Ebola-hit Liberia cancels
nationwide election
on october 09, 2014 at 3:22 pm in news
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Ebola-hit Liberia has suspended its nationwide
Senate polls after the election commission
admitted it would not be able to stage the ballot
safely, according to a government statement.
Almost three million voters had been due to go to
polling stations on Tuesday but organisers said
there was no way a “mass movement,
deployment and gathering of people” could go
ahead without endangering lives.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was exercising
powers under a state of emergency announced in
August “to suspend… any and all rights ordinarily
exercised, enjoyed and guaranteed to citizens,”
the foreign office said in a statement issued late
Wednesday, quoting a presidential proclamation.
Liberia, which has seen more than half of the
almost 4,000 deaths so far in the outbreak
ravaging west Africa, had been due to elect half
of its legislative upper chamber.
The election commission said in a statement it
had recommended the postponement because it
could not conduct “a free, fair, transparent and
credible election” because of the epidemic.
It added that it would consult political parties and
candidates with a view to fixing a new date,
before the end of the year if possible.
Chairman Jerome George Korkoya was quoted as
saying the outbreak prevented training and
deployment of 25,000 staff needed for 4,700
polling stations across the country.
The election would also require 365 “educators”
to raise awareness of the polls in 73 electoral
districts across the country as well as 400
election supervisors.
Computer engineers would not be able to go
around the country setting up Internet
connections for the transmission of results, and
the turnout would be extremely low in any case,
Korkoya added.
“The commission is required to internationally
procure ballot paper printing services for the
printing of 2,640,000 ballot papers, 78,750 mock
ballots and 5,000 polling kits, all of which have to
be flown into the country,” he said.
“The timely delivery of these materials, most of
which are sensitive, cannot be guaranteed in the
wake of the current wave of the suspension of
flights to Liberia.”
Modelled on the American system, Liberia’s upper
house is composed of 30 senators, two
representing each of the country’s 15 counties
for staggered nine-year terms.
Fifteen senators were elected in 2011 and
another 15 seats in the chamber were supposed
to go up for election this year. Ebola challenge 'biggest since
Aids'
9 October 2014 Africa
Scientists are racing to understand - and combat
- the Ebola virus
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is unlike
anything since the emergence of HIV/Aids,
top US medical official Thomas Frieden has
said.
A fast global response could ensure that it did not
become "the next Aids," the director of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
said.
Dr Frieden was addressing a high-level World
Bank forum about the crisis.
The outbreak has killed more than 3,860 people,
mainly in West Africa, including more than 200
health workers.
On Thursday, a Liberian doctor died of the disease
at a treatment centre in Monrovia, health officials
said.
Ugandan-born John Taban Dada had been
working at the country's largest hospital, the John
F Kennedy Memorial Center, his former colleagues
said.
His death brings to four the number of doctors
who have died in Liberia since the outbreak. 1•«Kenya president approve. for CCI»
Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta has
confirmed he will be appearing at the
International Criminal Court in The Hague
this week.
He told parliament that his deputy, William Ruto,
would be in charge during his absence.
Mr Kenyatta faces charges of organising ethnic
massacres that killed 1,200 people after the 2007
elections - something he denies.
The 8 October hearing is due to set a date for his
trial to begin.
The ICC had summoned him to appear to explain
allegations that evidence against him had been
withheld.
In September, the court postponed the trial after
prosecutors said the Kenyan government had
failed to deliver key documents. Witnesses for the
prosecution have withdrawn from the case.
Dozens of Kenyan MPs are expected to travel to
The Hague to back Mr Kenyatta at the status
hearing.
Mr Kenyatta said he would be going to The Hague
in a personal capacity - not as president - so as
not to compromise the sovereignty of Kenya's 40
million people. 2•«British hostage David Bolam
freed in Libya»
5 October 2014 UK
British teacher David Bolam has been
released after being held hostage by
militants in Libya since May.
The Foreign Office said Mr Bolam, who taught at
the now-closed International School Benghazi,
was "safe and well" and had been reunited with
his family.
Mr Bolam's MP in Craven Arms in Shropshire said
he was "delighted" that the 63-year-old was back
home safely.
It is thought the teacher's release was secured by
local political factions and that money changed
hands.
Mr Bolam's kidnapping had not been reported at
the request of the Foreign Office and his family.
