With most ballots from Tuesday’s run-off vote counted, Mr Weah is well ahead of opponent Joseph Boakai.

He will succeed Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected female president, in Liberia’s first democratic handover in decades.

Mrs Sirleaf defeated Mr Weah in the presidential election run-off in 2005, after the end of a brutal civil war.

As news of Mr Weah’s victory emerged on Thursday, his supporters began celebrating in the capital Monrovia.

The former football star’s campaign – under the Coalition for Democratic Change banner – appealed to the youth vote, while incumbent Vice President Mr Boakai was seen as old and out of touch.

But Mr Weah’s election is not without controversy, as his running mate is Jewel Taylor, former wife of the warlord and ex-President Charles Taylor, who is serving a jail sentence in the UK for war crimes.

Mr Weah, 51, won the first round of the presidential election in October with 38.4% of the vote, compared with the 28.8% won by second-placed Mr Boakai, 73. The failure of any candidate to secure an outright majority forced the run-off.

The National Elections Commission (NEC) said on Thursday that with 98.1% of the run-off vote counted, Mr Weah had won 61.5% of the vote while Mr Boakai was far behind with 38.5%.

Mr Weah played for a string of football clubs, including AC Milan, Chelsea and Paris St-Germain, and is the only African footballer to have won both Fifa World Player of the Year and the Ballon D’Or.

He entered politics after his retirement from the game in 2002 and is currently a senator in Liberia’s parliament.

Liberia, founded by freed US slaves in the 19th Century, has not had a smooth transfer of power from one elected president to another since 1944.

Legal challenges delayed the vote to replace Ms Sirleaf, and turnout was low. Election officials put turnout at 56%.

More than two million people were eligible to cast their ballots in the nation of 4.6 million people.

Ms Sirleaf took office in 2006, after her predecessor President Taylor was forced out by rebels in 2003, ending a long civil war.

Taylor is serving his 50-year prison sentence in the UK for war crimes related to the conflict in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

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Source: BBC

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The West African country went to the polls on Tuesday to elect a new president following Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s 12-year reign as Africa’s first female President.

[contextly_sidebar id=”fLfhXQTCzpE3cpnLNIBd9tSzE7PUCXAn”]Voters are also picking new lawmakers in the West African Nation’s third post-civil war polls.

On Wednesday, several persons on Twitter and Facebook, without any official or provisional results, started congratulating football legend George Oppong Weah as the winner of the polls.

Twenty persons contested the presidency for which reason the election commission has indicated possibilities of a run-off.

They include former footballer Senator George Weah, Sirleaf’s Vice President Joseph Boakai, former rebel leader Prince Johnson, and the only woman in the race, former model Macdella Cooper.

There are 986 aspirants for the 73 seats in the House of representatives. 2,183,683 people registered to vote, and the elections body reports of a high turnout, although Liberia has a population of about five million.

However, the commission says its attention was drawn to the wave of public radio announcement of unofficial results of the 2017 elections, a situation it says it finds problematic.

The NEC has thus cautioned the general public, political parties and media persons alike, that per Section 2.9(g) of the New Election Law of 1986, only its outfit has the legal mandate to conduct elections and declare results thereof, adding that, when it begins to release provisional results (hopefully Thursday October 12), the process will be done at the NEC MEDIA CENTER, in the full glare of national and international media practitioners, as well as national and international partners and observers.

It said the NEC provisional results will also be posted on its official website:www.necliberia.org, and on its official facebook and twitter accounts.

Meanwhile, the NEC is requesting political parties and independent candidates to send representatives to the Montserrado Tally Center at the SKD Sports Complex in Paynesville, where results of the Tuesday elections are being tallied.

It said the tally begins from 9:00am to 6:00pm daily.

Parliamentarians, as well as members of the House of Representatives, are also expected to be elected.

Liberia Elections 2017

• 20 presidential candidates vying to be new president

• 986 parliamentary aspirants vying for 73 House of Representatives seats

• 2,183,683 registered voters out of 4.6 million population

• 5,390 voting centers, 2080 voting precincts

• Polls open October 10 at 0800 GMT and close at 1800 GMT

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By: Marie-Franz Fordjoe/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Ex-football star George Weah and Vice-President Joseph Boakai are the main contenders in the race to succeed her.

Liberia, founded by freed US slaves in the 19th Century, has not had a smooth transfer of power in 73 years.

Ms Sirleaf urged people to vote peacefully in a nation still recovering from a 14-year civil war.

