Liberia must fight its fake news epidemic to fight the pandemic

In a startling Afrobarometer survey earlier this year, 66% of Liberians said they are “unlikely” to try to get vaccinated against COVID-19. An even higher 86% said they believe “prayer is more effective than a vaccine in preventing coronavirus infection”. Much of these attitudes are due to fake news or misinformation. These problems are not new to Liberia, but there is no doubt they have escalated recently. The increase in internet penetration and social media use – particularly among younger urban dwellers – has allowed false information to spread further and faster than ever before. Meanwhile, two major events in 2020 saw enormous fake news campaigns. Continue reading...

Why Liberians shunned the 2020 referendum — and what’s the future for constitutional change?

After years of a participatory constitutional reform process, Liberians shunned proposals for constitutional change in the 2020 referendum. Nevertheless, the state of democracy remains in need of reform, and given the repeated calls for constitutional change, the issues may be revisited in the future – writes Ibrahim Al-bakri Nyei. Continue reading...

The Current LACC Lacks The Legitimacy To Fight Corruption — It Must Be Reconstituted!

On February 15, the Executive Director of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) accused the Vice Chairman of the LACC board of violating the Constitution of Liberia, the national code of conduct and the LACC internal code of conduct. The core of the allegation was that the vice chairman committed acts of corruption, and that the LACC was investigating him. The vice chairman has since denied the allegations and accused the executive director of incompetence. This was the first time for the LACC, since its creation in 2008, to announce that it was now looking within to identify and investigate alleged acts of corruption committed by a senior member of staff. This development is sufficient to leave one second-guessing the reaction of President Weah given his promises to fight corruption; and questioning whether the current board of commissioners can command both the moral legitimacy and public support it would need to execute their mandate given the gravity of the allegation. Continue reading...

Liberia’s Constitutional Referendum on Dual Citizenship and Reduced Political Tenure

Liberians will in December 2020 go to a referendum to vote on proposed changes to their country’s constitution. If approved, the proposals would reduce the duration of presidential and parliamentary terms, allow double nationality, and change the timing of elections. Adopted in 1986, the constitution was suspended several times during the country’s civil wars (1989 – 2003) to make way for extra-constitutional transitional governments formed at peace conferences. Proposals for a new constitution during the last transitional government (2003 – 2005) were poorly received by the warring and political factions and the international organisations that facilitated the peace process. Understandably, the stakeholders were preoccupied with efforts at disarmament and demobilization of armed groups and the return to civilian rule. But the failure to reform the constitution before the return to civilian rule in 2006 left a major aspect of the transition unaddressed and Liberians have yet to settle on a stable constitutional future. Continue reading.