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Headlines FrontPage Africa
12/08/2025

Headlines FrontPage Africa

Headlines Women Voices
08/08/2025

Headlines Women Voices

Headlines The Inquirer
08/08/2025

Headlines The Inquirer

Nelson (not his real name) had four wives, a situation that prevented him from fully participating in the life of the Ch...
08/08/2025

Nelson (not his real name) had four wives, a situation that prevented him from fully participating in the life of the Church and her Sacraments. However, by the time he was dying, the native of Nigeria’s Catholic Diocese of Otukpo had celebrated the Sacrament of Matrimony, and his former wives had also abandoned the polygamous union.

Journeying with other people in polygamous situations at St. Augustine Pious Association, it took Nelson, his wives, and many children 25 years to embrace total conversion as Catholics.

In an interview with ACI Africa, Bishop Michael Ekwoy Apochi of Otukpo Diocese said that the conversion of Nelson and his wives was possible owing to the support of their children, who ensured that their mothers were well taken care of after ending the polygamous union.

This, Bishop Apochi said, ensured that there would be no more “bad relationship” between their father and their mothers.

“The entire family agreed that the father would be married in the Church as he wanted, but then they were ready to cater for all their mothers, so that their mothers would not go into any adulterous relationship with anybody, and their father would not have any bad relationship with any of the women again,” he recalled during the August 2 interview.

Bishop Apochi added, “Until this man died, he and his former wives lived apart in different places, but the wives he left were all catered for. They were all provided for from the central fund the family had created, and they did it very well based on the understanding of their love for Christ, and how Christ has compassion for every member of the society.”

The association, he said, targets people in polygamous situations, who are interested in following Christ as Catholics.

Bishop Apochi noted that many Catholics in polygamous situations are usually very active members of the Church; the irregular relationship is the only thing that stands in the way for them.

Full story at:https://www.aciafrica.org/news/16909/st-augustine-group-in-nigerian-diocese-accompanying-catholics-in-polygamous-situations-to-conversion

Credit: ACI Africa

Nelson (not his real name) had four wives, a situation that prevented him from fully participating in the life of the Ch...
08/08/2025

Nelson (not his real name) had four wives, a situation that prevented him from fully participating in the life of the Church and her Sacraments. However, by the time he was dying, the native of Nigeria’s Catholic Diocese of Otukpo had celebrated the Sacrament of Matrimony, and his former wives had also abandoned the polygamous union.

Journeying with other people in polygamous situations at St. Augustine Pious Association, it took Nelson, his wives, and many children 25 years to embrace total conversion as Catholics.

In an interview with ACI Africa, Bishop Michael Ekwoy Apochi of Otukpo Diocese said that the conversion of Nelson and his wives was possible owing to the support of their children, who ensured that their mothers were well taken care of after ending the polygamous union.

This, Bishop Apochi said, ensured that there would be no more “bad relationship” between their father and their mothers.

“The entire family agreed that the father would be married in the Church as he wanted, but then they were ready to cater for all their mothers, so that their mothers would not go into any adulterous relationship with anybody, and their father would not have any bad relationship with any of the women again,” he recalled during the August 2 interview.

Bishop Apochi added, “Until this man died, he and his former wives lived apart in different places, but the wives he left were all catered for. They were all provided for from the central fund the family had created, and they did it very well based on the understanding of their love for Christ, and how Christ has compassion for every member of the society.”

The association, he said, targets people in polygamous situations, who are interested in following Christ as Catholics.

Bishop Apochi noted that many Catholics in polygamous situations are usually very active members of the Church; the irregular relationship is the only thing that stands in the way for them.

Full story at:https://www.aciafrica.org/news/16909/st-augustine-group-in-nigerian-diocese-accompanying-catholics-in-polygamous-situations-to-conversion

Credit: ACI Africa

Nelson (not his real name) had four wives, a situation that prevented him from fully participating in the life of the Church and her Sacraments. However, by the time he was dying, the native of Nigeria’s Catholic Diocese of Otukpo had celebrated the Sacrament of Matrimony, and his fo...

