Liore

[ChitinKal]

Mjumbe
Politburo Approves Sweeping Economic Reform
December 25, 4779

General Secretary Jengo Kamau Announces "Hallowtide Reforms"

A lengthy bill has been passed by the General Assembly this week, and today has been approved by the Politburo and Standing Committee. The bill, officially titled the Economic and Financial Reform Package but more colloquially called the "Hallowtide Reforms" for their official passage on Hallowtide Eve, is an all encompassing reform bill which would take a great leap forward to bringing Liore to socialism. The reforms blanket a great many areas, such as banking, taxation, nationalization, and wealth caps; and is set to come into effect on January first.

The banking section of the bill will see a massive overhaul of the banking system. First, all banks in Liore will be nationalized and private establishments will be outlawed, with the exception of small, community-based wealth stores. The form of private fractional reserve banking practiced previously will also be done away with, with the National Bank serving primarily as a means to store and trade currency among the public, while loaning only to government projects aimed at economic growth. The new National Bank will fall under the authority of the Financial Ministry, which is now also given the power to regulate the value of the Liori Yen (LOY), which has fallen massively in value while its value had been under the control of private banks. The bill also imposed upon the Financial Ministry a new progressive income tax system, which would put a 50% tax on the richest in Liori while removing the burden of an income tax from the poorest. The Financial Ministry has also been given the power to tax a number of new areas, such as land and inheritance. Finally, the Financial Ministry will be given control over a national wealth cap established in the bill, but will not be permitted to remove the cap.

The bill also included a blanket nationalization of all industries and companies in Liore, both domestic and the little amount of foreign companies, without compensation. These new government industries will be placed under the authority of and be organized by the Arch Ministry of the Economy, and its subsidiary Ministries. Other assets facing government seizure are the surplus wealth of individuals who own more than the newly established wealth cap, and will be liquidated and placed into the National Treasury. These funds will likely be used in the major welfare program of the bill, a housing expansion project for Liore's thousands of homeless citizens. The government housing projects will be constructed first in Liore's major cities, but the government plans to later expand into rural areas.

[ChitinKal]

Mjumbe
Trade Established with Endralon, 3M
May 6, 4780

Freighter Leaves Liore Carrying Refined Minerals

In another major trade deal, the Trade Ministry has signed an agreement with the government of the Directorial Republic of Endralon, as well as a separate contract with the Endralonese corporation More Medicament Manufacture, one of the world's leading private healthcare companies. Endralon has been an economic power on the rise in the west in recent decades, thanks mainly in part to the success of 3M, and their recently established "25 Step Program," which aims at using the government to guide their economy to great strength. The healthcare industry however, though currently their most profitable, is one which Endralon has been attempting to diversify away from due in part to the risk of nationalization of overseas properties by protectionist governments, such as the case in Medina in 4774. In part of this diversification, Endralon has begun to work on building their high tech sector with the helps of foreign powers in the industry. When word of Endralon's plans reached Yamabiro, specifically the ears of Trade Minister Fatsani Ayodele, the Trade MInistry immediately got in contact with their Endralonian counterparts to discuss a deal in which Endralon would use Liori metals in their production of technology. The Liore Metal Refinement Company has in recent years begun to normalize the refinement of rare earth minerals and has improved their rate of cobalt refinement, two vital inputs in the high tech industry which Liore has been vigilantly searching for a good buyer for. This buyer has been found in Endralon, who, reportedly after hours of discussion, agreed to give Liori minerals priority status in importing in return for a generous discount on those minerals, a deal similar to the one signed between Liore and Medina years ago. There was, however, one catch...

