{"id":22396,"date":"2025-04-22T13:59:38","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T12:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/?p=22396"},"modified":"2025-04-22T13:59:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T12:59:40","slug":"did-lta-shut-down-internet-services-in-nimba-for-the-senatorial-by-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/did-lta-shut-down-internet-services-in-nimba-for-the-senatorial-by-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Did LTA shut down internet services in Nimba for the Senatorial by-election?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Claim: David S. Tokpah<\/a>, a Facebook user, posted in a Facebook group (Liberian Policy Forum) that the government, through the Liberia Telecommunications Authority, has caused internet disruption in Nimba. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verdict: False! LTA Boss  Patrick Honnah<\/a> has denied the allegations. Also, fact-checkers in Nimba confirmed active internet services in Nimba from both GSM Companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Text<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Residents of Nimba County cast their votes in a senatorial by-election following the death of the county\u2019s influential lawmaker, Senator Prince Johnson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As voters turned out at various polling centres, rumours began circulating on social media, alleging that the Internet had been shut down on election day as part of a plot to influence the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David S. Tokpah<\/a>, a Facebook user, posted in a Facebook group (Liberian Policy Forum) that the government has carried out internet disruption in Nimba through the Liberia Telecommunications Authority. He quoted a memo believed to be from the LTA stating the shutdown of the internet from April 22-28, 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A screenshot of the claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Findings <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To verify this, DUBAWA contacted its fact-checkers on the ground. The team currently in Nimba confirmed smooth connectivity with both Lonestar and Orange GSM Companies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

DUBAWA also contacted Patrick Honnah,<\/a> the LTA’s Commissioner for Consumer and Public Affairs. He firmly dismissed the allegation, stating it was “far from the truth.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, Henry Benson, head of the Cable Consortium of Liberia, the sole operator of the country\u2019s fiber-optic infrastructure, confirmed that the information was inaccurate. He said, \u201cWe had a scheduled repair on our internet infrastructure long before the by-election in Nimba was announced. The claim that it is meant to disrupt the election is completely false.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He clarified that core repair work will commence on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, not Tuesday, April 22, as claimed. He added that although maintenance may cause slight disruptions, an alternative route has already been established to maintain Internet access and reduce potential delays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Both Lonestar Cell MTN and Orange GSM internet services are active in Liberia, so the claim is false.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Claim: David S. Tokpah, a Facebook user, posted in a Facebook group (Liberian Policy Forum) that the government, through the Liberia Telecommunications Authority, has caused internet disruption in Nimba.  Verdict: False! LTA Boss  Patrick Honnah has denied the allegations. Also, fact-checkers in Nimba confirmed active internet services in Nimba from both GSM Companies. Full Text Residents of Nimba County cast their votes in a senatorial by-election following the death of the county\u2019s influential lawmaker, Senator Prince Johnson. As voters turned out at various polling centres, rumours began circulating on social media, alleging that the Internet had been shut down on election day as part of a plot to influence the results. David S. Tokpah, a Facebook user, posted in a Facebook group (Liberian Policy Forum) that the government has carried out internet disruption in Nimba through the Liberia Telecommunications Authority. He quoted a memo believed to be from the LTA stating the shutdown of the internet from April 22-28, 2025.  A screenshot of the claim. Findings  To verify this, DUBAWA contacted its fact-checkers on the ground. The team currently in Nimba confirmed smooth connectivity with both Lonestar and Orange GSM Companies.  DUBAWA also contacted Patrick Honnah, the LTA’s Commissioner for Consumer and Public Affairs. He firmly dismissed the allegation, stating it was “far from the truth.” Similarly, Henry Benson, head of the Cable Consortium of Liberia, the sole operator of the country\u2019s fiber-optic infrastructure, confirmed that the information was inaccurate. He said, \u201cWe had a scheduled repair on our internet infrastructure long before the by-election in Nimba was announced. The claim that it is meant to disrupt the election is completely false.\u201d He clarified that core repair work will commence on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, not Tuesday, April 22, as claimed. He added that although maintenance may cause slight disruptions, an alternative route has already been established to maintain Internet access and reduce potential delays. Conclusion Both Lonestar Cell MTN and Orange GSM internet services are active in Liberia, so the claim is false.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"hannibal_claim_source":"","hannibal_source_label":"","hannibal_card_color":"blue","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[1960,5,1571,3815],"tags":[],"verdict":[],"ppma_author":[3777,2473],"class_list":["post-22396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liberia","category-elections","category-fact-check","category-homepage"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8R6dE-5Pe","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":3777,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"varney-dukuly","display_name":"Varney Dukuly","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":""},{"term_id":2473,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"laymah-kollie","display_name":"Laymah Kollie","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3e8f21bfb7f38038adda7814f321e394e07b71be6eaa313cfaeb3ba15adcf62c?s=96&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/LTA-Commissioner-Patrick-Honnah.jpg?fit=474%2C283&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22396"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22398,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22396\/revisions\/22398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22396"},{"taxonomy":"verdict","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/verdict?post=22396"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=22396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}