Kenneth Yakpawolo Best (born 28 October 1938) is a Liberian journalist who founded the Liberian newspaper ''

The Daily Observer ''The Daily Observer'' is a newspaper published in Bakau in Banjul, the Gambia. The paper, Gambia's first daily newspaper,Gabriel I. H. Williams, ''Liberia: the heart of darkness'', Trafford Publishing, 2002, p.333 was founded by Mae Gene and K ...

'' and a paper of the same name in The Gambia.Michael Kudlak
IPI World Press Freedom Heroes: Kenneth Best
, ''IPI Report'', June 2000 He is the nephew of

Americo-Liberian Americo-Liberian people (also known as Congo people or Congau people),Cooper, Helene, ''The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood'' (United States: Simon and Schuster, 2008), p. 6 are a Liberian ethnic group of African Am ...

journalist of

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

descent Albert Porte.

Biography

Best was born in October 1938 in Harrisburg, St. Paul River in

Montserrado County Montserrado County is a county in the northwestern portion of the West African nation of Liberia containing its national capital, Monrovia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has 17 sub p ...

, Liberia to

parents of West Indian descent. He studied at St. Patrick's Elementary School on Snapper Hill, Monrovia. He entered Booker Washington Institute in 1959, graduating with a diploma in agriculture. On 2 December 1963, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in English and political science from

Cuttington University Cuttington University is a private university in Suacoco, Liberia. Founded in 1889 as Cuttington College by the Episcopal Church of the United States (ECUSA), it is the oldest private, coeducational, four-year, degree-granting institution in sub-S ...

(CU) after studying there since 1960. During his years in CU, he ran a literary magazine, the ''Cuttington Review'',. On 3 December 1963, he was appointed Assistant to the Dean of Liberal Arts of the

University of Liberia The University of Liberia (UL or LU in older versions of abbreviation) is a publicly funded institution of higher learning located in Monrovia, Liberia. Authorized by the national government in 1851, the university opened in 1862 as Liberia Coll ...

. Between 1963 and 1965, he was a journalist at the Press and Publications Bureau for the Liberian government. In April 1964, he became an information officer for the Department of Information and Cultural Affairs in Tolbert's government. He studied journalism at the Institut für Publizistik in Berlin, West Germany and later at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, New York, where he received a Master's in Comparative Journalism in 1967. In 1968, he returned home to Liberia and became the Director of Press and Publications. In 1972, he became Assistant Minister for Information in the Liberian Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism (MICAT). He moved to Kenya in late 1973 and worked as information director of

All Africa Conference of Churches All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC, or CETA) is an ecumenical fellowship that represents more than 200 million African Christians in 210 national churches and regional Christian councils in 43 African Countries. AACC's head office is in ...

(AACC) in Nairobi. He resigned from the AACC in 1980 and returned to Liberia. In February 1981, Best and his wife founded the ''Daily Observer'', Liberia's first independent daily newspaper.W. Joseph Campbell, ''The emergent independent press in Benin and Côte d'Ivoire'', Greenwood Publishing Group, 1998
p.19-20
/ref> Under the Presidency of

Samuel Doe Samuel Kanyon Doe (6 May 1951 – 9 September 1990) was a Liberian politician and military officer who served as the 21st President of Liberia from 1986 to 1990. He ruled Liberia as Chairman of the People's Redemption Council (PRC) from 1980 ...

, the ''Daily Observer'' was subject to sustained political harassment. The

First Liberian Civil War The First Liberian Civil War was the first of Second Liberian Civil War, two civil wars within the West African nation of Liberia which lasted between 1989 and 1997. President Samuel Doe's regime of totalitarianism and widespread Political cor ...

caused Best to relocate his family by fleeing to The Gambia on 1 August 1990. There he founded Gambia's first daily newspaper on 11 May 1992, again called ''The Daily Observer''.Gabriel I. H. Williams, ''Liberia: The Heart of Darkness'', Trafford Publishing, 2002, p.333 In October 1994, following

Yahya Jammeh Yahya Abdul-Aziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh (born 25 May 1965) is a Gambian politician and former soldier, who served as President of the Gambia from 1996 to 2017. He was the Chairman of the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC) from 1994 ...

military coup A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

, Best was expelled from Gambia, after the newspaper ran a series of stories that were critical of AFPRC on human rights violations, although the newspaper was allowed to continue, it was eventually shutdown by tax authorities on 23 August 2017 for non-compliance of its tax obligations. Best, along with several of his reporters was arrested on 21 October 1994 and detained for 36 hours, before being deported back to Liberia on 30 October 1994. He and his family moved to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and was granted political asylum in January 1995. In 1999, he sold ''The Daily Observer'' to businessman Amadou Samba, who was supported by Jammeh. He returned to Liberia in June 2005 and relaunched his old newspaper. He continued to serve as the publisher and editor of the Liberian ''Daily Observer'', which continued to criticize the government. In 2012, Best published ''The Evolution of Liberia's Democracy: A Brief look at Liberia's Electoral History – 1847-2011''. He married Mae Gene Traub on July 17, 1971. The couple have eight children, including two adopted children.

Awards

Best was named one of

International Press Institute International Press Institute (IPI) is a global organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of press freedom and the improvement of journalism practices. The institution was founded by 34 editors from 15 countries at Columbia Universit ...

's 50

World Press Freedom Heroes International Press Institute World Press Freedom Heroes are individuals who have been recognized by the Vienna-based International Press Institute for "significant contributions to the maintenance of press freedom and freedom of expression" and " ...

in 2000.

Works

*''Cultural Policy in Liberia'', 1974 *''African Challenge'', 1975 *"My Fight for Press Freedom", in ''

New African ''New African'' is an English-language monthly news magazine based in London. Published since 1966, it is read by many people across the African continent and the African diaspora. It claims to be the oldest pan-African monthly in English, as well ...

'', August 1991. *''The Evolution of Liberia's Democracy: A Brief look at Liberia's Electoral History – 1847-2011'', 2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Best, Kenneth 1938 births Living people People from Monrovia Gambian journalists Liberian journalists Americo-Liberian people 20th-century Liberian people Liberian people of Barbadian descent