“Your vote is about you and your family – not party, ethnicity,” she said in an address to to the nation.

A total of 20 presidential candidates are running to succeed Ms Sirleaf.

They include Alex Cummings, a former Coca-Cola executive, and MacDella Cooper, an ex-model and girlfriend of Mr Weah.

Ms Sirleaf, 78, is stepping down at the end of her two terms.

She took office in 2006, after her predecessor, Charles Taylor, was forced out of office by rebels in 2003.

Taylor is currently serving a 50-year prison sentence in the UK for war crimes related to the conflict in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

Mr Weah, 51, has chosen Taylor’s ex-wife Jewel Howard Taylor as his running mate.

This is the former footballer of the year’s third attempt to become president.

Ms Sirleaf has failed to campaign for Mr Boakai, fuelling speculation that the two have fallen out.

Supporters of Mr Boakai, 72, are campaigning under the slogan: “Our ma [Ms Sirleaf] spoil it, our pa will fix it.”

Almost 2.2 million people are registered to vote in the election.

Parliamentary elections are also due to be held at the same time.

Campaigning has been dominated by promises to tackle poverty, corruption, and guarantee stability in the West African state.

Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world, with more than 50% of people living in poverty.

It was one of three West African states badly hit by the 2014-15 Ebola outbreak which left more than 11,300 people dead.

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Source: BBC

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Ahead of elections next Tuesday, women of all ages are gathering from dawn to sunset on a roadside close to the party headquarters of several presidential candidates.

Their daily injunction for peace echoes the female activism that helped end Liberia’s civil wars, which ran back-to-back from 1989 to 2003.

The success of their non-violent protests propelled the bloodied West African state into the world headlines and earned a Nobel Peace Prize for one of its leaders.

“We led the process in 2002 and 2003 for the Liberian women’s mass action for peace. We are still assisting in maintaining this peace that we have,” Delphine Morris, national coordinator for the Women in Peacebuilding Network (WIPNET), said on Wednesday.

“For this electoral period, they thought it wise to come together again, to join their faiths and ensure that there be free and transparent elections,” she added.

At their small encampment, the WIPNET women regularly break out into song, and on Wednesday were shooting a music video to raise awareness of their work, to the delight and bemusement of passing traffic.

Twirling and sashaying, members sported T-shirts reading “Remember our past” and “Rape is a crime” as convoys promoting the main candidates passed by, beeping their horns at full volume.

‘We foresee violence’

“During the war we were praying and fasting and the war ended,” recalls Jassah Ganyan, an elderly lady resting under the tarpaulin roof. “We don’t want more war.”

But many here believe the spectre of conflict still looms as President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, also a co-winner of the 2011 Nobel, steps down after 12 years in power.

“We foresee electoral violence,” said Morris, eyeing an armoured police vehicle passing by.

“It’s not strange to Liberia. In the 2011 election when the result was announced, we had violence break out a little, and one or two people died. We don’t want it again.”

In 2011 the losing candidate in a runoff with Sirleaf, Winston Tubman, had called on his supporters to boycott the second round of voting. Two people were shot dead outside his headquarters the day before the vote.

Morris worries that presidential candidates are stoking possible disputes by prematurely claiming victory in what is widely acknowledged as an open field this year.

“All the parties you talk to, they all say they must win and they feel they have already won,” Morris said, describing a memorandum against violence they have asked all of Liberia’s political parties to sign.

“If you don’t win maybe this is not your time, maybe you have to do better work,” she said.

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Source: AFP

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This was announced by the country’s National Elections Commission (NEC) Chairman Jerome George Korkoya, explaining that the ballots for the House of Representatives will be printed in Ghana, while ballots for presidential candidates will be printed in Slovenia.

“We’ve concluded discussion that the printing of the House of Representatives candidates’ ballot papers will be printed Ghana, while the presidential ballot papers will be printed in Europe. This is done in consultation with key stakeholders,” he was quoted by local media portal The New Dawn.

He added that the decision follows the approval by the political parties and candidates who he had earlier invited to witness the printing process if they wish, at their expense.

We’ve concluded discussion that the printing of the House of Representatives candidates’ ballot papers will be printed Ghana, while the presidential ballot papers will be printed in Europe.

The printing companies were not named but they are expected to print 550 ballot papers for each of the 5,390 voting centers across the country.

The printing will cost the government US$ 1.5 million including printing cost for a second round, if need be, Korkoya said during an August 10 press conference.

