[Reposted from VOA]

Rodney Sieh interviewed with James Butty - Download (MP3) 
Rodney Sieh interviewed with James Butty - Listen (MP3)

Liberian Information Minister Laurence Bropleh

In Liberia, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has suspended Information Minister Laurence Bropleh pending the outcome of an investigation into a $300,000 scandal at the information ministry.

Rodney Sieh, publisher of the online magazine FrontPage Africa, said the suspended Minister Bropleh is expected to appear before police investigators Monday.

“On Monday morning, about 10 O’clock, we gather that Minister Borpleh or suspended Minister Borpleh will be appearing before the Criminal Investigation Division to answer questions related to the multiple charges of financial irregularity at the Ministry of Information. It’s not clear whether he will be arrested or how the interrogation process will work,” he said.

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By Jacien Carr

It was with great concern that I read about the Liberian Ministry of Information’s actions to deny the printing of “The Bi-Lingual” and “The New Broom”.  Having gained peace after years of civil strife, these actions are contrary to the advancement of civil society.  This demonstrates why Radio Free Africa is needed.

Growing up in Europe from 1974 to 1988, I was able to witness and absorb the plight of millions of Eastern Bloc Europeans living under the iron grip of Soviet inspired totalitarianism.  In fact one of my earliest memories of the consequences of this ideology was viewing programs about life in Eastern Europe that depicted empty shopping markets.  Bare shelves greeted hundreds of shoppers.  Usually, older women, all of them it appeared, dressed by the same tailor.  What a contrast to life in Italy or Switzerland.  Being from Liberia, I was astonished to realize that Europeans also lived in abject poverty.  I did realize however, that the reason for these conditions was manmade.   The citizens of Eastern Europe were subjected to third world status due to the policies of their governments.  Two of those policies were the systematic suppression of free speech and the press.  This policy reached across the Iron Curtain and touched me personally while I was living in Geneva, Switzerland. (more…)