LONDON – Monrovia City Mayor Jefferson T. Koijee has informed the Global Parliament of Mayors Conference in Bristol, the United Kingdom of the important need to address critical needs currently faced by Liberia.
Mayor Koijee told the forum that health, security, agriculture, youth unemployment, infrastructure development and education are still at large and need attention.
A communication from the Monrovia City Corporation noted that the Mayor named priority to these sectors as key aspect to the development of not only Monrovia City but other cities across Liberia as well as the improvement of livelihood of citizens.
“I have come to let you know that despite the many challenges faced my city, we have been doing some tremendous work for the past seven months since we took over as mayor of our capital.”
“I have the pleasure to share with you some of our challenges as a city. Currently, we are exploring avenue to mobilize financial, technical and logistical resources in tackling our solid waste management, security and communication.”
“Mobilizing resources for these sectors through the provision of technical and logistical support according to him, will help addressed challenges faced by cities in Liberia.
He asserted: “As you are aware, my country was one of the countries hit with the deadly Ebola virus disease in 2014 that resulted in over 4,000 lives been lost and left our health system broken. My city as an epicenter of economic and political activities in the country, my city play host to approximately one million people which is about 35 % of our total population. The City of Monrovia experienced the worst casualty of the outbreak and have left a negative impact on our health center.”
He further called for the support of member countries in tackling challenges face by Monrovia and other cities, in the face of fragile health and education system including lack of capacity building among others.
This, according to Mayor Koijee, can help put struggling Monrovia on par with other cities around the world.
Mayor Koijee also said tackling waste in Africa especially, Monrovia needs a holistic approach with support from International partners and wealthy cities.
He reminded his colleagues that transportation difficulties faced by residents of Monrovia and its environs is thought-provoking, especially for university students, calling for an intervention.
“We have also started the process of revamping the Monrovia City Police, making the police a unique and professional force to protect lives and property within the city limit of Monrovia. We have beefed up the strength of our police force to regulate laws through the enforcement of the city ordinance. However, much still need to be done,” he noted.
At the same time, Mayor Koijee has appealed to his colleagues to build the capacity of the City Police, noting that disregard to city ordinance remains an issue.
In the same time, Mayor Koijee has been selected Co-Chair to the Health Committee of Global Parliament of Mayors and will be representing the parliament at the World Health Organization summit in Lyon, France from December 4-6, 2018.
Mayor Koijee joined 28 African countries at this year’s session as the only West African Mayor and the second Mayor to be elected on the Executive Committee of the Global Parliament of Mayors.
The Global Parliament of Mayors Conference Bristol is being held under the theme, “Empowering Cities as Drivers of Change” with focused on global governance and the urgent need for the influence, expertise and leadership of cities to be felt as international policy is shaped.