Skip to main content

Liberian government blocks access to social media following protests against President George Weah and the missing $100 million

The Liberian government has shut down the use of social media in the country after thousands of Liberians descended on the capital Monrovia on Friday to protest the corruption that has bedeviled president George Weah’s administration.


The internet monitoring organization NetBlocks said platforms including WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook were blocked to subdue the protests. While the cut-off didn’t impact all providers, restrictions affected mobile internet provider Orange Liberia and internet service provider Lonestar.


The social media shutdown was confirmed by assessing user measurements in the Liberian capital and in collaboration with the digital advocacy Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa

Themed  “Save The State,” the anti-government protests come just over a year after former soccer star George Weah was inaugurated into office. As an outsider, Weah campaigned to tackle corruption, and improving the provision of crucial services like education, health, and infrastructure. 


A few months into office, the government, however, admitted that $104 million of freshly-minted currency had gone missing in a shipping container at the Monrovia port. After an uproar, officials retreated insisting the money was never lost. An additional $25 million, withdrawn from the country’s reserves and meant to be injected into the economy, was also lost. Besides calling for the return of the missing millions, demonstrators are also demanding for the establishment of a war crimes court to institute legal proceedings against those who bear the greatest responsibility for atrocities committed during Liberia’s civil war.


While the government denies any wrongdoing, the alleged financial mismanagement is worrying many Liberians who feel the country is heading into an ominous future. The Liberian dollar has dropped by a third against the US dollar since Weah took office with inflation soaring as high as 28%. The high-level embezzlement cases and the ensuing protests are vexing for Weah, whose election heralded the first peaceful transfer of power in Liberia in 73 years.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hurricane Hits Texas, One Person Reported Dead

Hurricane Harvey hit Texas as a Category 4 storm on Friday, battering the coast with 130-mph winds and torrential rain. It was the strongest hurricane to hit the United States in more than a decade leaving a massive destruction, loss of electricity, wrecked buildings and has so far killed at least one person. Scroll down to see more pictures of the incident:
Post a Comment
Read more

Kenyan Law Court dismisses case of man seeking compensation after his wife eloped with another man from hospital

  A lawsuit filed by a man seeking to be compensated by St Mary's Mission Hospital in Kenya for allowing his wife to leave the hospital with another man after giving birth, has been struck out by a law court.    The appellant had sued the St. Mary's Mission hospital at Kakamega law courts in 2020 seeking general damages from the facility on grounds that the hospital had discharged his wife and allowed her to leave with another man. After delivering and at the time of discharge, the wife of the appellant claimed he was the baby's father.   The court of appeal judges Patrick Kiage, Mumbi Ngugi and Francis Tuiyott sitting at the Kisumu Court of Appeal, empathized with the man, but disagreed that he (the appellant) be compensated by the hospital for not detaining his wife.  They upheld the lower court's judgement which added that there's no remedy that lies in the law for such grievances.   Kiage said;   "I agree that if a man takes the woman he loves to t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nigerian Military hands over 23 rescued children to UNICEF through Borno State

The Nigerian military has handed over 23 children who were formerly associated with Boko Haram insurgents, to UNICEF through the Borno State government.  The children were picked up during various military operations around the north-east region. Aged between 17 and 10 years, the boys and girls confessed to the military that they have been assisting the Boko Haram insurgents either as fighters or domestic helps in the camps. The Theatre Commander of a military counterinsurgency force, Abba Dikko, said the 23 children were released in line with Nigeria military’s commitment to the observance of human rights. He observed that the children and other vulnerable persons were victims who faced with the highly unstable circumstances induced by the conflict would have had little option but to fall under the thrall of the insurgents.  “We were able to identify this category of people, especially the women, the aged and children to whom it behooves our sense of duty and res...
Post a Comment
Read more