Letter From Saclepea With Musa Hassan Bility A Ban Without a Bridge, Liberia’s Rubber Export Policy Risks Outpacing Its ...
08/08/2025

Letter From Saclepea
With Musa Hassan Bility

A Ban Without a Bridge, Liberia’s Rubber Export Policy Risks Outpacing Its Infrastructure

President Joseph Boakai’s recent Executive Order No. 151, which restricts the export of unprocessed natural rubber from Liberia, has reignited national debate over the future of the country’s most historic agricultural commodity. While the intent behind the policy, to spur domestic processing and value addition, is laudable, its success hinges on a critical question, Does Liberia currently have the infrastructure, institutions, and inclusive strategy to make this work?

A Noble Goal, Risking a Costly Misstep

The Executive Order builds upon similar actions taken by the previous administration. It restricts the export of raw rubber (commonly in the form of “cup lump”) and instead requires that Liberian rubber be processed locally before being shipped abroad. The aim is to move Liberia from being a mere exporter of raw materials to a value adding economy, in line with global best practices.

Supporters of the policy, including large rubber processors and some planters, argue that this shift will reduce smuggling, improve tax compliance, create jobs, and help retain wealth within Liberia. On paper, it makes economic sense. After all, exporting processed rubber brings in more income than exporting it raw, and the benefits of such a policy have been documented in countries like Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.

But policies do not operate in a vacuum; they require an enabling environment.

The Infrastructure Gap

What Liberia lacks, today, is adequate domestic processing infrastructure to absorb the rubber that will no longer be exported in raw form. While a handful of companies such as Firestone Liberia, LAC, and Jeety Rubber process rubber domestically, their capacities are limited and their operations capital intensive. The vast majority of smallholder farmers and independent traders do not have access to processing facilities. Nor do they have the financing or logistical capacity to build or transport their products to distant plants.

With limited electricity, high transportation costs, and little technical support for agro processing, the policy risks stranding thousands of farmers with no buyers for their rubber. In the absence of alternatives, they may be forced to sell to the few major processors at disadvantageous prices, reinforcing monopolies and shrinking already thin profit margins.

Disempowering the Informal Sector

While the Executive Order exempts large processors who are already producing Technically Specified Rubber (TSR) for export, it imposes significant new fees, restrictions, and procedural hurdles on smaller actors. A $150 per metric ton levy, a mandatory payment to the Rubber Development Fund, and a 4% presumptive tax on exported rubber may be manageable for corporations, but they can be devastating for small scale exporters and independent tappers.

For a policy that claims to empower Liberians, it appears to disproportionately favor the few companies that already dominate the market. This contradiction is not lost on farmers, many of whom have publicly expressed concern that they were not consulted before the policy was announced.

Policy Without Support is Policy Without Impact

The rationale behind Executive Order No. 151 is not the problem. Liberia, like many resource rich countries, must learn to add value to its products and reduce its dependency on raw exports. However, banning raw rubber exports without first building the infrastructure, offering financial support to smallholders, and ensuring inclusive access to processing opportunities may cause more harm than good.

The government must urgently pair this Executive Order with,
• Massive investment in rubber processing
infrastructure, including incentives for Liberian
owned processors,
• Access to affordable energy and transport to
reduce the cost of domestic processing,
• Financing and grants for smallholders to co-
invest in cooperatives or local processing units,
• Market access support and price stabilization
mechanisms to prevent exploitative pricing by
dominant processors.

Conclusion, Vision Must Be Matched by Strategy

President Boakai’s desire to transform the rubber sector is commendable. But ambition alone cannot substitute for planning. Liberia cannot afford to trade one dependency, for raw exports, for another, corporate monopoly over processing. If this policy is to succeed, it must be part of a broader economic transformation strategy that places Liberian farmers, processors, and communities at the center.

A ban without a bridge will not take us across the river of dependency; it will only leave our people stranded on the wrong side of progress.

07/08/2025
07/08/2025
Reflection With Janice-Love Bropleh More Than a Protest During the nationwide   protest in Liberia, a harrowing image wa...
07/08/2025

Reflection
With Janice-Love Bropleh

More Than a Protest

During the nationwide protest in Liberia, a harrowing image was captured on 10th Street in Monrovia. It shows a young man, evidently a drug victim, lying in a drainage, surrounded by debris and discarded paper. His vulnerable state underscores the devastating grip of substance abuse and the urgency of the call for action.

