MONROVIA – Several marketers and residents of the Red Hill Field Community in electoral district # 17, Montserrado County have raised an alarm over the prolong stay of a stockpile of garbage in the area, claiming that the situation continues to pose a serious threat to their survivability and livelihoods.
The community is located in the Township of Virginia, outside Monrovia.
The residents claimed that for more than three months, the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC), headed by City Mayor Jefferson Koijee, has reneged on its sole responsibility to collect waste from the collection site in a timely manner.
The site is located about five seconds walk away from the main road to other businesses and residence in the community.
They complained that the delay in the removal of the “mountain of waste” from the site by the MCC has further exposed them to diseases including chlora and diarrhea.
According to them, their businesses and community have been invaded with flies, cockroaches, rats and other insects due to the huge stockpile of garbage in the area.
Commercial activities have drastically declined in the community, while residents have been compelled to eat their food indoors and prevented from catching “cool breeze” in front their respective home as a result of the situation.
Early this year, the God’s Favor Beauty Saloon located in the community was forced to shut down after two months of opening, as a result of the hazardous nature of the community due to the stockpile of garbage in the area.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with FrontPage Africa during the early morning hours of Thursday, January 14, the owner of the Facebook Food Center, Musu Korngor pointed out that business has move from bad to worse due to the situation.
“I am losing customers because of the garbage. When the people are eating the flies; you see how the place looking; not one customer is here-all my customers are going because of the garbage. Can you imagine, we are paying tax to the Commissioner for this garbage and they can’t come to our rescue even though we have talked on air and demonstrated.”
“When I am selling or dishing up the food, the flies can be embarrassing us and so, we really want the government to help us because, when flies sit on the food and when the people eat it, they will get diarrhea and people can die from it”.
Living by business
Musu is a single parent and a mother of four children; ages, 15, 13, 11, and 3 respectively.
Her husband Titus Korngor, a former classroom teacher, died as a result of pressure-a situation which compelled her to pay more attention to the sale of cooked food for the survival of her and the children.
Musu uses proceeds generated from the sale of cooked food sold to commercial motorcyclists mostly, to cater to her children and other family members.
She pointed out that the site has been a major dumping ground for residents of Banjor, Brewerville and other communities in the district.
“Some of us, this is the market we are living by. We don’t have man. As for me, I have four children and when I do not sell this food, my children will not live. They used to come and take off small of the garbage and go, but now, look at the garbage all over the street”.
Decline in business
Musu claimed that the invading of her cook shop by flies from the dumpsite has greatly affected her business.
She added that her children are yet to commence school due to the lack of funding to pay their fees at their respective institutions of learning.
“I used to cook two half bags of rice, but now if I cook half bag it can’t even finished because of the garbage. It is embarrassing me because, since school opened, my children are not in school. When I even cook about 20 cups, the food cannot finish. Whole day, I will sit beside the food and when the people come and see the flies, they will get outside”.
Extra expenditure
Musu claimed that due to the stockpile of garbage in the area and the refusal of the MCC to exercise its responsibilities in an effective and efficient manner, she is constrained to spend extra money on the purchasing of disinfectants to “drive away” flies and other insects from her local food center.
“When I spray the place with “spraygon”, the flies cannot go. So, I am tired. I been buying insect killer and other flies medicine in the pack, but when the flies sit on the food, the people can leave the food and go without paying”.
No confrontation
She pointed out that though some of her customers, particularly males at times refused to pay when flies sit on the cooked food she served them, she does not in any way embarrassed them.
“Sometimes the people can be eating the food and the flies get on it and they can say they can’t pay and they can get outside. The people right because, you can’t be eating food and flies get on it and you say you will pay for the food. Some of the boys are very arrogant and they can say, we can’t pay and I can allow them to walk and go and when they go they will not come back”.
For her part, Rose Brown claimed that she was compelled to ensure the installation of a “screen door” before the entrance of her room due to the influx of flies in the community.
According to her, residents of the community have been affected greatly as a result of the condition.
“The garbage is doing plenty thing here; even if you are eating, the flies can get in your food. Sometimes, dead dogs can be in the garbage. The flies from there are really giving us hard time. I can’t even open my room door. Even when we are selling, no way for the people to buy because the flies can’t give us chance”.
“How do they expect us to eat when people are not buying from us”? She stated while sitting behind a plate of fried plantain and fish.
Protest
Meanwhile, residents of the Red Hill Field Community and other parts adjacent are threatening to stage a protest before the St. Paul Bridge to prevent the movement of people and vehicles if government fails to come to their aid.
They want government, through the MCC to with immediate effect remove the stockpile of garbage and make a commitment to ensure that the community is garbage-free on a regular basis.
“The big, big rats just like opossum are entering people houses every day because of this garbage. We will demonstrate if the government does not come to remove the garbage from here” Rose Brown stated.
Observations
During a visit to the area by FrontPage Africa, it was observed that crawling insects, including rats, flies and others have taken over the garbage.
Countless numbers of flies were spotted at local food and entertainment centers in the community, while residents could not easily eat their meals on their front or back porches as a result of the situation.
A local merchant selling fried plantain, fish, cala and sausage, who preferred not to be named, was forced to light-up a mosquito coil during the morning hours to drive away the flies from her business area.
“The flies are more than the human beings that are living and doing businesses here as I speak right now; even in the night time, they can come with reinforcement. The long stay of the garb age in this area is causing serious health hazard for us”, an elderly man believed to be in his early 60s stated.
When contacted via telephone, the MCC, through its Communication Director, Pekeleh Gbuapaye attributed the delay in the collection of the garbage from the Red Hill Field Community to the numerous challenges confronting the corporation.
He denied reports that the garbage has spent more than three months at the site, but pointed out that the MCC pities the condition of the residents and marketers.
He, however, promised that the situation will be addressed as soon as the necessary support and logistical problems are settled.