Monrovia – A civil society group involved with solid wastes management is unsatisfied with the decision of the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) to get more involved in removing wastes from individual homes and business places rather than playing a supervisory role.
Report by Henry Karmo, [email protected]
According to the United Youth for Peace, Education, Transparency and Development, the MCC has instructed all businesses in districts 7, 8, 9 and 10 in Montserrado County to pay their monthly wastes collection fees only to the MCC’s Utility Levy Account at GT Bank.
According to the civil society group, MCC will collect garbage directly from all businesses under its jurisdiction and that all community-based enterprises (CBEs) and small and medium-based enterprises (SMEs) will have nothing to do with wastes management and collection of fees from their customers as of May 2019.
In an interview with Mr. Timothy Kpeh, Executive Director for United Youth for Peace, Education, Transparency and Development, MCC has started arresting SMEs and CBEs workers on the field. He also accused the MCC of bringing in foreign companies to do the work community-based wastes collection organizations were doing.
“This situation has caused many Liberians to be out of job while the cities of Monrovia and Paynesville are getting dirty more.”
The local advocacy group is calling on the city Mayor of Monrovia to immediately abolish the policy by encouraging private sector participation in the areas of wastes management and collection.
“While we understand the challenges faced by the wastes management sector of Liberia, we strongly believe that government should mainly focus on providing the needed political will and opportunities for Liberians within the private sector to freely participate.”
In April 2019, MCC launched a new wastes management system called the “house to house garbage collection pilot project” in four districts in Monrovia and the pilot project took off that month.
Residents from districts 7, 8, 9 and 10 in Monsterrado County were charged fees for the wastes management team of MCC to dispose of their garbage.
The new wastes management program that was launched at the old Education Ministry Building on Mechlin and Broad Streets was a pilot project under the “Weah for Clean City” initiative.
Despite rebranding its wastes collection campaign, MCC faces serious challenges with the handling of wastes in the city.
This, many residents in Monrovia say they are not getting the full impact of the much-talked about “Weah for Clean City”.
Speaking at the event, Monrovia City Mayor Jefferson T. Koijee said he has listened to all of the many concerns about the handling of wastes; adding: “It is time for residents of the four districts to corporate with the MCC Wastes Management Team for a Clean Environment.”
Stating that the project is a pilot, Mayor Koijee, however, said that it is a “modernized approach intended to properly manage wastes within the city of Monrovia” through the collaboration of the accredited community-based enterprises (CBEs) and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
It will target four electoral districts and target approximately 36,000 out of 85,000 homes enumerated throughout the 10 electoral districts in Monrovia.
He said all skip buckets at roadsides and communities will eventually be removed and only be maintained and monitored 24 hours at market places.
According to Mayor Koijee, his vision is to ensure that Monrovia becomes a ‘smart’ city, adding that software named and styled “Ducor Software” has also been developed for wastes tracking and household locations.
He noted that the Monrovia City government will work with legislators of the targeted districts, commissioners of WestPoint, Congo Town and Garwula Townships including community leaders to implement the project.