Monrovia – Residence of Freeport Community on Monday stormed the offices of City Builders in demand of assistance to the community.
Report by Edwin G. Genoway, [email protected]
City Builders, a famous building materials dealer, is own by popular Lebanese businessman Ezzat Eid.
The aggrieved residents were demanding that the management of City Builders provide scholarship for over 300 community youths.
The community is also demanding that the company provides at least 50 jobs for qualify youths of the community.
Reading the petition during the protest, the community chairman, John Ellis said that the business entity should also provide microloan for 300 deserving youths.
“City Builders must contribute to the concretization of drainages in the community and provide US$4,500 quarterly to cleaning of drainages to alleviate flood in the community, do you think that it is right for Lebanese and Indians to be abusive to our environment simply because we are black,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the protest sparked mixed-views amongst several members of the community, with some expressing disagreement.
“How can few belly-driven individuals go and stage protest on the entire community’s behalf when the group being protested against is not a concession company to provide corporate social responsibility,” Jerry Moses noted.
Another resident, Perry Weah, frowned on the protesters.
“What sorts of embarrassment is this, how can people from our community embarrass us like this, I am disappointed and calling on the City Builders authority to not do anything forcibly as being demanded by our hungry brother in the community,” he said.
“That alone is blackmail, how can you demand from a building material store to provide corporate social fund for the community when such business center is not a concession company, let us stop scaring our investors away with such ugly act from few people in the area,” Marthlyn Jabateh added.
The spokesman of City Builders, Eric Flor Nagbe, described the aggrieved residents’ action as “criminal and intended to cause embarrassment for the business”.
“Today August 29, 2018, City Builders became a victim of criminal coercion, under the disguise of peaceful protest from some group of people calling themselves Freeport Community headed by one John Ellis, Ester Ballah and George P. Wulu. They even went to the extent of damaging a vehicle attempting to park,” Nagbe explained.
Nagbe said though City Builders is a business entity and not a concession company, it has contributed to the Liberian economy, offered about 80 scholarships to Liberians, donate armchairs and desk to schools in the country.
“We also donated assorted cleaning supplies and tools to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital; we constructed classrooms for the University of Liberia and A. M Dogliotti Colleg of Medicine as well as constructed a computer Lab for the African Methodist University, and the building of community Center at Hotel Africa among many other things we have done,” he said.
He, however, called on the government of Liberia through the Liberia National police to arrest the protesters and prosecuted them for the action against the company.
“If this is not done, the confidence of businesses will now get eroded and affect the already shaking economy,” he stressed.
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