By June 6, 2025 the august gathering at the United Nations 79th General Assembly will converge, among other things, to elect five new permanent members to take seat on the United Nations Security Council as non-permanent members of the Security Council.
In the filthy streets of Monrovia, the forgotten villages and towns of rural Liberia , the dusty corridors of Monrovia’s Ministries and on the Senate floor, one phrase continues to echo with a mix of hope, suspicion, and fury: “The Yellow Machines.” Once hailed as a triumph of Vice President Jeremiah Kpan Koung’s negotiation prowess, the multi-million-dollar procurement of heavy-duty road equipment has become a lightning rod for the broader issues of accountability, transparency, and systemic corruption that have haunted Liberia for decades.
It is both an honor and a great privilege to speak before you on this meaningful occasion — the official launch of Liberia’s campaign for re-election to Category A of the IMO Council for the 2026–2027 biennium.
From times existing beyond the reach of memory, humans have been honoring their dead. In Rome and ancient Greece, stretching far back into antiquity--to the Sumerians, Mesopotamians and Egyptians--large steles, stones, statutes, and tombs have been erected over the centuries to etch their shadows across time itself and defy eternity. But sadly, it would seem Liberians have been direlect in their duty to their own dead, save one man, who, in the nick of time, seeks to correct this flaw, and avert the wrath of the ancestors.
When Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe of Bomi County recently visited the residence of President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, flanked by Vice President Jeremiah Koung and Senate Pro-Tempore Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence, many viewed it as a turning point—a reunion of former Unity Party allies after years of political fighting. But what seemed like a soft handshake of reconciliation has quickly given way to a political firestorm.
Liberia stands at a critical juncture in its democratic journey. The nation's hard-won peace and democratic gains are under threat due to systemic governance failures, rampant corruption, and the erosion of the rule of law. George S. Tengbeh, a prominent labor rights advocate and governance reformist, warns that ignoring these red flags could jeopardize the country's future. This article delves into the current governance challenges in Liberia, highlighting the urgent need for reforms to safeguard the nation's democratic trajectory.
Is President Boakai governing through spin with the relaunch of his propaganda machine—Class Reloaded—while the nation sinks deeper into economic and social despair? “You can use propaganda to win, but you can’t use it to govern.”
Is George Weah and Mamie Doe Again? This Time, a Fight as the Nation Mourns Former First Lady, Her Excellency Nancy B. Doe. We begin this narrative with solemn respect, conveying heartfelt condolences to the Doe and Bohn families—especially the children of the late President Samuel Kanyon Doe and former First Lady Nancy B. Doe. Liberia grieves alongside the people of Grand Gedeh County as one of its most historic maternal figures departs this world. May her reunion with her husband—“the unarguably first native son to have led the Republic,” as some Liberians fondly recall—be one of divine peace and eternal rest.
In May 2025, after more than eight months of legislative paralysis, internal power struggles, allegations of bribery and arson, physical assaults on the legislative floor, and a blatant defiance of a Supreme Court ruling, Hon. Richard Nagbe Koon was officially installed as Speaker of the House of Representatives—becoming the 64th person to occupy that office since 1848, a number that includes Speakers from all of Liberia’s transitional governments.
Joseph Nyuma Boakai’s rise to the presidency was historic not for its novelty, but for its symbolism. In a nation long wearied by political disappointments, war, and corruption, Boakai represented something many believed had vanished from Liberian politics: integrity backed by experience. Unlike Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, whose post-war charisma and Nobel Prize prestige swept her into power, or George Weah, who rode populist energy and football fame to victory, Boakai’s path was long, quiet, and methodical. He was not seen as a disruptor, but as a stabilizer. Not revolutionary, but redemptive. And that, precisely, is why the stakes are so high.
