— Successor Weah Has Never disbursed additionally-Allotted US$300k
–A Questioning Synopsis; As PUL 2022 Election Emerges

About the Press Union of Liberia (PUL)

Founded in Monrovia on September 30, 1964, the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) is the umbrella organization serving Liberian media professionals and institutions. The PUL has oversight responsibility for addressing problems arising from journalists’ reportage and conduct in the face of the ever growing demand for quality and good taste.

Basically, the Union was set up to advocate for press freedom and the protection of journalists. But since its founding, the Union has grown to a vibrant pro-democracy group that has championed not only media matters, but issues affecting the democratic governance of the state, social justice and human rights.

During the protracted Liberian crisis and the preceding years, when every strata of the Liberian society was polarized on factional and political lines, the Press Union stood as a defiant non-partisan institution that challenged the regimes in spite of the associated risk.

Before the sixties, the Liberian press only concerned itself with government handout, or releases from embassies along with news from business houses and schools.

With the establishment of the Union, the Liberian media have experienced some transformation, but much is still desired in the face of the harsh political environment. Amidst the unfriendly space, the Union has also developed and has since been working to seek opportunities for the Liberian media as well as defend press freedom.

The Union currently operates through four-elected officials – comprising: President, Vice President, Secretary-General and Assistant Secretary. There are standing committees appointed by the elected leadership to form the Executive Committee that serves as supporting arm of the leadership in moving the Union forward. The EC is the highest decision making body of the Union next to the general membership (congress).

The Press (Media) – Watchdog & Fourth Estate

In the politics of the United States, the “fourth branch” of government is an unofficial term referring to groups or institutions perceived variously as influencing or acting in the stead of the three branches of the US federal government defined in the Constitution of the United States (legislative, executive and judicial). Views as to whether the influence is due or undue or the actions are for good or ill also vary.

Such groups can include the press (as a departure from the ‘Fourth Estate’), the people (in sum or as grand juries), and interest groups. The independent administrative agencies of the United States government, while technically part of any one of the three branches, may also be referred to as a ‘fourth branch’.

Liberia, being an offspring of the American Colonization Society (ACS) following the end of the slave trade, completely copied every form of the democratic tendencies practiced in the United States, except that the West African nation did not take on the federal form of Government that is in the United States, but rather chose a unitary state.

While the Liberia Constitution established the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government as was done in the United States in the 1700s, the phrase “Fourth Estate” reflects the unofficial but widely accepted role the news media plays in providing citizens with information they can use to check government power.

The role of the press to be a “watchdog” and monitor a government’s actions has been one of the fundamental components of a democratic society. In 1998, there were arguments that watchdog journalism’s most important role is that their “stories implicitly demand the response of public officials.” Playing a role as a Fourth Estate, watchdog journalism is able to force governments to meet their obligations to the public by publicizing issues such as scandals, corruption, and failure to address needs of the public. Mellado (2015) identified and developed three dimensions of operationalization of the watchdog role: the intensity of scrutiny, journalistic voice, and the source of news event.

The Press (Media)

While the term ‘fourth estate’ is used to emphasize the independence of ‘the press’, the fourth branch suggests that the press is not independent of the government. The concept of the news media or press as a fourth branch stems from a belief that the media’s responsibility to inform the populace is essential to the healthy functioning of democracy.

Silas Douglass Cater Jr. (August 24, 1923 – September 15, 1995) was an American journalist, political aide, and college president. Cater started his career as a journalist for The Reporter and, in 1964, became an aide for President Lyndon B. Johnson. After his time in the White House, Cater was a fellow at the Aspen Institute and the Vice Chairman of The Observer. In 1982, Cater became the 22nd President of Washington College. He retired to Montgomery, Alabama in 1991 and died in 1995.

Douglass Cater, in his 1959 “The Fourth Branch of Government” offered the hypothesis that the press had become “a de facto, quasiofficial fourth branch of government” and observed it was the looseness of the American political framework that allowed news media to “insert themselves as another branch of the government”. Cater was “convinced that, insofar as the press did act as a true political player (rather than an unbiased observer of politics), it corrupted itself and went astray from its primary responsibility—to convey important information and to act as a nonpartisan watchdog for the public against all trespassers on their rights.”

In 1985, Walter Annenberg noted that several commentators were applying the term ‘fourth branch of government’ to the press to indicate that it has at least as much if not more power to direct public policy than do the other three branches, in part because of its direct contact with the public and its protection “by the First Amendment from responsibility for what they report”.

