MONROVIA – Despite being very close proximity, the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) reneged to collect and dispose of
Report by Alline Dunbar, [email protected]
Isha B. Cole, a resident of the area who lives in a compound said that her children are getting sick because of the maggots and flies caused by the abandoned dirt. “There is no way for us to sit down because the maggots from the dirt comes directly in our yard”. She added that even the line on which they dry their washed clothes is often covered with flies.
She stated that closed to a month now the dirt has been there unattended to with some members of the City Police passing by it on a daily basis. “Everyday city hall people passing here and city hall is right here; even this morning MCC police passed here,” she said.
She added that they are constrained to be in doors throughout the day because of the maggots that is entering their compound.
Isha threated that they as community members would be left with no option but to voluntarily collect the garbage and dispose them in front of the MCC office, should the City Corporation fail to collect it.
The Director of Administration at SMART-Liberia a local NGO is also in close range with the pile of dirt, Dieudonne K. Perry, said that the huge pile of dirt started as a trash bin before escalating to what it is now. He termed it
He, however, stated that staffers at SMART-Liberia cannot sleep on the job any longer because they were getting sick constantly and they couldn’t sleep in peace which is not a sign thing for the organization. “It’s just a Mess for our organization and it is something we are really angry about”.
Perry, however, stressed that authorities of the City Corporation have been contacted verbally and
Mohammed Bah a provision shop owner whose shop is across the road from the pile of dirt said that he has really been affected by the dirt because the scent from it is really bad at times and the flies are causing serious embarrassment for him. “Sometimes I can use spray still the flies cannot go and it is suffering us here; the thing still long here almost one month they
Mohammed acknowledged that it is the same road most workers from the City Corporation use to go about everyday but they just refused to get rid of the dirt
He called on the team at the MCC to help the community by removing the dirt.
When contacted about the issue of the dirt in the Saye Town Community, the Public Relations Officer at the MCC Perkeleh Gbuapaye acknowledged that there are huge piles of dirt at various disposal points and transfer stations in Monrovia.
He, however, stated that all of this is happening because the Corporation is faced with financial and logistical challenges.
He said that the US$1.5 million allocated for the Corporation in the current budget was not given in full by the government but rather half of the money was given leaving the Corporation with no other option but to slow down its work until there can be availability of sufficient funds from both government and international partners.
“In fact, we were given half of that money which cannot commensurate with the day-to-day reality in terms of waste management in the City of Monrovia”.
Speaking to the issue about residents in the city of Monrovia claiming that the city is dirty, Gbuapaye stressed that the city is not dirty because apart from the huge piles of dirt at various disposal points and transfer stations, people are hired to clean the streets of Monrovia on everyday. “If you say Monrovia is dirty it means that the streets are dirty and we have people hired, they are working on a daily basis in making sure that these streets are clean”.
According to him, the Corporation is putting into place measures to solve some of the problems they are faced now. “We are finding solution to these things; Liberia is the only country people do not pay for waste so we have started a enumeration process to get the statistics of the number of houses within the city limit to help the corporation in raising fund as in helping to manage waste”.