This scene, just steps away from where protesters marched for change, painfully illustrates the very crisis the campaign seeks to address. While thousands raised their voices in unison against the rising tide of drug addiction, this individual—hidden in the shadows of society—remained a silent symbol of the human toll that drugs continue to take on Liberia’s youth.

The movement is more than a protest; it’s a cry for help, for reform, and for compassion. It calls on government agencies, community leaders, families, and every citizen to confront the realities of addiction, invest in rehabilitation and mental health support, and build systems that prevent young people from falling into these traps in the first place.

Let this image not be seen as a moment of shame, but as a wake-up call. This is not just his story—it's Liberia’s story. And it's time we change the ending.


Photo: Drug victim found lying unconscious in a drainage along 10th Street, Monrovia, Liberia during the # protest

Credit: Janice-Love Bropleh

Reflection With Gbeli Akanni GOD IS MOVING BACKI stared incredulously at my screen; as I watched for the umpteenth time,...
07/08/2025

Reflection
With Gbeli Akanni

GOD IS MOVING BACK

I stared incredulously at my screen; as I watched for the umpteenth time, this clip-gone-viral. It was the openly gay cabinet appointee “man-wife”, introducing and acknowledging “his husband” at a presidential inauguration watched the world over. I felt like letting out my silent thoughts in a scream that will be heard in heaven “God, where are YOU?”. But a scripture suddenly forcefully floated in, in response. I had to agree that this, which my sexagenarian eyes are unfortunate to watch, is but the natural eventuality of a decision that humanity made several centuries ago!

Romans 1:28 (KJV)28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

But let me render it in recent English and much more scintillatingly in the first person. Rather than tender a report like Paul in the first chapter of his epistle to the Romans, let me allow God Himself say it in the first person singular, to the “new age” man in the language he will understand. And if you’re wondering where I got this from, let’s just say it is from ‘The Epistle of St. Lanre to the ‘wise guys’ of the twenty-first century’. My Romans 1:28 would read somewhat like this . . .

It’s fine folks, I’m moving back.
I’m giving you space. I’m letting you!
Since you don’t like My telling you what to do and how to live, I’ll leave the scene and get off your radar!
Since you do not want Me telling you who you are and how I wired you to function, I’ll let you be your own creativity.
I’ll release to you the creator rights you’ve always wanted to have and watch you systematically altercate My original image of you.

I’ll let you have control of your creativity; unbridled, unguided.
You’d be free to think out of My box,
You’ll be free to roam into the freedom of madness.
I’ll let you walk naked, so you can know no encumbrance of decency.
I’ll let you eat puff and paff, so you’ll have no difference with gluttony.
I’ll let you push the freedom of speech, so anyone that preaches Me, will have to be guilty of ‘hate speech’ or at least ‘intolerance’.
I’ll let you kill the informative, educative and entertaining media.
I’ll let you recreate societal thinking by manipulative opinion polls, selective fact checks and deliberately organized statistical data.

You’ve always wanted to determine what’s right and wrong.
I’ll let you rewrite your definitions;
I’ll let everyone dictate his own meaning.
You will be men and women of your own mind.
You will be free to be warped, to be twisted; in defiance of being straight.
You’ll be free to kick and bolt and . . . ‘damn it’
You’ll be free to create your own generation.
You’ll push all My boundaries until there exists no limits.

You’ll bring into the open what I kept for the secret.
You’ll rejoice in triumphant expose, what I meant to be covered.
You’ll despise the body features I fearfully and wonderfully made
You’ll bleach and repaint your visage;
You’ll re-shape your tummy and re-pad your breasts and buttocks;
You’ll lovingly ‘weave-on’ animal wool, nails and foetus.
You’ll hate being male and desecrate your femaleness.
You’ll so freely express yourself and your inner lusts until . . .
Your finest celebrities will ‘level down’ with dogs, practically ‘doing it’ on the digital streets.

You will call a man, wife; and climb yourselves in a way that even dogs will not.
You’ll let the child display the utter foolishness bound in his heart
You’ll let her choose to surgically recreate herself as a boy
You will so mangle your imagery of normalcy,
You will so completely confuse your language and diction.