Interest Groups

In an article titled “The ‘Fourth Branch’ of Government”, Alex Knott of the Center for Public Integrity asserted in 2005 that “special interests and the lobbyists they employ have reported spending, since 1998, a total of almost $13 billion to influence Congress, the White House and more than 200 federal agencies.”

Watchdog journalism is a form of investigative journalism where journalists, authors or publishers of a news publication fact-check and interview political and public figures to increase accountability in democratic governance systems.

Role

Watchdog journalists gather information about the actions of people in power and inform the public in order to hold elected officials to account. This requires maintaining a certain professional distance from people in power. Watchdog journalists are different from propagandist journalists in that they report from an independent, nongovernmental perspective. Due to watchdog journalism’s unique features, it also often works as the fourth estate. The general issues, topics, or scandals that watchdog journalists cover are political corruption and any wrongdoing of people in power such as government officials or corporation executives.

The role of the press to be a “watchdog” and monitor a government’s actions has been one of the fundamental components of a democratic society.

Who’s watching the ‘Watchdog’ in Liberia?

In Liberia the Press (Media) often comes under criticism for ‘exposing public officials’ as well as those in the private sector in regards to alleged corrupt practices or vices that tend to cripple the fabric of society. There are some Liberians who blame the media for always exposing people they support in government or in the public space, but always say the mass media have a tendency to shield their own wrong doings, and in most instances would say “Let us not watch our dirty linens in public.”

But the question always asked is, why do the mass media constantly wants to hide their wrong doings but on the other hand finds pleasure to expose the wrongdoings of public or private sector officials? This question brings this writer to a situation that rocked the Press Union of Liberia during the administration of former President Ellen Johnson.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s US$100K to PUL

It can be recalled during her administration, former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf donated US$100,000 to the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) to assist in the Union’s quest to commence the construction of its own headquarters.

Initially, there were mixed public reactions, including from amongst Liberian journalists as well, who felt that the PUL should have rejected the donation because it came from the President of the nation, thus they believed that the Union would compromise its advocacy role and go quiet. But for others who supported the President’s gesture, called on the PUL to accept the money because media institutions ought to reap from taxes that they pay to the Government of Liberia as business institutions.

After months of arguments, the PUL accepted President Sirleaf’s donation and decided to commence the construction of its headquarters on 14th Street in Sinkor, Monrovia.

Controversy over PUL’s Headquarters Construction

When the dust finally settled whether to accept or not to accept former President Sirleaf’s donation of US$100,000, the George Barpen Administration at the PUL commenced proceedings and arrangements that would lead to the kicking off of the PUL headquarters project. A bidding process was reportedly initiated and a contractor having successfully won the bid was awarded the contract to commence the construction of the PUL headquarters in Sinkor.

A PUL Headquarters Committee was even set up to supervise and monitor the process. It was headed by Journalist Zoom Dosso, with other members including Mohammed Kanneh of the Heritage newspaper, among others.

But just as the Barpen Administration’s tenure came to an end, there were little noises here and there that some misappropriation or misapplication had allegedly taken place, putting the contractor in a position where he could not proceed with the headquarters’ construction in keeping with the plan presented to the PUL. Those noises continued unabated till Barpen left office and a new leadership headed by Peter Quaqua took over the affairs of the PUL.

Legal Action over PUL’s Headquarters Construction

Upon ascendancy to the PUL leadership, the Peter Quaqua’s administration wanted to get to the nitty gritty of the previous noises regarding the construction process, and thus decided to seek legal redress in efforts to obtain the facts surrounding those noises that were being made regarding the stalling of the PUL’s headquarters construction.

This writer learned that the Quaqua’s administration took legal action, thus an injunction was placed to halt the construction of the PUL headquarter pending the outcome of the legal suit. But some senior members of the Union reportedly appealed to the Quaqua’s leadership to settle the matter internally and ‘not watch their dirty linens in the public.’

The Quaqua’s leadership this writer learned kept on with its legal battle until the Charles Coffey’s leadership took office, which later withdrew the case from court.

It is said enormous pressure came to bear and while the injunction was in place, the contractor was summoned through an internal investigation, where he is said to have disclosed that he had received US$90,000 to start the headquarters construction, purchased materials and commenced the initial works. It is also said the contractor did give some building materials to the new leadership that he had in his warehouse to enable the Charles Coffey’s administration to start some construction work on the PUL headquarters.

It was and has never ever been reported who headed the so-called internal inquiry board that was constituted to find a solution to the PUL headquarters saga. It is also not known who were the members of the so-called PUL inquest body constituted to look into the PUL headquarters saga.

Astonishingly, the contractor purportedly disclosed while the injunction was in place, some of the building materials were taken away, while adding, he still had other materials in safe keeping. Up to today’s date, there has not been any official position from the PUL regarding the status of its headquarters construction in the wake of the legal wrangling that halted the project.

