Cesstos City, Rivercess County – The latest move by traditional and county authorities of Rivercess County to relocate a traditional sanctuary from within Cestos City is expected to attract new infrastructure projects from private citizens hailing from the county, locals in the county say.
The shrine – Poro and Sande Bush – has been in the heart of the city even before the county gained its political status back in 1985. Prior to the start of its relocation, the was a debate about ‘the bush’ presence in the city with some arguing that it is the identity of the county; on the other hand, others were asserting that it cast a dark-shadow over the progress and development of the county.
The public reaction supports the decision with locals now optimistic that natives of the county residing outside the county will move quickly to build private structures in the city. “Most people in the county blame the underdevelopment of Cestos City to the bush,” said Aaron Geesay of a community radio in the area. “Being in the middle of the city creates doubts in the mind of a lot of people about this place being a city,” he added.
As superstitious the public views sound, the evidence of the city’s underdevelopment is irksome as many of its natives have also pointed accusing fingers at both central and Local County authorities for failing to exert the political will so as to impact the area. It was only this fiscal year that Rivercess held its first county development sitting in over four years due to political bickering amongst members of the County’s Legislative Caucus and the former county administrators.
In early March 2016, County Superintendent Matthew Daniels emotionally requested the Swedish Ambassador near Monrovia, Lana Nordstrom for the establishment of a sister city relationship with Sweden’s capital – Stockholm.
At the ground breaking program for the construction of the County Service Center in Cestos City by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other development partners including the Government of Sweden, Daniels decried the backward state of his county and pleaded that any sister-city relationship with Stockholm will attract potential in the areas of tourism, leading to economic and infrastructure development of the struggling county.
“What we need is a sister city for Cestos City,” Daniels said fervently. “A sister city that will look at a poor city like Cestos to help us…; I believe God has already approved of it and you are here today. We cry to you, we pray and we look forward that you will never forget this place,” he told Ambassador Nordstrom in a piteous tone. But like residents of the city, he’s pretty much aware of the city’s shortcomings which need some tweaking in other to substantiate his enormous request.
And with just less than a month since the request was made, a move to reshape the city is ongoing and going beyond relocating the shrine is expedient to attracting willingness for Nordstrom to sell the idea to a city like Stockholm – one of Europe’s extraordinary cities. Founded in 1252, Stockholm has a population of almost 4 million spread across 14 islands and the city is amongst the top 10 European regions by GDP per capita, also generating a third of the country’s GDP. It regularly hosts the acclaimed Nobel Prize and remains Sweden’s culture, media, political and economic capital.
Although Ambassador Nordstrom said nothing about the Rivercess County Superintendent’s request, Deputy Internal Affairs Minister for Administration, Varney Sirleaf who reckons that the county is backward in development assured he will work to see a Cestos-Stockholm City relationship.
A sister-city affiliation of sort is an audacious demand but the current decision to remove the shrine is a significant step to transform a city far behind despite having some prominent individuals in central government and in the corporate sector of Liberia. There are unending complaints and concerns from locals in the county about why several of their successful kinsmen outside of the county have turned their back on their ancestral land.
However, most residents of the county have renewed hope. “Residents are saying that the clearing of this bush will actually bring light to this particular community,” continued reporter Geesay. “Because the ‘devil bush’ we are talking about is close to the administration grounds, so when this bush is cleared the beauty of the city will actually show.”
Apart from the presence of the bush, there are also concerns about the availability of private land for purchase, which some say is also impeding the growth and development of the city. Recently, Cestos City Mayor, Sarah Zeo told FrontPage Africa private land owners were holding back their property, refusing to sell though vast of these lands are undeveloped. “When we are talking about development, you need to release something before you get something,” the Cestos City Mayor asserted when she was responding to questions about the underdeveloped status of the city.
Amongst other issues, Mayor Zeo frowned on those holding on to lands when they have no capacity to developing it. “People that own land in Rivercess don’t want to give land to anyone to help develop this city,” she complained.