Liberia: Radio Veritas Closed Indefinitely

Radio Veritas, owned and operated by the Catholic Church in Liberia has been shut down indefinitely by the Archdiocese of Monrovia.

Rev. Father Jerome Zeigler, head of the Archdiocese of Monrovia said a major restructure of the institution is pending, including the arrival of new equipment.

Zeigler told the station employees during an emergency conference that they would be given their severance benefit for services rendered the institution in accordance with the labor law of Liberia, but did not say when.

Sources informed this paper last night the employees would get their benefits at the end of October as the Church is consulting with the Labor Ministry on the payment, which could be in the sum of thousands of dollars. The station is reported to have some 20 full time employees plus 10 interns.

Fortnight ago, Veritas or truth, which is noted for its hard news and independence reporting on development affecting the country, was off the air with technical problem cited, but the employees were barred from entering the premises.

Veritas, formerly ELCM (Eternal Love Community) Radio started broadcast here in 1981 as the second Christian-run radio station outfit after ELWA (Eternal Love Winning in Africa) which opened its door in 1950s by the Sudan Interior Mission.

Those were the two private but church-run stations besides the state-owned Liberia Broadcasting System (LBS) until the onset of the rebellion on 24 December, 1989.

But Veritas, under past regimes has experienced difficulties. The junta shut it down many times during the destruction of its facilities in the course of the conflict.

It suffered the same fate under former President Charles Taylor when the station door was closed in 2000. Until it can resume broadcast with the same reportage of truth-telling, the station will be remembered by its numerous listeners around the country and abroad.

(Source : The New Dawn (Monrovia) via allAfrica.com)