However, a former top official of the PUL, as well as other members of the Union termed as ‘a blatant lie’ accusation levied against a former official of the PUL of ever removing building materials from PUL headquarters construction site, but rather stated that some detractors are trying to find a scapegoat in the wake of the pending PUL November 2022 elections.

GoL Allots Additional US$300K to PUL, but never Disbursed Funds

Months leading to the end of tenure of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, through the lobbying prowess of former House Speaker J. Emmanuel Nuquay and other lawmakers, the Government of Liberia decided and allotted US$300,000 in the National Budget intended for the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) to access in their bid to construct their first ever National headquarters, having previously misapplied, mismanaged US$100,000 given by former President Sirleaf.

But before the funds were allotted, President Sirleaf was reluctant to allot additional monies for the PUL in the budget for its headquarters construction due to the PUL’s failure to properly account for the first US$100K given. But after negotiations and discussions, the government finally agreed to allot some monies for the PUL, thus US$300K was allotted.

Government being continuity, when the George Weah’s administration ascended to state power in 2018, the new leadership at the PUL headed by Charles Coffey began to lobby with state actors and stakeholders clothed with the requisite authorities that would help lead to the Union accessing the funds.

It is learned that the Charles Coffey’s leadership applied all efforts in pursuit of obtaining the funds, but along the way there were bottlenecks. It is said some inner circle members of the new administration of President Weah connected to making the US$300K accessible to the PUL reportedly wanted kickbacks, while others said the media had been bitter against the Weah’s administration so the government was not prepared to release the funds allotted into the budget for the PUL. But that is yet to be independently confirmed.

It has also been learned every step leading to the PUL obtaining the funds was followed to the point where the Minister of Information, Lenn Eugene Nagbe at the time reportedly did an official communication to the Ministry of Finance on behalf of the PUL to access their budgetary allotment, but in that process, the Information Minister was suspended by the very PUL he was advocating for to get their money through budgetary allotment. The Minister it is said reportedly called the PUL a certain name that did not go down well with the membership, thus at an emergency meeting they called for his indefinite suspension, despite not been given his day in court through the erstwhile Grievance and Ethics Committee of the PUL.

As a suspended member of the PUL, the former Information Minister had to distance himself from activities of the union until he served his suspension, so it was not expected of him as Minister of Information to continue to pursue the Ministry of Finance to make accessible PUL budgetary allotment for their headquarters construction.

But by the time Mr. Nagbe’s suspension was lifted, it was gathered that the Government had expended the US$300,000 allotted to the PUL on other competing priorities, since a budget is a projection that does not have money sitting down somewhere to be picked up and spent at any given time. Since then, there has been no new information on the US$300K allotted the PUL by the Ellen’s administration in her last year in office.

Legal Battle over PUL’s Headquarters Land in Sinkor?

It has been gathered why the PUL was pushing the George Weah’s administration to make available the US$300K allotted in the latter days of former President Sirleaf administration, a legal battle reportedly ensued between the journalist body and an individual (name unknown by the writer), who decided to hold claims to the PUL’s land that it acquired years back.

There were controversial reports regarding the legal battle over the PUL’s land issue, as some said the PUL had lost the case, while others said it was the other way around. Up to present the outgoing Charles Coffey administration has not officially come out with any official position statement regarding any legal battle over the PUL’s land in Sinkor.

It not known whether if there was any legal battle as the members have been kept in the dark regarding the present status of the PUL’s land in Sinkor following reports of a legal battle.

Is the reported ‘Misapplication’ of former Pres. Sirleaf’s Donation Still Hurting the PUL?

Fast forward to 2022, as the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) gradually moves towards its election that will usher in new corps of officers, the question lingering on the minds of most PUL members is whether, the Government of Liberia will once again allot another US$300k having previously been allotted by former President Sirleaf’s administration to assist the PUL construct its headquarters? Or will the government renege to do so because the PUL has never really accounted for the first US$100K it was given, and as watchdog of the society, or has the union fallen short of its own advocacy of accountability and transparency?

Meanwhile, some media pundits and advocates have called on the would-be new PUL leadership to do all that it can when elected to banish the ghost of the Ellen’s US$100K donation that has continued to hunt and hurt the Union in efforts to secure government’s and other international partners’ assistance with funds to construct its new headquarters. The ghost of the US$100K has to be busted for the PUL to resume the construction of its new headquarters. This is a task awaiting the new leadership that is expected to be elected in November 2022, this year. Writes Siebo Williams, a Senior Liberian Journalist