The relationship between the Liori government and the 3M corporation has been a rocky on at the least, with the two coming to blows in the World Congress General Assembly during a debate over Medina's nationalization of 3M assets. During this confrontation, the Liori representative Kgosi Adebayo even referred to 3M as a "predator multinational" and went on to denounce 3M's attempts at "First World imperialization." After this exchange, it seemed as if there could be no cooperation between Liore and 3M. However, one thing the Endralonian government was adamant on was that Liore must sign a deal with 3M. Though the Trade Ministry was able to negotiate out of allowing 3M to set up locations and assets in Liore, a deal had to be signed with 3M. In this contract, 3M will become Liore's primary supplier of medicines and medical equipment for a period of fifty years. Though the government wasn't keen on dealing with 3M, the National Healthcare System has been in dire need of modernization and supplies for some time, and 3M has proved itself to be Terra's leading innovative healthcare corporation and doing limited business with them will in the long run prove beneficial to the Liori people.

[ChitinKal]

Mjumbe
Opposition, Afolayan Call for Elections
May 20, 4782

President Afolayan Lambastes Party Politburo For Continuously Delaying Elections

Eight years after the first elections of Liore under the new socialist regime and eight years after his mass support from the Liori people was reaffirmed with his reelection to the Presidency, President Ndidi Afolayan is making his opposition to his party's neglect of democracy in Liore known, and is doing so loudly. Standing before a meeting of the People's Front Politburo being broadcasted live on television and radio, President Afolayan denounced the Party's failure to deliver general elections on time, which have been delayed twice since 4780 when the six year terms of incumbent state officials should have come to an end. In the speech, he called for elections to be held immediately, and warned against losing the democratic mandate of the people.

Excerpt From President Afolayan's Speech:

But comrades, we claim to be socialists. We claim to be communists. We claim to represent and hold true to the will of the common man, and fight for his interests in the face of elitists and oppressors who wish to control and exploit him for personal. If we are what we claim to be, than we will have no trouble reclaiming our mandate when the common man goes to cast his vote. However, if we do not allow the common man to go and cast his vote, than we surely are not what we claim to be, for only oppressors and exploiters fear democracy and the will of the people.

President Afolayan was joined in his opposition by state and party officials of the opposition, namely the National Movement and Kitembo Power, who together control a pitiful 46 seats in the General Assembly. However, government pollsters have seen slow but steady increases in the support of the two opposition parties despite the general increase in the quality of life in Liore since the beginning of socialist rule. These trends are likely the result of the nationalist and democratic rhetoric of the two parties, who have not missed the opportunity to decry election the delays.

May 29, 4782
As a result of the increasing pressure from opposition groups as well as increasing support from factions within the People's Front, the Party Politburo produced and passed a resolution which schedules elections for next month. A similar resolution was debated and passed in the General Assembly, however its adoption was prevented by Premier Otieno Obama, who is now currently facing a vote of no confidence. However, the Politburo resolution holds supremacy over Premier Obama's decision in the General Assembly, and elections will be scheduled for next month once the resolution is approved by the Politburo Standing Committee, where it is expected to be approved rather than vetoed due to General Secretary Jengo Kamau's tacit support of elections. President Afolayan has been reported to be ecstatic at the news, though he has indicated that he will not be seeking reelection and will instead be supporting the campaign of his fellow Jamii Party member Uhuru Kibaki, who will be contending with the current Arch Minister of the Economy and Metzist Workers' Power Party candidate Muomuo Gakuo in the People's Party primary.

[ChitinKal]

Mjumbe
Kibaki Elected President; Afolayan Leaves Yamabiro
June 20, 4782

President Uhuru Kibaki

Election results are in and, unsurprisingly, the People's Front has swept again, retaining full control of the national government. Winning the Presidency was Uhuru Kibaki of the Metzist Workers' Power Party, who had narrowly defeated his Jamii Party opponent in the PF presidential primary weeks ago. The two lesser chambers of the legislature were once again unanimously stacked with PF officials, while in the General Assembly the National Movement and Kitembo Power parties made gains at the expense of the socialists, setting the seats at 198 for the People's Front, 43 for the National Movement, and 29 for Kitembo Power. Once again, the Premiership will be held by the PF, though the incumbent Otieno Obama has indicated that he plans on retiring from the position after the election delay controversy, and the office will instead be occupied by Mosi Ihejirika of the Jamii Party.

