Just over a week ago, the Legal Prison Reform Working Group hit the Liberian airwaves with our very own Zedrous Kokeh appearing on Liberia Women Democracy Radio (LWDR). I arranged the appearance on the show with Tamasin Ford, a BBC reporter in Monrovia training TV and radio journalists for the organisation Journalists for Human Rights. The show was part of the radio station’s ongoing Access to Justice programme, presented by Naomi Saydee. Zedrous was asked questions about the work we have been carrying out, why there are so many people locked away for so long in Liberia’s prisons without trial, and what the condition of Liberia’s prisons is like. Zedrous also took some questions from listeners who phoned in to offer their thoughts.
As with many projects in Liberia, the radio station is inhibited by constraints on power: during the first recording of the show, the power died just before we could take questions from listeners; thankfully, during a second recording of the show, the power held out. Publicising our legal prison reform project is an important way of obtaining the opinions of the local population and improving the legitimacy of any law which is drafted. It will also prepare the stage for larger dissemination projects aimed at informing the public of any changes to the prison law that are passed by the legislature in the future.
Overall, the radio show was an extremely fun as well as productive experience; hopefully, it will be the first of several appearances in the coming months.