You’ll call crime, smart;
You’ll call cheating, game.
You will do things to yourself that will make Adam turn in his grave
You’ll glorify violence and teach it early to kids in digital games and cartoons
You will sow the seed of violent r**e with your protected p**n industry
You will exult, because the ultimate for you is freedom

You’ll experiment with yourself and ‘vacci-digito-implant’ yourself
You will codify yourself in order for a few to externally control the rest
You will dump naturalness for artificial intelligence
You will mix machinery with humanity
And bravo! You will then have succeeded in recreating yourself!

But in rising against your humanity to play the god,
You will no longer feel My touch that pulsates the brain in divine creativity.
You will forget inspiration, revelation, education.
You will feel the darkness that’s nothing but My absence.
You will exchange deep joy of soul, for transient excitement for the eyes.
You will replace the desire to help, with the craze to perform;
You will redefine productivity as the exploitation of fellow man for pure profit.

Yes, in your depravity you will finally be a creator!
You will be your own Frankenstein.
You will be your own Albatross.
You will be your Nemesis.
You will be your Trojan horse.
You will be your own Antichrist.
You will be the Beast!

Then, I’ll be back . . . to round it all up.
I’ll be back to clear up your mess and tidy My Earth.
I’ll be back to trash you as ‘spoilt species’ and ‘corrupted cadaver’.
I’ll be justified to employ the fire of hell to clean up the place.
I’ll have nothing else to do than sweep the mess you have become
I’ll have to endure the pain of destroying My image
I’ll have no choice but to incinerate the half-natural half-digital humanoid,
That the Beast has made out of you in your extreme freedom.

I’m moving out now;
I’m moving back,
I’m getting out of active sight
But as surely as certain is definite,
I’ll assuredly soon be back.
Soon.

Signed.
God.

Credit: Living Truth

A Call for Caution and Dialogue on Permit Requirements for Churches in LiberiaBy Dr. Elizabeth Gaye Kamara(DrElizabeth M...
06/08/2025

A Call for Caution and Dialogue on Permit Requirements for Churches in Liberia

By Dr. Elizabeth Gaye Kamara
(DrElizabeth M Gaye Kamara)

Liberia, a nation built on Christian values and a firm belief in the Almighty God, has always prided itself on being a land where freedom of worship is not only cherished but constitutionally protected. It is within this context that we express deep concern over the government’s recent decision to impose permit requirements for churches before they are allowed to operate.

We understand the government’s role in maintaining public safety, order, and institutional accountability. However, this policy — if not applied with great sensitivity, transparency, and equity — risks infringing on the very freedoms that have historically defined our national identity.

A Nation Rooted in Faith

From its founding in 1847, Liberia has stood as a refuge for the oppressed — especially those seeking the liberty to worship without fear. Churches have not only served as places of spiritual edification but have played a critical role in education, healthcare, reconciliation, and community development. They are partners in nation-building.

We Acknowledge the Intent

We acknowledge that some form of regulation may be necessary to:
• Ensure safety standards and building codes
are met.
• Prevent harmful or exploitative practices
disguised as religion.
• Organize urban and community development
effectively.
• Promote accountability and responsible
leadership.

However, the manner and motive behind this policy must not appear as an attempt to control or suppress religious activity. The church is not a business enterprise — it is a sacred institution ordained by God and rooted in the heart of Liberian society.

A Call for Dialogue

Rather than unilaterally imposing restrictions, we respectfully call on the government to:
1. Engage with national religious leaders through
open consultations and roundtable
discussions.
2. Clarify the objectives and scope of the permit
requirement to avoid misinterpretation or fear
among the faith community.
3. Ensure the policy is uniformly applied across all
religious institutions — Christian, Muslim, and
other faiths — to maintain fairness and
constitutional integrity. In my personal view, the
Government should stay clear of the Church.
4. Avoid burdensome processes that may prevent
small and rural churches from serving their
communities.

Conclusion

Let us not forget that Liberia’s foundation was laid with the Bible in one hand and the Constitution in the other. Any regulation that affects the Church must reflect mutual respect, the rule of law, and the spiritual heritage of our people.

We pray for wisdom and unity as we work together — government and church — to build a Liberia that honors both God and country.

God bless the Church.
God bless the Government.
God bless Liberia.

Address

God Blessed You Hill
Monrovia

Telephone

+231777553464

Website

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