Members of the Press Union of Liberia have arrived in Lofa County, the northwest of the country for the union’s 57th-anniversary celebrations. The PUL selected Lofa as the venue for the official celebrations of its 57th-anniversary celebrations, this year. The county was founded in 1964, the same year the union was established.
The press union in Liberia was founded in Monrovia on September 30 in 1964, as the umbrella organization of the media and media practitioners in Liberia. For 57 years, the union continues its advocacy for press freedom and ensures that the rights of journalists and media organizations are upheld.
To date, the union is initiating reforms on the welfare and protection of journalists and other media professionals, legal operating environment, and content development through capacity enhancement interventions aimed at improving the output of news organs.
Journalists in Monrovia and other parts of the country departed officially for Lofa on Monday and arrived in Voinjama, the county’s capital today, September 28, early morning, mostly because of the bad road network.
Despite its brilliance in agriculture, Lofa is seriously challenged with its roads network. The stretch of the road from Gbarnga, Bong County to Lofa is unpaved, and nearly impassable to vehicles during the rainy season. The county also faces challenges in the health and educational systems.
According to the lineup of activities for this year’s celebration released by the head of the 57th-anniversary committee Melody-Mazy-Kettor, activities marking the official celebration kicked off today with team reporting trips, across Lofa County. This will allow reporters to move in all parts of the county to report on the trending issues.
Wednesday, September 29 which marks day two of the celebrations, will be observed by an inter-high school quizzing competition and a special edition of the Edward Wilmot Blyden Forum in Foya City. The forum is the PUL’s flagship program and intellectual symposium. Blyden is credited as the father of pan-Africanism and was an educator, writer, diplomat, and politician with pal-excellence in Liberia.
Thursday, September 30 is the day of the anniversary. The day will be observed by a grand parade in the main streets of Voinjama followed by a formal indoor program and climaxed with sporting activities in Voinjama.
A special stakeholder’s conference on personal data privacy and the media will also take place on Friday, October 1, where legal luminary, Cllr. Dr. Jallah Barbu will serve as the keynote speaker. It will be followed by sporting activities and a Lofa exposition to climax the 57th-anniversary activities.
Members of the union will officially depart Lofa on Saturday, October 2.