Dr. Robtel Neajai Pailey: “My Oration Is Intended to Inspire and Incite Change” (Daily Observer-Liberia)→

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Dr. Robtel Neajai Pailey, who was named Liberia’s 177th Independence Day Orator, says her message is intended to inspire and incite change.

Currently, Dr. Pailey works as an Assistant Professor in International Social and Public Policy at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She is an award-winning academic, activist, and author.

“I’m honored to serve as National Orator this 26 July”, she said, revealing that her Oration is entitled ‘A Radical Agenda for Re-imagining Liberia’…

Dr. Pailey Named Orator for Liberia's 177th Independence Day Celebration (Smart News Liberia)→

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Dr. Robtel Neajai Pailey, a distinguished Liberian academic, anti-corruption activist, and author, has been appointed as the Orator for Liberia’s official ceremony marking the 177th Independence Day on July 26th, 2024. Her selection underscores her significant contributions to academia, advocacy, and policy-making, reflecting her commitment to advancing critical discourse on African development and citizenship issues on the global stage…

How President Joseph Boakai Hopes to Rid Liberia of Its Problems (BBC News)→

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He won power by promising to end corruption - but try telling that to the people who want him to just hand out jobs.

“A lot of people come into government believing they are there to enrich themselves,” says Liberia’s President Joseph Boakai.

“They don’t understand what public service is about.”

In the three months since he defeated President George Weah and took the reins, Mr Boakai says he has been “very selective” about who he brings along with him because he blames corruption ‘“for all the crises we’ve had”.

The 79-year-old is a former prime minister but does not hail from a political dynasty.

“I never really had a childhood,” he tells BBC Africa Daily in a wide-ranging interview. “My ambition was just to live a normal life”.

As one of five sons born to a disabled, poor mother and an absent father, he went on to work as a school janitor and rubber tapper.

It was gruelling work - causing him pain because he didn’t realise he was meant to carry rubber on his shoulders instead of his head - but it gave him the grit a politician needs, he tells the BBC.

Those early jobs paid for two pairs of smart trousers, two shirts and a one-way ticket to the capital city of Monrovia.

After gaining a place at the city’s College of West Africa, he could only see his mother one week each year as he had to work within the college to pay for his tuition and upkeep.

Now approaching his 80s, Mr Boakai acknowledges he’s the age of most of the electorate’s grandparents - but sees his role as rooting out deep-seated problems and handing over a well-managed Liberia to the next generation.

“I am here only to guide a process to bring this country to where it should be and then they can take it over.”

So how successful has he been so far?

“Liberians have heard this all before - where a head of state comes in and makes these large, far-ranging proclamations about the fact they’re going to make corruption public enemy number-one,” says author and activist Robtel Neajai Pailey.

However, she adds, President Boakai declared his own assets as soon as he came in and made his appointees do the same. Mr Boakai has also asked for an audit of the presidential office, and beefed up integrity institutions such as the General Auditing Commission and the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission.

“This is a way of signalling to the Liberian people that it won’t be business as usual,” says Dr Pailey, “and now members of the judiciary and legislature are following suit”.

There is still a long way to go…

In Liberia, a Former Mining Activist Gets the Bully Pulpit (Mongabay)→

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It’s been about a decade since Foday Fahnbulleh was arrested. Along with other students and workers from his home in Bong Mines about an hour’s drive north of Monrovia, he’d been staging protests at the gates of a Chinese mining company. China Union, they said, wasn’t living up to the promises it had made in its contract with the Liberian state. The campaign was making headlines in Liberia, and it had angered politicians from Fahnbulleh’s district. One called him and his co-organizers “thugs” and urged the police to detain them.

Now, they’ll have to call him by a new title: “Honorable Representative.”

In October, Liberia held national elections that resulted in a peaceful transfer of power from former footballer-turned-president George Weah to his opponent, Joseph Boakai. In Bong County’s District #7, the 39-year-old Fahnbulleh ran as an independent promising to hold that same mining company, China Union, to the infrastructure and social service clauses in the 25-year concession agreement it signed in 2009.

