Monrovia – Mr. Kenneth Yarkpawolo Best, Liberia’s oldest practicing Journalist, Sunday, October 28, hit his octogenarian mark — he turned 80!
Mr. Best is the second oldest surviving Liberian journalist. The oldest now is Mr. James C. Dennis, who, by God’s grace may clock 90 in November 2018.
Mr. Best, who is affectionately called ‘KY,’ has been in the Journalism profession for more than 50 years and was called into it ever since he was in high school, by the “good Lord himself,” he said.
During the early morning service on Sunday at the Saint Stephen Episcopal Church, where the Bests are members, on 10th Street in Sinkor, KY told the audience of fellow Episcopalians and others, “Today, I want to thank Almighty God for bringing me and my family this far. I could never have achieved what my family has today without Him. He has been there for me and my family throughout, beginning from the 1980 when we arrived back to Liberia from Kenya. Today, I turn 80, it’s because of His grace and mercy.”
KY, who, as he testified the goodness of God upon his life broke down in tears, further stated, “This has got nothing to do with me, but I give thanks to Almighty God. I thank Him for everything.”
He also thanked God for this parents — George and Lillian Best and the other Episcopal churches including Trinity Cathedral where he spent his boyhood and at Christ Episcopal in Crozierville where he was baptized.
Mr. Best is a well-known Liberian journalist. Despite his age, he still practices the profession at the Daily Observer, which he and his “new wife” of 47 years, Mrs. Mae Gene Traub Best, established nearly 40 years ago on February 16, 1981.
Throughout the 80s, the Bests and their newspaper stood the tests of time and today, the Daily Observer is still one of Liberia’s leading newspapers, which have still remained true to their core values: speaking for the people.
Over the years, KY has taught, mentored, empowered, and employed many young people, especially in Liberia, and The Gambia – where he relocated with his family in 1990 during the Liberian civil crises and founded The Gambia’s first independent daily and first modern newspaper, The Gambian Daily Observer. When the Daily Observer publisher speaks, he does so to the integrity of the Liberian society and to humanity.
Throughout the nearly 40 years of the Observer, KY has worked and still works with some of Liberia’s best journalists, including the late legendary Stanton B. Peabody, Editor-in-Chief, Sub-Editor Isaac Thompson, Features Editor Joe Kappia, World News Editor Mlanju Reeves, and now late News Editor T. Max Teah, who was commonly known as T-Max. He also worked inarguably with Liberia’s leading photo-journalist Sando Moore and a young female editor, Fatoumata Fofana and another young man, Alaskai Moore Johnson, whom KY molded, having not had any knowledge of Journalism, into one of the best minds in the profession.
It was Mr. Peabody’s imprisonment in the 1960s by the government that led to journalists coming together to organize the Press Union of Liberia (PUL). Mr. Best eventually became President of the Union, too.
“Despite the trials and tribulations, the Daily Observer celebrated its 37th anniversary February 16, 2018, becoming Liberia’s oldest surviving newspaper. At 37, the Observer has surpassed the Liberian Herald, founded in 1826, which lasted for 36 years,” said Journalist Gabriel I. H. Williams, a staff of the Liberian Embassy, USA, in a tribute to the Bests when their newspaper clocked 37.
KY, who was born on October 28, 1938 in Harrisburg, St. Paul River District in Montserrado County, has written several books, including The Evolution of Liberia’s Democracy: A Brief Look at Liberia’s Electoral History – 1847-2011, 2012; Cultural Policy in Liberia 1974; Albert Porte: A Life Time Trying to Save Liberia; The BWI Story, etc.
He studied at St. Patrick’s Elementary School on Snapper Hill, Monrovia. He entered Booker Washington Institute (BWI) 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 (CU) after studying there since 1960. During his years in CU, he ran a literary magazine, the Cuttington Review, until his graduation. On 3 December 1963, he was appointed as Assistant to the Dean of Liberal Arts of the University of Liberia. Between 1963 and 1965, he was a journalist at 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.
Returning home in 1968, he became the Director of Press and Publications the same year and Assistant Minister for Information in the Liberian Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism (MICAT) in 1972. He moved to Kenya in late 1973 and worked as information director of All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) in Nairobi.
The First Liberian Civil War caused KY and his family to flee to The Gambia on 1 August 1990. There he founded The Gambia’s first daily newspaper on 11 May 1992, again called The Daily Observer. In October 1994, following Yahya Jammeh’s military coup, he 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 and is still published today. He, 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 and successfully sought political asylum in January 1995. He returned to Liberia in June 2005 and re-launched his old newspaper.
Happy 80th Birthday, Dr. Kenneth Yarkpawolo Best.