Once his term came to an end, Ndidi Afolayan left office without protest when is "least preferred candidate" came to replace him. Seeing no other place for him in Yamabiro or national politics, Afolayan stated that he would retire to his home village in Minaraha where he would work to "build Jamii socialism in my home, and show once the hard work of my family bear the fruit of Harambee, that such a fate would be preferable to the western industrialist drivel espoused by my MWPP comrades."

[ChitinKal]

Mjumbe
Combined Forces Commit to New Order of Battle
July 7, 4783

LNPA Troops in Transit

With recruitment and training finished (which has resulted in the size of the army nearly doubling), troops of the Liore National People's Army and the People's Revolutionary Vanguard have set out to erect new military installations at their new stationing sites. These new stations fall under the Combined Ground Forces Order of Battle (CGFOB) that has been drawn up by several Ministries under the authority of the Arch Ministry of Defense, and have been made to allow for closer cooperation between the national army and the PRV. Under the CGFOB and new doctrine, internal defense will left primarily up to the PRV and reserve forces while the borders will be manned by active LNPA, which would give the interior and border garrisons roughly the same manpower. The CGROB divides the LNPA into nine divisions (six active divisions at the border and three reserve divisions in the interior), and creates three Combined Army Groups of roughly the same manpower, each comprised of two active divisions, one reserve division, and one PVA division. Each CAG will be headquartered in a major city within their operational field (CAG Yamabiro in Yamabiro, CAG Center in Vitafu, and CAG Red Bass in Naranpá), which is where their reserve and PVA divisions will be stationed. At the borders, a majority of the LNPA's strength will be allocated to the Istapali frontier, the strongest and most threatening of Liore's neighbors, while smaller forces will be stationed at the frontiers with Mina, Kurageri, and Midway.

[ChitinKal]

Public Progress Report; December 29, 4784
From the Office of the Premier
Report on the Progress of Transportation Infrastructure, Renewable Energy, and Housing

Transportation Infrastructure
Post Project Highway and Rail Map

Light Grey: Highways
Grey: Vitafu-Naranpá Railway
Dark Grey: Vitafu-Kipini Railway

Issue: With the industrialization Liore had achieved following the establishment of the Socialist State and the particular rapid growth of the mineral extraction and refinement sectors, the limits of our infrastructure had been reached and strained, causing tremendous traffic congestion issues for civilian and industrial use alike due to the limitation of infrastructure development to the west coast. The congestion created by this underdevelopment has caused the civilian population a great headache and has hindered Liore's economic development.

Completed: After seven years of hard work by our strong and determined volunteer workforce, the completion of Liore's highway and railway development project is nearing it's end. Before the project, Liore only had one continuous highway (Running from Mweza to Nzurchanga) and one railway (Running from Vitafu to Naranpá). Now, Liore's highway system has been expanded into a network connecting every major city in the nation, even reaching far off and once isolated cities such as Jarha and Darobi. A railway line between Vitafu and Kipini has also been constructed and opened for use, which will now allow for the east transportation of goods from the west coast to the south east coast.

Future: Though this infrastructure project has vastly improved transportation in Liore, it has been largely limited to high speed travel lines while ignoring smaller roads used more often by the public. In the future, the government will work on the expansion of this road system, as well as the repair of current roads. This project will however be pursued at a later date, as resources and manpower from the infrastructure project will be reallocated to other government projects, particularly the government housing construction project.

Renewable Energy
Issue: Liore's reliance on oil and natural gas as a source for energy has allowed for the pollution of our environment and has made the nation reliant on imports from large oil exporters such as Vascania. With oil and natural gas being the only energy source in Liore for years, it has become difficult to expand electricity to rural areas due to the local inhabitants' aversion to the pollution that comes with the creation of energy from these sources. Because of this, a sizeable portion of the Liori population has lived their lives without the benefits of electricity.

