Monrovia – It is on a gloomy afternoon in West Point, a very heavily impoverished, slum community in Monrovia, as the rain hangs in a deep dark sky, Sarah Sloh, hurriedly packs her fish in an old corrugated tub and rushes to the bank of the Mesurado River to get the first seat onboard a canoe, which is making its way from across the river in Clara Town, Bushrod Island.
Report by Mae Azango, [email protected]
“I come to West Point every day to buy fish. I can use the canoe to go across because it is the shortcut and not expensive. The gasoline price is high; it is very expensive to get on a taxi or kekeh (tricycle). When I take car, the driver will charge me L$150 for me and my tub of fish but when I take the canoe, I can pay just L$10 for myself and L$20 for my fish tub.”
Risks Involved
She and others take the risky journey every other day commuting between West Point and Bushrod Island.
Sarah, who has been in the fish business for at least nine years, admitted that the canoe riding is not safe, but asked: “What else can I do? It is the cheapest way for a woman like me.”
“To ride the canoe is not safe, because the life jackets are not enough for everyone, so sometimes, some people will have life jackets on while others won’t have them on as we cross the river. If the government can bring enough life jackets for us it will be better for us who are riding the canoe to bring our markets to West Point or to Clara Town.”
Daily, the canoe operators ferry across the river between 100 to 150 students alone excluding other passengers. They know that safety issues should be of concerns to them, too.
We have less than 25 life jackets; we need at least 75 to 100 life jackets. Therefore, safety issue is still a big problem. We were able to get these used life jackets from the Coast Guard, which is usually doing its patrols. We begged them and they gave us some of their old life jackets that they are not using,” said Eric D. Kwahin, general manager of Liberia Standard Sea and River Transport Union (LSSRTU).
Kwahin further said that as part of President George Manneh Weah-led government’s pro-poor agenda is to improve small businesses of ordinary Liberians, he wants the government support their “small canoe transportation business.
“President Weah refers to West Point as his ‘pepper bush,’ so he has to do everything in his power to make sure that businesses improve in his ‘pepper bush’ West Point. As President Weah came from a community as ours, we are anticipating that he will improve the lives of the local people. We are looking forward to seeing him come to West Point so that some of these issues can be addressed,” he also stated.
Talking about the dangerous possibility of canoe capsizing, he said even though they have some safety measures including the number of people to ferry across when the tide rises or drops, it might still be fatal if something like that were to happen.
“We usually carry seven persons per ride. But when the tide rises, we carry four or five persons,” he said.
Economic Benefits and Constraints
On why they still charge L$10 per person since three or more years now they have been in the business, he said not many people know about that form of transportation, so if they increase the price, the very few people, who come to them might prefer using another form of transportation.
Also touching on how much is generated for the union, he answered, “The rider (canoe operator) will collect L$70 per trip. He will report L$50 to the Union and takes L$20 for himself. At the end of the day, the rider sometimes makes L$1,500 – L$2,000 daily.”
According to him even though the operators complain that they are making little, but they also know the economy hardship that they all find themselves in.
Call to the Ministry of Transport
Kwahin disclosed that for the last few years they have been operating, they have repeatedly called on the Ministry of Transport via the media, for them to come and see what they are doing, but nobody from the Ministry has ever visited them to know what they are doing. He, however, still renews the call for authorities of the Transport Ministry to go, see and conduct some marine trainings, including safety issues.
When contacted, Transport Ministry’s Director of Rail/Water Way, Mr. Amos Tuah, said under this new administration at the Transport Ministry, they have included river transport system, which was not a part of the ministry’s programs before.
Our reporter was gracious enough to accompany him to the place in West Point since he didn’t know where the canoes’ operation is ongoing.
At the close of the meeting with the LSSRTU leadership, Tuah promised to report back to his bosses and arrange a further meeting with the Union for this week.
“This form of transportation is helpful in easing the traffic and reaching people to their destinations quickly but the most important issue is guaranteeing safety for students and others using this route. In doing so, we have to discuss with other partners to solicit life jackets for the Union,” he stated.
Director Tuah also disclosed that they are working with partners involved in water transportation for them to bring in water buses to start the process of migrating from canoe to boat. He, however, stated that it’s not going to be a quick process as, if the partnership yield fruits, they would be required to build stations.
These new operators would also be asked to train the canoe operators so that they can be incorporated into their new system.
Past Canoe Tragedy
It can be recalled that a few years ago, Frontpage Africa reported a story; “Toying with Tragedy”, and pointed out the danger of students and others crossing the Mesurado River, without life jackets, for government to arrest the situation before any tragedy.
At the time, former Transportation Minister Lenn Eugene Nagbe sounded astonished to know that canoe transportation was ongoing in the city, when he was interviewed.
“Our hands are tied in providing life jackets for canoe riders, because we do not produce life jackets in Liberia, neither do we have the store that sells them. Unless the few that our partners gave to our Maritime. In order to get more life jackets, we will have to go to Ghana, but we will see what to do,” said then Transport Minister Nagbe, now present Minister of Information.
Unfortunately, neither him nor the government acted swiftly enough until the following year, when 13 students drowned and died when a canoe they were in capsized at the same location.
The government immediately sent divers to search for the bodies. Said action was rather too late as the students had already drowned.
Even, following that incident, nothing was heard of concerning a single life jacket being given to the river transport union in order to avoid similar situation in the future.
Nevertheless, the risks that this newspaper saw and blew the alarm before that tragedy occurred few years ago, are still there and a pending disaster is not far as ordinary Liberians are still using the river route to get to their destinations without proper safety measures.