His election is raising hopes in Bong Mines that the district might finally see the roads, schools, and employment promised in that contract. And for China Union, the headaches are already arriving.

“The community wanted someone who has passion for corporate accountability,” he told Mongabay in a phone interview. “Because in our country, corporations are not living up to the terms of their agreements…”

“Historically, Liberia has neglected to transform mining-related foreign direct investment into social investments such as roads, education and health,” said Robtel Neajai Pailey, a Liberian academic and assistant professor at the London School of Economics. “Mining firms disregard environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards with the complicity of national government, and this has pushed affected communities to engage in both legitimate and clandestine forms of civil disobedience…”

Liberian Scholar Wins Second Book Award (Daily Observer-Liberia)→

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Dr. Robtel Neajai Pailey, a Liberian scholar-activist, has won the 2023 Pius Adesanmi Memorial Award for Excellence in African Writing for her monograph Development, (Dual) Citizenship and Its Discontents in Africa: The Political Economy of Belonging to Liberia.

Currently an assistant professor in international social and public policy at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Dr. Pailey is no stranger to academic accolades. The Adesanmi prize is her second book award in two years. In 2022, she won the African Politics Conference Group (APCG) Best Book Award for Development, (Dual) Citizenship and Its Discontents in Africa…  

What's at Stake as Liberians Vote on Tuesday (Daily Observer-Liberia)→

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In 2017, President George Manneh Weah won a resounding victory in the presidential election, making him the country’s 25th head of state in January 2018. 

His victory brought relief to many underprivileged Liberians, especially the youth, who saw him as a beacon of hope, given the fact that he grew up in Clara Town, a slum in Monrovia, and rose to the pinnacle of international athletics and onward to the helm of national leadership.  But six years into his presidency, critics say much has not been done to address corruption, security, health, and the economy…  

Robtel Neajai Pailey, a Liberian activist and assistant professor at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), argues that “Liberia’s forthcoming elections are as much about the rule of law as they are about corruption with impunity, which appears to have consumed President Weah.” 

“Although he promised to ‘weed out the menace of corruption,’ his ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) is fronting two candidates for the national legislature who were sanctioned by the US Department of Treasury for ‘ongoing public corruption’ during their stints as heads of government agencies. While this does not bode well for fighting corruption, it opens up the space for Liberian voters to pursue clear alternatives to the status quo.”

She continued, “Contrary to popular opinion, my previous and ongoing research demonstrates that the post-war Liberia electorate tends to reward candidates they presume will govern with integrity and reject those they believe will not. 2023 will be no different. Voters will look unfavorably on candidates with dubious track records in and outside the public sector, particularly elected officials who have embraced corruption as their modus operandi.”

Liberia is among the least developed countries in the world. Corruption, poor infrastructure, and lack of demonstrated leadership ability from past and present leaders are reasons for the country's backwardness…

'I Wanted to See If I Could Pull Off Writing an Interdisciplinary Book' (Republic Magazine) →

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Interview with Zimbabwean Author Fareda Banda

Zimbabwean academic and author of African Migration, Human Rights and Literature, Fareda Banda, wanted her book to explore the refugee/migration issue from the perspective of one whose people were being dehumanised: ‘I was also curious about whether literature could reach places or invoke emotions such as empathy, that law and policy did not seem to be doing.’

First Draft is our interview column, featuring authors and other prominent figures on books, reading, and writing.

Our questions are italicized…

Who are the young Zimbabwean authors and scholars you’re most excited about today (and why?)  

As it turns out, BBC World service have just featured a wonderful documentary ‘Women Writing Zimbabwe’ which I recommend. On scholars—well, my late father was Malawian so for him, the young scholar whose work I look forward to reading is Dr Chisomo Kalinga at the University of Edinburgh. She looks at the use and impact of arts within health settings. She is the founder of the Malawi Medical Humanities Network.  

