Democracy in Focus is a new program from New Narratives and Front Page Africa looking at Liberia's governance and democracy. It's a collaboration with reporters from some of Liberia's best reporters with the New Narratives program. Funding is provided by the Swedish and US embassies and the American Jewish World Service. The funders had no say in the program's content.
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The War Crimes Court Off to a Rough Start, Liberia Risks US Aid After Cutting Funding to Anti-Trafficking Efforts and We Hear More Impacts from Climate Change
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The war crimes court office is off to a rough 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 implicati…
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"Our Lives are on the Line" - a BONUS Interview with Norwu Harris, Liberian climate activist
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17:47
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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 interv…
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Liberians React to News a War Crimes Court is Coming, We Ask House Speaker Koffa What Comes Next and We Hear from a Court Advocate
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27:34
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 sp…
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A Major Investigation Finds Climate Change is Driving Nine out of Every Ten Liberian Farmers to Want to Migrate
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28:22
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…
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In Part One of a Two Part Series: Climate Change is Here. Farmers and Coastal Communities Struggle to Adapt
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28:09
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28:09
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 We…
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SPECIAL: Democracy in Focus Goes to South Africa to Explore Reconciliation and See What Liberia Can Learn
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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 …
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Boakai Wins the Presidency as Women's Representation Goes Backwards
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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 am…
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Election Fallout: Who's in? Who's Out? And What Does it Mean for Liberia?
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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…
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Elections are here. We look at candidates' policies on key issues and hear from one of two women candidates for president
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28:09
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Just days before the election we look at candidates plans on a range of issues. First up: agriculture. Also, as drug addiction takes more Liberian lives we look at candidates’ plans to stem the crisis and ask users what they need. One of two women running for president, Sara Beslow Nyanti shares her plans to build Liberia. And we hear from two visu…
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First Time Voters Want a War Crimes Court As Liberia Commemorates 20 Years Peace; Abortion Roils the Legislature and an Interview with Presidential Candidate Alexander Cummings
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First-time voters overwhelmingly back a war crimes court in a survey…calling it “very important” in deciding their vote. One of two presidential candidates to back a war crimes court is Alexander Cummings. We talk with him about his plans for Liberia. A new law meant to curb Liberia’s high rate of unsafe abortions has outraged opponents. But the go…
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PodcastExtra: Interview with presidential candidate Alexander Cummings
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No Liberian has had the global business success of Alexander Cummings. The 67 year-old candidate for the presidency went from humble beginnings in Monrovia to the heights of global business as a top executive at Coca-Cola. He says that makes him well equipped to fix Liberia's broken economy. But will Liberian voters be convinced? Front Page Africa'…
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Govt. Kills Concession Meant To Curb Liberia's Worst in the World Road Traffic Deaths, Political Parties Reneg on 30% Women Agreement and Two Candidates Commit to a War Crimes Court
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Coming up in this episode .. More people die on Liberia’s roads as a percentage of population than almost anywhere else in the world according to the World Bank. Why then did the Weah government kill a $US50m agency meant to make roads safer? Critics point to an allegedly illegal contract to a Weah ally. Political parties ignore their own commitmen…
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Rural Liberia Gets Our Attention: Where Giving Birth Means Risking Death, Land Title Process Cost Too Much, A Malaria Vaccine Rolls Out, and Drug Addiction Grows Among Women
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Looking at Liberia’s newsmedia, one might think that no one lives outside the capital, Monrovia. We devote this episode to bringing some of rural Liberia's most pressing issues to light. We visit a maternity clinic where giving birth means risking death. Six years since the land rights act just 16 communities have received land title. Experts say i…
