A piece of Liberia
Yesterday I went to Liberia. Sort of.
On the outskirts of Ghana's capital city Accra sits a refugee camp called Buduburam. Buduburam is home to 42,000 Liberian refugees, most of whom have been there for over 15 years. Because of Liberia's long history with corrupt government, rebel leader Charles Taylor overthrew the president Samuel Doe in 1989. But history also tells us overthrowing never runs smoothly, and this was no exception. A vicious civil war broke. The options were: die, hide or get the hell out.
Although not in their native land, these 42,000 Liberians are very lucky. At a local bar called The Red Spot, Jos Garneo Cephas, the news editor of The Vision, Buduburam's only news source, recounts his experience.
"My sister died in the war and I don't know where my parents are," Cephas says, adjusting the earpiece in his ear. "I befriended the captain of the boat. It was the only way to escape. But many people got trampled on and died during the journey. I survived," he says, looking at the ground.
But for Cephas, the refuge of the camp isn't comforting enough. With his colleague, Semantics King Jr. and some volunteers from Journalists for Human Rights, publishing the newspaper serves as a voice for displaced Liberians, asserting their cultural heritage in a place they now call home. Problem is, the paper has no funding so they are unable to print anymore. They do have an online sight which is: www.thevisiononline.net
The duo are currently working on creating awareness about the Liberian election, coming up on November 8. According to the UNHCR (United Nation High Commisioner on Refugees), exiled Liberians in Budaburam don't have the right to vote in the election because they no longer reside there. As you walk through the camp, you can see men playing checkers at local bars, passionately arguing about who they think will win. It is apparent that without a say, residents of Budaburam feel powerless. And that's where Cephas, Semantics and JHR come in. They are conducting an 'Electoral Survey' in the hope of helping Liberians feel like they are part of the election. On November 8, the team will hold a mock election. Once the results are cast, they will publish the findings online and broadcast them at other Ghanaian and Liberian news agencies.
One of the two candidates for the election, George Weah, is about as ridiculous as Arnold or Ronald. This guy is a football star with no and I mean no political or governmental experience. To boot, he's got the old boys on board - key players in maintaining the corrupt government Liberians have become so acustomed to. But because this joker is a football star, he's up in the polls. No candidate in the last election which was held on October 11 of this year held 51 per cent of the votes, which is what is needed to hold office. But Weah had the most votes at 29 per cent and the runner-up, Johnson-Sirleaf sat at 19 per cent.
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, if elected, would be the first female African president. And experience is her middle name. Granted she did support Taylor temporarily when he overthrew Doe, but later withdrew her support when he became as corrupt as Doe had. Johnson-Sirleaf is an economist who works with Citibank and the United Nations. She used to be the finance minister and has been acknowledged as a good leader. Johnson-Sirleaf was sent to jail, however, when she was finance minister. The candidate wouldn't release funds to the president in power because he couldn't account for what he was going to spend the money on.
With the polls, people's ignorence and the backing of the youth, it is looking as if George Weah will win. Another sad day in politics...
I'm going to focus on the Buduburam and Liberian elections for my next two Rights on Radio programmes. For the first show,I'm going to use radio clips from Buduburam residents about who they want to win and why and also have a phone interview with Semantics about the response they are getting from locals asked to vote. Then once the election is finished, Semantics is coming to Tamale with Dave Maass, my friend from JHR who works for The Vision to discuss how it went and their thoughts on how Buduburam and Liberia will change with the new president in power.
On the outskirts of Ghana's capital city Accra sits a refugee camp called Buduburam. Buduburam is home to 42,000 Liberian refugees, most of whom have been there for over 15 years. Because of Liberia's long history with corrupt government, rebel leader Charles Taylor overthrew the president Samuel Doe in 1989. But history also tells us overthrowing never runs smoothly, and this was no exception. A vicious civil war broke. The options were: die, hide or get the hell out.
Although not in their native land, these 42,000 Liberians are very lucky. At a local bar called The Red Spot, Jos Garneo Cephas, the news editor of The Vision, Buduburam's only news source, recounts his experience.
"My sister died in the war and I don't know where my parents are," Cephas says, adjusting the earpiece in his ear. "I befriended the captain of the boat. It was the only way to escape. But many people got trampled on and died during the journey. I survived," he says, looking at the ground.
But for Cephas, the refuge of the camp isn't comforting enough. With his colleague, Semantics King Jr. and some volunteers from Journalists for Human Rights, publishing the newspaper serves as a voice for displaced Liberians, asserting their cultural heritage in a place they now call home. Problem is, the paper has no funding so they are unable to print anymore. They do have an online sight which is: www.thevisiononline.net
The duo are currently working on creating awareness about the Liberian election, coming up on November 8. According to the UNHCR (United Nation High Commisioner on Refugees), exiled Liberians in Budaburam don't have the right to vote in the election because they no longer reside there. As you walk through the camp, you can see men playing checkers at local bars, passionately arguing about who they think will win. It is apparent that without a say, residents of Budaburam feel powerless. And that's where Cephas, Semantics and JHR come in. They are conducting an 'Electoral Survey' in the hope of helping Liberians feel like they are part of the election. On November 8, the team will hold a mock election. Once the results are cast, they will publish the findings online and broadcast them at other Ghanaian and Liberian news agencies.
One of the two candidates for the election, George Weah, is about as ridiculous as Arnold or Ronald. This guy is a football star with no and I mean no political or governmental experience. To boot, he's got the old boys on board - key players in maintaining the corrupt government Liberians have become so acustomed to. But because this joker is a football star, he's up in the polls. No candidate in the last election which was held on October 11 of this year held 51 per cent of the votes, which is what is needed to hold office. But Weah had the most votes at 29 per cent and the runner-up, Johnson-Sirleaf sat at 19 per cent.
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, if elected, would be the first female African president. And experience is her middle name. Granted she did support Taylor temporarily when he overthrew Doe, but later withdrew her support when he became as corrupt as Doe had. Johnson-Sirleaf is an economist who works with Citibank and the United Nations. She used to be the finance minister and has been acknowledged as a good leader. Johnson-Sirleaf was sent to jail, however, when she was finance minister. The candidate wouldn't release funds to the president in power because he couldn't account for what he was going to spend the money on.
With the polls, people's ignorence and the backing of the youth, it is looking as if George Weah will win. Another sad day in politics...
I'm going to focus on the Buduburam and Liberian elections for my next two Rights on Radio programmes. For the first show,I'm going to use radio clips from Buduburam residents about who they want to win and why and also have a phone interview with Semantics about the response they are getting from locals asked to vote. Then once the election is finished, Semantics is coming to Tamale with Dave Maass, my friend from JHR who works for The Vision to discuss how it went and their thoughts on how Buduburam and Liberia will change with the new president in power.
posted by Janey Llewellin at 2:20 PM
3 Comments:
Janey,
such a wealth of stories and of chances to affect people. Is it going to be hard to leave?
yes! so hard!
No matter how hard it is, come back!
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