I have long been impressed by Robtel Neajai Pailey, an amazing Liberian academic (she is based at the London School of Economics and Political Science), activist and author notably of the children’s story Gbagba (illustrated by Chase Walker) which tackles corruption. She also writes about citizenship and development… 



African Politics in 2022: More than Coups and Conflict (The Washington Post)→

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This month’s U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit brought leaders from across the continent to D.C. for several days of events, culminating with the announcement of $55 billion in American financial commitments. This uncommon level of attention to African affairs indicates the latest evolution in the relationship between the continent’s fast-growing markets and the United States, which significantly lags behind China in terms of investment and engagement in Africa. It also prompts us to reflect on what we learned from and about Africa this year…

A special shout-out to Robtel Neajai Pailey, whose book “Development, (Dual) Citizenship and Its Discontents in Africa: The Political Economy of Belonging to Liberia” won the African Politics Conference Group’s 2022 Best Book Award. Felicity Turkmen reviewed it for TMC in 2021…

Liberian Scholar Wins Best Book Award (Daily Observer-Liberia)→

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Dr. Robtel Neajai Pailey, a Liberian scholar-activist, has won the 2022 African Politics Conference Group (APCG) Best Book Award for her monograph Development, (Dual) Citizenship and Its Discontents in Africa: The Political Economy of Belonging to Liberia.  

This year, the APCG Selection Committee unanimously agreed that Pailey's monograph deserved the Best Book Award, said Dr. Sebastian Elischer, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Florida… 

All You Need to Know about Liberia's New Dual Citizenship Law (Al Jazeera English)→

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Liberia’s president has signed into law a bill that amends the country’s aliens and nationality law.

The new law, signed last Friday, permits dual citizenship by allowing Liberians to hold on to their citizenship after acquiring a second nationality. Also significant is that it allows individuals to claim Liberian citizenship through their mothers…

What have the reactions been?

  • There are Liberians who contend that the bill should have done more. Robtel Neajai Pailey, a Liberian scholar-activist, told Al Jazeera that the dual citizenship bill “advances the aspirations of Liberians abroad without fundamentally addressing the anxieties of Liberians at home”.

  • Pailey, an assistant professor in International Social and Public Policy at the London School of Economics, also said it could entrench domination by the elite as it “shields political entrepreneurs from competition by barring dual citizens from elected office without protecting the country from divided loyalties by banning dual citizens from holding sensitive appointed positions related to national security”…


Robtel Neajai Pailey’s “Development, (Dual) Citizenship and Its Discontents in Africa” (Black Agenda Report)→

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In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Robtel Neajai Pailey. Pailey is Assistant Professor in International Social and Public Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her book is Development, (Dual) Citizenship and Its Discontents in Africa: The Political Economy of Belonging to Liberia.

Roberto Sirvent: How can your book help BAR readers understand the current political and social climate?

Robtel Neajai Pailey: Development, (Dual) Citizenship and Its Discontents in Africa is the first to evaluate domestic and diasporic constructions and practices of Liberian citizenship across space and time and their myriad implications for development. By ‘development’, I am not referring to free-market capitalism, the single-minded pursuit of economic growth or the privileging of Western whiteness and modernity; rather, I understand ‘development’ to be a process whereby people’s experiences of poverty, power, privilege and progress in the so-called Global North and South are constantly mediated to effect change…

“Push-back Against Dual Citizenship Is Due to Inequality” (Daily Observer-Liberia)→

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...Says a Liberian Scholar

Acclaimed Liberian scholar Dr. Robtel Neajai Pailey has disclosed that public backlash against dual citizenship stems from socio-economic inequalities in Liberia. 

Dr. Pailey, an Assistant Professor in International Social and Public Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), was invited by the Liberian Senate on 14 December 2021 to present the findings and policy recommendations of her recently published book, Development, (Dual) Citizenship and Its Discontents in Africa: The Political Economy of Belonging to Liberia…