“There was a mountain load of dirt here when we came. Initially, we were afraid. What we wanted to do was to spray it before we started work. We later changed our mind and decided to just clean it—we requested for facemask and started right away”- Captain Abe Kamara of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL)
Gboko Stewart, [email protected]
Gobachop, Paynesville-It is no battlefront and bullets are certainly not flying, but Captain Abe Kamara of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) is leading his men to fight a different kind of war in the Gobachop Market, Paynesville City. A war to rid Paynesville of filth.
Answering a call to duty based on a request from the city government of Monrovia to the Ministry of Defense which was sent via the chain of command, Kamara and his men from the engineering unit swung into action without hesitation, rummaging through the mountainous stockpile of smelly garbage with caterpillars machines and frontend loaders.
“The order came from the COS through the Brigadier General,” says Captain Kamara as he drives off a swarm of flies buzzing noisily. “There was a mountain load of dirt here when we came. Initially, we were afraid. What we wanted to do was to spray it before we started work. We later changed our mind and decided to just clean it—we requested for facemask and started right away.”
The Gorbachop Market in the Red Light District of Paynesville is one of the largest markets in Liberia. The name of the market was derived during the tenure of former Russian President, Mikhail Gorbachev.
As Gorbachev’s grip on the Soviet Union loosened following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, officials of state owned companies in the then Union of Soviet Socialists Republic (USSR) converted what was then public to their private gain. During that time, Liberia also was descending speedily into the abyss. And so when the ragtag soldiers of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) invaded Paynesville and Somalia Drive during the early 90s, many engaged in a looting orgy akin to what was then occurring in the Soviet Union. Soon the name Gorbachop came about, meaning “eat everything free.” It could also mean “crokogee” or things bought on the black market.
It is wet, sticky, muddy and awfully smelly in the market. The stench from the garbage in the market is worse than a decaying body. Swarm of flies buzzed noisily, leaving nothing untouched. Women and children walked by while some sell foodstuff such as plantain and others vegetables which have flies sitting on it. The stench of human feces also adds in the mix of the stinky garbage. A visitor nearly puked when he walked by. Welcome to the famous Gorbachop Market. At the entrance leading to the market, officers of the AFL’s Military Police (MP) stand on guard directing traffic and making sure things are in order.
It is Captain Kamara’s third day in the line of duty and he and his men are sure as hell not backing down from the task which doesn’t appear onerous to him or the men he leads.
Garbage Brouhaha: Marketers versus LMA versus “Zogoes”
Mamie Nyankar has sold plantain and other food stuffs in Gorbachop market well over a year. But she blames the accumulation of the garbage on the “Zogoes.”
“Zogoes” are chronic addicts of illegal narcotic substances. The coined name is short for zombie as they walked slowly and is apparently not aware of what is happening, especially because of being very tired. Their filthy and unsavory look often means shun from society. With no help in sight soon anytime from the government with the building of a rehabilitation center, many are left to wander the streets, pickpocketing and becoming petty criminals.
She says the garbage is affecting those who sell in the market. “We can experience sicknesses and other things. We pay for ticket to the Liberia Marketing Association (LMA) to clean.”
She explains that they usually leave the dirt in the market with the expectation that it would be cleaned by the LMA but to no avail. The president of the LMA, Lusu Sloan, could not be reached for comment.
Rufus Taweh pushes wheelbarrow with goods for customers in the market. The presence of the soldiers cleaning the garbage is making him elated. “I’m happy—I believe if soldiers had not come, I don’t think the dirt would have been removed.” He says the LMA should be held responsible for the stockpile of garbage in the market as marketers pay the association to have the market cleaned when they are done selling.
Jonathan Hinneh is one of the Zogoes Mamie Nyakar is lamenting about. His haggard and unkempt look stands him out in the crowd. He rubbished claims that his ilk hauls dirt to the market. “We don’t bring dirt to the market,” he says vexingly revealing an uneven row of teeth that are dark stained. He says community members and marketers should be blamed instead.
As Capt. Kamara and his men busied themselves, Solomon Jusu, 12, gaze at the captain and his men who had answer the call to duty. He visits the market every day to see his aunt when he leaves school. He lives with her. With nowhere to play, he sits with others children chattering endlessly on the stool attached to a booth which becomes fast food joint at night.
The garbage, he says, is making the community appear ugly. The 3rd grader says he and his friends have nowhere to play due to the smelly garbage.
Sanitation Companies shirking?
The task to clean Monrovia and its environs of filth and garbage, which is clearly becoming an emerging problem, has been entrusted to two Liberian owned companies, Libra Sanitation and Caspian, by the World Bank.
Valued a little over US$8m, the contract, according to sources, was given to the two companies at the insistence of the Executive Mansion in a bid to boost the country’s Liberianization policy.
But sources say the two companies have become slack in their responsibilities to clean the city, evident by the intervention of the AFL. A claim corroborated by the head of Libra Sanitation, George Howe, who said his caterpillar machines are down. “We [Caspian and Libra] were in the know. We are working effectively.”
The task to effectively clean the city of garbage