{"id":47324,"date":"2014-09-14T11:37:54","date_gmt":"2014-09-14T11:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=47324"},"modified":"2014-09-14T11:37:54","modified_gmt":"2014-09-14T11:37:54","slug":"ebola-outbreak-liberia-sacks-absentee-officials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=47324","title":{"rendered":"Ebola outbreak: Liberia ‘sacks absentee officials’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has sacked 10 government officials who have been “out of the country without an excuse,” amid a national Ebola crisis.<\/p>\n

She said the officials had shown “insensitivity to our national tragedy and disregard for authority”.<\/p>\n

The 10 were given a one-week ultimatum more than a month ago to return home.<\/p>\n

Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea are the worst-hit countries in an outbreak that has killed more than 2,400.<\/p>\n

More than half of those killed by the Ebola virus have been in Liberia.<\/p>\n

\"Liberian<\/div>\n
More than half of all people killed by the latest Ebola virus outbreak in 2014 have been in Liberia<\/div>\n

[contextly_sidebar id=”ZSK0TtzkOESOrPkdGRxjN5e4lI9VcBSw”]The 10 officials include two commissioners, six assistant ministers and two deputy ministers at the justice ministry, Wheatonia Dixon-Barns and Victoria Sherman-Lang.<\/p>\n

The BBC’s Jonathan Paye-Layleh says a press release issued from the presidency on Saturday reported that the officials had been fired “with immediate effect”.<\/p>\n

Eight junior officials have also been warned to return to the country, and will not be paid until they do.<\/p>\n

“Junior officials will forfeit all compensation until they return home to join in the fight against the Ebola virus disease,” the presidency said.<\/p>\n

One is Christine Tolbert-Norman, the eldest daughter of the late former President William Tolbert who was killed in a coup in 1980.<\/p>\n

\"line\"<\/div>\n

Liberia at a glance:<\/p>\n

\"Liberian<\/div>\n
    \n
  • Infrastructure devastated by a 14-year civil war<\/li>\n
  • About 250,000 people killed in the conflict that ended in 2003<\/li>\n
  • One doctor to treat nearly 100,000 people before Ebola outbreak<\/li>\n
  • Ebola cases this year: 2,046<\/li>\n
  • Ebola deaths this year: 1,224<\/li>\n
  • Population: 4.4 million<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Source: WHO<\/em><\/p>\n

    \"line\"<\/div>\n

    President Johnson Sirleaf has appealed directly to US President Barack Obama for urgent help in tackling the outbreak.<\/p>\n

    In a letter dated 9 September she asks Mr Obama to build and operate at least one Ebola treatment centre in the capital, Monrovia.<\/p>\n

    “Without more direct help from your government, we will lose this battle against Ebola,” she writes.<\/p>\n

    The World Health Organization (WHO) warned recently that thousands more cases could occur in Liberia.<\/p>\n

    Ebola spreads between humans by direct contact with infected blood, bodily fluids or organs, or indirectly through contact with contaminated environments.<\/p>\n

    \"Map:<\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    Credit: BBC<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has sacked 10 government officials who have been “out of the country without an excuse,” amid a national Ebola crisis. She said the officials had shown “insensitivity to our national tragedy and disregard for authority”. The 10 were given a one-week ultimatum more than a month ago to return home. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":47338,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[14],"class_list":["post-47324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-papa-owusu-ankomah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}