The 2011 election ballots were printed in Ghana and the electoral commissioner said the printing company has a high reputation.

20 candidates are vying for president while 986 candidates are standing for 73 seats in the House of Representatives.

2,183,683 million people out of the country’s 4.6 million population have registered to vote. There are 5,390 voting centers across the country in 2080 voting precincts.

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Source: Africanews.com

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Members of the committee who were drawn from all the Metropolitan and Municipal and District Assemblies(MMDAs) in the ten regions presented an over view of what is happening in sanitation and waste management in the country.

The Minister said, he requested the directorate for environmental health to convey the meeting so as to identify the problem areas in the various regions and find out how possible to solve them.

According to the Minister, the ministry had not signed any contract or entered into any agreement with any sanitation and waste management company for payment to be made; rather, MMDAs are responsible for such payment, since they collect revenues from the people.

He said the presentations made by the MMDAs would help the Ministry to come out with a lasting solution on curbing the menace and finding out how government would help in funding waste management in the country.

Mr Oppong-Ofosu tasked all district assemblies to prepare an action plan to deal with waste management under their domain.

Naa Lenason Demedeme, acting Director of Environmental Health Service Department of the Ministry said the issue of sanitation should not be a problem that Ghana cannot solve, adding that MMDAs collect money from the people or traders so they should make sanitation management their responsibility.

He lauded the presentation by the MMDAs and said this would enable the Ministry to find solution to problems that the assembly cannot solve.

“The exercise is a good one, and I hope it would be sustained, once it is sustained, Ghanaians would benefit from it”, he added.

Source: GNA

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The shut down follows a delay in releasing the funds that the company needs to run its operations. Government is being accused of delaying in paying the people who run the plant.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, Business Development Manager at the Accra Compost Plant, Michael Padi Tuwor confirmed the closure of the plant.

”As we indicated last week of our plans to suspend operations should the situation not improve that much; yes,as at this morning [Monday] we’ve directed all the contractors  that supply us the waste not to bring in the waste,” he stated.

Mr. Padi Tuwor further revealed that the company has asked over 100 staff  to stay home until government pays them the money owed them. ”If the situation doesn’t improve any better the next 100 will also have to join.”

According to him, his outfit for over two years ran the compost plant with their own funds. He noted that the Local Government ministry is yet to respond to their demands.

He revealed that government owes the company about 23 million Ghana Cedis.

He said the facility had to be shut down because they cannot continue to run the business on loan. ”We had to be running the business since 2012 on loans and other source of high cost of funding which we cannot stretch ourselves to that limit,” he said.

On his part, Communications Director of Zoomlion, Robert Coleman said the current situation is ”rather unfortunate”.

According to him the refuse companies have no option. ”We have no other option than to migrate to the dump site at Kpone.”

He said, ”I have confirmation from a lot of drivers; about 45 of our trucks are not able to dump then what it means is that we cannot collect  the refuse as we must do.”

Mr. Coleman opined that the closure of the Compost and Recycling Plant will affect waste collection from Tuesday. ”Certainly it is going to aggravate the whole situation; waste collection is going to grind to a halt because we cannot refuse and then send it another region to go and dump,” he added.

He said waste from Accra must be sent to the areas around Accra.

The plant treats and recycles waste generated in Accra and its environs.

By: Evans Effah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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A press statement signed by the Executive Secretary of the Association, Ama.A. Ofori Atta noted that “our commitment to fulfilling our role in ensuring sound sanitation in the areas of our operation is unquestionable…. however, our efforts at providing this critical service  is hindered by many factors key of which is inadequate funding from government.”

Refuse generated by residents have not been collected for almost a month now.

Although residents have asked the Accra Metropolitan Assembly to call the refuse collection companies to order,  the problem is still lingering.

Mr. Okoe Vanderpuije in that regard noted that the Kpone site is currently the only appropriate landfill site for dumping of refuse.

But the Association noted that aside the financial assistance, the Kpone Landfill site is also operating below capacity due to frequent electricity power cuts, adding that the problem is making it difficult to operate the weighbridge equipment to record data.

“The government’s indebtedness to the operator has also made it impossible for the Association to buy fuel and lubricants to operate the heavy machines at site,” it said

The Association in that regard requested that the urgent payment to the operator of the Landfill should be made “so that it can operate at full capacity, and halt the piling up of garbage in the Accra and Tema metropolises.”

By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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