Monday, 10th January 2011
Members of the Press:
- The Voter Registration exercise, as you may know, got underway today throughout the country. The initial information we have received speaks of a rather slow start in some areas, while others got off to a smooth start. Lack of transportation to registration centers is believed to have hampered the initial registration turnout.
The President is urging all institutions, including local officials, political parties, churches, organizations and individuals with transportation, to help convey citizens to registration centers, especially in remote areas. It is important that we all get involved in the process because it is in the national interest for all eligible voters to register now and to exercise your franchise in the general and presidential elections in October.
The President welcomes initiatives by other groups, including the “Vote Your Future” Campaign to register voters. It is our hope that citizens will take advantage of this opportunity and register. If you do not register, you will not be able to vote come Election Day.
- The President returned home Saturday following a two-day visit to Libya where she held discussions with Libyan leader Moammar Khadafi on the Foya Rice Project and the Ducor Development Project. As a result of these discussions, Libya has agreed to speed up the implementation of Libyan-funded projects in Liberia, including the reconstruction of the Ducor Palace Hotel in Monrovia, the construction of the rubber processing plant in Bong County, and the reactivation and recapitalization of the Foya Rice Project in Lofa County. A delegation of senior officials of the Libyan African Investment Company (LAICO) and the Libyan African Development Fund will arrive in Liberia within a week to conclude the discussions on these projects. Meanwhile, a 10-person Libyan team has been dispatched to Liberia to train Liberian farmers in the use of the tractors that were sent, to help improve our agricultural productivity. Libya also promised to send humanitarian aid to Liberia within a week to assist with the more than 20,000 refugees who have poured into the country from neighboring Côte d’Ivoire.
- The President declared a year ago, when she visited the notorious prison in Belle Yella, that the facility would be turned into a national historical museum. In keeping with that announcement, an exercise has now begun to collect information on all political and other individuals who were detained at the prison over the years. Family members and friends are being requested to submit the names, photographs and other relevant information to the Ministry of Information for compilation. The information being collected will form a part of the historical data for the proposed Belle Yella National Historical Museum.