials wanted to point out the damaging nature of some article that had been published about his government, most politicians were using the well worn statement “it is all over the internet”. This meant in effect that anything that was published on line was deemed to be true. Regrettably this mindset continues to be the case even today. But the good of this is that these officials were always mindful of making the wrong moves.

Although the focus of the world is not on Liberia in a negative sense as it was during the immediate past leadership and the Taylor period, the country is still trying to grapple with decades of mismanagement and despotic rule.

The internet has become more available to more Liberians since the demise of the Taylor regime some 4 years ago. The cost has dramatically reduced from US$10.00 an hour then to US$1.00 at present.

But even with this prevalence, many media practitioners in the country still lack the rudimentary capacities to use ICTs. Although there have been general attempts by several local and international organizations to help change this situation in Liberia, it still remains dire. And the need still remains stronger than every before to provide training for Liberian journalists in ICTs.

As has been the case in many post conflict countries, the pace of growth of technologies usually out paces the abilities of the people to adapt to the new trends. This is probably the reason why Liberia continues to lag in the process of using ICTs to foster growth and development.

But the desire exists among the people of the country to keep their leaders mindful of the fact that their actions and activities are being watched and discussed at every level – in the streets, in public transport, in internet chat rooms, on blogs, etc. What is lacking, though to ensure that the people catch on, is the cultivation of the requisite expertise within the nation to spearhead this technological drive.

As things stand there is no clearly defined government policy on ICTs. Since it came to power nearly 2 years ago, the government has made faint attempts at discussing ICTs but very little to implement a wholistic program that would be geared towards drawing more of its citizens towards the technology.

As of this writing, there are very few places outside the country’s capital in which there exist internet and computer facilities that are for the use of the general public. And in such places, the facilities are usually made available by military contingents of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) who are based in those localities.

The problem now is what would happen to these facilities once these soldiers at whose largess they are being provided withdraw from the country. Will they be left behind for the benefit of the locales? If they are left with the local people, will they be prepared to run and maintain the facilities? These are tough questions that need to be addressed by every Liberian, most especially the government.

Author's note: This article was in November 2007 submitted as a entry for the 3rd Regional Workshop on ICTs sponsored by Panos Institute West Africa (PIWA)

This blog was created at the "3rd Regional Workshop on Media and ICTs: New Technologies, New Journalism, Improved Governance". The workshop which was held in Dakar, Senegal from 13th to 15th December 2007 brought together scores of journalists from across West and Central Africa.

The Workshop was host by Panos Institute West Africa (PIWA) at the Faidherbe Hotel in down town Dakar.

As a coincidence, today 13th December happens to be my birthday. A few months ago, I scarcely had the thought that I would have spent it on one of my travels.

Like last year, I am spending a week this month (December) in the Senegalese capital, Dakar. It is a really nice place to be barring the language barrier. While I speak/understand very little French, most people I have come across here speak/understand very little English. It is a recurring problem. I encountered it here last year, and also earlier this year when I stayed a month in The Netherlands. The good thing about The Netherlands was that nearly everybody there speaks English, Dutch and French.

This site is basically devoted to publishing development and other related information about my native country Liberia. We will see pictures and stories of different parts the country, and news about issues that would ultimately benefit or harm it.

It is my sincere hope that this site goes a long way in presenting the right picture of my country to the outside world. In line with this, I welcome any and all criticisms of what may appear here.

Finally, the site may host information from or point to contents of other sites. In such instances we take no responsibility for such third party contents.

Thanks very much for visiting. We hope you return.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!