A new law meant to curb Liberia’s high rate of unsafe abortions has outraged opponents. But the government is standing firm. 

And… 20 years since the signing of Accra peace agreement, Nobel laureate Leymah Gbowee challenges Liberians to vote for justice. 

You’re listing to Democracy in Focus 

This podcast was funded by the Swedish Embassy in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. The funders had no say in its content. 

Support the show

Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish embassy in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org

No Liberian has had the global business success of Alexander Cummings. The 67 year-old candidate for the presidency went from humble beginnings in Monrovia to the heights of global business as a top executive at Coca-Cola. He says that makes him well equipped to fix Liberia's broken economy. But will Liberian voters be convinced?

Front Page Africa's Gerald Koinyeneh and New Narratives' Anthony Stephens interview the candidate in this bonus episode. 

Support the show

Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish embassy in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org

Coming up in this episode .. More people die on Liberia’s roads as a percentage of population than almost anywhere else in the world according to the World Bank. Why then did the Weah government kill a $US50m agency meant to make roads safer? Critics point to an allegedly illegal contract to a Weah ally.

Political parties ignore their own commitment to field women in 30 percent of seats. Liberia’s low representation by women looks set to fall further. 

Presidential candidates Alexander Cummings and Taiwan Gongloe commit to hold a war crimes court if elected, but President Weah and ex-vice president Joseph Boakai refuse to comment. 

 And a New Narratives survey finds a third of voters do not trust the newly introduced Biometric Voter Registration system ahead of October’s elections.  You’re listing to Democracy in Focus

Support the show

Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish embassy in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org

Looking at Liberia’s newsmedia, one might think that no one lives outside the capital, Monrovia. We devote this episode to bringing some of rural Liberia's most pressing issues to light.  

We visit a maternity clinic where giving birth means risking death. Six years since the land rights act just 16 communities have received land title.  Experts say its time to go back to the drawing board. 

A malaria vaccine finally rolls out across the country – promising to save the lives of thousands of children.

The trash crisis is bad in Monrovia and Paynesville but in rural areas things can be even worse. 

And finally, experts say the number of women drug users in rural areas is growing with terrible consequences for their children and families. 

You’re listing to Democracy in Focus.

Support the show

Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish embassy in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org

A six-month investigation looks at the failure of a three-million-dollar EU-funded project meant to solve Liberia’s trash crisis.

War crimes court campaigner Adama Dempster has returned from meetings in the us with key officials in the American government. We get the latest. We check in with victims’ advocate Hassan Billity on the latest developments in war crimes trials in the us and Europe. 

And citizens of rural Liberia struggle to get basic services at dysfunctional county service centers.

 You’re listing to democracy in focus.

Funding for this podcast came from the Swedish and US embassies in Liberia. The funders had no say in the content. 

Support the show

Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish embassy in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org

Coming up in this episode… as corruption plagues the Weah government we talk to whistleblowers who say they’re paying a heavy price.

 We look at the economic turmoil threatening political instability across the region. At the same time the government back tracks on claims it’s reduced poverty. World bank data shows things are getting worse. 

The government loses its first case in the trafficking ring to Oman. 

And, with Liberia’s health care system in crisis, some wealthy Liberians are plugging the gap one patient at a time. 

 You’re listing to Democracy in Focus.

Funding for this podcast was provided by the US and Swedish embassies in Liberia. The funders had no say in the reporting. 

Support the show

Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish embassy in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org

Over the last four months ago, we’ve been reporting about the trafficking of more than 350 Liberian women to the Middle Eastern country of Oman. 

 A network of traffickers including Liberians and Omanis deceived the women into believing they were going for good jobs that would change their families lives. Instead they were trapped in a scam that had them working as domestic servants in hellish conditions with no way out. 

Unlike in previous trafficking scams, this time the government got tough. It engaged Omani authorities and began prosecuting traffickers. It issued an international arrest warrant for alleged mastermind Liberian Samuel Chan Chan. His brother Arthur is serving a 25-year sentence for his role in getting women past security checks at the airport where he was a national security officer. Others who helped in the scheme have been jailed and charged.

 Most unusual -  at least 250 of the women have come home in what experts say is the first time a large group of women has broken free of a trafficking trap of its kind. 

In this podcast extra, Anthony Stephens interviews Drew Engel, the anti-trafficking advisor in the US Embassy in Liberia. 

Support the show

Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish embassy in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org

In this episode: Two months since police seized a container of weapons imported into the county that raised alarms about a potential coup we have the latest on the investigation.

The government claims it has reduced the number of people without access to toilets. World bank data says otherwise. 

An international arrest warrant is in the works for the man who masterminded the trafficking of 350 Liberian women to Oman. His online history shows he started looking for Middle East partners to exploit Liberian women in 2018.

And we have the latest on war crimes cases in Europe and the United States. 

 You’re listing to Democracy in Focus 

Reporting in this podcast is funded by the Swedish and US embassies in Liberia. 

Support the show

Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish embassy in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org

In this episode .. Seven years since us-based Bridge International Academies arrived in Liberia to overhaul schools, experts, teachers and parents say it’s time to end the experiment.

After scores of children were killed by tainted imported medicines in The Gambia, what is being done to protect Liberians? 

A Liberian security agent becomes the first government official convicted of human trafficking. He’s serving 25 years in prison as authorities close in on others. But what’s happening to the women who returned home?  

And Finnish prosecutors are appealing last year’s acquittal of former Revolutionary United Front commander Gibril Massaquoi on charges he committed war crimes in Liberia. The appeal is hearing testimony in Liberia. We get the latest.  

You’re listing to Democracy in Focus

Support the show

Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish embassy in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org

In this episode, as many as 350 Liberian women were trafficked to the Middle East with promises of jobs and a chance to study.  Instead they found themselves in a human trafficking scam.

But the women broke free from the trap that had caught millions before them. A year on more than half are home.  The government has launched a major new push to crack down on traffickers. 

Two years since the mysterious deaths of four government auditors a legislative committee that was supposed to look into the deaths has yet to report. We ask why?

And journalists are facing an increase in threats and physical attacks. Newsrooms tell us they are self censoring out of fear. What will that mean for our democracy as Liberia goes to the polls? 

Support the show

Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish embassy in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org