Monrovia – In Monrovia
But many people woke up on Wednesday morning to shocking news that the chalkboard newspaper had been badly damage.
“I’m very disappointed and discouraged because the public do not have access to information this morning,” said Alfred Sirleaf, editor of the chalkboard, after discovering that a vehicle had damaged the booth.
Quoting the security officer on guard, Sirleaf said the unknown vehicle was driving from Congo Town heading towards central Monrovia when the driver left the main road and crushed into the board. The driver later outsmarted the security and other eyewitnesses and absconded the scene.
Sirleaf said the hit-and-run vehicle was a pathfinder SUV. He then reported the case to the local police but he claims that the incident was a planned attack against his news outlet.
“This was done intentionally I’m not fighting government, I’m just informing and educating the Liberian people,” Sirleaf told FPA after being asked why someone would want to shutdown his news organ in the form of an accident.
“I don’t think it was an accident. The guy (driver) came from Congo Town, avoided the steel pillars and came to the front and hit the board, I want to believe this act was deliberate.”
He claims that somebody “who do not like the work they are doing is responsible for damaging the Chalk board newspaper”.
“I think somebody who don’t love what we’re doing came to destroy the Daily Talk. But they are wasting their time, if you shut down daily talk today, you are going to have the FrontPage Africa, New Democratic and Daily Observer still talking,” he said.
The Daily Talk has been talking about ills in society for sometime now, we have been talking about human rights violation, we have been talking about bad labor practice in government institutions and private firms, talking about gender based violence, we’ve been talking about the missing 16 billions dollars – this has been one of our hottest topics [so] I don’t know, maybe somebody somewhere is not happy with what we do, Sirleaf explained.
He clarified that his news organ is “not fighting” the Weah-led government as it has been perceived by others because of his critical reports on trending issues.
“We are law abiding people; we are informing people on a regular basis and I think that the Liberian people love what we do,” he said.
The chalkboard newspaper, which began publishing since May 14, 2000, publishes captivating stories about corruption, nepotism, politics and other topical issues in the country. Sirleaf uses graphics, numbers and text to convey daily happenings to his audience.
The chalkboard newspaper has survived the regimes of Presidents Charles Taylor and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and is popular amongst many Liberians for its critical headlines – some pretty provocative of the authority.
Due to Sirleaf’s critical stance on ex-president Taylor’s actions, the board was destroyed several times and rebuilt with some people alleging that the government at the time was aiming to shut down it down for good.
Now that a hit-and-run vehicle has ruined the board again, the editor is afraid that many local people will not have access to information in the coming days.
“This is not good for the society but we will bounce back, if you think we will be silenced, you are joking,” Sirleaf stressed.
“We are telling people out there, who want to used such means of silencing the media, that it’s not the best way forward and it’s not going to help the society. You need the media to expose the ills and also talk about the development that is happening.”
But he is now concern about raising about US$1,000 to rebuild the news stall, and has extended an SOS call to philanthropists and supporters of the media to assist him re-erect the chalkboard.
“We are calling on you to please help us because we need your support; we do not have money like traditional newspapers,” he said.
“We wholly and solely depend on donations to run our news, people who pass by only read and they don’t pay us any money.”
Sirleaf can be reached on +2317705348932 or +231886473067