Completed: One of the major factors in preventing Liore from seeking the development of its renewable energy sector has been the tremendous cost that would come with such an endeavor, and so it has never been economically realistic for us to pursue this development. However, thanks to primarily Yingdalan grants from the Eastern Development Organization in their Greenify Dovani initiative, Liore has finally become able to put the tips of her toes in the pond of renewable energy, and has been able to use these funds to build her renewable energy sector. The first initiative of this project, to erect small solar farms in Liore's rural villages for public use, has been completed and largely been a success, with electricity use in rural Liore more than quadrupling since the beginning of the project in 4779. The second initiative, the construction of larger solar farms in Liore's urban areas to supplement oil and natural gas as energy sources, is still in progress, though the solar farm projects of Yamabiro and Nzurchanga have been completed successfully, and have reduced their reliance on oil and natural gas by 18% and 24% respectively.

Future: Liore's immediate renewable energy goals are to finish the solar farm projects currently in the works. Currently, it is planned for the solar farms of Ndardhi, Kipini, and Naranpá to be completed within the next three years, especially with the reallocation of manpower, resources, and funding from other completed projects. In the future, the government plans on harnessing the potential geothermal and hydropower energy sources from Liore's underground heat vents and rivers.

Housing
Issue: When the government housing project began in 4780, a depressing 27% of Liore's population was classified as homeless, with a vast majority of these homeless living in the urban areas of the west coast. It is needless to say that such a grey statistic could not be allowed to go on without intervention. It is, after all, the role of the government to look after the proletariat during the transition to communism.

Completed: Throughout the western coast, volunteers have been hard at work constructing housing complexes in Liore's urban centers, and a great number of these complexes have been completed. In Yamabiro and Mweza, all planned complexes have been completed and homelessness in these cities have been nearly eradicated. In Naranpá, where their planned complexes will be completed by the first quarter of next year, homelessness has dropped by nearly 80%. Though in other cities progress is being made, Yamabiro, Mweza, and Naranpá are only the most successful, with not another city completing more than half of their planned complexes. However, though the project is far from completed, overall homelessness throughout Liore has fallen by more than 40%, and it can only fall lower and lower.

Future: First we must complete what we have started before we move on to more ambitious plans. Estimates suggest that the last complexes will be completed anytime between 4788 and 4790. This project, however, will only eradicate homelessness in Liore's urban centers, and in the future we will have to work to tackle homelessness in rural areas. The quality of these complexes will also be a cause for concern. Currently, these complexes are very low cost and meant for emergency use. Though we've cut no corners in ensuring their safety, the amenities provided are extremely lacking. For the time being, this is a requirement in order to prevent the budget from skyrocketing since the housing is provided free of charge and only requires that beneficiaries seek government employment in order to temporarily occupy these complexes. In the future when the economic situation of Liore is greater, we'd also like to see the improvement in the quality of government housing rather than just its expansion.

[ChitinKal]

Mjumbe
Notable Jamii Party Officials Support Malivian Cow Terrorists
January 14, 4785

Liori Villager with his Pet Cow

The news that an airliner carrying 72 beef industry officials broke mere hours ago, and already the Liori government has decided to turn a blind eye to the kidnapping of mostly western corporation executives. "Why should we care" said one General Assembly Representative, "What business is it of Liore's to come out against or in support of these terrorists. The government doesn't care about their crimes, nor their cause." Though this seems to be the official position taken by the government, a number of notable officials (Mostly from the Jamii Party) have come out to express their support for the terrorists. One of the more radical officials is Kibwe Akenzua, who has come out to state that:

The Kitembo people are one with nature, and we're a people who only kills animals rarely and for lite consumption, we are not a people to commit or support eh evil genocide of cows or any other animals that is being done to feed the fat carnivores of the west. Because all life is precious, we content with a mainly vegetarian diet and prefer to coexist with and care for our non human comrades. Even when we do eat meat, it should be obtained honorably through the hunt or through minor livestock raising, not through the genocide factories run by these disgusting westerners. By God, I hope these brave warriors reach their homeland and give to their prisoners the fate they deserve.

