9rivermedia

Two days back I was home in bed, and a friend called me, (she was heading to work), and she said, “Kamal if you don’t have anything important to do in town today just stay indoors because the flood at your junction is terrible!" It’s been quite some rainfall we’ve experienced in Monrovia these past few days. Everyone enjoys cool weather no doubt, but unfortunately, not everyone will be pleased about the rains, most especially me who is a resident of the old road community in Sinkor, as well as the residents who live around the Freeport town area in Monrovia. There's massive flooding on major junctions and roads in our areas. Cars can’t pass because the water has risen to the point of even entering the cars. Pedestrians must walk through the water just to cross the roads. Its been catastrophic, and all this is largely due to the lack of drainage systems that we have in Liberia. -- Story by Kamal Anisiobi

Ten years ago, when Ernest Bai Koroma, President Julius Maada Bio's predecessor, launched his plan to meet a 2015 Millennium Development Goal, a grant agreement for US$13.9 million had been reached with the International Monetary Fund. With just under $14 million, Koroma hoped to get a lot done. The nation needed to keep more than 300,000 school-age children in school; have enough money to pay more than 20,000 teachers working in 3,430 primary schools, and employ another five thousand teachers, despite the staff ‘ceilings’ agreed with the International Monetary Fund. During the 2018 general elections, Julius Maada Bio, presidential candidate for the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP)  said it costs about nine dollars per child per year to attend a government or government-funded primary school. That translates into $22 million for all school-aged children in the country, one commentator said. A t the state opening of Parliament, President Maad...

Gone are the days when you could go to market with 500 Liberian dollars and buy enough to feed three or more people. Imagine trying to buy 4 pieces of chicken thighs for 100 Liberian dollars, only to find out that 100 LRD can get you only 2 pieces. Everything you touch in the market has gone up three times the former price. The dollar exchange rate in Liberia is now US$ 1 to 163 Liberian dollars. It was half that amount about three to five years ago. Liberian President George M. Weah said recently he is taking measures to tackle inflation and poverty.  “I am fully aware of the negative impact of the declining exchange rate on the economic well-being of the Liberian people, and the serious hardship that this is beginning to cause,” Weah said in an address to the nation. -- story by Kamal Anisiobi