President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf seems to have discovered the cause of inflation in the prices of basic commodities as she has blamed price hike on officials of her government who patrol the doors of business people soliciting envelopes.

	• Pres. Johnson-Sirleaf

The President is not taking kindly the attitude of officials who she said go around and “beg business tycoons for weekends and holidays”.

She believes they are the main reason of business people increasing the prices of their wares as a way of recovering what they give out as “cold water” to begging officials.

“So when they leave, the business people add up the money given to them on those things, so that they will not be the losers, then we all pay for the things they took,” President Sirleaf noted.

President Sirleaf made the statements when she addressed an intellectual forum last week at a local hatai center on Carey Street where students, business people, and intellectuals meet to discuss politics, sports, economic and social issues.

No official has reacted to the President’s indictment, but economic experts say the President’s observation is just a minute part of the real causes of price hike in the Country.

Stephen Jarpoe, a (hatai) herbal-drink patronizer and a self-proclaim intellectual, opined that the President should not only deal with officials who beg for purse from business people but she should also instruct her Finance Ministry officials to review the tariff on basic consumer goods.

“Business people have been crying from the huge tariff imposed on imported goods. I think the President will do well for the Liberian consuming public if her government reduces some of the taxes,” says Stephen.

Other hatai drinkers, who reacted to President Sirleaf’s statement, while agreeing with her to discourage officials begging for hand-outs, noted that the real problem is that government seems to be fumbling with policy on basic commodities.

“These business people have only one interest and that is to make profit. Any amount of money they pay as tariff will be added to the selling price of the goods as a way recovering losses,” one indicated.

Meanwhile, the President has vowed to deal squarely with officials that will be caught running from one store to another soliciting gift. “We will disgrace some people and dismiss some,” the President said.

In Angel Togba Autopsy report: Banks Disagrees With Gongloe
By J. Nathaniel Daygbor

Liberia’s Justice Minister, Cllr. Philip A. Z. Banks has disagreed with comments made by the Solicitor General Tiawon Gongloe on the autopsy report of the late little Meideh Angel Togba.

	• Cllr. Philip A. Z. Banks

Cllr. Gongloe had told the public that the post-mortem report conducted on the remains of the late Angel Togba revealed that there was no foul play in the death of the 13-year old girl.

The Solicitor General also said that there was no report of sexual abuse in the autopsy report, giving the impression that Little Angel committed suicide.

The statement of Cllr. Gongloe has in effect removed the focus of investigation on Angel’s Guardian Hans Williams, a former Deputy Managing Director of the National Port Authority (NPA), in whose bathroom Angel was seen hanging from a belt.

Following Cllr. Gongloe’s press conference, various groups and individuals disagreed with the report. Some questioned the veracity of the report taking into account the circumstances surrounding the death of Angel.

But barely a week after Cllr. Gongloe’s comments, Justice Minister Banks has described the autopsy report as “incomplete”.

	• Cllr. Tiawon Gongloe

Cllr. Banks furthered said that there are medical terms used in the report that a lawyer cannot understand, saying: “Only doctors who are specialized can explain them.”

He also noted that since a medical doctor has not explained the terms, no one could establish for sure that Angel actually hung herself.

Speaking to reporters recently upon his return from the United States, Cllr. Banks noted that the possibility for a female of Angel’s age, especially minors to commit suicide is “very narrow”.

In a related development a woman group Women Initiative for Peace Network has called for an independent investigation into the death of little Angel.

The group said that they have done their own investigation which showed that little Angel had semen in her under pants; bruises in her private parts, creating the conditions that she may have been tempered with sexually and did not hang herself.