Though Akenzua is one of the more radical supporters of the cow terrorists, the same general belief of being kind to nature and opposition to industries built on the mass slaughter of animals is one that is shared by his fellow supporters. As of yet, there is no update to the status of the situation, however we (And most definitely Representative Akenzua) are keeping a keen eye on the situation.

[Aquinas]

Gau Raksha Paltan releases hostage from Liore

[ChitinKal]

Statement From the Office of the Premier, Mosi Ihejirika
January 14, 4785

Liori comrades, I'm afraid the government cannot remain silent any longer. Malivian terrorists have indeed hijacked a plane and in doing so taken dozens of hostages. Among them, was our comrade Hanif Jumaane, who has since been released along with many other. Though still, there are 48 civilians under threat of harm. Already, a number of our comrades within the Jamii Party, and many more unaffiliated common citizens, have shown their sympathy for the cause of these terrorist, though no doubt still oppose their means. But, it is with these general sympathies in mind as well as compassion for any fellow Dovani comrades in custody of the terrorists, that I wish to make an offer to the Gau Raksha Paltan: Release all other Dovanians you have in your custody, and Liore will gladly lower beef production by 50%, with an accompanying cut in beef rations. Please, consider our offer.

To any Liori citizens that fear for the reduction of their daily food intake, worry not. To compensate for the cuts in beef production and rationing, we will be aiming to raise the production and rations of other meats. Until then, potato and corn rations will be doubled. Also, any small time independent cattle farmers with herd too small for nationalization, you need not fear, new regulations will not apply to the minuscule private sector.

[ChitinKal]

Mjumbe
Bushmeat Market Activity Soars
April 20, 4785

Woman Peddles Bushmeat in Jarha, Minaraha

With the government's cuts in beef productions in January as a response to Gau Raksha Paltan hijacking of a plane full of beef industry executives, the people of Liore have seen a considerable cut in their daily intake of meat. Though to supplement the cut in beef rations, the government has raised rations for vegetables like corn and potatoes, and have made preparations to increase production and rationing of other meats, the demand for meat in Liore hasn't changed, and a new underground market for more "unconventional" meats has swept the nation, and new bushmeat markets are beginning to spring up across the country, especially Liore's dense urban centers where citizens are less likely to hunt and raise their own meat. These markets offer a wide variety of meats from animals hunted by opportunistic poachers, from the zebras and lions of the savanna to chimpanzees and cane rats of the southern rainforest. Even the creatures of the sky and of the mud are not safe, with several species of birds and reptiles being common commodities of these markets.

Unfortunately, the market for these poached animals is both illegal and highly problematic, for both the hunted and the hunters. For the hunted, many species which have been targeted for the hunt have already been on the decline in recent years due to economic and infrastructure development, especially after the large highway and railroad project that's recently been completed. This sort of development not only often kills many animals during the process, but also destroys the natural habitats of many species and pollutes the environment of farther off habitats. The rise of the bushmeat sector only puts these species at further risk of endangerment. As for the hunters, they too are put in danger by this industry. The poachers themselves often put themselves into harm's way in order to procure their meats, either from tackling hostile environments or defensive prey. Even the consumption of these meats can be dangerous due to the unfamiliar viruses and bacteria present in some species not normally consumed by humans.

The government has attempted to take action to stamp out these bushmeat markets before they get too out of hand by shutting down numerous markets and fining their purveyors, and has set up strict penalties for poaching. However, these attempts have failed in stopping the bushmeat industry, and have only served to limit the rapid growth. Though it seems drastic action will needed to be taken in order to end the industry before any issues of extreme seriousness take place, government officials have refused to comment further on the issue, alluding to their disregard for the problem.