MONROVIA – The Mayor of the country’s capital city, Jefferson T. Koijee, has lamented that waste management in Monrovia solely rests on the shoulders of the City Government with no aid coming from donors or external partners, unlike previous years.
He further regrets that citizens within the capital city are of the belief that solid waste management is squarely the responsibility of the government, therefore, they do little or nothing to help control waste.
Mayor Koijee made the statement during the celebration of Monrovia Day last Thursday.
“Like previous years since I assume the office of Mayor of Monrovia, getting the needed resources for effective solid waste management within the city is still a huge confrontation. As we speak, no donor or external partner is funding the recurrent cost of solid waste collection and disposal. Our meagre internal revenues is very inadequate to fund this cost- intensive venture,” he said.
He said the city under his mayorship has always relied on Government of Liberia for subsidies and the GoL- World Bank Counterpart Funding to fund solid waste collection and disposal.
The government of Liberia, according to him, contributed to US$1.1M for solid waste management as opposed to the more than US$5.2 received annually from donors in years prior to his administration as Mayor.
“Before 2018 the year that I took over as Mayor, the World Bank had spent over US$29.4M in total from Additional Financing (AF1, AF2 and AF3) through the Liberia Reconstruction Trust Fund (LRTF) for six years on the Emergency Monrovia Urban Sanitation (EMUS) Project with an annual contribution of US$4.9M to the solid waste management sector of the City. Additionally, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded primary waste (door to door) collection in the amount of US$1M for more than 5 years through the IMPAC Project with Cities Alliance as implementing partner plus subsidies from the Government of Liberia. This means that before I assume office, more than US$5.9M in total was spent on solid waste management every year up to end of the EMUS Project in 2016 and the IMPAC Project in 2015 plus subsidies from the Government of Liberia,” he said.
He added, “Today, solid waste collection and disposal is squarely a burden for the City Government of Monrovia. In the absence of a sustainability plan and capital investment within the sector, the City had always relied largely on the Government of Liberia for subsidies and the GoL- World Bank Counterpart Funding to fund solid waste collection and disposal.”
Budget and Financial Management
The City Government received a total of US$8.3 million from the FY2020-2021 National Budget, the Special Budget for 2021 and the internal revenue generated, Mayor Koijee disclosed.
Compensation of Employees accounted for about 48.8%, Good and Services 11.4% and Non-financial assets under Public Sector Investment Project (PSIP) 21.07% on the external side, and Internal Revenue 18.7% for the period. Expenditure rose to about 3% over combined revenues thus leaving us with a deficit of US$250,000, arising from goods and services taken on account, which was carried forward to the Fiscal Year 2022. The City’s cumulative debt is put at US$1.1 million and total receivables in the amount of US$512,000.
According to Mayor Koijee, while the fiscal outlook of the City may not appear attractive, owing to the mitigating effects of COVID 19 and the lack of adequate logistics and equipment and the need to build staff capacity for improved service delivery, he extends appreciation to the Solid Waste Management Department and Environmental Health and Safety Department for their improved performances in generating lawful revenues above targets for the year 2021.
The mayor in his annual report mentioned the introduction of Smart System – an accounting software for those responsible for the financial management of the City Government. This, he said, enabled more efficient financial planning, making informed financial and economic analysis and ensuring timely and accurate reporting.
Achievements
Despite the financial constraints, the City Government collected 104,997.54 tons of wastes over the period of March to December 2021 as compared to 60,156.96 tons in 2020, which represents 42.7% increase in solid waste collection from the previous year in spite of the overwhelming conditions.
As part of tackling the perennial problems that are associated with increased solid waste collection and disposal through a more inclusive and participatory approach, he, Koijee, constituted a 14-member Citizen Engagement Board (CEB) which comprised eminent Liberians from all spheres of our society to join the ongoing effort in preparing the City for the celebration of the country’s 200 years of existence.
He said, the city also took a bold step to broaden its policy framework of ‘leaving no one behind’ in the process of organizing a four-day solid waste management forum which brought together more than 160 Community Based Enterprises (CBEs) based on their pivotal roles in efficient solid waste management at the household level.
Mayor Koijee: “I am pleased to report to you on the slew of other achievements during the period.
“We organized a three -day Multi-stakeholder Solid Waste Management Conference with community leaders, the business community and external development partners including the United Nations, World Bank, European Union, and the Cities Alliance.
“We initiated the regular clearing of the waterways and drainages in Sonewein, Duala, and other areas in support of containing environmental hazards, and did same at the Freeport drainage in light of the dedication of the completion of the Japan Freeway
“We coordinated the official launch of the PHP Community Recreation Center with support from the UAE Government.
“To meet Bloomberg and Rockefeller targets, we continued with the planting of over 10,000 trees in support of our climate change fight with the vision of planting more trees in succeeding years.”