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A $3m EU-funded aid project fails, the War Crimes Court gets a boost and rural Liberians struggle with dysfunctional service centers
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A six-month investigation looks at the failure of a three-million-dollar EU-funded project meant to solve Liberia’s trash crisis. War crimes court campaigner Adama Dempster has returned from meetings in the us with key officials in the American government. We get the latest. We check in with victims’ advocate Hassan Billity on the latest developmen…
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Whistleblowers in Fear, Economic Turmoil Hits the Region and Philanthropists Plug Healthcare Gaps
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Coming up in this episode… as corruption plagues the Weah government we talk to whistleblowers who say they’re paying a heavy price. We look at the economic turmoil threatening political instability across the region. At the same time the government back tracks on claims it’s reduced poverty. World bank data shows things are getting worse. The gove…
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BONUS: Drew Engel, anti-trafficking adviser at the US Embassy in Liberia, on the breakthrough return of more than 250 trafficking victims from Oman
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Over the last four months ago, we’ve been reporting about the trafficking of more than 350 Liberian women to the Middle Eastern country of Oman. A network of traffickers including Liberians and Omanis deceived the women into believing they were going for good jobs that would change their families lives. Instead they were trapped in a scam that had …
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The Latest on the Seized Container of Weapons That Has Liberia on Edge; Progress on Sanitation Stalls and An Arrest Warrant is Issued for Trafficking Mastermind
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In this episode: Two months since police seized a container of weapons imported into the county that raised alarms about a potential coup we have the latest on the investigation. The government claims it has reduced the number of people without access to toilets. World bank data says otherwise. An international arrest warrant is in the works for th…
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Teachers and Parents Demand Bridge Schools Leave Liberia, Government Concedes it's Impossible to Keep Out Tainted Drugs and the Latest on Human Trafficking and War Crimes Trials
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In this episode .. Seven years since us-based Bridge International Academies arrived in Liberia to overhaul schools, experts, teachers and parents say it’s time to end the experiment. After scores of children were killed by tainted imported medicines in The Gambia, what is being done to protect Liberians? A Liberian security agent becomes the first…
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In a Remarkable Tale of Resilience Liberian Trafficking Victims Fight Their Way to Freedom
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In this episode, as many as 350 Liberian women were trafficked to the Middle East with promises of jobs and a chance to study. Instead they found themselves in a human trafficking scam. But the women broke free from the trap that had caught millions before them. A year on more than half are home. The government has launched a major new push to crac…
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COP27 A Mixed Bag for Liberia, and the Race is Own to Build Sustainable Food Sources
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29:39
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In this episode... Another gathering of global leaders fails to make commitments experts say will head off climate catastrophe. We report from COP27 in Egypt. But while there was no new agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions there was one win for poor countries like our own. As climate change hits food production we look at efforts to secure L…
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A Liberian Rebel Faces Justice in Paris and the Anti-Corruption Watchdog is Silenced
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The latest warlord to face justice for crimes in Liberia's civil wars goes on trial. We report from the court in Paris. In Lofa County where he is alleged to have committed most of his crimes people say they are grateful to see justice at last. And the US Ambassador for War Crimes visits Liberia promising funding for a war crimes court. Truth and R…
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A Bill Banning Female Genital Cutting Looks Set for Defeat; Ulimo Commander Goes on Trial in Paris and a Logging Company is Exposed
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28:03
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ANOTHER BILL TO BAN FEMALE GENITAL CUTTING REACHES THE LEGISLATURE BUT DOES IT HAVE ANY CHANCE OF PASSING? THE LATEST WARLORD TO FACE JUSTICE, KUNTI KAMARA OF ULIMO, GOES ON TRIAL IN PARIS THIS MONTH. WE HEAR FROM VICTIMS OF ULIMO IN LOFA. IN RIVER CESS OUR INVESTIGATION FINDS ONE LOGGING COMPANY HAS SHIPPED THREE MILLION DOLLARS OF TIMBER WHILE TE…
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Nearly two decades since the end of the civil wars Liberia's children are still suffering. 2022 is on track to see one of the highest numbers of reported rape cases in the last five years. The vast majority of victims are under 18. Reporter Evelyn Kpadeh Seagbeh looks at why rape continues. In River Cess County, reporter Eric Opa Doue finds childre…
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