MONROVIA – “Monrovia is dirty. Yes, we’re admitting that Monrovia is dirty,” Mr. Pekele Gbuapaye, Media Relation Officer of the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) admitted to FrontPageAfrica in his attempt to explain why filth has taken over the country’s capital.
Report by J. H. Webster Clayeh, [email protected] and Edwin Genoway, Jr., [email protected]
Monrovia is relatively one of the smallest capitals in West Africa, but harbors about 35 percent of the country’s population.
Proper disposal of garbage is a major challenge to the city. Over the past few weeks, refuse have taken over principal streets and every street corner in the capital. The Monrovia City Corporation which runs the city government says it is challenged financially and logistically to rid the city of the filth.
Sinkor’s 12th Street Cheeseman Avenue is almost covered, Clay Street intersection is almost swallowed by garbage, Buchanan and Carey Street intersection is also overflowing with dirt, Rally Town Market, Duala, amongst others are all being consumed by garbage.
At 12th Street, a resident who preferred not be named told FrontPageAfrica, “The filth in Monrovia is causing more than embarrassment. Most of the two-lane roads are now being used as one lane, the dirt has taken over the other. This is causing traffic. It is also unhealthy for those of us who live around here.”
The 12th Street residents said the garbage had not been collected by the Monrovia City Corporation for more than three to four weeks.
“It is even worse now that the rain is falling. It makes the place look more nasty. This dirt is breeding mosquitos and flies all over the place. We all know that it has health implications and we have no idea what is being done about it,” the resident further said.
The garbage piled up at the intersection of West Point and Johansson in Monrovia has also taken the entire road, making it difficult for vehicles and pedestrians to make easy movements.
A FrontPageAfrica reporter who visited the area on Wednesday observed that the garbage bin at the intersection has been overfilled and wastes can be seen scattered on the road.
Cars were seen passing over the dirt while pedestrians manage to walk on the narrow space of the sidewalk that the dirt has not overtaken.
The pile of garbage is not only hampering the vehicles and pedestrians but also many people who do business close to the intersection.
Monrovia City Corporation in March last year rebranded the famous Mary Broh day to Weah for Clean City. Despite changing the name to improve the sanitation of the city of Monrovia, getting rid of wastes still remains a massive challenge for the city corporation.
Many people on the West Point-Johannson Road told FPA that the huge pile of garbage has taken over the road due to the delinquency of the MCC.
Ma Mary Wilson, a fast food vendor, said the MCC frequent delays in collecting garbage from the intersection creates the problem.
“The people (MCC) always pay deaf hear when it comes to cleaning this place,” Ma Mary said, complaining that the pollution has scared her customers away.
“Nobody wants to sit here to eat, so I and my daughter can carry the food around, in the market to sell.”
Davis Mulbah, a tricycle taxi driver, added that because of the garbage, he’s unable to use the Johansson route to get to central town.
According to him, it has been over a week since the dirt was piled up in the middle of the road.
“MCC used to come but I do not know what happen this time around. This time, it can stay long before MCC come to collect the dirt from the dust bin,” Mulbah said.
MCC’s Response
Speaking via telephone to FPA, Gbuapaye said the City Corporation is overwhelmed with many challenges including dealing with garbage collection in the City of Monrovia.
According to him, the road leading to land refill in Whein Town where the MCC often dumps refuse collected from around the city is not passable by trucks.
“We cannot carry the dirt because Whein Town road is spoiled. The trucks cannot go there. But we are working on it. Very soon the we will start collecting the dirt,” he said.
He also said that the City is challenged financially and logistically to carry out its mandate of ensuring a clean city.
To address this, he said the MCC launched a three-month pilot project for waste management.
“The pilot project is ongoing for the MCC to be able to address these challenges. If people are paying for their waste, it will enable the MCC to quickly respond to the issue of cleaning garbage in the city of Monrovia,” Gbuapaye said.
MCC Workers on Strike?
While the Media Relation officer is blaming lack of finance and logistics, spoiled road, among others as reasons why the city is drowning in filth, FrontPageAfrica has gathered that some workers of the MCC have laid down their tools because of delayed salaries.
The aggrieved employees, who asked for anonymity said the MCC has not paid them for the past four months.
“We can work throughout the week and when month ends there is no one that can pay us. We clean the streets, some of us have been doing this since Mary Broh’s time, and not a day or month has passed without her paying us. She always paid us, but since Mayor Koijee took over, everything has changed,” an employee expressed.
According to them, Mayor Jefferson Koijee has been selective as to who he pays, noting that some of the employees cleaning the streets have been paid, while others have not been paid for months.
“This is not fair to us. Why should we suffer the whole month and at the end we get nothing to carry home while others who just sit and do nothing are getting pay every month? We are suffering at the MCC, this some of the reasons why we are not cleaning the dirt on the streets because we working for free without pay for months,” an aggrieved worker expressed.
The MCC Media Relations Officer denied the allegations against the Mayor.
“It is a lie, none of our employees can tell you that they have not taken pay, we pay all of them and even on time,” he clarified.